Savannah

Recently, I took two of the boys and tagged along on one of Marc's business trips to Savannah. That is one of my favorites places to go!  He typically has at least two trips there a year, and we still haven't seen all of the history there!

This is just some of the many pictures that I took.   If you don't like looking at lots of pictures you might want to skip this post. :)  I like to store pictures on my blog that I may not always print.

It is always so sweet to have just a couple of the kids with us and really be able to focus on them.  These two were a lot of fun! :)

Evenings walking on River Street are some of my most favorite memories!  We have been doing this since McKenzie was a baby!

We have been to Savannah  too many times to count and this was our first time to the famous Leopold's ice cream shop. I love ice cream, but honestly I would just assume have Publix brand chocolate almond ice cream. :)  Marc says its not really ice cream that I like because I pour milk over the top of it. :)

The "waving girl" statue down by the river.  Legend has it that she stood waving the ships in every day waiting for her "love" to come home.  They say she died of a broken heart and worn out arms. :)

 

The boys thought this old jukebox was pretty neat.  It actually worked.

My little photo bomber. :)  I will miss those little faces being in all of my pictures one day!

This was St. John The Baptist Cathedral and it was gorgeous!  I took many pictures in there, but somehow they are never as interesting as in person.

Lots and lots of wonderful history in this city!

Waiting on the ferry to come pick us up.

This was The Ships of the Maritime Museum.  The boys enjoyed it.

We did the trolley tour two different days.  It really made it easy to get on and off throughout the town and see a lot more.

Checking out the old stone walls while riding the trolley.

My sweet fellow.

This was at the Massie School which was the first public school in Savannah.  That was pretty neat to see too.  I loved putting the dunce hats on my little dunces. :)

My pictures didn't upload in order..... :)

ringing the school bell in the principal's office....

Riding the ferry boat at night is so beautiful.

Myles was being so serious sitting in this seat in the cathedral and whispered, "I think this seat is for a fat man."

Creating some of their own architecture.  Malachi really  has a knack for building and creating things.

In the mornings we would get their school work done and then hit the gym.  They were quite the workout partners!

Me and my man.....

Another dunce pic.....

 

Breakfast buffet at the hotel.  This kid can put away the food!

 

Making him drink his green smoothie. Not quite as good as the homemade ones we drink at home. :)

The candy shops on River St. are always a favorite spot!

Forsyth Park Fountain.  We have pictures in front of this when our oldest were babies.

Some random statue that he wanted his picture taken with.  Love this kid. :)

                                                "SO much sugar!!!!"

Daytime on the river.

I love that he will still hold his daddy's hand.

Posing with Tomochichi..

                                                            Pizza!!!

This was while we were eating breakfast at the hotel. He would rather stand at the window and watch the ships go in and out on the river.

More trips to the candy store....

It was a bit chilly for the pool.  They were standing there posing for this picture and shortly after, Myles pushed Malachi into the pool.  Boys......

                                                 Yep... this sums them up!

And he was posing with Oglethorpe.  Love the history we learned about him while we were there.  When they were settling in Savannah he pitched a tent when the rest of the men were building houses.  He said he had too much work to do to waste time building a house.  What a man! :) 

Malachi's turn to ring the school bell.

Love these two kids!  Myles was posing so sweetly and Malachi said, "Really mama! Hurry up!" :

"An abacus bigger than mine!"

My two dunces! :)

This was in front of the cathedral.

Beautiful place! If you are ever anywhere near Savannah, Georgia it is well worth spending a day there!

 

A pair of canons that  were gifts from George Washington to the city.  They have been nicknamed "George and Martha".

Even after busy days of walking these monkeys had a hard time falling asleep!

Very motivated to get his school work done!

I love his little face in this picture. :)

This was in front of the old Pirates House Restaurant.  We ate there when Madeline was a baby.... many years ago!

 

The houses there are amazing!  This old mansion is now an antique/junk store.  We walked all three stories of it just to see the house! 

I think they had ice cream three times while we were there! And yes, Myles is the one that is supposed to be "sugar free".  We paid for it and he hasn't had anymore sugar since this trip! :)

"Look mama, I'm a statue!"

one last ride on the ferry before heading home....

 

 

Such a fun trip and many sweet memories were made.....

Saruday night ramblings....

