A Jammy Christmas with Josh's Family

We left my parents' house late Saturday night and drove back to our house. We had to be home the next day because we were having Jammy Christmas with Josh's family. Jordan, Jessie, and I came up with the idea for Jammy Christmas because we wanted something different and fun to do. We were tired of the normal routine of get together, eat a big meal that no one needs, and then open lots of presents. I suggested having breakfast for supper and then one thing led to another and we came up with Jammy Christmas! We were all going to dress in our pajamas, eat breakfast for supper, play games, and open gifts. It was going to be lots of fun!

The kids had a great time playing together and the adults had fun visiting. Some of the adults (Jessie, Will, Sue, Reve, Brian) didn't follow Jammy Christmas rules and came in normal clothes, but the rest of us followed the rules and rocked our jammies. Poor Eli started running fever out of the blue before everyone got there so I gave him Tylenol and quarantined him to our bedroom for most of the night. I hated that he had to miss out on the fun, but I didn't want to get anyone else sick. He came out later that night for a couple of pictures and ended up being fine the next day.

We ate our yummy breakfast foods and then Jessie and Will taught us how to play a fun game called Five Words or something like that. It was quite fun and seeing how some of our people described certain places was hilarious. For example, to describe the Grand Canyon, Josh's mom said "Hoooolllee!" and made a big, sweeping motion with her hand. LOL! I don't know if Josh ended up getting the clue but Sue's description was the joke of the night. 

Scott

Finley

Addi and Finley

The girls who wore their jammies :)

Look at us having fun in our jammies!

Us doing an impersonation of Sue when she described the Grand Canyon :)

Our entire crew...what a fun night together!

Thanksgiving Day-2015

We got back from Grandpa E's house late Monday night.  It had been a wonderful trip, but it sure was nice to be home. We didn't do much at all Tuesday except clean the house, rest, relax, and watch movies. Wednesday we woke up and my mini-me made us a To Do list for the day. We were hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year so we had a lot to do before turkey day. 

We ran errands around town, came home, and decided to take Barkley for a bike ride. While we were riding around our neighborhood I spotted some pinecones and thought of a craft Eli and I could do for our Thanksgiving table. We didn't have a bag or anything so we made great use of our hoodies :) We each took turns loading pinecones into the other's hoodie. We looked silly riding down the street with pinecones stuffed in our hoods, but they all made it back to our house safe and sound!

Our craft was super easy to make! We used different scrapbook paper that I just had leftover from other projects and used that to make the feathers. Eli cut out the beaks and the snood from some construction paper. I also found a pack of unopened googly eyes I had never used. Then I hot glued everything onto the pinecone to make it look like a turkey. Eli wrote everyone's name on a card and we glued that to the pinecone as well. In about 30 minutes, we had personalized turkey place cards for our Thanksgiving table. I thought they were the cutest turkeys ever!

Josh and I have been married for 14 years and in that time we have NEVER used our fine china that we received as wedding gifts. I decided that I was going to use it for our Thanksgiving dinner and had such fun setting the table with our beautiful china. It really made the day extra special :)

Our family arrived bearing lots of food. It was so much yummy goodness! I wish I had taken a picture of our entire feast because there was so much. Our garden produced such an abundant harvest this year and we were able to use lots of our vegetables for casseroles and side dishes for our Thanksgiving meal. We were all so very thankful for God's blessings this day! 

Zue-Zue and Finley

A lot of Josh's cousins couldn't come to Thanksgiving lunch but they stopped by later that afternoon for coffee and dessert. Oh, the desserts! We had pumpkin pie, pecan pie, caramel apple pie, cake, and much more. Everything was so good! We had a great time visiting and catching up with all of Josh's side of the family. I love it when we all get together. 

Jordan, Josh, Jessie

Eli and Grant (Jessie's son) had the BEST time together. They're 18 months apart and they play so well together. I wish Jessie, Will, and Grant lived closer because these two would play together every single day. Eli really missed Grant when he had to go back home. 

Will, Jim, Josh

Reggie and Grace Ann

Jessie and Will

Mamaw and Grant

Once again I found myself surrounded by a multitude of blessings on Thanksgiving Day. I was overwhelmed with God's grace and so thankful for each and every blessing in my life. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving and I am so glad I was able to spend it with the ones I love! I hope your Thanksgiving was full of love as well!

Playing in the Fountains with Grant

Grant and Jessie came to town a couple of days one week and while they were here we had a couple play dates with them. Eli LOVES just being able to play with kids close to his own age so he and Grant had a great time together. We had one day where the boys stayed at our house and played there. The next day we made plans to meet Grant and Jessie at the water fountains at the river front before they left to go back home. This was our first trip to the water fountains this summer so it was fun to share that experience with a friend. 

It was SO HARD to get a posed picture of these two :)

My lil' cutie :)

Eli jumped up on the flag stand and then next thing I heard was "Take a picture, Mommy!" I looked behind me and saw this. Sometimes he hates pictures and sometimes he loves them...you just never know!

These two boys had such a fun time together!

It looks like Eli is really reading this but he was making it up as he pointed. 

It was a really great story though so props on his imagination :)

Eli's picture taking skills are getting better. 

After about an hour of playing in the water, we changed the boys into dry clothes and then drove to the new yogurt place in town. YUM-O! It was such a fun afternoon! I'm glad we had the chance to see Grant and Jessie and spend time with them!

Happy Birthday Micah, Addi, and GraceAnn!

The first weekend in June we celebrated the birthdays of three special people in our family-Micah, Addison, and GraceAnn. Since they all have summer birthdays, Jordan and Jim decided to celebrate all of their birthdays at once instead of having three parties. Also, Jim works out of state so it made it easier on him since he only had to plan for one birthday party instead of three. Addi had a petting zoo for her birthday last year and loved it so much she requested it again. Micah, Jim's oldest son, was turning 10 so he was cool with having animals at his birthday too. 

Jim and Jordan are a pet loving family and had all kinds of critters running around their house. Eli found some baby kittens and was smitten. He's a cat person but unfortunately for him (and fortunately for me) Josh is very allergic to cats so he won't be getting one anytime soon.  I told him to love on the kittens as much as he wanted to though while we were at the birthday party. 

Reggie holding GraceAnn

Grant came to the party and brought his new puppy, Erik.

Harley Clare paid attention to all the fun since she'll be having her first party in August :)

Grant found the kittens and loved them just as much as Eli.

Sweet little Finley

Jessie and I had only texted each other throughout the day of the party and we certainly did not plan what we were going to wear. I guess we think too much alike because we showed up wearing pretty much the exact same outfit. I walked up to her and said, "Hey, Twink!" Of course, we had to document our twinky-dink outfits :) 

Jordan and her sweet four year old :)

Jordan had lots of fun games planned for the kids at the party. First up was a sack race. 

Some of the other games were bobbing for apples, egg toss, and a corn shucking contest. 

After the fun and games, it was time for food and cake. Yummy!

Addi and Micah blowing out their respective "4" and "10" candles. 

Since GraceAnn was turning one, she got her own special cake. This was her first time to eat cake and she just wasn't too sure about it. 

She offered Mamaw some.

Then she decided to share with her Daddy :)

It was a fun party celebrating three special kids. I'm so glad we get to be here to watch these babies grow up :)