Beachin'

Rollin' white sand, cold can koozie in my hand, just a summertime strolling
Chillin', breazin', sippin', singin' whoaoaoh

Beachin'



Sorry got a little carried away and cant think of the beach without Jake Owen's song popping in my head. When we arrived it was perfect from the weather to the non Jellyfish, water, waves were mellow and the kids were ready to get down there and hop on in.



 My Rhett man was so glad he decided to come and he had the best time.
 He spent the majority of his time trying to master the skim board. Bless his poor heart he took some spills and face plants and got back up and would try it again.

This was constant and non stop







 

Maci and Bradley found the Yolo board and took it out for a paddle. I think my little brother got the best end of the deal. lol This was not the easiest thing to master.

 

 



This little fish obsessed boy loved seeing all the fish swim by and it was killing him to catch a few

Mauri found a really big shell and it was so pretty but when we were out in the boat diving for sand dollars she dropped it and we never found it again. She was heart broken. But we did find a lot of sand dollars. 

 

 

The little bro who just celebrated his 21st birthday a week before the beach had made a couple of comment about how boring it would be going to the beach with women. He started off with a bang then I must say this big sis who doesn't play beer pong was way ahead and he even had to step back and say ok this is embarrassing I'm a college kid and getting beat by my old big sis. We had a good laugh and finally he did come back and beat me. I had on cup left forever and that one cup got me. 

 

Love this picture

Mom, MIL, Grandma whose last day of radiation was the day before we left. I

I am so glad she was able to make it and had a great time. 

 

Maci's early morning walk on the beach she found a leftover grab from the night before and again another perfect day and clear water



 

The kids and I all agreed we need longer time at the beach,

 we have decided a month long trip will be better. LoL 



 

 

Maci has gotten to the age where pictures are not something she wants to be part of unless its snapchat. So getting in a picture with all of us may or may not have been made with threats.

Can you tell how happy these kids are to take pictures with their Mom

 

Mauri has become a beach babe and could see her life here



 

You can take the kid out of the country but not the country out of the kid:

he tried catching this poor bird over and over. Even diving into the sand



Rhett found some big kids who tried to teach him how to do it.

These young men who looked to be high school maybe c=early college kids took time out of their day to help Rhett and I appreciate that. Their Mommas raised these kids right and should be very proud. I mean hello young adults did not come to the beach to play with a 7 year od boy they came to take a peek at the girls and have a good time but when they came over and talked to Rhett and helped him it made Rhett's day. he thought he was just as big as him. This is the kind of characteristic I am trying to instill in my Rhett man. 

 

No beach trip is complete without taking a boat out to crab island

There were quite a few jelly fish out in crab island but we still managed to enjoy ourself

 

All in all we had a great time and cant wait til next year to do it again so its only fair to end this post with this:

 



Christmas Traditions

 

 

My favorite things about Christmas is the traditions. When I was a kid I looked forward to them and to this day we still do them and my parents and when I had Maci I knew I wanted to start our own.

 

 

 

H5 Christmas Traditions:

Trees: I take my ornaments off each year but never take apart our fake tree we take it straight to the storage building and it stays fluffed and ready so each year all we have to do is put ornaments and plug in the lights. Super easy and makes it so much more enjoyable. For me the part I hate is fluffing out all the branches and that is why I leave it up and store it up all year. I know some leave their ornaments on it and store it that way but I love placing the ornaments on the tree.

My kids each have a tree that they have in their room and they put the ornaments they make at school on it. When they all leave the house I will combine all the special ornaments into one big tree.

 

 

Ornaments: we place our names is a bowl and draw names and have an ornament exchange. It's so much fun to pull out the ornaments and remember who got this for you and what year and the reason. This actually came from my childhood. My mom would buy us an ornament each year and now she buys the grandkids an ornament each year.

We also pick up an ornament wherever we go on vacation. M&M one from Vegas M&M factory, Hot Pepper with sombrero from Mexico (which you can see in the above photo), Minnie & Mickey from Disney World, Taxi Cab from New York, Seashell from the Beach these are just a few. Hopefully one day I will have enough for a travel tree.

