I'm Baaaaaaaack!

I'm sure that the 3 of you who actually read my blog have long since given up on me. I promised my sweet GranConnie that I would blog this week. So, GranConnie, thanks for encouraging me to get back on the horse... I really want to back-blog, but for now, I'll start with Christmas.

Shortly after Thanksgiving, we purchased our Christmas tree...from Home Depot. I had grand visions of going to a tree farm all bundled up to pick the perfect tree and cut it down ourselves. That wasn't happening, so we headed to Wal-Mart. It was about 28 degrees, but I was determined to chose a tree as a family. All 5 of us walked around the very small selection of trees at Wally World and quickly returned to the car disappointed. We then went to HD. The babies fell asleep on the way and H didn't want to get out b/c it was too cold. So, I ran in, picked a few options and then sent Ben and H (who decided he needed to go) in to make the final decision. After a total of 12 minutes, we tied a tree to the top of the car and headed home. Not exactly my vision of selecting the perfect tree, but it was great. We decided to put the tree on a table in order to eliminate ornament temptation . Lucy was fascinated by the lights and would squeal w/ delight when we turned them on. Ben and the babies put the lights on one evening and the next night H, Ben and I hung the ornaments. My mom has given us meaningful ornaments each year. They usually represent something significant that happened during the past year. It is always fun remembering as we decorate the tree. This year my ornament was two peas in a pod...perfect! reaching the top of the tree & the ceiling

Hampton was very precise with each and every ornament he hung. We had so much fun.

I decided to simplify the toys in our living room and left out only the Christmas train and the Nativity. The kids loved them, but I was not a fan of all the pieces :) I think I picked up Baby Jesus and put the train back together about 20 times a day. They had fun though...

Sweet brothers

We traveled to Tennessee to celebrate with the Stites crew.

We drove this year, but decided to stop about half way to spend the night and break up the trip. The kids did great, but driving straight through would have been nearly impossible. There were 23 of us in the same house for about 10 days...and it was GREAT. I'm not sure how it works, but it does. We enjoyed opening presents...

playing games...

Lucy l-o-v-e-s the ball popper and was thrilled to learn how to turn it on herself.

playing outside...with the puppies...

snuggling with Gran and Poppy...

playing in the hay barn...

family pictures...

playing football...

and cousins, cousins, cousins.

Thank you to all the Stites/Shewmakers for such a fun Christmas.

Oh, and Lucy was inspired by all of her big cousins to start climbing the stairs.

We were thankful to spend Christmas Eve with the Yarbrough family in Franklin. It was so much fun to see everyone, and we wish we could have spent more time with them. Uncle Bob and MaryHelen gave the kids stuffed puppies. They reminded me of Pound Puppies, only Hampton's was HUGE. He loves JoJo and slept w/ him every night in TN. At home, he likes to kick back to "watch a show" with him. Aunt B and Charles gave Hampton his very own laptop w/ lots and lots of educational computer games. He is really into doing workbooks and playing computer games w/ me right now, so that gift is p-e-r-f-e-c-t.

Sweet Rebecca playing "tigers" with Hampton