More Fun With Family

After lunch and supper with Grandpa Pat's side of the family, many of us headed to the hotel. Uncle Andy, Aunt Holly, Aubrey, Ron, Melinda, Miranda, Emily, Logan, Corrine, Brad, Monica, Haley, Tyler, Chloe, Blake, and the five of us had a wonderful time Saturday evening and Sunday morning. This is Sunday morning before the girls awoke. Whittney, Aleigha, Corrine, and Chloe...

Just after breakfast, Aleigha, Haley, and Emily hit the hot tub ("hot pool" as Aleigha refers to it).

Aubrey was a popular item in the pool. The girls seemed to swarm around her!

Loving the water...

Aleigha, Uncle Andy, and Aubrey.

Chloe, Corrine, and Whittney having fun in the pool.

On the way back to the rooms, Blake caught sight of the hotel dryer. He was amused and amazed!

Not sure what to think!

We had a fabulous time this weekend visiting Grandma Great and the rest of our family. The kids had a wonderful time together! Thanks to Uncle Andy, Aunt Holly, Ron, Melinda, Brad, and Monica for meeting us at the hotel...we made some fun memories!

Christmas With Our Family

This morning we woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel, and went swimming for a couple of hours. Just before lunch, we headed over to meet family for a wonderful day of visiting with family we don't see enough. It has been a tradition for some time that we celebrate Christmas the Saturday after Thanksgiving together. It is amazing how much the children seem to change from year to year.

Miss Lilly and Miss Aleigha are playing the piano before lunch. They are both three years old and very musically inclined...

Cheesing it up!

Olivia, Whittney, Chloe, Tyler, and Gavin having a very intense conversation...over what, we are not sure. Our kids were anxious to see Haley, Tyler, Chloe, and Blake today. They waited by the doors for a while...just waiting!


Chloe, Olivia, and Whittney for President! They used their creative sides to make this poster!

Miss Aubrey having some milk...

Loran (cousin Sean's daughter) and Evelyn working on a craft Grandma Suzie brought.

Gavin and Tyler playing with a balloon.

Grandma Great (front row in the middle) with all of her grandkids and their spouses...well, the ones that attended the festivities. WOW!!!

Now Grandma Great with her great grandkids...that were in attendance. Can you tell it is nap time????

Merry Christmas to our family! It was an enjoyable day!

A Road Trip

We left around lunch time today to visit Grandma Great and Grandpa Pat's side of the family. Gavin and Whittney have quickly learned that if they sleep on road trips, the times goes much faster.

We checked into a hotel room and then went to visit Grandma Great. After some visiting, we took her and met Grandpa Pat, Grandma Suzie, Uncle Tom, Aunt Megan, Olivia, and Evelyn at one of Grandma Great's favorite restaurants. YUM!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours! We hope you had a wonderful day and took time to be thankful for what you have!

Our first stop was lunch at Aunt Jo's house. Whittney packed a bag of balloons and a pump. After eating, the kids enjoyed making balloon necklaces and just playing around.

Delaney, Olivia, and Whittney posing with their balloons! ...notice the necklaces they created!

Jackson posing with a balloon.

The kids even gave Aubrey some balloons to play with!

A Trip to the Mall

Today we did not have school and Nathan didn't have to go to work. We dropped Gavin off at Cameron's to play for a bit and headed to get Nathan some supplies to make venison snack stick and summer sausage. On the way, Aleigha decided she wanted to get her ears pierced (finally). After getting them pierced, the girls and I rode on the two story merry-go-round, right in the mall. We were on the top, of course.

A close-up of the proud girl with her new Hello Kitty earrings!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Today was the day the kids talked us into getting the Christmas tree out and put up. They were BIG helpers...

The girls posing...

Whittney and Gavin being silly...and Aleigha taking the picture.

Aleigha took this picture of the tree...

Aleigha putting on one of her ornaments.

Whittney placing one of her ornaments on the tree.

We usually have the big tree with matching decorations of red and gold, while the kids each have their own small trees with their own ornaments on each tree. This year, they put all of their ornaments on the big tree...which we decided to put downstairs. The tree is up and decorated, but we haven't done any other decorating just yet...

Princess and Louie

After school, the kids helped Nathan unload wood. While busy at work, the girls found woolly worms. Because Grandma Till had caterpillars in her room at the nursing home, they thought they should bring the fuzzy creatures in the house. The girls named them Princess and Louie...and they lasted a couple of days until Gavin rescued them and let them go. The girls were NOT impressed, but I was okay with it!

Card Games

This afternoon, we sat down and taught the kids to play "Euchre." Aleigha was taking the pictures...Whittney is deep in thought!

Whittney is taking this serious, while Gavin has fun!

We played our hands down for a while to make sure the kids got things figured out. After two games of Euchre, we taught them to play "Bull"....short for "Bologna"...or so they think.

Bedtime Story

This evening after the birthday party and baths, Whittney read Aleigha a book.

Both of the girls love books. They stay up after we tuck them into bed to read, read, read! Aleigha's favorite books right now are: The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog AND The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear. Whittney just loves all the books she can read herself (there are no favorites)!

Making Birthday Cupcakes

On Nathan's actual birthday, I was sick, sick, sick. Nathan took the kids to his parents house for supper while I slept and stayed in bed...until the next evening. Today we decided to have a little birthday celebration for him! Aleigha made the cupcakes.

Her finished product... cheese!

Aleigha trying to frost the cupcakes...she had a little trouble.

Nothing she can't take care of herself!

Blowing out the candles of his birthday cupcake...complete with pink frosting! Nathan's parents, my parents, Jasen, and Chase joined our birthday party!

Aleigha At Work

This afternoon the kids helped take the pumpkins to the field. We started carrying them, but quickly thought about the gator. Aleigha was a driver.

Aleigha with her load of pumpkins...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!

Today is Dad's birthday! We hope he has a fabulous day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!

Baseball in November

This evening Dad and Grandpa were working to put up Grandpa's new tree stand. The kids and I went outside to have batting practice. Here is Miss Whittney...after retrieving Gavin's hit balls! She thought it would be hilarious to carry them in her shirt...funny girl!

Gavin and Aleigha gathering Gavin's hit balls!

Gavin helping Aleigha bat. She actually hit three balls in a row without Gavin's help!

Whittney's turn! What a beautiful November evening for baseball!