 

 

 

Stockings: you can read all about our Stocking tradition here

these are not my stocking I was just to lazy to get up and take a pic of ours

 

  

 

Christmas Eve:

 attend candle light service at our church

 

We also food prep for Christmas morning brunch. All of our breakfast casserole and quiches are assembled. We do everything the night before to make our morning easier. Sometimes we will make homemade cinnamon rolls and if that is the case its must we make them in advance. If we are having sausage balls we roll them up the night before. A week or so before Christmas we all sit down and decide what we want for Christmas brunch and make a menu so each year the menu has some changes depending on what we are craving from year to year.

 A little secret we recently found from a blogger about 2 years ago
. These cinnamon rolls taste just like homemade ones and they are to die for and so easy.
So why do all that work when you can just grab these:

 

 

 

After all of this if finished we set out cookies and Dr. Pepper for Santa because once he has gotten to our house he is just tired of milk he is in need of caffeine to get him back home. We then open up our ornaments who we drew names for and our gifts to each other.

 

 

 

We check out all of our neat things we have now days and track Santa to see where he is and when we need to go to bed. We def do not want to be awake when Santa is near our house.

 

 

While we took Maci to see Santa for the first time we stopped into a store in the mall and they had a Christmas book with the true story of Christmas, fun Christmas Stories and a few songs. We purchased it and every Christmas Eve before we go to bed we read the book and the story is based in these verses Luke 2: 1-20.

 

 

Christmas Morning:

We sleep in... no waking up early for our crew except for Rhett. Once everyone is up we open our stockings then the kids open up their gifts from Santa.

About 7/8 years ago while discussing Christmas traditions at church a very smart lady mentioned that since she never get use of her China that she adores her family sets the table all fancy and uses china for their Christmas breakfast. I thought that was the best idea I had ever heard so ever since then we have been using China and fancying the table all up. Yes we eat from a fancy decorated table off china in our pjs and hot mess hair but its what we do. I have solid white china and currently looking for Christmas China. Last year I found theses and used them and have leftovers so I am going to use them this year as well. I know I know the plates and napkins are paper but I am in the process of finding the perfect Christmas pattern.

 

 

 

While searching for Christmas china I came across this pattern and really liking it.

 

So there you have the H5 Christmas traditions.



Go ahead and stuff that baby up

Stocking Stuffers:

Stocking have always been a huge part of my life when I was growing up .

I knew and looked forward to some basic staples that were in there each and every year.

A few years ago my mom's fireplace was crowded with stockings and she ran out of room for them there and she made the comment about next year only putting up the grandkids..........

UMMMMM say what?

We all chimed in and let her know that do away with our Christmas gifts but not our stockings.

That's just how important our stocking are to us.

Now my mom puts all 5 grandkids stocking on the mantle and on the built in shelf beside it she hangs: mine, Nick, Rusty, Amanda, Bradley, & Daddy.

 

Stocking Must Haves:

Reese's Trees

a funny story about these:

Every year as far as I can remember these have been a staple but about 5 years ago my mom had a lot going on and when she went to pick these up for us they were sold out. She thought oh well I will get something else and it will be no big deal.............

THAT'S WHERE SHE WAS WRONG!!!!!

I even think we all cried about them not being in there and saying everything under the sun to the effect that Christmas was ruined because the Grinch didn't think we needed Reese's trees.

Let's just say she now understands how important these are to us and will never make that mistake again. She learned her lesson. Now it is a running joke...got the trees?

At Easter we get the eggs and valentines we get the hearts.

It's our thing. Who said the best things in life were expensive?



 

 



We all know there is nothing like a good ole Sonic drink

 

 

 

and ponytails

even though each year my mom complained if you would keep up with the 100 I bought you last year

my brothers always got something hunting or fishing related.

 

 

the other few items were a surprise but these items were a must.

These are where traditions and memories are made from. I cant remember everything I have received from Christmas last year and I know that is sad but I know these small things each year and would know if I didn't get them. That is the stocking tradition at my parents house.

 

 

H5 stockings:

for the girls must haves:

trees, ponytails, fuzzy socks & iTunes gift card

Rhett:

trees, iTunes gift card, tall Nike or Under Amour socks & Gap boxers

yes he is spoiled and will not wear anything underwear other the Gap

Nick:

trees, iTunes, American Eagle boxers

Me:

Victoria's Secret gift card

 

 

Everything else is different from year to year.

 Maci & Mauri:

 

 

 



 

and anything else I can find that I think they will like

 

Rhett:

 

 

 

Nick:

 

He loves this stuff and I love smelling it on him.

 

 

Me:

Here are a few things on my stocking wishlist

 

 

well there you have it Stockings