It is late Saturday evening and I'm waiting for some things to finish baking.  I'm trying a new sugar free recipe in hopes of finding some more things to fill up Myles. :)

 

Here are a few pictures from a fall church party we went to this year.  My younger kids have never participated in any fall alternatives to Halloween.  We've always just sort of ignored it and done something fun at home.  When my oldest two were little we lived in the same town with my parents. My mom always made amazing costumes for my kids and went with me to the "Harvest Party" as they called it at that church.  The kids had fun, she loved doing it, and I treasure those memories with her.  Once we moved away we just never did that tradition anymore.  McKenzie had the idea of putting Elizabeth in one of Madeline's old costumes (that my mom made) and taking the kids.  Myles had some sort of turtle costume that a neighbor passed down to him, Macheus wore his brothers jersey and helmet and we put converse tennis shoes on Malachi and made him a 50's guy. Very little effort went into it and off we went.

 

 

Oh, and this was the first time Mariah ever dressed up and she is 14. :)  She was a "show girl" showing her "cow" Elizabeth.  It was pretty cute!

 

 My boys were so confused.  They kept calling it the "dress up party".

They were pretty cute though!

They had tons of games, music, candy and this cool rock climbing wall.  Malachi was the only one that made it to the top.  The little boys tried their hardest though.  I didn't think they were ever going to come back down.

                                                       Sweet boys....

We took them by for grandpa to see them. After losing Macheus for what seemed like an eternity and battling crowds we all decided next year we were going to cook hotdogs over the fire pit and stay home.

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Marc has had a lot of travel for work this fall.  We took different kids with us on the past two.  This week he had a two day conference in Atlanta.  That is my least favorite place to go because there really isn't a lot for us to do.  We've taken the kids to most of the places we care to see multiple times, so this time he talked me into just the two of us going.  It was so much fun and SO relaxing!

Madeline was off from teaching the majority of the time we were gone so she and Matthew were  with the younger kids.
 

It was a beautiful hotel with lots of walking trails around it.

We typically don't get king size beds when we travel because we always have the need for more "sleep spots". :)  I walked into the bathroom and said,  "What's this!  Three towels for two people!"   #largefamilyprobs

Our fist evening there we walked the trails and then went out to dinner.  We shared a steak dinner and blooming onion and still brought back half the food.  Matthew thoroughly enjoyed our leftovers. :)

One of my favorite parts was getting to talk with no interruptions.  We have a lot of changes going on in our family right now and it was so nice to recharge.

The second night we hit the mall.  It was kind of a high end mall and I went straight to the clearance racks in each store.   I got $70 shoes for Madeline for $20 and a $65 coat for Malachi for $12.  I love a bargain!  We picked up some unique Christmas gifts while we were there.  Ugh.... I wish I was done with my shopping and I'm barely started good.

We took this home and shared it in bed.  We didn't finish it either!  Good grief!  I couldn't eat like that all the time!

This was so sweet.... McKenzie had given me a bath bomb a long time ago and kept telling me how nice they were.  I just never took the time to use it.  Our first evening there, it was so cold and rainy that we went back to the hotel by 8:00.  I soaked in a hot tub with my bath bomb and it was wonderful! I often go to bed with some pretty stinky EO's on, so this was a nice switch. :)  When I got out, Marc was laying there watching really old sermons on youtube.  We are such party animals. :)  I wouldn't want it any other way!

I literally stayed in the bed until noon!  I watched HGTV, drank my bottled smoothie and ate chocolate covered peanuts.  I decided I had been a slob long enough so I went to the hotel gym and worked out for a couple of hours.  THAT was fun!  Really, it was! :)

We came home rested, refreshed and ready to jump back into our crazy, hectic schedule! 

 

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This dog..... I am not an animal lover but this is the best dog ever!  We got him as a puppy three years ago.  We were very hard on him with his training and it has paid off.  Macheus is his constant (and not very gentle) companion.  Barnabas has never shown any aggression towards him even when he probably deserved it.  He herds the goats, gets the chickens back into their coop and one terrible day when Mac was smaller he stayed with him when he slipped off and went across the street to the cotton field.  This is his rocking chair (or so he thinks.)  He literally knows how to rock himself and it is almost creepy looking.

Well, the timer is buzzing so I will end this for now.

~Until next time.....

Pumpkin Muffins

I made these pumpkin muffins for Myles.  I don't let him have any sugar (He doesn't do well with sugar at all!), so I try to come up with alternatives for him to have.  I found this recipe several years ago and altered it.  I posted the original recipe. The change that I made was simple.  Leave out both kinds of sugar and use one cup of raw honey instead! (I doubled the recipe and used two cups of honey.) They turned out perfect!

 

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2 eggs

1 15 ounce can pure pumpkin puree

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract.