Fish in Petal!

One of the hardest things about moving away from somewhere that you have lived for 10 years is leaving people you have become great friends with behind. Luckily, some of our closest friends chose to come visit us around New Year's. I think we were more excited about their visit than we were about Christmas itself. Our kids and theirs have literally grown up together so seeing them see each other for the first time in months was so sweet. I had lots of things planned for their visit, but unfortunately it decided to rain practically the whole time they were here. We did find a few patches of non-raining weather and enjoyed one of Petal's coolest playgrounds (I think the adults had just as much fun as the kids),





showed them our lake and play area,





and tried to get a fire going in our new firepit. Some of that was successful and some weren't.
We did all go to Gatti-Town and had a blast! The kids loved the bumper cars!!!







I borrowed my mom's jumping house for a little indoor distraction while Angie and I had some girl shopping time. So FUN!!


Linlee wanted to save the pinata from her family party and crack it open while the Fish were here. This was a hoot to watch! Linlee was the one to finally get it open! One of many highlights of the visit!





I hope we will get to visit with them all again very soon!

Linlee's 7th Birthday

I gave Linlee the choice of what kind of party she wanted (big party little gifts or little party bigger gifts). She chose to have a family party at home and take the fish to Gatti town when they visited a week later as part of her birthday. She chose the menu of steak, sweet potatoes, fruit salad, green bean bundles, roll and cake. her favorites!
Nana and Papa were the only ones to make it to the party since Grandpa and Grandma were iced in on their RV trip to Gatlinburg and didn't make it back in time.
I make the cake. It didn't really turn out as planned in my head but I think it acidentally turned out pretty cute.




My girl is growing so big!!!
She got an MP3 player with and I-dog, clothes, easy bake stuff and a robe from us. Hello Kitty birthstone necklace from Nana and Papa, clothes and puzzle book from Grandpa and Grandma, Bible from Papa John, Tangled book from Grandma Giles and Bath and Body works hand sanitizer lotions from Annelise. Great Birthday~

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

I am totally taking the lazy way out of this in order to get caught up.

Because Conner got his big gift early, it was only fair to let the girls open one of theirs on Christmas Eve morning. Sidney opened a new stroller and Linlee opened the Wii Party game (which is by far the most played game we ever got. It is sooo fun!) That evening we spent with the great grands and all the Giles family. Lots of food, lots of gifts and lots of memories. Ava and Sidney had a blast together and were so cute to watch.



This Christmas is the first one that we haven't had to drive 5 hours to attend all the festivities. It was so nice to wake up in our own home and have a normal Christmas morning opening gifts with just us. The kids have enjoyed everything they received. The highlight for me was seeing what the kids had put in my stocking. Ben had taken Linlee and Conner seperately to buy gifts for each family member with their own money. They felt so grown up. Linlee got me a new scrub brush which I needed actually. Conner had caught my oven mit on fire a few week before Christmas and so his gift was a new set. Loved the thoughtfulness and I use them daily.


We then headed to my parent's house for the annual Smith family gathering. It is always a mad house when they all get together in one space. We got there a little early to open gifts with Nana, Papa, Unlce Todd, Aunt April and Ava. The Pillow pets were a hit that morning and the robes that Granny made for all the great grands were well loved also. We got to see pretty much everyone this year except Amanda's family. We weren't supposed to see Justin and his family but Uncle Mickey was stranded without car keys and Justin had to drive the extra set down. Nice treat. I love Christmas time and am always depressed for a few days after it is all over. It is soo much more fun with kids of your own as well.