What a Couple of Fun Weeks

We have had a great couple of weeks. Getting to spend time in Dothan with Greg's family was really fun. Then last week it was nice to be back home and have the kids out of school...staying up later, sleeping later, reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever each night, playing family games on our new Wii, going to play Putt-Putt...just enjoying our family.
Greg had an exciting opportunity to go to Orlando and watch Michigan State play Georgia in The Capitol One Bowl on New Year's Day. Michigan State is his team and they don't get that close around here very often. He had a wonderful couple of days hanging out with his friends and watching his team. The kids and I went to spend New Year's Eve with Tammy and Emerson...we had a night out at Steak and Shake and spent the night in the living room at their house. We had a great time staying up late and watching the events in Rockefeller Plaza, but didn't make it until midnight. We knew Emerson would be starting the day early whether we wanted to sleep or not, so we decided sleep was a must.
Then Saturday we had our dear friends, The Barretts, come to visit for a couple of days. We miss them so much and had a wonderful visit. Sterling, Tina, Greg and I would stay up late catching up in all areas of life. The kids had a great time playing together...Emanuel especially liked MarioKart on the Wii. They left today...the kids started back to school today...so life is back as we knew it before. Greg and I must go back to work tomorrow and our routine will get back to normal. In some ways that is good...in others, I will miss the flexibility we have had. The memories we made will be special!

Christmas Day 2008

The girls showing off their new matching dresses.

Katie Beth was so excited when she opened a present from Mason that was slippers she had really wanted. Mason spent a lot of his own money on them because he knew she would be excited to get them.

Santa left a new ipod for Katie Beth....that is all she really wanted!!! This picture shows her excitement when she sees it.

All the kids waiting patiently to see what Santa brought!

Santa's plate with a note and cookies.

I can't imagine what Christmas would be like without kids. They are the ones that bring so many smiles to our faces! They are the ones that we get excited about shopping for a couple of months before the special day. To them...it is the most amazing day of the whole year!!! We had such a fun day. All the grown-ups watched as the kids opened presents...trying to keep up with who the giver of each gift was. When the kids finally finished we all needed a little breakfast. We then realized no grown-ups had opened any presents yet. We were so focused on kids opening and their excitement and helping them get to the toy that is extremely secured inside each package, that we hadn't even thought about what was given us. It was fun to give all the grown-ups their presents also. After opening gifts and cleaning up the piles of wrapping, we all headed to a couple of nursing homes to visit some ladies and do some caroling for them. We all realized how thankful we should be to have family to celebrate with and a comfy home to be in during Christmas.

The day is drawing to a close and everyone is winding down. What a wonderful, exciting day that reminds me of all that I have to be thankful for.

God Bless and Merry Christmas!!!