Tis the Birthday Season!

All four of our grandchildren have Spring birthdays! Will and Abby both have March birthdays, Pressley has an April birthday, and Evan's is in May. That makes for a fun Spring, but also a very busy one! Our eldest grandchild, Will, celebrated his 10th birthday Friday. Look at this picture. It was taken the day he arrived in Atlanta from Beijing, China--and this was, by far, one of the most exciting days of our lives! Wasn't he just the cutest thing you've ever seen? He was the first grandchild on both sides--and we all adored him--and still do!

Here he is now--9 years later! We are so proud of him, and marvel everyday at what a special, intelligent boy he is. Many of our friends ask frequently for "Will stories" because he is just so unique. And, of course, his Poppy loves to tell the latest tale about him and his interests!

We got to check him out of school on Thursday(like we did for Abby), and take him to lunch at Chili's, and then to spend his money from us. He bought a Wii game, and couldn't wait to get home to play it!
On Friday evening, the family got together at Red Lobster( Will's choice) and had dinner. Beth and David let him choose one friend to "sleep-over" with him, too. Here he is with his friend--and two of his cousins, Evan and Jonathan.
We couldn't leave the girls out! Here's Abby, Sarah and Pressley outside Red Lobster.
Will wanted a cookie cake this year, so here everyone is singing Happy Birthday, as Will blows out his candles. The dog wanted to be in on the fun, too!
Will loves Crocs, so here he is showing off his new shoes from his cousins......
and reading a letter from his sweet sister!
To top off the great birthday, he was so excited to see his new bike!

God has blessed us so much --and Will is definitely one of those very special blessings!

If This Weekend Was Any Indication....

If this weekend was any indication of the fun ahead of us, then I am really excited about seeing the next few months ahead! Wow, it's been a busy one, but oh, so much fun--filled with a birthday shopping trip, a birthday party, a boys' sleepover, a first-ever T-ball game, and a soccer game.

Friday was Abby's 8th birthday! (I just can't believe that tiny little thing could already be 8 years old! ) But, the truth is--she is growing up! The above picture is from our shopping trip to North Point Mall. Abby loves the carousel there-- so that was a must! We gave her money to spend and ate lunch together at the mall. Then, the first thing she had decided to do with her money was to get her ears pierced. (We DID have her parents permission!) She was SO excited, and was SO brave! Not even one tear!
She enjoyed the frozen yogurt, too!


See how brave she was? I was so proud of her, and thought she looked so cute with her new little earrings!
Then, it was on to the American Girl Store! Abby has an American Girl doll named Ivy. She looks a lot like Abby, too. After lots of shopping and trying to decide just what she wanted, she decided on a new bathing suit for Ivy and a beach-set for her with sandals, a beach blanket, sunglasses and a beach bag. They were so cute!
Here's Abby with a full sized American Girl Doll.
On Friday, we met Abby and lots of her family at the Mall of Georgia and had dinner together. There were 16 of us. All the kids sat at one end of the table, and had a ball together!
After dinner, we went over to Beth and David's and had "birthday brownie". Of course, that was Abby's choice--as was Olive Garden for dinner.

Here are Aunt Amy and Evan.
Her other grandparents gave her two new pair of shoes. She especially liked the flip-flops!
She was really surprised with the new bike she got from her Mom & Dad and brother.

Since Abby had a friend to spend the night with her, Will decided he'd much rather come to our house, than to listen to giggling girls. So, we invited Evan to come too. They always have fun together.
On Saturday, we went to Evan's first T-ball game. Doesn't he look cute in his uniform?
This was his very first "At bat"!
Here is Pressley, dressed in her soccer uniform, waiting to go to her game.
She has really surprised us all with how much she enjoys soccer! We thought she was much too prissy and "Princess-like" to enjoy it. But, she really gets in there and hustles!
Yesterday was such a beautiful day! It really spoiled us. Today has been a good bit cooler, but yesterday only reminded us of how much we have to look forward to!

Happy New Year!

While many of our friends were having a quiet New Year's Eve, these "old folks" were having a loud, exciting one! We had the privilege of having all 4 of our "Grands" for the night! Dinner consisted of Wings, Pizza, Spaghetti, Dips, Chips, etc.
For dessert... there were parfaits, custom-made with Poppy!


Books were read.......
Wii was played.........
There were games of Chinese Checkers and Rack-O with GranNan.....
and lots of "bubbly" hot chocolate!
Believe it or not, ALL 4 made it to bring in the New Year with much excitement! ( We all even got to watch fireworks from the upstairs bedroom.. AFTER midnight.) Then, at 12:45, everyone CRASHED!
Never fear though, everyone was up ready to go again bright and early this morning! Pressley is sitting on the cardio machine reliving it all to Aunt Beth on the phone!

New Year's Eve Wrap Up of 2010

This is going to be a brief wrap up of the Christmas festivities of 2010! By brief, I mean verbally brief. There are still plenty of photos, but there is just not enough time to write in great detail about each event. In exactly 30 minutes, all four of the grandchildren will arrive to bring in the New Year with GranNan and Poppy.

Above( and below) are some photos from Pressley's Christmas program at the Frazer Center. If that child doesn't become an actress( or use her expressive abilities in some other way) it will be a shame! As you can see, she was feeling every word she was singing!

After the performance, we all got to go back to her classroom and have refreshments.
This year, at our Christmas Supper Club event, we were 100% in attendance! That is quite unusual, since so many in our group are "world travelers"these days!On Tuesday before Christmas, we got together with our children and their families, and my Mom to celebrate and exchange gifts. We always go out to eat together and then return to our house. Our new treat this year was having Abby tell the Christmas Story. She did a wonderful job--and told it in great detail. It was SO sweet!




This year was a "Phineas & Ferb" themed Christmas for Will. Almost everything he received was Phineas & Ferb!!!
Near the end of the evening, Granny read a special Christmas book to the children. They all love her so much, so that was a real highlight of their evening!
On Christmas morning, we were invited to join in the McCarthy Christmas morning brunch at Amy and Corin's house. Corin's Mom & Dad , and his sister were there from Knoxville and New York, respectively. (At this point in the process of doing this blog, everyone arrived--so, now the blog is a day old--since I didn't get it posted yesterday! Oh well--best intentions!)
Back to the blog at hand.........As most of you know, our family goes up to my sister's house at Lake Hartwell on Christmas afternoon and evening. This year, things were cut a little short due to the snow coming in--but it didn't damper our fun! Above, is a photo of my two nieces