Extended Family Christmas

This past Saturday we headed up to Tennessee for my extended family Christmas. We always hold it at my Grandmother's house where we all bring gifts for everyone and she proceeds to not only make enough food for everyone but the whole country as well. I have a very close family up there. We are the only ones that don't live in that general area.

Well because our families have grown considerably over the years, we got a huge sign last year that we need to move the party when one of my grandmother's floor joyces (sp?) broke. We all felt it when it happened. Not only that but you could hardly get in the room where the tree and presents were located. SO this year we had it at my families church's fellowship hall. It was a lot less stressful and more fun except that my Grandmother appeared to fix even more food but hey, I'm not complaining we love every bit of it.

The next morning at church Santa Clause came and brought all the children gifts usually we head back on Saturday night because after the craziness Caleb never sleeps that night which he didn't but we just made our selves stay anyway it means so much for my grandmother to have all her grandchildren there at one time. So here are some of the pictures from the weekend.

This is Kimberly my cousin Courtney's 8 month old daughter. She is the cutest thing but so serious.This is Caleb explaining to Santa that he already got two of the things he had asked for the night before so he didn't need to bring those. It was so cute. He loves Santa. He has actually never been afraid of him.

We had our annual Christmas party with my best friend Amy and her husband Scott last Tuesday. This year we invited our dear friends Corina, Brian and their adorable little boy Sawyer to be part of the fun. I fixed lasagna for the group and we just enjoyed each others company and Corina's awesome gingerbread cookies she brought. Even though we don't see each other as often as we should I am so thankful to have these great people in my life. Here are some unbelievably cute pictures of Sawyer. It is so not my camera ability this kid is so stinking cute he can't take a bad picture.

Polar Express

Last night I took Caleb to ride the Polar Express with my mother-in-law, Susan. I had heard for years what a wonderful excursion it was and finally thought Caleb would be old enough to enjoy it since he is so obsessed with thrains anyway. I ws a little worried about the weather since we had constant downpours over the last few days but after a lot of prayer the rain held out on us from 4:00 until we got home.

Caleb was so excited he couldn't wait the 20 minute ride to get there. We stopped in for a quick piece of pizza before the train took off and then boarded. They had all the train cars decorated for Christmas and all the children were wearing their pajamas like in the movie. They had some of the workers dressed up on the train that danced and sang the whole trip. They gave out tickets like on the movie that they came around and punched. Then we got to ride to the North Pole and pick up Santa Clause. Santa came on board with us and gave all the children silver bells.

It was such a fun trip and really put me in the Christmas spirit.

I posted some of the pictures below but for some reason Caleb refused to let me take his picture so there are not many.

long time no post!

Wow! I thought I would do better at this but the last few weeks have just gotten away from me. I don't know where to even begin to start. Basketball season has us all busy as well as getting ready for Christmas. It is so much fun with Caleb, he reminds us as we hurry about and stress what this holiday is really about.

Our Thanksgiving was awesome! We had my whole family in for the long weekend and got to spend some good quality time tongether. We love spending time with them so much. My mom, Teresa and I went shopping on Friday after Thanksgiving and then we all took the kids to the Fun Factory on Saturday. Other than that, it was pretty uneventful.

I'm taking Caleb to ride the Polar Express tomorrow evening. He is so obsessed with trains and loves the movie I think he will love it. We were able to get free tickets through our very special friends Mr. and Mrs. Towne. Thanks again. I'm sure I'll post lots of pictures after tomorrow.

I'll post again after the train ride.

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving.