MERRY CHRISTMAS SWEET FRIENDS!

Merry Christmas everyone!  I wish for you all a wonderful holiday filled with family, friends, food and fun...and many many memory making moments.  Have fun, but let's all remember "the reason for the season". 

We delivered our gifts to three of our children and their spouses and 9 of our grandchildren last week, which was wonderful.  Tomorrow we leave to spend Christmas with our youngest daughter and her husband and our youngest grandson.

Oh, how I wish we ALL could be together for Christmas!  It's so hard since we're all spread out over 4 different states :-(  

Can't wait to see this little guy tomorrow! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS SWEET FRIENDS!

 
Hugs from the beach,

Kat

"Father, please let me be a blessing to someone today."

'TIS THE SEASON

I LOVE how sparkly twinkly shiny and happy my house looks when it's all decorated for Christmas.  I finished this morning!!!  Happy happy joy joy!

I want to just prop up my feet and enjoy.  Honestly, I could just sit and look at the lights as I sip on a glass of vino while listening to Michael Buble's Christmas CD.  But...there's Christmas cards to write, lists to make and gifts to wrap.  I bet you're busy too.  Cyber Monday was a big help tonight.  Did you take advantage of it too?

More shopping tomorrow.....  I'm hoping to finish my shopping this week before we leave next Thursday for New York City!  Wish me luck!

Ho Ho Ho!

 
Hugs from the beach,

Kat

"Father, please let me be a blessing to someone today."

THANKFUL WE COULD SHARE

I'll be honest, I was feeling a bit sad about not having any of our children with us this year for Thanksgiving, but I told myself to "put on my big girl panties and be thankful for being able to be with so many people I love".

I have a great story to tell:

 
Every year when we go to my hometown for Thanksgiving, we stay in a pet friendly hotel so we can take Miss Daisy with us.  Since my hometown of Columbus, GA is near a military base (Fort Benning), we always see so many soldiers walking around in their uniforms.  Every year, I think "I just want to take them with us to Thanksgiving".  It breaks my heart to see our heroes away from their families during the holidays.  

This morning George walked Miss Daisy right before we were leaving the hotel and stopped to talk to a young man who was playing basketball by himself.  He found out that he was from Michigan and had just completed his basic training.  George came back to the room to get me and told me about him.  That did it.  I just had to take him with us.  I called my sister and asked if it was okay if we brought a guest and she said "absolutely".  I wish you could have seen his smile when we asked him to go with us.  What a great guy!  So polite.  So charming.  My family just took him in and made him feel right at home.

Thank you God for making my Thanksgiving special.  Thank you go for our heroes.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU!


 
Hugs from the beach,

Kat

"Father, please let me be a blessing to someone today."

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2012



PSALM 100

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

Serve the Lord with gladness!

Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God!

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise!

Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good;

his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations.

I am in my hometown tonight and excited about spending Thanksgiving with family tomorrow.  I'm sad though because this year I will not be with any of our four children and their spouses and our 10 children.  It's so hard to share which I'm sure many of you understand.  I AM thankful though that they all are blessed with wonderful in-laws and family that they will celebrate this season with.  That's a true blessing.  I love all of these families.  Although I will miss seeing them this year, I WILL be with all of my siblings and their spouses, my Mom and Aunt Sherry, and several nieces and nephews and their children.  It's gonna be a fun day.

I have soooo very much to be thankful for.

I wish for each of you a Thanksgiving filled with good food and many memory making moments. Be sure to take some time to recognize your many blessings.  I sure will.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

Hugs from the beach,

Kat

"Father, please let me be a blessing to someone today."

HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE

Gosh, I'm LOVING our cool weather.  November is just bee-u-ti-ful here on the emerald coast.  Cool brisk air and absolutely gorgeous days and wonderful sunsets.  I'm enjoying every day.  Soaking it up 'cause I know we'll have some gray yucky days soon.

The water just sparkles like diamonds are sprinkled on the top.  Notice the beach...no one out except a few walkers.

Great sunset tonight.  Loved seeing the pirate ship heading right for the sunset.

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This made me chuckle!  I've "rescued" lots of bottles in my life. lol

 A new bad habit!

Hope your weekend is good!

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving with family.  How 'bout you?


 
Hugs from the beach,

Kat

"Father, please let me be a blessing to someone today."

I'M BACK

 This sign is over the door leading to my kitchen.  It says it all!


