Mama said knock you out!

Poor baby. He still has a scar.

move over, Lance Armstrong

A new biker's in town! He picked it up so quickly and Gavin was right behind him, becoming an accomplished bike rider just a week or two later. Logan says, "This is so much fun! I don't even think about playing Wii!!!!" Not one to be left behind, despite the 16 month age difference.
Oops. This most certainly happened on Daddy's watch. Mommy never would have let such a thing happen!

'Cause we need a little Christmas!

Santa might have outdone himself this year! Nana and Papa's "Grandparents" album (a.k.a. their annual non-Duck album). This year it had a Disney theme since they have been taking them to Disney once a month all year. It came out great, if I do say so myself.
All he really cares about.

iPod Touch!!!!

(no more fighting over Logan's!)

One of his favorite gifts (courtesy of Gram and Gramps) -- Disney's Cars Legos!

Reading the Children's Bible (from Cathy) with Papa. This is seriously one of the best Children's Bibles I have seen. Of course, Cathy should know! But they love reading it every night and if I'm tired and want to skip a night, I have to hear them whine and complain and try to persuade me to change my mind.

Another favorite gift (this one from Nana and Papa) -- Elmo's play dough set. I'm not sure who is enjoying themselves the most!

Wordless Wednesday -- My Loves

O Holy Night

Christmas Eve 2010

Time for church. They were too excited about Santa's pending arrival to photograph properly. Much to my dismay.

Our church has a great children's service on Christmas Eve.

We 3 Kings!

This king was too shy to go up on the stage.

Santa's bribe is ready.

And to all a good night!

Tour of Lights -- in style!

If you've know our family forever then you know about the "Coddington luck". Well, maybe it's just "Papa's luck" since he's the only one who seems to have it. But in any case, Papa has been extraordinarily lucky over the years winning prizes ranging from a jet ski to a Super Bowl trip to tickets to Disney and everything in between. Most recently, I ran a local 5K with him and (of course) he won a door prize -- a month-long membership at snazzy local gym and a gift card for RoadID. So it really came as no surprise to hear that he had won a night on the town in a shiny white limousine. With Christmas just days away, we loaded up the kids and drove around town on a "Tour of Lights".

Photo Credit: Logan

A little something for everyone.

Starting to get a little antsy...

...and a little bored...

...but just in the knick of time, we roll into Dorothy B. Oven park and get to jump out and run around with all the Christmas lights and other excited kids. Santa Claus is Comin' To Town!!!!

Check out the night feature on my camera. I really wish I knew how to use it better. I need get around to signing up for a camera class.

A couple of drinks inside the limo with a classy DD leading the way and this is how my pictures turn out!

It's beginninng to look a lot like Christmas

We began our Holiday break with a trip to Jacksonville Beach to visit our cousins, the McKee's.

A gingerbread train in a local hotel lobby. The smell coming from that room was incredible!

Do you think they liked it?

party at the fancy house

This year we opted to take the kids with us to the Governor's Holiday Party. Of course, that made it a much different experience for us. It was a far cry from the high heels, red wine, and blue crab appetizers from last year. This year was more about the Sprite, dessert table, and making sure we didn't break anything. Surprisingly (or not, since we threatened them with everything in the book before leaving the house), the kids were extraordinarily well-behaved.

They got to meet Governor Christ (boy, do I miss him right about now)...

Gavin: Hi. I like your fancy house.

Gov. Christ: It's your house too!

Gavin: We brought you a present for a gift. (He's confused -- we were asked to bring children's books for a charity)

Gov. Christ: Well, thank you very much. (he says in his pleasant politician voice)

They look like they're at a frat party.

Elf Night

Another festive, fun, and exhausting annual Tally Christmas event is Elf Night at Dorothy B. Oven Park. Essentially, every child in Tallahassee (along with their moms, dads, guardians, and grandparents) congregates in a lovely local park with awfully limited parking for the soul purpose of standing in line to meet Santa. Sure, there are other things to do such as drink apple cider (which my kids don't care for) or play tag in the landscaped gardens (but NO CLIMBING ON THE TREES), but visiting Santa is really the highlight of the event. This year I got smart and invited Nana and Papa to come. They had the thankless job of standing in line for 45 minutes while the kids ran around like maniacs and I chased after them. Sounds like fun, huh? Yet we go back year after year!


NO CLIMBING IN THE TREES!

Our place-holders

And we want Bakugan Battle Brawlers and some Wii games and scooters and some more Wii games...

Clinging to Papa for dear life! Santa is so terrifying!