WHEW....We're back!

So we made the trip to Tennessee this year.  400 miles, one way.   This year, we did it in the DRIVING RAIN.  Ever been over Mount Eagle Mountain?   In the rain? Yeah...lots of rain and fog.  So, not fun.

Buuut....when we FINALLY made it, we had a great time.  Visiting with family for 5 days.  Our annual Christmas Eve party had about 40 people. (all related somehow or another)  Lots and lots of kids.  Love Christmas even more when there are kids involved!

We had our annual visit from S.C.  Ansley is pretty sure she knows who was in the Santa suit. All but one child was willing to sit on Santa's lap.  Sawyer LOVED Santa.  He could not get enough of SC.  He did pretty good about giving everyone their turn but he would have loved to sit in Santa's lap for the whole night.

Then, of course, we had Christmas morning and Christmas with my Dad on Christmas Day.  Yet, I was so busy playing with toys, etc I didn't get many pics.

All I can say is "There's nothing better than seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child"

A Song for the Holidays!

Oh the Fun We Had!!!

From the Santa Cow, to hiking, to eating, and most of all spending time with family, it was a very busy and exciting and wonder filled weekend.   LOVED IT!

We put up the aluminum tree.

It's older than I am and I'm way older than dirt!

Notice the color wheel.

The kids and I made 'white trash' because we just haven't eaten enough this month.

*Had a video of the kids singing Rudolf but it won't load right now*

Judson, Randy, Uncle Troy and Cousin CJ walked up Stone Mountain.

We also got to meet Santa Cow and his Elf and make ginger bread houses!!!!

More Baking

Only this time, it was the guys.  Randy, Judson and Sawyer had to make something for the Dad-n-Lad bake off for scouts.  

First, Dad and Sawyer made P-nut butter cookies with P-nut butter cups in the middle.

The finished product!

Then Judson and Dad made their world famous Rolo-Pecan Delights which Dad renamed Pretzel-Rolo-Pecan Napoleons because he watches Food Network and he knows all those technical names and such.

The finished product.

Then Mom went against her will happily to take pictures.

Some of the more notable entries.

Christmas is for Baking

This is our week for baking.  Yesterday was Ansley's turn.  She had to make a plain white cake for her Daisy troop.  Each girl could choose from 3 recipes:  Banana bread; Blueberry muffins; Plain white cake.  Ansley did had to do everything by herself.  (measuring, mixing, sifting, etc)  The only thing I could do was place the cake in the oven and take it out. 

We had practiced making the cake twice before with Mommy helping.  She did everything today.   She did really well. 

I went to pick her up.  Her first comments:  "Mom!   I didn't win but I sure had fun!!!"

Works for me.

Redneck Christmas

Complete with stuffed deer in the background.

Target shooting.

(if you are looking for cheap fun, this fit the bill.  They had a lot of things for the kids (big and little) to do that were free.)

We finished up our outing with a burger at Johnny Rockets!

The kids had a great time.

Do You See What I See?

She is 14 years old.  She loves her tree.

Now, you might 'see' that a 4 year old is doing math.

I see a 4 year old's handwriting is very legible.

That was not the case even 6 months ago.  

He could not hold his pencil with enough grip/strength to make a character that you could see,

Much less distinguish.

As for doing the math,

I fully believe most (if not all)

kids are able to achieve this kind of result.

His oldest brother was doing it at 2.

His sister was doing it at 4-5 year old range.

His brother with Down syndrome(age 7) is doing it.

Let me tell you, it ain't the teacher.

It's a little bit of one-on-one time and a lot of sibling rivalry.

Yay for December!!

Lots of exciting things to do:

1.   Delivering Scout Popcorn

2.  Christmas Parade

3.  Putting up Christmas decorations!
  A work in progress.  Pics to follow.

4.  Homework.   (School must go on)

5.  This week we hope to see Santa!!!!