Christmas Trip...Part 2

After our visit in Mobile, we headed over for Jay, FL to spend a few days with my fam. The girls love being in "the country". Jocelyn had a blast riding on the tractor with PawPaw. Gabbie was a little too afraid of the big tractor...she decided to just watch Jocie on the tractor from a distance while daddy held her :)

On Dec. 23rd, we had our Christmas gathering at my grandpa and grandma's house. All the Uncles, Aunts, and cousins come over and eat an enormous meal and then the kids open gifts. After that, all the adults play dirty Santa (which can really get interesting :). The finale of the evening is building a big bonfire and shooting fireworks. (Does anyone else shoot fireworks on Christmas Eve? The first year Shane and I were married and we did that, he thought it was so weird...he had never heard of anyone doing that. I thought everyone on the planet shot fireworks on Christmas Eve...hello?!?)

My cousin and his wife have 2 year old boy/girl twins. Here are both sets eating Grandma's country cookin'....yummy

My Uncle, Aunt, and cousins are ENORMOUS Alabama fans. My dad hates Alabama. When Alabama played Florida a while back my dad made a bet with my cousin that if Alabama won, he would wear an Alabama hat and cheer for them in the championship. Well, here he is in the hat my cousin gave him for Christmas :)

I remember as a small child every Christmas at my grandparents, my grandma would get us all to sit down before we opened presents and she would read the Christmas story to us and then talk about it with us. I love this tradition. Every year it get more and more crowded in their tiny living room because there are more and more great-grandchildren. It had an extra special meaning for me this year as I sat there listening and watching MY children hear the same story that I remember her reading to me when I was little. She has truly put a lasting mark of her faith on her family. I am so thankful for such wonderful grandparents that love Jesus.


Grandpa with cousin Landon

Jocelyn giving a kiss to the baby she just got from grandma

It gets just a LITTLE chaotic when the presents are handed out :)

Gabbie showing off her new baby

This, my friends, is my grandparent's purple 2 foot Christmas tree. The picture says it all....

Aunt Emily and Gabbie (who refused to look at the camera)

The best family pic we could get :)

We opened presents at my parent's house on Christmas Eve this year. The girls had so much fun opening their gifts this year.

Cousin Landon was being sneaky and stole Jocie's cup....look at that face!!

Cousin Kaylea and cousin Ashton patiently waiting to open their gifts :)

My sis, brother-in-law, brother, dad, and Landon (Juliet, where are you? I don't have any pics with you in them!!? Were you hiding??)

Jocelyn trying on her new striped tights

Gabbie was obessed with the bows. She stuck them all over her face....

and on PawPaw's head....

and on Jocie's head...

My mom's decorated gourd...maybe the most unique gift of the day...

Jocelyn taking a break from playing with Gabbie to answer her phone :)


OUR CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

Since we opened presents on Christmas Eve, we really didn't have any plans for Christmas morning. However, that did not mean we could sleep in...oh, no...our children, especially the Gabster, ALWAYS wake up at the crack of dawn or earlier :) Shane and I were sleeping in the living room and when I woke up, I noticed that there was alot of light shining into the room (the previous two days we had been there, it was still almost dark when Gabbie would wake up). Confused, I looked up at the clock on the wall and saw that it was 8:15 am....WHAT?!? Of course, immediately Shane thought something was wrong with them, I mean, why else would they still be asleep?? OK, Jocelyn has slept a little later before, but Gabbie has NEVER slept past 7 am....NEVER. OK, so maybe they are awake and we were just sleeping so hard that we didn't hear them?? We look at the monitor and they were both still sound asleep. Of course, since we didn't wake up until 8:15, it felt like we had slept in till noon! Shane actually goes into the room and touches them to make sure they are breathing. No, I am not joking. So, we are sitting there in complete amazement. Waiting....Waiting....Waiting...

8:55 am!!! Jocelyn wakes up. We couldn't believe it. And yes, the Gabster is still asleep.

Daddy and Jocelyn having some chill time....still WAITING on Gabbie to wake up...

9:37 am!!! Gabbie wakes up...We totally were in shock. We didn't think it was humanly possible for her to EVER sleep late. She was incapable of doing such a thing! Then we realized....this was our CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!! I took a picture of the clock just so I could have proof that it really did happen!


Our sweet, VERY rested Gabbie...

They loved running up and down the ramp at grandpa and grandma's house....

The swings are their favorite at PawPaw and MawMaw's house....They fought so bad over the tree swing that PawPaw bought another one while we were there to end the dispute. Thanks PawPaw!! We love you!

I forgot to mention that while at my parent's Gabbie got the stomach virus, then I got it, then Shane, then my dad, then my grandpa. Not fun. SOOOO sorry we brought sickness with us! We are so glad we got to spend Christmas with you!

