The Day After.....

Well, I know Christmas in itself is a hect and busy time for everyone and I can see how little ones may be overwhelmed by the whole event. Nevertheless, I never would have imagined this. Apparently, the gifts they received for Christmas paled in comparison to the fun times of the...........dryer.

I was doing laundry and stepped out of the mudroom for a minute to answer the phone.

This is what I found when I returned.

Then of course, her big brother saw her and had to see what all the fuss was about.......

Silly kiddos!!

Merry Christmas 2011

Christmas Eve.

We finally arrive and it's late.

We changed the kiddos into their pjs before we left Carthage so that we could just plop them into bed when we got home. Good thing we did. Santa's helpers had a lot of work to to get ready for the morning.

I think we finally got to bed around 2:30 or so and were out as soon as our heads hit the pillows.

Luckily, Layla decided to sleep in a bit, which is a first, & didn't get up until 7:00am, which was GREAT!.

This is what the kiddos woke up to.

 Layla didn't really notice anything at first,

but the look on her face once she finally did was priceless.

 Having some breakfast in the kitchen sink

Merry Christmas sweet babies!

After eating a bite and getting dressed, we headed to Darren's folks house to finish up Christmas with his side. We didn't get to visit long because they had to get on the road to Jill's folks house, but we enjoyed the time we did get to spend with them.

Our nephew Jakob

Our nephew Ethan

Darren (also known as Uncle D) showing Jakob how to operate the guitar we got him for Christmas

My sweet babies.

These are the sock monkey hats that Mommy and Daddy got them for Christmas.
Love these two!!

All in all, we had an amazingly wonderful Christmas and are blessed way beyond what we deserve.

I am so very thankful for all the blessings in my life.

I pray for many more happy and healthy holiday seasons to come.

Christmas Eve

The day before Christmas Eve, we headed east to Carthage to spend the night and gather for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner at my grandmother's house. It's the one time of year I get to see a lot of those folks so I definitely always look forward to it. Nothing better than good food and family!

Our little family that I love so very much.

Layla was asleep in this same family photo from Christmas last year.

Maybe next year she will be awake for the photo!

Love this sweet boy!

(And yes, he really is as sweet as he looks!)

 Layla letting her true colors show!

After dinner and some time visiting, we have to pack up and head to Savannah so we can be home on Christmas morning. Santa doesn't stop at houses where no one is home you know!

Thanksmas 2011 Part 2

The rest of our weekend at Papa's was great. We loved visiting with everyone and getting to spend time with one another.

I think this is one of my most favorite pictures of these two ever!

We left Papa's shortly after lunch and headed back to Savannah. The Christmas program at church was that night so we had to make it back in time. Isaac was really confused as to why Daddy wasn't coming with us to the program. Little did he know, Daddy had another role to play that night, as you can see in the picture below. Hmmmmm........Santa sure looks an awful lot like someone very familiar!!

As for Layla and Santa, I was lucky to get this picture. Layla

wasn't too keen on the idea of getting anywhere close to "Ho Ho" so this was about as good as it could be.

And so the holiday season continues......

Thanksmas 2011 Part 1

**WARNING**

Since my Dad and I are both pretty avid photographers, just wanted you to be aware that the next few posts will have A LOT of pictures! Hope you enjoy!

As you may know, our annual tradition with my Dad is to do what we refer to as Thanksmas. We pick a date somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas to get together for the weekend and celebrate both. We headed up to Dad's after work on December 16th. Since it's usually pretty late when we arrive, we visit a bit and then usually head upstairs and call it a night.

The next day was spent mostly playing about as hard as two kiddos (and four grown-ups) possibly can.



Later that day, we packed up and headed into town to go to the science center in Murfreesboro. This was our first experience there and Isaac and Layla both had a ball. Amanda and Callie Grace met us there so all of the kids were together. It's a really neat place and one that we will definitely visit again.



Back at Papa's house, we settled in and had some dinner. Then it was time for the fun part.....

PRESENTS!!!



This is Layla posing for the camera and giving it her best "CHEESE"!!



After a fun-filled day, it was time to hit the sack and prepare for day #2 at Papa and Nana's.......