Christmas in Tennessee

Due to my desire to make my blog spectacular, I have put off blogging because I am SO far behind. Not only have many events occured, but Hampton is learning and growing faster than ever. This post may not be as detailed as I would have liked, but at this point it is necessary to sacrifice detail to simply catch up. I ran into a sweet friend at Biblestudy this week who asked if everything was okay. She was worried about me because I hadn't updated in so long. Here goes...

We spent 2 weeks in Tennessee for Christmas this year. Everyone was there for a super fun filled holiday. Everyone means 10 adults and 10 kiddos under 8...all in one house. It may sound extremely overwhelming, but somehow it really works. Gran and Poppy recently finished out the basement which added sleeping for the big kids, a fresh and clean play area, a great bathroom (with a tub that all 5 big girls could bathe in at once), and a media room. Needless to say, the kids spent most of their time down there. The weather was uncharacteristically warm which allowed us to play outdoors more than usual in December. Hampton did really well and would play downstrairs just like the big kids. Several of the big kids didn't pay much attention to him and the others thought he was a human doll. They were GREAT with him. He and Carrigan (2.5 months older) butted heads once or twice, but after that Carrigan would freak if Hampton got near her. I can't blame her since he did tend to hit her and even bit her once.

Christmas morning was crazy and Hampton was more interested in Campbell's race track than his own gifts from Santa. But now that we are home he loves all of his new toys.

We made a few trips to the barn to see the puppies. Hampton enjoyed petting the puppies for about 2 seconds, and then he was off to see the tractors...still one of his favorites!

Madison showing H the puppy

Emerson letting H pet the puppy.

On the tractor with Campbell

Sweet cousins Campbell~Carrigan~Hampton

After one of our trips to the barn all the cousins went to visit Ma and Papa and play in Ma's playroom.

In the past few months I have witnesses something amazing...Grandkids absolutely love their grandparents even if they don't get to see them on a regular basis. I guess they can just feel how much they are loved!

Gran reading to Carrigan and H

The whole crew

During our time in TN, Hampton discovered another love...Choo Choo Trains. If he was upstairs, all he wanted to do was play with the choo choo...either the real model train around the bottow of the Christmas tree or the Thomas the Train set in the toy chest. He wasn't supposed the touch the model and needed help with the track for Thomas. He has a fantastic Aunt Kelly who spent precious time with just Hampton. I am so thankful for such intentional Aunts and Uncles!!!

We also had a wild and crazy New Year's Eve dance party at about 8:30. I wish we had gotten H dancing on tape...too funny. He loved the music and the party poppers!