Saturday, January 10, 2015

Christmas in Alabama 2014- Everyone left us!

Because we bought our tickets so late, they weren't the cheapest. The cheapest tickets back were for January 7th. Like $350 a pop down to $180 a pop. We knew that for that much of a price difference, we had to wait it out. Even though it was well after school had started for Tucker, and well after everyone left for home. And we knew Ben would need to go home earlier, and so it was easy to justify a ticket for him to go home earlier. At the time I didn't think twice, we could totally stay there for a few extra days, even without Ben and cousins there, it would be totally fun. And it was totally fun. I was SO ready to go home at that point, though, and that was really the only downfall. We got lots of grandma and grandpa time to ourselves, even though they both had to go back to work. 
We sent lots of pictures like this to daddy whom we were missing so much:
CAM00705
We sent pictures like this to our cousins, whom we were missing dearly...
CAM00713
We sent more pictures like this to daddy. 'Mom, send this picture to daddy to show him what I drew for him'...
CAM00711
We got to go to grandma's library. And we are SO very excited for grandma that she gets to retire this year, but we are going to be so sad that we don't get to enjoy these perks anymore! :(
IMG_3014
I love this picture of my two boys. Just sitting in the window nook at grandmas library...
IMG_3011
All three of my cuties...
IMG_3015
Also, I saw these two pictures on my mother in law's fridge right next to each other and it made me realize just how much alike Tucker and Taylor looked. They were both about the same age at these pictures, and they have the exact same face shape and eyes. Pretty crazy!
IMG_3007
Then there's this one and I'm not sure where he came from! :)
CAM00719
We got to open up all of our fun toys that we got for Christmas. This was Taylor's nice little mess...
CAM00725
Luckily my father in law had just gotten a new car (the one that Ben popped the tire of in DC) but hadn't sold his old CRV yet, so he let us drive around in his nice new Honda Accord. It is amazing. We went to the children's museum and to feed the ducks. 
IMG_3020
Montgomery has the best little children's museum and it's totally free. Well, it's donation based, so we usually throw in a few dollars. But for the price, it's pretty amazing!
Tucker's favorite:
IMG_3029
Taylor's favorite:
IMG_3038
And Jackson's favorite:
IMG_3050
Another picture to send to daddy. 'Tell daddy I made this for him'...
IMG_3053
This was a pretty regular meal for me while I was there. Soda and chips for breakfast...
CAM00729
Finally we were off for our trip home. We loved being at grandma and grandpa's house so much, but were definitely ready to be heading home!!
One last stop at Chic-fil-A before I headed back to the sad Chic-fil-A less land that I live in.:(
CAM00730
Luckily they had it in the airport right at our gate. Two Atlanta staples right next to each other. I got Chic-fil-A and the kids got Varsity Hamburgers. The Varsity is an Atlanta Original and staple.
CAM00738

CAM00739

CAM00736

CAM00742
I know the real reason he wanted on the table--my little soda addict!
CAM00740
Atlanta gave us the most gorgeous going away sunset. This picture doesn't even do it justice though, there were a whole gaggle of us lined up at the window taking pictures. My phone takes crappy pictures!
CAM00733
Playing with their new plane ride toys to bide the time for our flight...
CAM00731
Finally we were homeward bound. It was, thankfully, an uneventful flight and we had plenty to keep us busy! I am getting tired of these late night flights with kids. Poor Tucker had to go to school the very next day. Luckily it was late start.
CAM00752

CAM00750Can't complain about our wonderful Holiday season this year. We truly are so very blessed to have wonderful families and wonderful friends and people in our lives.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Christmas in 2014- Working hard with Grandma...

At long last we had to say goodbye to the Pyper's. Jeremy had to get back to work in Nashville. That's a third of the kids right there!!! We were so sad to see them go! Ben saying goodbye to Joshy...
CAM00670
And Alex. Awkward.
CAM00669
And a big squeeze. There was talk of Alex coming up to work for Ben for the summer, so we're excited for that! It would be so much fun having Alex here with us for a while!
CAM00665
After the Pyper's left, we got busy busy busy at work. Grandma had asked Ben to reside her shed down by the garden. It was seriously falling apart. Ben enlisted the help of the big little boys, and they got to work. First we had to pull down a lot of the greenery that had grown all around it. It was a fun day of getting dirty and working hard. All of us pitched in, and of course, had a great time together!
CAM00674
These littles prefered to play in the trees and in the tree house...
CAM00672
The only reason I was able to even remotely help was because this guy was asleep. When he did wake up, he had to come out to see what all the action was.
CAM00676
And, of course, inspect...
CAM00681
These boys were such good workers and worked really hard. Here are Tucker, Teddy and Jonah taking a break in the tree...
CAM00686
Telling secrets in grandma's back yard...
CAM00658
One wall off the side of the shed...
IMG_2982
And the new wall going up...IMG_2991
Ben and his minions...
IMG_2992
Ben had a good time with all of these boys and said that Teddy, hands down, was the best worker. And that doesn't surprise me because we all know that Teddy is seriously going to be translated any day now.
IMG_2979
They also found time to play a bit...
IMG_2974
A boy and his ride...
IMG_2962
Cute girls in a tree...
IMG_2993
It wouldn't be a trip to grandmas without a bonfire. So, we burned the junk and debris and had some s'mores. Elijah sure is enjoying that marshmallow!
IMG_2983
Taylor and her triple decker...
IMG_2988

IMG_2976
It's so fun to work at grandma's house with all of our cousins. It's also nice to help grandma out! The shop turned out great and hopefully she won't have to worry about it anymore!

