Santa Paul

A few days ago, the fire department Paul volunteers with called him to help out with a project. Well, a few hours later, my husband drove down our street dressed up as Santa, sitting on top of the fire truck! I was talking to my mom on the phone and trying to take a picture at the same time, so I only realized that it was him when he said "Merry Christmas sweetheart!"
Every year the Old Fort Fire Department drives down each street in every neighborhood they serve, running the sirens, honking the horn, throwing candy and wishing everyone a merry Christmas. The kids love it! Paul came back later that afternoon and said he had fun too!



Here's a video of the truck coming back down our street after turning around at the end.

Christmas Excitement

About a week and a half ago, my mom came down from Atlanta to celebrate Christmas (early) and also to attend the Christmas performance at the church Paul and I attend. Paul played the lead role and sang a solo in the production, and I sang in the choir.
While mom was here, we dragged her around to all our Christmas parties and get-togethers. I was excited to introduce her to all our friends and neighbors. I hope she had a good time...we sure did! During our Sunday School Christmas party, she volunteered as photographer, and took this shot of the group together. Thanks for visiting, Mom...we loved having you here!

Thanksgiving Day

We spent Thanksgiving Day with our friends Tommy and Jessica and Jessica's mom. It was so nice to have people to spend the holiday with. Thanks y'all for having us over! The meal was fabulous! Oh yeah, that's their cute little dog, Cooper, in the picture.

Trip back from OK

Oh my!!! I really have some catching up to do. I haven't blogged in oh so long. Things have been fairly busy since we got back from Oklahoma mid November. I started working...finally (Paul breathes a sigh of relief). So far I've evaluated 3 kids for occupational therapy and have 2 more evals very soon. I'm not too busy with it yet, but it's starting to pick up. I've also been doing many things with my Stampin' Up! business - holiday bazaars, stamping classes, Christmas card making days, etc. Paul has been busy getting the squadron ready for deployment. Thankfully, he's had some time off this week and has been able to relax. Thanksgiving and Christmas have really snuck up on me this year. Anyway, I'm going to try to post a bunch of pictures.

Random truck parked on the side of the road in Altus, OK. I haven't seen the movie "Cars" yet, but people tell me this looks like one of the characters.
My friend Vicky invited me over a few days to do crafts. I made this gift for a friend.
I made this for myself. It's so easy! Would you believe it was made with a napkin?

When we took our trip to Oklahoma, we visited people on the way there and on the way back. I posted the pics of everyone we visited on the way there. However, I have yet to do that for all the peeps we saw on the way back. So here are the pictures from the trip from Oklahoma to SC...with stops in Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, and Tennessee.

Lambert's is a famous restaurant in MO. There was a LONG line to get in, but we waited patiently.
They actually throw the rolls to you if you want more! It was great! The servers also go to each table with "pass arounds," all-you-can-eat style...we were stuffed so full when we left! This log cabin bed and breakfast, Cedar Springs Country Inn, is where we stayed one night. The couple that ran it were so kind and inviting. We enjoyed our stay.
Paul's cousin, Debbie, and her family welcomed us one night. We enjoyed seeing them again and catching up.
We had some extra time one day and decided to visit some of our favorite Missouri wineries, just outside of St. Louis. Our favorite wine, Chiaretto, came from Balducci Vineyards. So we stocked up on some of that. But we loved going to Montelle Winery for the fabulous view.
Our old Sunday School class got together at a mexican restaurant while we were in town. We were so excited to see everyone! We still miss them dearly. What a great group of folks! Of course, they seem to have multiplied since we were there last...so many babies...and more on the way!
Leah, Ben & Bailey
Cora & Mark
Jon, Anitra, Justus & Matthias
Emily & Ashlyn (daddy Mike shown later)
Me & Paul with David, our Sunday School teacher when we lived in IL
Jon and Lesly
Posing with Chelsey and Devin
Doug and Paul
Abby and Bob. They lived across the street from us when we lived in IL.

After we visited our friends in IL, we continued south to Nashville, where we saw my friend and old roommate, Adea, once again. This time we got to see her new condo!

Then we went to Knoxville and stayed with Sarah, Luke, and their daughter Natalie.
Before we left TN, we visited Mike (Emily's hubby...from a few pics back). He moved down there with his job, and Emily and the kids will join him soon when she is done with school.
And of course, we couldn't go through Greenville without stopping to see Mem. I hadn't even seen her cute house yet. We stayed and talked for a few hours, then headed home to see our pooches after almost 6 weeks.
All in all, we had a great trip and were glad for the opportunity to see friends and family along the way. Thanks everyone for being so hospitable to us!