Christmas Trip...Part 1

I have to break up our Christmas trip into 3 parts because there are just too many pics and stories to share at one time. This is part one. The Saturday before Christmas we drove from Orlando to Mobile. As I have mentioned before, the girls are a nightmare in the car. They despise traveling. They scream and scream and scream from the minute we get in the car until we get out. You probably think I am exaggerating. I am not. Needless to say, the traveling part of our Christmas journey was no fun. However, once we arrived at our various destinations, we had a blast.

You are probably confused about the above picture...please allow me to explain...a while back Gabbie became insanely paranoid in the bath tub because for several days in a row, Jocelyn decided to poop in the tub. The poop scared Gabbie so badly that she would basically start hyperventilating. Well, it got so bad that we could barely get her in the bath tub to take a bath every night. She would start screaming before her feet even hit the water. She thought the shadows in the water were poop, a tiny piece of grass floating in the water was poop, a scratch on the bath tub floor was poop....it was awful. After several nights of this hysteria, I walked into the bathroom and saw the above taking place. Shane had become so desperate, that he thought if he actually got in the tub with her she would calm down. Obviously that didn't work...please notice his expression....priceless! The reason I put this picture on our Christmas trip post is because this poop phobia insanity continued on our entire trip...in every bath tub we used at our various locations....except, not only were things in the bath tub poop, but all things in life were poop...food on her highchair, dust on the end table, a grain of sand on the porch....it drove us crazy!! I will say that since we have been back, her phobia seems to be calming down a bit....HOPEFULLY!

We got to visit with some great friends while we were in Mobile. Here are Shane and the girls with our friends John, Jake, and new baby Blake Bennett (me and Ariel opted out of the pic). It was SO great to see you guys!!

Ms. Shropshire cooked us up some yummy soup and the girls got to play with Auntie Katie, too!!

The Rubles graciously opened up their home and allowed us to stay with them while we were in Mobile. I know they were so very thankful for the much added chaos that we brought to their normally peaceful lives. Thanks so much for putting up with us!
The girls had several things at the Rubles to keep them entertained...like throwing little balls under the bed and then trying to have go-go gadget arms to get them....

Banging on their VERY nice piano....

Playing dress-up with some of Elena's cool stuff...

Having a love/hate relationship with their dog, Sophie. One minute they would want to play with her and the very next second they would be screaming bloody murder as if she was viciously attacking them. That was LOTS of fun. Please notice the random yellow rubber chicken that Jocelyn is trying to pet Sophie with......hilarious.

The Lyle twins stopped by to see us. They were looking at the girls' first year book that I made on Shutterfly. I thought this pic was sweet....twin girls looking at my twin girls' book. Love you guys! Thanks for coming to see us!!

Our last night in Mobile we went with the Parks to Bellingrath Gardens to see the Christmas lights. The girls LOVED it. All they kept saying was "cooooool" and "wooooow" and "mo, mo, mo" (their version of "more")....too cute!

We saw many other great friends while we were in Mobile as well. It was hard to leave again :( We miss everyone so much!!

Jason & Colleen's Canadian Bash

A few weeks ago Shane and I flew to London, Ontario (well, we actually flew to Detroit and then drove the rest of the way) for Jason and Colleen's wedding (they are former students from South as well as fabulous friends of ours :). Gran and HayHay (that's what the girls call Hayward) graciously came down to keep the girls for us. (Thank You!) When we left Orlando it was 85 degrees. When we got to Canada it was 10 degrees with 40 mph north winds. I thought I literally was going to die of freezation. No joke.

Colleen and I at her bacherlorette party. Please notice she is wearing SHORT sleeves. Those Canadians are crazy!

One may ask how a Canadian got all the way down to South Alabama? Well, Colleen got a volleyball scholarship to USA. Her freshman year, she became a Christian and was involved with the ministry we worked with for the next several years. That's also how she met her now husband, Jason. It has been such a privilege to watch Colleen come to Christ and grow into such an amazing woman of God over the past several years. Your friendship is a treasure to me Colleen!!

Karrie, a dear friend of ours, also came to the wedding. Of course we had to get a pic in the snow...don't see much snow down in Orlando :)

Shane, me, Karrie, and Jade (another former USA vball player and great friend of ours!)

This is a really cool outdoor ice skating rink (even though you can hardly make it out b/c my camera was being so stupid!). We wanted to ice skate but then we got out of our car and immediately jumped back in due to freezation. It was just way too cold!!

Some volleyball and soccer players from South Alabama. It was awesome to catch up with all of them!

The Happy Couple!!

It was such a fun and unique wedding b/c it was truly two worlds colliding. Jason is from the DEEP SOUTH and obviously Colleen is from Canada. You can only imagine the differences! It was truly entertaining as well as absolutely beautiful. We had SO much fun! We love you guys! Congrats!