Hawks Cookie/Ornament Exchange

 Tonight was the Annual Hawks Cookie/Ornament Exchange for Allison's team.  Augustina's family hosted at their beautiful home and each girl brought 17 cookies to share and an ornament to exchange.

They had a delicious pasta dinner, watched Elf and played games until it was time for the exchange.

 Aubree, Turbo, Allison, Bailey J and Eve

 Olivia, Reanna, Zoey, Jennifer, Isabella, Anika and Bailey J again 

 Hannah, Saige, Bailey A and Augustina

 Coach brought each of the girls a pair of reindeer antlers and cozy socks too!  There were lots of cute ornaments this year and it was another fun event for this team!

White Elephant

 Tonight, we hosted the 5th Annual White Elephant Party.  We even had our very own "Buddy the Elf"!

The party couldn't get started until he topped our tree with the Christmas Star!

Jenna, Taylor, Maylie, Madison and Lauren

 We ate pizzas from Temecula Pizza Co (since we were in OC all day for a soccer showcase) and then picked numbers for the main event.  This crazy crew posed with the numbers stuck to their foreheads!

 We had 21 participants this year so lots of great choices, ranging from super small to that giant box full of air holes. I was a little worried Matt had convinced someone to bring a puppy!

 Lindsey was up first and picked this lovely Buddha.

 Madison picked Zoomies.

 Taylor was brave and opened the big box...her very own walker.  Hilarious!  At least it wasn't a puppy!

 Maylie chose a camo duck with Duck Dynasty boxers inside.

 Lindsey had the Buddha stolen by Charlie or Tyan (started getting confusing) and picked this lovely Hillbilly briefcase we found in Georgia...which was later stolen by Leslie.

 Allison got this crazy cat fleece blanket, which then got stolen by Maylie. So Allison stole the walker so Taylor could steal back the blanket from Maylie.  Confused yet?

 Jenna left with the shark bank

 Matt got the Obama toilet paper, but it was later stolen by Tyan so Matt ended up with a framed Definitions of Poop!

 Madison's Zoomies were stolen, so she picked the hot dog hat.

 Charlie (note the costume change) stole the hot dog hat and Madison ended up with a jock strap and two pink tennis balls!

 Hank and Hayden both got a Polly (fake wooden parrot that actually chirps and turns its head).

 Tyan with his toilet paper

 Lauren with her very oversized bra and very short jean booty shorts

 Turbo got two bars of soap...one that said "Butt" and one that said "Face".  You sure don't want to mix them up!

 Dan loved his Duck Dynasty sign.  "If it's got a name, it's a pet.  If not, it's dinner"!

 Taylor with her crazy cat blanket

 After Lindsey had the Buddha and the briefcase stolen, she ended up with the drink glasses and was very happy!

Taylor is wearing the disgusting LA Dodger jacket from Goodwill that I selected.  It even had a blood stain on the front...gross, but funny!

Katy with her sombrero-wearing cat phone case. 

Reanna sporting her new windshield wiper goggles.

Tim stole the duck from Maylie, only for her to chose a duck whistle...sense a theme this year?

 We had very sore cheeks and bellies from laughing so hard and loved the creativity everyone put into their gifts.  We played a fun round of LCR and then the kids played a few rounds of Spoons.

 Cheers to another successful White Elephant and to wonderful friends!

GOHS Pre-season Scrimmages

 The GOHS pre-season is underway and Taylor is off to a great start!

She has played most of her first two games and is the starting Left Midfielder!  She has an assist, one goal and several great shots on the net.  I'm so proud of her hard work and role on this team and can't wait for the season to get underway!

Happy Thanksgiving

I wasn't very good with the camera today, but we had a lovely day at Gigi's.  She spoiled us with a festive table and fabulous meal.  We had a wonderful time watching football, chatting with her friend Gay and enjoying our last day together.

Everything was delicious.  We had turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, green beans, cranberry sauce, carrots and apples and pumpkin bread.

We were very thankful for a truly wonderful vacation, great memories and lots of laughs with Gigi and time together as a family.  It was tough to say goodbye, but we hope Gigi will visit us soon and we look forward to getting back to South Carolina!

Biking for Miles

 

The South Carolina cold snap continued, but the skies cleared up and we couldn't wait any longer to rent bikes and tour the island some more.  We hadn't even seen the beach yet! We bundled up and within a few 100 feet from our condo, took a right at the first Beach Access sign.

 We biked down a short wooden path which opened up to this!  It was beautiful!

The beach was empty, the sand was smooth and the wind was to our backs so we biked for miles down the coast!

 One of many Horseshoe Crabs in the sand

 This is our favorite way to spend the day...exploring somewhere new, as a family and getting exercise as we do it!

 It was just perfect, COLD but perfect!

We biked all they way down to Coligny Circle and then got back on the paths to bike to Sea Pines Forest Preserve.

 I just loved that you could be on the ocean one minute and then in the forest the next!

 We locked up our bikes to hike in the preserve.

 There were scenic paths and bridges and leaves falling everywhere.

 The Spanish Moss on the trees is all over Hilton Head and is such a unique scenery we don't get at home.

Then we biked to The Crazy Crab for lunch in Harbour Point.  I think we probably clocked about 10-12 miles today!

 Once back at the condo, we all napped and cleaned up.  Gigi offered to take the girls to dinner and keep them overnight so Matt and I could have a date night.  The girls had so much fun going through Gigi's photo albums, looking at old photos of Matt and laughing at my many hairstyles over the years.

 Matt and I went to a LowCountry Boil at The Salty Dog Cafe.  We ordered Hush Puppies and then he got the boil with shrimp, crab, andouille sausage and corn on the cob.

I got grilled shrimp, shrimp and grits, vegetables and scalloped potatoes. It was all delicious!