I've been such a bad blogger! Believe me, I've missed my blog. Every day, I tell myself that I really need to get back in the habit of blogging, yet another day goes by ;-(

A few days ago, I got a sweet email from a reader of my blog (thanks Pat!) telling me that she missed me. Made my day! I promised her and myself that I would make it happen. I'm not sure if any of my other blog readers are still out there, but I started my blog for me...it's my diary...so it's important to get back to recording. 

Soooooo....here I am. I promise ME and you that I'm back. Keep me honest, okay? Pretty please.
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Tonight's post will just be a quick list of what I've been doing since my last post, but I'll get back to my silly (and serious) stuff soon.  I want to blog at least several times a week.
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The beach has called my name and I've had to answer it, of course ;-)

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We've had some incredible sunrises.  I love it when I wake early and step out on the balcony with my coffee to watch the day begin.

 

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We've had awesome sunsets too.  The lights you see are from a wedding at a wedding venue in a large house down the beach from us.  Almost every weekend, we get to watch (with my binoculars...lol) and enjoy the music.  Love it!

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We're enjoying this time of year.  The view from our balcony has been incredible!  The water just sparkles!

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Team Davenport participated again in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk.  It was a cool windy day, but the turn out was wonderful and we had a great time.

My sweet friend Kari sent some of her wonderful and delicious cookies.  How sweet is that?!!!!  I was thrilled and touched with her thoughtfulness.  If you need cookies for a special occasion, Kari at Makin' Sweets is the one to call.

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Daven was sick recently, so I spent a few days taking care of him.  I arrived on Halloween night.  Although he didn't feel good, he sure was a sweet boy!

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This last weekend I took a quick trip to my Aunt Sherry's house in Atlanta for a fun (but very quick) girls trip with my Mom and "Other Mother".  The four of us had a ball.  Lots of good food, wine, games, giggles, and some shopping.  We had lunch with several of Sherry's friends and then enjoyed the Christmas Open House at Collector's Corner,  a gorgeous HUGE Victorian house.  Wow!  So much "eye candy" that it was (almost) overwhelming.  We also spent a great afternoon strolling around the quaint town of Senoia, GA where so many movies have been filmed.  Senoia is also hosting the Southern Living 2012 Idea House. 

 
Hugs from the beach,

Kat

"Father, please let me be a blessing to someone today."

BEHIND

Sorry, I've been a little behind in my blogging!
(I know that's cheesy, but I couldn't help myself :-)  I took this photo in Bree's neighborhood when I was there last week and just wanted to use the photo. LOL)

A few more photos taken last week:

 

The day we went to pick up balloons for the party, Mickey watched Daven from overhead.  Kinda spooky to me, but Daven thought it was cool.

 

Poor baby was tuckered out by the time we finished our shopping.

 4 generations

Our sweet one year old, still in his pajamas

Here's what's been happening with us since we got home from Daven's birthday...shown in photos.

Our grandson Dalton and his girlfriend Meghan came for a long weekend.  They needed a break from college and some home cooked meals.  We LOVED having them here!

We spent hours every day on the beach and the weather was PERFECT!

Great sunrises

And...wonderful sunsets

They left on Tuesday ;-(

I consoled myself by taking a book to the beach...again

Our water has been beautiful, but too cold for me.  Only my toes go in this time of year.

I didn't take photos (pooh), but our friends Bob and Jennifer were in town and we enjoyed several nights out with them.  We're planning a trip together to New York city in December and we're all getting excited. 

No photo of this either - I visited my dermatologist yesterday and came home with a band-aid on the tip of my nose after she biopsied a spot.  I look oh so lovely and will for the next 6 days since I have to keep it covered.  Hmmm...so glad I don't have anywhere important I have to go ;-)

I've spent the last few days putting the house back together.  Even inside though, I can still enjoy the beach.  

That's just ONE reason I LOVE our new home!

 
Hugs from the beach,

Kat

"Father, please let me be a blessing to someone today."

I'M ONE YEAR OLD!

It's so hard to believe, but Daven has turned one!  His actual birthday was on Friday, but his Mickey Mouse birthday party was on Saturday.  

He LOVES Mickey!

Bree did an incredible job with the party plans.  She made all the decorations herself too, including his hat.

Love his smash cake!

Our gift to him was his own chair...a perfect spot to watch Mickey Mouse!

Oops!  I took the photo before the baked beans were taken out of the oven ;-)

The BEST cookies.  Made especially for Daven's party by my sweet friend Kari @
Makin' Sweets

Look at those sweet feet

I sat on the floor and kept the list as he opened his gifts

Peanut butter and jelly Mickey shaped sandwiches too!  The kids loved them.

Thank you God for grandchildren!

Hugs from the beach,

Kat

"Father, please let me be a blessing to someone today."