Dear Reader:

Never have these words (Grateful for Family) rung truer than this past weekend…when the family split up forces/shifts to go in and keep Rutledge and Lachlan while Walsh and Mollie took one last weekend alone… until Eloise makes her appearance in late December and or early January.

Next month is also a benchmark birthday for Walsh so Mollie wanted to include a little birthday celebrating this past weekend, also, since Eloise could arrive on or around dad’s or Uncle Tommy’s birthdays. We will have a lot of “Kringle Dingles” around!

Friday night, the James Island Festival of Lights, had to be altered because John came down with some sort of “yuckiness” and had to turn around and drive back home. With Carrie’s help Mandy and I and the kids continued on with our plans of seeing Mandy’s school Christmas postcard, ride the train through the enchanted forest, drink hot cocoa (and believe me it was hot) and let the children ride the carousel. A beautiful night of wonder.

You enter the park through an enchanted bridge and forest.

The train trip through the enchanted forest is always the highlight of the visit.

Then on to hot sugar cookies and hot chocolate!

The carousel was calling the children (someone just passing by gave Mandy some tickets)…we couldn’t use them all…so we passed them on too!

And then finally we walked along the trail of the “Christmas with a Heart”…theme for the schools’s Christmas Postcard entries this year. We all loved Mandy’s students postcard….emphasizing that the heart of Charleston is the largest and most important piece of our city. *One entry had little gift doors that opened and one had a mirror in it…saying you are the heart of Charleston.

We all slept good Friday night and then Mandy, Eva Cate, and I headed over to Walsh and Mollie’s to start Shift One of the Dingle Weekend. It is with much gratitude that I thank you Mandy and Eva Cate for helping out Saturday morning, afternoon, and evening.

Eva Cate learned quickly you have to learn how to hang with the boys and Poogie the dog!

You learn quickly to keep the boys active for as long as you can so when they drop…they really drop. Both Lachlan and Rutledge fell asleep early…I did have a couple of  midnight and early morning “hiccups” from Lachlan but he managed to go back to sleep after each episode.

At six-thirty the boys were wide awake and ready to start the day Sunday.

Breakfast and then back out to play until re-enforcements arrived in the form of Tommy, Kaitlyn, Atticus and Pip. Go Team Two! Again, they went with the on-going theme….wear those little nephews out!

So there was lots of outdoor time and plenty of running and races before bath time and jammie time!

Tommy and Kaitlyn will drop the boys off at their pre-school this morning and then mommy and daddy will be there when they get home from school. I know they will be so excited.

So until tomorrow….

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

At 8:15 this morning I heard a ping and it was from Kaitlyn and Tommy…they had just finished dropping the boys off at pre-school…happy and safe. Mission accomplished! Way to go Team 2!