The Elf on The Shelf~ No thanks!

We had a very interesting evening at the Lampkin house. When Sara Kennedy came home from dance Mon. afternoon I informed her that we had a special delivery from the North Pole. She was so excited, but reluctantly agreed to wait to open it until Will came home. Before dinner we all sat on the couch and opened the package. It was the book, The Elf on the Shelf. Will read the book (it's a great book!) For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's a very popular Christmas, children's book. The book comes with an elf and tells you that you're supposed to put the elf on a shelf (or anywhere) and at night he flies to the North Pole to tell Santa if you behaved that day. Before morning he flies back to your house and moves to another spot. Each day until Christmas Eve, he moves around your house, so he can watch you to see if you're naughty or nice. On Christmas Eve, he flies back to the North Pole until the following year. Very exciting, right? Not here. When we put the elf on the mantle, SK was a little reluctant to go into the den. She hung very close to us all night. She asked all sorts of questions like how does he fly?, will he come in my room?. etc. All in all- we thought she would like him. Well, at 12:45 a.m. she came TEARING into our room in a panic. Crying telling us she didn't won't the elf here. "How can we get him to leave?" I told her we could say a prayer to God and ask him to tell Santa we didn't want the elf at our house. She was still very frantic and upest. She has never slept with us, except one time when she had the stomach virus. I tried to put her back in her bed- that was not happening. She said, "Mommy, can I please sleep with you- just this one time?" Of course, I let her. This morning when she woke up we had to check all over the house to make sure he wasn't hiding (SK's idea). So, today Santa wrote her a letter and left it at the door telling her if she doesn't want the elf here- he can stay at the North Pole to help make toys. Poor child- I think she's been traumatized. I have a feeling if she never sees another elf- it will be too soon! Christmas through the eyes of a child! Maybe he does look a little creepy! P.S. I'm sure all children won't hate the elf. It really is a great book- we might try to invite him back in a year or two.

Thankful!

A game of football with Dr. Trey after lunch- look at Cooper playing with the big kids. Some of my very favorite women in the world~ my little cousin Dedra who's about to graduate from nursing school at UMC, my awesome mom, my sweet Aunt Shirley, and one of the people I have the most fun with, my cousin Rebecca My Uncle Gary who was one of my Dad's very best friends- they called each other "brother-in-law"
Sara Kennedy and her sweet daddy
Uncle Robert and Michelle, "Mimi"

I love Thanksgiving! It's one of my favorite holidays. I love the simplicity of it and getting together with family. We always have lunch with my side of the family and for the past 3 years it's been at Rebecca's house. This year, since Rebecca should be having a baby any day- she asked if we could have it at our house. I was very excited to have our first Thanksgiving in our new house. We had a house full of people and it was great! Each year at Rebecca's we all write on a tablecloth what we're thankful for. This year she brought the tablecloth to our house and we wrote on it here. As soon as we spread it on the table~ the first handwriting I saw was my Dad's beautiful handwriting. It was dated 11-24-05, his last Thanksgiving with us and he wrote he was thankful for "Life." The holidays are still very hard without him here and I'm sure they'll never feel "just right." But we managed and have an awesome family to help us through. I'm so thankful for the blessings God has bestowed on my "Life." Here are a few:

1~ My Savior, Jesus Christ

2~ My husband for his sweet and gentle nature and his humility

3~ Our adorable children (I laugh at myself when I think we had a life before them)

4~ Our families

5~ My wonderful friends

6~ Our home and having food to eat

7~ Last but certainly NOT least, we're all healthy!

A Morning at The Zoo

Zan, Cooper, and Stone looking at the giraffes
These girls had the right idea~ Sara Kennedy & Jett
Zan, Cooper, Payton, Swayze, Sara Kennedy, and Mason
Cooper and Jennifer- Cooper managed to have somebody hold him the entire day!
Sweet Baby Keaton

Our playgroup went to the zoo on Monday and our sweet friends, Jean Elaine and Zan got to join us. We had the best time and the weather was perfect! We stayed until lunch and had a picnic. I'm THANKFUL for my sweet friends and their precious children.

Cooper's Birthday Party

We had such a fun time at Cooper's party. The train man came and we had perfect weather. Thanks to all our sweet friends and family for coming! It was such a special day and our little man had a blast!

More Coop Birthday Pictures

5k Run

3 Generations

My friend Ashely from high school- MHS Most Beautfiul '94 & '93 respectively (hehe)
our small town claim to fame!

More 5k PICS

Off and running

My time

Mom's time- note she's still holding her cup from the water break, she didn't want to litter:)

Our little runner

Happy 2nd Birthday Cooper~ Nov. 17th

November 17, 2005~ God blessed us with a perfect, baby boy! We had no idea how much happiness and joy he would bring to our lives. Everyday has been filled with wonder. He was an awesome baby and has grown into the sweetest little boy. His big sister absolutely adores him and vice versa. His daddy loves having a little man to teach about fishing and hunting and I'm absolutely smitten! I can't believe how time has flown, Happy Birthday Cooper Man (my love tank is full for this little guy)!

Scrub Run 5K in Magee

Saturday I ran in the 5K in Magee for the new hospital. It was the hilliest course I've ever ran (which isn't saying much- being as though I started running in June). There were 4 hills that were so big you couldn't see the top. My time was 32:12 which was almost 2 minutes faster than my last 5K. But, it was really hard~ my legs are still sore. I came in 3rd in my age group and my mom did the walk and came in SECOND in her age group with a time of 40:24. Go Nana! Sara Kennedy did the one mile fun run- she came in 2nd in her age group with a time of 13:49. It was alot of fun! The kids stayed in Magee with mom until Sunday- what a treat, Will and I got to go to dinner, meet Ginny and Jimmy for a b-day drink for Ginny's birthday, and sleep late Sunday morning. More pictures to come~ I left my camera in Magee and won't have it back until this weekend.

Trick or Treat

Daddy with his goblins~ check out SK's ballerina pose
Cooper and William Pace (cute little bumble bee)

The Turtle
Memaw, the turtle, and the ballerina
Great Granny and her grands
Ballerinas, dragons, and turtles.. oh my!
Mary Brieten with Sara Kennedy and Cooper

Halloween was so much fun this year. Sara Kennedy wanted to be a Ballerina Bunny (her ballet recital costume from the Spring). Well, by 3:00 Halloween afternoon, she'd changed her mind to just a "regular" ballerina. Good thing we have about 20 ballet outfits~ of course she was the cutest ballerina ever and Coop was equally adorable in his turtle costume. We met up with Terry, JE and Zan on Sunset Drive. We joked that the "transplants" from the country had to come into "town" to trick or treat. Afterwards, we made our way down to The Anderson's house where our church was having a little get together. All the kids were troopers. SK and Zan loved going up to the houses and collecting their loot. Cooper did too, but his favorite part was opening every piece of candy he got. He even fished some Sweet Tarts out of the grass that he dropped~ no need to waste. What a fun night!