Too early to talk to Santa?

Our large mall here in Tampa has their Christmas exhibit up already, and while we normally would wait until after Thanksgiving to have Payton's pictures taken with Santa... there was no getting by this one yesterday. We went with his little friend Lilly, and they had a ball walking through, touching everything, and even seeing snow!

It's the coolest Christmas exhibit I've ever seen - truly. It's all themed around the movie "Polar Express" - which, for those of you who haven't seen it - all centers around a train ride, so of course Payton loves it. It's basically life-size snow globes that you walk around (and through) to experience the movie. Then at the end, Santa is waiting to talk to the kiddos (for a nominal photography fee of course). So, it may be a bit early to talk to Santa, but what a neat experience for Payton!

S'mores - Heckman style

Last weekend, Brian decided it was cold enough to make s'mores in our backyard by using our firepit. Payton thought the whole "fire" concept was great, but wasn't interested in the smores at all. He only wanted to eat the chocolate (shocker). Poor Rohy wanted to get in on the action too, but he had just been groomed and had no "coat" to keep him warm, so we brought his dog bed outside for him. Of course, once Rohy got out of the dog bed, guess who climbed right in??? Good times. (thanks babe for creating such awesome memories for our family - your such a good hubby and daddy!)

Alvin & the Chipmunks meets Seinfeld.

Brian's parents bought Payton an Alvin & the Chipmunks Christmas movie and Payton loves to dance to the theme song. Unfortunately, my son looks just like Elaine from Seinfeld in that episode when she gets drunk at her company holiday party and dances in front of all her co-workers. Take a look, I'm sure you'll agree. Oh, and see if you notice at the end when his "jimmy leg" knocks over his bowl of dry cereal. Too funny...

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Savannah

I spent the past weekend in Savannah with 8 other of my college sorority sisters. It was one of the best times I've had all year. I don't think I've laughed that much in months! The chemistry between all 9 of us is just something that produces a lot of fun. Here are some of my pics from the trip...

Random stuff

I am just now getting back into the "groove" of things after being gone all weekend (see "Savannah" post). So, I am trying desperately to update the blog with all the pictures of things we've been doing recently. Here are some good ones...

We went to our Pastor's house to watch the Gators v. Georgia game (GO GATORS!!!) along with a few other families. The kids had a ball hanging out playing football in the back yard. And of course we were all decked out in our Gator gear!









This next one is of Payton at the zoo during our last "cold front." The poor child isn't used to being in weather under 80 degrees, so he was bundled up from head to toe! He got the worst chaped lips from the lower humidity. Poor little Florida baby...




This last one is of Payton & Brian playing a mean game of Blokus. Payton has recently gotten into playing board games, which is wonderful for us! We can finally play something that requires real thought and concentration. Of course, he cried the first time he lost... guess he has a little more to learn about being a good loser.

Halloween and other fun times

(Side note: check out that Thomas the train pumpkin - of course that's all Payton wanted me to carve.) Okay, on with the blog update...

"Is today going to be Halloween again?"... if I have to hear that question one more time, I'm going to lose my mind and start to think that Halloween really does happen every other day. Payton is convinced that it's going to be Halloween again this week. He had such a great time this year. From the spooky decorations, to trick-or-treating with his friends, to gobbling up as much candy as I'd let him - he loved it all! Here are some pics from our evening with our good friends who came over to trick-or-treat with us...

We had a really good time and hope that you all did too! Now... let's focus on some turkey!