Christmas Time!

Hello! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! It was nice to visit with so much family and friends this year, those are the best memories. I have so many pictures I want to post and will do my best.

First of all, I wanted to make sure everyone knew about our new 'musician' in our family! Ali is playing the saxophone and doing a great job. She was playing Jolly Old Saint Nick for grandma and grandpa in this picture.

Ian's sister Gretchen her husband Frank and their 4 kids (Shelby, Dalton, Hannah and Kennedy) visited us right after our electricity went out on Tuesday night. So we exchanged gifts and visited by the fire all night!
We were making cookies for Christmas dinner in these pictures. The kids are getting so good at making designs for the cookies. Doesn't it look like Ian is having fun!


Can you guess who made this cookie and just HAD to take a picture of it (hint - it wasn't me or one of the kids)
This is a picture of Ian's brother - Uncle David and Grandma Bev on Christmas Eve. The kids just adore David - they couldn't wait to see him!
Here are some Christmas morning pictures. Santa was good to us again this year! Connor woke up at 5:30 and I amazingly persuaded him to lay down with me and he fell back asleep until about 7. I can't say I prepared too much for these early AM pictures b/c I should have at least put the kids in better PJ's. Ali is wearing a nightgown she's had since she was 4 years old and Connor does not like to sleep in a shirt! Memories :)

Here is Charlie - he loves Christmas too!

The Friday after Christmas we had a dinner with my sister Amy and her 4 kids - 2 sets of twins! Jacob and Racheal - Mallory and Cameron. They stayed the night and the kids just loved it!


Then today, we visited with Aunt Susie, cousin Megan and David. They are getting so big - Megan will be starting college in August!

Again, we had one of the best Christmas' this year all because we were able to spend time with all the family - including Thanksgiving with Uncle Matt. My Mom and Dad flew home for Christmas from Florida but I just realized I don't have any pictures of them! Probably because we have been able to spend time with them almost everyday they have been home - we are so grateful they are here this Christmas. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

TAG YOUR IT!

My friend Carrie tagged me ...

Picture Tag!

The object of picture tag is to:

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder

3) Explain the picture

4) Tag 4 people to do the same NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)

Here is mine.....

This was one of about 20 shots I tried to get for our Christmas card this year. My plan was to get the kids 'laughing' because I wanted the card to say something like 'love and laughter for the holidays' Well Ian was in charge of trying to get them to laugh behind me and at first I had to tell him to not have them laughing so hard...:) This was one of the pictures that was kind of blurry b/c they laughed so much. This really was in my 4th folder b/c I accidentally saved it in an old Christmas folder and just found it searching for this tag thing!

TAG YOUR IT - Joy!

8 days and counting...

I can't believe Christmas is 8 days away! I wish I could say I am ready but I am far from it. We have had such a busy past few weeks since we came home from Georgia. I thought I would post some pictures of things keeping us busy.


Here is Ian putting up our first 'real' Christmas tree.

...and the finished tree

We also had our Christmas with Grandma Joy and Grandpa Jimbo since they leave for Texas for the winter.

Ali was in her first musical for Christmas......she looked so pretty! I only have a few pictures of the play but she was in the choir and being so tall she was stuck in the back of all the kids so we could barely see her.

Connor has played his first basketball game after 2 months of practice. He was excited about his first uniform and basketball shoes. It has been so fun to watch this age play basketball. They concentrate on the ball,their feet and the coach at all times. During the game Connor kept motioning the kid he was blocking to stand behind him - and he did what Connor said. Here are some pictures......

Thanksgiving in Georgia

We had a wonderful visit with Uncle Matt, Aunt Sam and cousin Ashley in Georgia the week of Thanksgiving. The first night we were there, Uncle Matt took everyone racoon hunting - which was a first for everyone.....even Ian! We had fun following the dogs through the woods. The kids had a blast but me......I'm a scaredy cat. Walking in the swampy water, in the woods, in the dark and being told that it was good we were going on a cold night b/c the alligators and snakes would stay away........lets just say I was relieved to take the hip waders off!

Here is a picture of Ashley, Connor and Ali - they were so happy to see each other!

This is 'Hook'....he was named after his crooked tail :)

We also went to the farm to feed the cows and the kids picked cotton from the cotton field - that was pretty neat.




We went fishing......


Even while fishing Ali could still 'strike a pose'




We ended each night with a bon fire and the last day Grandma and Grandpa visited from Florida. Uncle Matt and Aunt Sam made our trip very relaxing and we all had a great time!