2011 blog book

We drove from Gallatin to Franklin to meet up with Bertie. We planned to have a Christmas Eve dinner at Cracker Barrell, but believe it or not, they were CLOSED! So we ended up at.....STEAK AND SHAKE! the service was slow, but that just meant we got even more time to visit...and calm down little boys who were stir crazy! When we got back to Bertie's house we got to visit some more and open presents! We were SOOO excited to get a WII! I had been trying to get one for a few months in the hopes that streaming netflix and hulu would help bring down our tv bill....but we never set aside the $$ to buy one....do Bertie did it for us! YAY! We are already LOVING netflix! Later on Daddy took Bertie to the airport to go to Texas and we headed off to the next Christmas celebration. Did I mention that we experienced a CHRISTMAS MIRACLE the night we stayed at Bertie's....Wesley put up a little bit of a fuss when Daddy laid him down in his pack and play, but after that, he totally slept throu

Christmas Eve is our usual day to celebrate with the Fishers. Last year we didnt because the Henry's were out of town and I think people were sick and we had the Coopers up in Cookeville celebrating with us....the year before we didnt because Papa John was just getting over being very sick....the year before that we had a mini celebration since the Henrys were gone again...so this was the first year in a LOOOONG time that most of us got to celebrate together. What a blessing! Baby cousins admiring each other going in for a hug we were THRILLED that Ma Fisher felt up to celebrating with us!!! She has had a hard year health-wise but she mustered the energy to spend the day with us...and it was such a blessing! They boys were really cute with her too! we were also thankful that Papa John was well this year, and that Beverly and Kitty made it this year too. We really missed Mimi, but she was caring for her ailing mother. Eden's first Christmas. She and Papa John had some sweet time

as I said in the previous post, we do our little family Christmas celebrations early due to traveling, so we had our "Christmas Morning" on Christmas Eve. We were very surprised Christmas morning that Jack slept kinda late....and when he woke up he was content to watch a show, eat breakfast and do other things before seeing what Santa dropped off. I wonder how long that will last! :) Jack walking in to see the loot!  Whoa, someone must have been really good! what a cute face! stockings too! looking at his "search and find" book See my car vacuum in the background....my Santa gives useful gifts! Santa's helper, Josh, used the vacuum to clean the car before we loaded up to head to Nashville....and it looked AWESOME...a two-fold gift!!!! glow sticks in the stockings. We used some of them in the bathtub a few nights later with the lights out. It was pretty cool! Can I just say how hard it is to find little stocking stuffers for a toddler who still likes to put litt

We usually travel for family Christmas celebrations, and this year was no exception. The boys are young enough that they dont notice or care if we do our little family celebrations early, so we did ours the evening of Friday 12/23, so that we wouldnt be too rushed in the morning between Santa gifts and getting out the door by 11. I think it worked out great! cutie pie and the tree! the same tree, the same 2 Christmas Cutie Pies (minus a passy....now you can REALLY see how cute they BOTH are!) that passy has been banished to only bedtime and naptime....unless he is sneaky and we forget to hide it. It's about time. Daddy reading "The REAL Night before Christmas" which tells the Nativity Story with wording and phrasing similar to the classic Christmas Tale. I think this book is very cute, but I do feel it is a bit ironic that it emphasizes that it is the "REAL" Night before Christmas, yet it is narrated by the main characters, which are anthropomorphic ducks....are