A Man and His Deer

I had to post a picture of Kevin and his deer. I don't think Kevin has killed a deer the times he has hunted since we started dating. So it has been a while!

A Boy and His Goose Plate

Back in November I took the kids to Christmas Village in Birmingham. We went last year and enjoyed it. I had their picture made again with Santa, so the kids got to tell Santa what they wanted. When I say kids, I mean Alli and Aaron. Hannah didn't really want to be in the picture, but she did it for her momma. Anyway, later Aaron told me what he asked Santa to bring him. Never in a million years would I have guessed what he was about to tell me-----a GOOSE PLATE! I am thinking, "Where did he come up with that?" I kind of dismissed this, thinking it was something silly he had said just to say it. Well fast forward to December and I am at church one Sunday morning. A lady named Carol who gives Aaron gum every Sunday morning came up to me and told me that Aaron told her he was getting a goose plate for Christmas. Now I am thinking, "Santa I hope you took him seriously!" I am still trying to understand where he got the idea of a goose plate. When Kevin found out about this request, I don't think he could comprehend the idea of a goose plate. He asked Aaron multiple times where he got this idea. Aaron has not given us an answer yet! So here's the boy with his goose plate and it's the one present that he has been the most interested in. The goose plate won over Spike the Dinosaur!

A Little Christmas Fun

Sadly our Christmas holidays are coming to an end. The kids will go back to school tomorrow. All of our usual activities will start back and we will add Upward basketball practice this week. I have thoroughly enjoyed the kids being home with me and we enjoyed having Kevin off for a week. We spent six days with our families in Mississippi. We stayed three nights with my mom and three with Kevin's parents. Our days were filled with catching up with extended family members. My grandfather seems to be doing well. He seemed a little on the tired side, but it was his chemo week. Kevin's grandmother was doing okay. She had lots of swelling in her lower extremities. The kids really enjoyed catching up with all of their cousins. My nieces and nephew have grown a lot since we last saw them in July. My brother and his wife are expecting their fourth sometime late summer.

We were able to spend a few hours together as a family on Christmas Eve. The kids and I made sugar cookies for Santa. (Thanks for the recipe, Erin!)

It has become a tradition to make chicken and dumplings for our Christmas Eve meal. So I sent the kids to the shower to wash all the flour off. You can't see in the picture, but Hannah had it all over her face. I began to work on the dumplings. Soon Kevin arrived home from work and we ate our dinner and a few more sugar cookies. We did save Santa several of the best cookies. After dinner we let the kids open two gifts--new games for the Wii and their pj's for the night. This is our silly pose in our new pj's! We concluded our evening with the movie, "The Nativity." I can't begin to describe how I felt as I watched Mary in pain as she was giving birth to Jesus. I think I cried through all of that part, especially when she held Him in her arms for the first time. The story of Jesus is so amazing!

After we opened gifts on Christmas morning, we had our monkey bread and scrambled eggs. Then we loaded up the car and headed home to our families. Of course that was a little after lunch time here, so we were hungry by the time we made it to Gadsden. Thank goodness for Waffle House. Kevin ordered sandwiches while I went to the gas station and bought gas, drinks, and chips. Crazy I know, but the BLT was great! Nana had dinner waiting for us when we got to her house. The next evening my dad, brother and his family came over. My mom built a fire and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Kind of strange for Christmas, but it was actually a great change. She had made soup also, so it wasn't just hot dogs. And it was very warm while we were there. My new do did not fair very well for a couple of days. I had the frizz going on. On Saturday, the hottest of the days, we went to my grandparents and caught up with my aunt, uncle, cousin, and cousin-in-law and her little girl. I always enjoy getting to see them and we don't get to see them real often.

On Sunday we headed to Kevin's parents and enjoyed lunch with all of his siblings and their spouses and our niece. I enjoy my mornings at their house. My mother-in-law brews coffee and has it ready when I get up and then I sit at the table and work on the puzzles in the Clarion Ledger alongside my father-in-law. My new sister-in-law was there to join in the fun on Monday morning. She and I worked on a crossword puzzle for about two days. Kevin went hunting twice. Once with my dad and on that Monday with his brother. He actually lucked up and killed an eleven point. It's about time!

We were in Jackson on Monday and Tuesday evenings visiting with Kevin's grandmother. Our niece also stayed with us the whole time we were at my in-laws, which we enjoyed. Monday night we ate at P.F. Changs. It was great! And we ate at Newk's on Tuesday evening and it continues to be one of my favorite places to eat when I go home. Wish they had one here. We left early Wednesday morning and made it home by 3:00. So glad to be home!

This picture was taken at my mom's house. Somebody was a little tuckered out! The picture represents how I have felt since returning home. I think I will always blame it on the time change and our habits of staying up late to visit.