Christmas Card Pictures

While we were at my parents house for Thanksgiving, our family took pictures for our Christmas cards. Thanksgiving Day the weather was simply perfect, so when we woke up on Friday I was a little disappointed that it wasn't sunny and beautiful like it was the day before. Even though it was kind of overcast, we still managed to get some good pictures of everyone. I'm posting almost all of them so it'll be a surprise when people get our Christmas cards. I don't want to ruin it for you :)

Mom took these pictures of our family together. I love how they all turned out!

I took some pictures of Josh, Andrea and Tinsley. I've posted several of their pictures, but I'm in the dark as to which one they're picking for their Christmas card. It'll be a surprise for me when I open my mailbox!

Tinsley looked extra precious in her Christmas outfit!

We attempted to get pictures of Eli and Tinsley together, but I'm discovering how hard it is to photograph two children. One will smile, the other one won't. One will look at the camera, the other one won't. Oh well, I did my best :)

Grammy and Pop took some pictures with the grandbabies. I'm sure some of these might end up on their Christmas card, but Mom likes for that to be a surprise as well. I love them all though! Now I can't wait to open my mailbox and see all our cards!

Thanksgiving 2012

For Thanksgiving this year we went to my Mom and Dad's house. Eli and I both were off the week of Thanksgiving, so we enjoyed resting, doing some Christmas shopping, putting up Christmas decorations in the house, and having fun knowing we didn't have anything we HAD to do. My only plan in the days leading up to Thanksgiving was to have my house decorated for Christmas before we left and I accomplished that. (I'll be posting pics soon of my house decorated for Christmas).

We left for my parents' house Wednesday after Josh got off work and got there late Wednesday night. I love being in a house surrounded by lots of family during the holidays and this year we had just that! Josh, Andrea, Tinsley, my Uncle David and cousin, Emily all came in for the holiday. It was great seeing everyone and getting to spend time with them. Uncle David and Emily had to leave to go back early Thursday morning because he had to work, but it was still great seeing them. The rest of us stayed through the weekend and had so much fun being together. 

Eli played Toy Story on the PlayStation3 with anyone who was willing to play with him. He loves it so much and is really, really good at it. Josh played with him a couple of times and Eli actually had to help him do several things while they were playing. While we're impressed with our son's hand-eye coordination when it comes to video games, we are DEFINITELY NOT getting him one. He obsesses over it way too much when we're visiting my parents, so it's not something we want to put in our house. That's a battle I'm just not going to fight. That can just be something he gets to play at Grammy and Pop's house :)

I got to love on sweet, little Tinsley for several days and I was in baby heaven. She's such a good baby! I was so happy to get to spend some time with her. Eli even showed more interest in her this trip than he has before. I think once she can walk and talk he'll like her even more. Josh and I actually got to go on not one, but TWO dates while we were at my parents house. Woo Hoo! Thanksgiving night we went to the movies with Josh and Andrea to see Argo. I really liked that movie! Then Friday night Josh and I enjoyed a nice dinner and then went to see Flight. I don't recommend that one at all. It wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be. Several people around us fell asleep during that movie! 

Saturday our family loaded up to head back home. We wanted a day in our regular routine to help get Eli back on schedule before he went back to school on Monday. We had a wonderful time with my family! I can't wait to see them again.

I'll end this blog post with some of the pictures we took Thanksgiving day. I am so grateful for all the many blessings God has given to me especially the ones I get to love on each and every day!

Eli and Tinsley

Andrea and Tinsley

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family!

The Grand Canyon

Shortly after Eli's birthday, Josh and some friends of his took a week long trip to the Grand Canyon. It was a "Guys Only" trip and was something that Josh had been looking forward to for a long time. This was his second time to visit the Grand Canyon; the first time was when he was working in college and took a group of college students. This time it was going to be just four men, so he didn't have to worry about kids falling off the mountain and having to explain to their parents that their kid fell off the rim of the Grand Canyon. Not that any kid every did fall off the side, but still it was a legitimate worry. Now it was just me that had to worry about him falling off the rim! They left early one morning and drove straight through to the Grand Canyon. Crazy! Josh and his friend, Beaux, are road warriors and love driving so it wasn't a big deal to them. 

They got there at 5:30 in the morning the next day. The original plan was to camp out on the rim of the Grand Canyon the first night and then hike down the next morning to the base. Since they made such good time on the road they decided to go ahead and hike down. Josh didn't take a camera, but Beaux did, so all the credit for these pictures goes to him. I've never seen the Grand Canyon, but from what Josh and Beaux tell me, pictures don't do it justice. It's definitely on my Bucket List of things to see one day, so I hope that I can make the next trip! (I'll have to really get into shape though if I'm going to do what they did!) I think Josh said that they backpacked about 31 miles total during this trip. I think I probably would have died...

Believe it or not, this is a squirrel! Look how fat he's gotten from 

all the tourists! Josh said he just kept posing for the camera!

Josh said he and the guys had a fabulous time. I know it's something he'll always remember. (You don't backpack 31 miles and just forget about it!) I'm so glad he had fun, but I'm even happier that he had fun and made it back safe and sound! Hopefully, I'll get my booty in shape so I can make the next trip with him!

Eli's ACTUAL 4th Birthday

The night before Eli's actual 4th birthday I blew up some balloons, attached them to streamers, and hung them on his door. I wanted him to have a big surprise when he woke up in the morning! He loved the balloons and before leaving for school, he took some pictures in front of his door. 

 Josh and I were both off from work so we ran errands around town, voted, and then went back to Eli's school to have lunch with him and his friends. He also requested that we bring cupcakes for his friends to celebrate his birthday. This was Josh's first and last time to be in a classroom of 3 year olds for an extended period of time. It was quite funny to watch, especially when every kid in the classroom personally introduced themselves to Josh and then proceeded to tell him their mommy's and daddy's names, what their favorite color was, and how old they were. Josh handled it all very well though.

Once centers were over, everyone moved to their tables for lunch. Eli got to wear a special birthday hat. He was so excited about that! When everyone was finished with their lunch, they sang "Happy Birthday" to him and then they got to eat cupcakes. 

His teacher, Mrs. Paige, took a picture of the three of us before we left for the day. Since all he had left to do for the day at school was take a nap we went ahead and checked him out of school. We went home and all took a long nap! It had been a busy weekend for all of us and we were all quite exhausted!

Happy Birthday, Eli! You are growing up so fast. I am so proud of you! You are such a smart, funny, sweet, kind, and precious little boy! Your Daddy and I are so happy that God chose us to be your parents. We can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays with you!