Christmas Craziness!!!

The chaos of all the kids opening presents!!!

The Rileys and the Hakes

My new cowboy boots Philip gave me! I love them!!

Doesn't look like there was much of a recession at my parents house:)

Kevin, me, Stephen and Kati- Cousins at Jacksons!!!

Philip and I had a WONDERFUL Christmas this year! It was a whirlwind weekend but so much fun!!!

Wednesday- Headed to mom and dad's house in Eufuala.

Thursday- Loaded up and headed to Birmingham where we met Bob & JoAnne at my cousin's house for the annual Tubbs Family Christmas. Words cannot even describe the chaos that surrounds this event but that is what makes it so fun!!

Friday (AKA MY BIRTHDAY!!!)- Opened up presents (it took us almost 3 hours!) and relaxed all day. Christmas night dad cooked us steaks and we celebrated my birthday:)

Saturday- We packed up and headed back to Birmingham to spend the night and see some friends. Philip got us a great rate at the aLoft in Homewood so we left little Charlie in Eufaula and away we went! Saturday night we ate at Jackson's for my Cousin Birthday Celebration. This is about the 6th year I have done this with some of my cousins and I love it!!!

Sunday- Went for a run through Homewood and it made us sad:( Met sweet little Ava! Ate lunch at Rojo. Went back to Tony & Britney's to chill for a minute. Ate dinner at Flip Burger for our friend Nick's birthday. Finally made it back to Opelika around 11pm!!! PHEW!

It was a blast and I'm bummed that it's over!!! I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!

Toodles!

Babies! Babies!

We had two friends have babies yesterday and another that will be coming any day!! Congratulations to Lauren & Allen on baby Ava Elaine!!! So far there's only one pic on Facebook but I'm hoping they'll post some more soon!

Congrats to Paige & Paul!! Their little Porter was also born yesterday!!

And little prayers going out to the Meyers this week! Baby Meyers #2 is due any day!!! My vote is for Christmas Day of course!!! :)

He did it!

I am so proud of this little fella!!! Saturday he ran (and finished!!) the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville. HOORAY!!! It was really cold and windy and his little legs were so red! He said it was the most challenging thing he's ever done but he's ready to train for another one!!! I think we (Me, Lyndsay, Mary & Philip) are going to think about running Chicago Marathon in October. Maybe...

'Twas Twenty Nights Before Christmas...

The girls in their pj's!

Lyndsay & me in our onesies :)

The Snuggie Squad. Brett & Audra were so excited about their blue & pink snuggies!!

"Dirty Santa"- an Iain Stewart original. This was one of the most popular gifts!!

All the boys. It was impossible to get them all looking at the camera at once!

The "Ralphies"- Philip wouldn't wear the bunny suit so I said I would. I think it would have been funnier if he had done it. Instead he opted for some "You'll shoot your eye out!" pj's:)

We had a 'Twas the Night Before Christmas party at our house on the 5th. Everyone had to wear pj's and we played Dirty Santa. Each couple brought a good gift and a "re-gift" and it turned out to be the best game of Dirty Santa I've played!!! The two biggest hits were a two-pack of Snuggies and an original "Dirty Santa" print from our friend Iain. Some of the not-so-popular gifts were a vegan cookbook and a can of Spotted Dick :o) Everyone had a great time and said getting to wear pj's to a party was awesome! Dad wrote a cute poem that I put on the invitation.

‘Twas twenty nights before Christmas
and down at the tracks,
Mer & Phil’s is the place
for holiday snacks

Everyone in their Jammies
is set for the night,
and the exchanging of gifts
makes everything right

Listed below
is all the specifics,
come ready for fun
it will be terrific

Gobble Gobble!!!

Even Charlie had a great time. He looooves running (& digging) in the sand!

A better place than this to spend Thanksgiving...I don't think so!

Impressing Philip with my mad golf skills

Ellen and I at La Cocina

Me, Charlie and Philip enjoying the beautiful sunset

Our whole group at the Red Bar:)

Brian, Philip and me taking a pre-Thanksgiving dinner walk on the beach

Round 2 of the Riley/Hake Thanksgiving at the beach was a hit!!! This year we stayed the entire week- Sunday to Sunday- and had a blast!!! The weather was great and we just relaxed the whole week. I thought we would get a little bored being there for a week when it's not warm enough to lie out but I was WRONG!!! Here's what all we did:

1) Played golf with mom and dad

2) Took some spin classes at Balance Health Studio

3) Read The Help and Bitter is the New Black. They were both great books. If you haven't read The Help, you need to!!! Philip read The Road and said it was awesome.

4) Shopped! (but not on Friday)

5) Watched the Iron Bowl

6) Ate at RED BAR!!!!!

7) Rode our bikes a lot :)

8) Spent some time on the beach

9) Polished up on my Wii skills

It was glorious and we can't wait to do it again next year!!! Thanks moms and dads for taking us!!!!

Toodles!