New Year's Eve, Fireworks, and a Pasture Fire!

Lacy and Robby were having a New Year's Eve party with some of their friends.  I offered to take some pictures for Lacy and Todd said he could use some help with the fireworks.  So we loaded up Raleigh, dropped her off with my parents (and she actually spent the night...this is only the 2nd time she's been away from us!!!!!), and headed to Todd and Cindy's.

The Crew...there were the chaperones, the older kids, and the younger kids.  Can you tell from the pictures which one is the younger kids...the girls on one side and the boys on the other?!?!

 Todd had a great fire going.  It was so hot that Lacy and Brianna were struggling to get close enough to roast marshmallows!

 Lacy and Brianna are much better at posing and letting me "play" with the camera than Raleigh.

 Before we started the fireworks we tried to get the fire to die down some.  Robby was challenged to jump over the fire and he didn't turn it down.  Too bad I couldn't see anything so I cut off his head.  :)

 Time for the fireworks to begin.  The crew started off at Todd's truck to watch.

 These two were in charge of fireworks...dangerous!!

 I think Todd got the easy job...he opened them and Jason lit them...

 and quickly backpedaled away!

 Todd got the "real" fireworks that the man told him to get.  The man told him they would have a "BOOM, BOOM, BOOM" and would WOW us!  They did in more ways than intended!

 When there was a box with 6+ fireworks in it, one would go off, move the box, another one would go off, move the box, etc.  The older kids realized this first and had already moved to the other side of the drive and soon after the younger kids followed!

 We took a time out to go in, watch the ball drop, and have some sparkling white grape juice!

 So after midnight we went back out to finish off the fireworks.  

The first box went wild!

Todd yells for us to get behind the truck...we did!

One firework went across the drive to our left towards his horses...poor things!

Another one went to our right and hit the barn!

The last one went in the opposite direction and set the pasture on fire!!  Yikes!

Todd and Jason ran/drove to it quickly and started kicking dirt on it, Robby started filling up a bucket of water to get to them, got it to them, and then started filling up a trash can! Luckily they didn't need the trash can and got it out quickly.  

What a way to start off the year!!

After that the fireworks were secured in between the pallet and a tire!

Once all the fireworks were gone we burned the evidence and it made for a neat fire!

Happy New Year 2011!!

A First for Jason

We went to Lacy's basketball game one afternoon and we were all going to go out to eat afterwards, but we had to wait on Todd to check on the chickens.  So, while we waited Jason got to ride on their new 4-wheeler!  This was a first for Jason...he had never been on one!  He said that it would be dangerous for him to have one of those!

White Christmas!!

Well, the song came true this year for us in Georgia.  We had a White Christmas and were able to enjoy the snow the day after.  It's amazing what several months will do for a girl.  Back in February when it snowed we had to bribe Raleigh to even get her to touch the snow.  This time she wanted to make snow angels and throw snowballs!  We had so much fun playing together and making more memories!!

Our snowman!  The snow was actually very powdery when we went out and we never made a large snowman.

 Making our snow angels!

 Raleigh's goal...throw snowballs at mommy!

 Daddy played along with her and made a big snowball!

 Goal accomplished!

 Now it's daddy's turn!!

 Raleigh decided to place our little snowman under one of the bushes for safe keeping!

 The snow provided me a wonderful opportunity to play with my new lenses...I love them!!

 Nothing could be better after playing in the snow than a cup of homemade hot chocolate!

 I also had to play with the lenses inside.  It's amazing the difference that a lens can make to a picture!

 Not that this is a great picture, but I loved how Raleigh's hand and dollhouse furniture is out of focus in front, her leg is in focus, and then the background is out of focus.

Merry Christmas!!

We had a wonderful Christmas day!  Lots of running around and time with family, not to mention lots of gifts!  

We started out the morning by reading the Christmas story and making sure that Raleigh realizes why we celebrate Christmas and that it's not about presents even though it's exciting.  Then we headed to see what Santa brought.

The gifts!

" Oooh...a little house for me!" ~Raleigh

Santa brought Raleigh two Belle dresses and a Mulan dress (which she was really excited about even though she's never seen the movie).  I'm just glad that Santa was given these dresses for free in super condition since Raleigh was set on the fact that Santa was bringing princess dresses!

 This was a fun year to watch Raleigh.  She really got into opening her presents.  I loved the fact that she would tear off the paper and bring it to us before she opened another one and every last piece of paper had to be off the box.  My favorite quote of the morning..."Santa brought me two princess phones.  He needs to take one back!"

 After Raleigh finished it was daddy's turn!

 We bought daddy some new shoes.  Since he always guesses what his gifts are I printed out a picture of shoes and wrapped it up.  He had no idea!!

 Then it was my turn!  I love getting gifts, but have a hard time waiting.  It was even more difficult when I saw the huge box (thankful that it was only there the day before).  I tried to figure it out all day because everything I had asked for was small.  Well, I had one small box so I opened it first.  It was the external flash I've been wanting for my camera.  Now I was really clueless as to what was in the big box.  I open it up and find a Christmas tree box inside another box filled with stuffed animals and books.  Finally when I got all of it out I found a new camera lens inside the tree box!!  So excited!!  Then to top it off I check my stocking and there is the camera strap I've been wanting and another new lens!  Jason is wonderful and definitely spoils me!!

 Trying out the flash!  Much better!!

 After we left our house we headed to my parents for breakfast.  After we ate breakfast we had a call from Scott and Vivian and were able to chat with them.

 Todd got some new boots

 Raleigh some legos

 This was definitely my most special and sentimental gift.  Mama had a quilt made for all of us from Dot & Nore's clothes.  I love it!

 Mama got some new charms for her Pandora bracelet.  

Daddy got a new camera bag

 Jason some headphones (Raleigh ruined this one the day we bought them, but he did think they were going to be from me!)

 And me...Pioneer Woman cookbook!!!!!!  So excited, but I'm gaining weight just from reading it and seeing how much butter she uses!  I've already told Jason that we're going to have to work out this year because all of the recipes sound fantastic!

 After we left my parents we headed over to Memaw's house to open gifts and eat lunch.

Nana and Granddaddy checking out one of their gifts

 Memaw

 Raleigh and all her princesses!

 After Memaw's house we headed home for a quick nap.  When we woke up it was snowing and sticking!  First white Christmas in Georgia in over 100 years!

Raleigh was so excited and wanted to stick out her tongue to catch the snowflakes!

 After a few quick pictures in the snow we headed to Todd and Cindy's for dinner.

Lacy's gifts were piling up!

 Todd had quite a few as well!

 My wonderful niece and nephew!

 Chloe and Raleigh

 Snacking after opening gifts

 This is what I put up with daily!  Just kidding...he's wonderful!

 Raleigh became the photographer!

 Lacy and Robby with their grandparents

 It finally started snowing in  Athens so more pictures!!

Lacy and Raleigh

 Daddy missed the memo...we were catching the snow!

Nothing I love more...my family, lots of fun, and remembering that Jesus came to earth for us!  Merry Christmas!