Remembering Papa

Papa (my Mom's Dad) passed away on Christmas morning... pretty appropriate for him to arrive in heaven on Jesus' birthday. Although it was such a blessing for him to no longer be suffering, it still has not been easy. He was 89 and lived a very active, fantastic life up until the very day he had a stroke in mid-September. He played golf 4 times a week, came to every home FSU football game and shared Broadway season tickets with Mom for the shows that came to Tallahassee. He was just the cutest and we will miss him very much... although having the wonderful hope in knowing we'll see him again when we get to heaven! The following is from his obituary... "He was a B-17 Pilot in the United States Army Air Corp during World War II having served in the European Theatre. While in service, Mr. McDevitt was shot down over Germany and spent a little over a year as a Prisoner of War. Mr. McDevitt’s legacy is a legacy of faith in Jesus Christ that has reached down to his second and third generations." Below are pictures from his military burial on Friday. It was moving, amazing, SAD and absolutely awesome all at the same time.


what an honor with the American flag draping the casket


folding up the flag


saluting the flag - wow.


presenting the flag to Mom, who in turn gave it to my cousin Greg because he's the last McDevitt


these men did the 21 gun salute, which was really really neat

Christmas Day...

We had quite an eventful Christmas with many stops... all worth it and very fun!! First things first, Matthew woke up at our house and we all got to see what Santa Claus brought before we headed out.






Next stop - Nana and Papa's house to open presents with Olivia and Lucas!!






After Nana & Papa's, we headed to Aunt Susan's for breakfast and more presents...






Believe it or not, we made 2 more stops... Googie's and then Mama Anne & Daddy Nick's to open even more presents and have lunch. Unfortunately though, we didn't get any decent pictures from our last two stops.

CHRISTMAS EVE!!!

The day began with breakfast at Aunt Jane's with lots of family and friends on Gus' side. It's an annual tradition and breakfast was delicious as usual. We were too lazy to take pics while we were there, but this is one of Matthew in the car heading over.



Mom's Dad "Papa" was really sick, so we went to the Hospice House that night to cheer Mom up and make it feel more like Christmas. First stop... the kiddo play area! Then Matthew opened his Christmas pajamas from Santa/Nana&Papa :)









To end our not-so-typical Christmas Eve, the 3 of us went to eat with Mom and Dad at Ted's restaurant... one of our faves... and what do ya know, Ted Turner himself was eating there too! Even though we aren't huge fans of him, (it took Mom and Dad forever to even try Ted's because they didn't want to give Ted any of their money by eating there!!!) it still made for an interesting highlight of the night!



We put M's Christmas pajamas on him before going home and he re-arranged his hat...

Christmas at the farm...

Every year we begin Christmas celebrating at the Thompson/Cantey farm in Georgia. Everyone from Gus' family who is in town for Christmas gets together for lunch. It's always so much fun because it's relaxed and informal... kids riding around in golf carts and 4-wheelers; a nice fire outside to warm up to (if it's cold!) and the best fried oysters and bacon! Anyhoo, here's one picture from the day...

Christmas Brunch!

Last Saturday we went to a mother/daughter/baby "Santa brunch". I cannot even count the number of babies and toddlers... just A LOT. We had a great time and the chaos was really under control! It kicked off Christmas festivities in a really fun way!!


(i was crossing my fingers this year b/c M screamed over santa last year! he wouldn't say a word, but he atleast he wasn't scared!)


(cousins Ella & Bo)


(Lawre Bradley & Ava)


(playing with Weezie)

nothing but a scarf!

M got hold of my scarf just before bathtime...

playing on the church playground...

it was freezing outside, but matthew did not care one bit!

playing with cousins...

we don't know how this happened either...

making Christmas cookies...

Lawnmower Parade

Havana had their annual lawnmower parade on Dec 1st and this year we were able to participate! The Havana Herald (Mr. Nick's newspaper) entered the "waiting for Santa" float and won 2nd place!!!

baby update :)

I had my 15 week appointment yesterday and all went really well... except for the fact that Gus could not be there :( I got to hear the heartbeat, which was fantastic! Just the coolest. AND... the ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby is... JANUARY 7TH @ 8:30 in the morning!!! We are on pins and needles! I cannot wait to post what we're having.

our Christmas tree...

it's obvious we've been slacking on our blog lately... we got our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving!



(we could not go into home depot without checking out the RED lawn mower!! made the whole trip worth it for M!)


(checking out our Christmas tree!)






(Matthew had THE best time seeing all the ornaments and helping decorate the tree)


(now we just need to buy and wrap the presents!)