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Christmas in Alabama 2014- Family time...

Besides our Christmas celebration, we did a lot of playing and loving on our cousins!
These two are so cute together. They are best little buddies. Which totally doesn't surprise me, because all of Taylors BFF's are boys.
IMG_5848
So cute...(She's a year older than him!)
IMG_5839
Angelynna had a birthday before Christmas, so she got her gift from Grandma:
CAM00620

CAM00624
Love that we can play outside (not in the snow) at Christmas time when we're down there. Totally comfortable and nice out. This boy, of course, found the dog food and really, anything dog, and wanted to play in it.
IMG_2889

IMG_2885
He was so happy in this little car. We definitely need to get him one!
IMG_2886
Before we had our Christmas, I was tasked with the duty of helping grandpa decorate the outside of the house. He has been accused of being a little Clark Griswold-esk, and it's true, he usually buys any sort of outdoor decoration he can find, and had them all arranged in the front yard and on the back deck. My mother in law is less than thrilled about all of these decorations, but I was tasked to help, so that I did. Here was the little corner I was in charge of:
IMG_2887
Another thing we love about grandma's house is the delicious food!!! Every meal is wonderful there, and I love that their tastes in food are so similar to mine, Endless amounts of cheese and dips and chips and soda and snack foods, along with the delicious traditional southern home made food my mother in law always makes. It's heaven, I tell ya!
CAM00621
We got to spend lots of time working on and playing with our new Christmas toys. Tucker got a science project gift where you use the energy of a lemon to power a clock. You literally 'plug in' the cords from the clock face into the lemon. It was pretty cool!
IMG_2915
Josh being Josh:
IMG_2918
This is my favorite picture of Lynlee. She has all the kids piled on her, they are, of course, playing on the I pad, and she is intently watching football. I don't think she was, but she sure looks pissed about all of them being there! :) ha ha!
IMG_2920
Sophie got a laser pointer in her stocking, and seriously, I have never seen Jackson so excited about/ intent on something. It was so cute, she would point it on the ground, and he would chase and chase and chase it around! I need to get me one of those for him! Sweet Sophie was so good to him all weekend, letting him chase her around!
IMG_2923
One night Ben gathered the kids before bedtime to tell them a scary story. I was a little nervous, as sometimes Ben takes things too far, and, of course, he did. But for the most part the kids were totally into it. I think some of the little girls were the ones who got scared. I can't even remember what the story was about, but he is so good at making these things up on a whim. I don't know how he does it!
IMG_2925
I don't remember the ending, but this was the reaction...
IMG_2945
This little stinker was just happy to be a part of the big kids gang...
IMG_2944
Oh, and it happened to be this guy's birthday. I always feel so bad because we are usually in Alabama. I can't plan anything fun, because we are usually home bound while there, and dependent on others for any form of transportation. He is the one that is in contact with his friends, if we are going to see them.  I don't want to step on his mom's toes if she wants to do something, but most of the time, there's just too many people and things going on to focus any time on him for his birthday. It really sucks!! December 28th is an awful day to have a birthday. But, I did snap this picture of him with the kiddies so that I could give him a little shout out and love on facebook.
CAM00652
{I can't let today pass without wishing this guy a happy day! The best daddy and a pretty fun partner in crime. Too bad the laryngitis kept him in bed all day, but here's to hoping 35 only gets better from here}
That is what I posted on facebook. I forgot that he had been in bed all that day not feeling well, and his voice had totally left him. He, of course, made fun of me for 'diagnosing' him with laryngitis and asking me where I went to medical school. He never actually went to a Dr. but we all knew. :) I sure do love that guy! He also looks really hot in that picture withe kids! :)
Spent many hours putting together toys. Really, how many Pypers does it take to put together a mini toy car?
CAM00627

CAM00635
I think that the kids had more fun with the packaging than with the actual car. OK, that's not true, the car was a total hit, but still, the packaging was super fun!
CAM00631

CAM00626
He's on grandma's lap with a 'bop' in each hand, life is good for this little dude!
CAM00633
Tucker got a cool pogo stick from grandma, but was a little nervous to learn how to do it for some reason. It was kind of big, I don't know if that kind of intimidated him. But it was very cute and sweet to see his cousins rally around him and encourage him. Also, grandma stepped right in to help him. (as did I--I didn't just leave him to learn on his own) :)
IMG_2949
OK, the car was a HUGE hit once it was assembled. And it is seriously so cool for them to be able to drive around. It's actually our car. Grandma got one for each family, but since we can never bring our big things home, ours are the ones that get to stay at grandma and grandpa's house. Just like BOTH of those rip riders that you see in the background of this picture. The red one and the pink one. Both ours, one is Tucker's and one is Taylor's. But they stay at grandma's house because we can't bring them home. :(
IMG_2946

IMG_2950

IMG_2954

IMG_2956
These two cuties got matching jammies. I love that Sophie girl. We had a little incident with Sophie. Ben is totally unaware of how these young kids socialize. Sophie was texting one of her friends in Nashville, and somehow Ben got a hold of the phone and texted this girl back about how Sophie liked this boy that they had just been texting about. Ben was joking, and when Sophie saw what he did, she burst into tears. I felt so bad. This is when I entered the scene, I was unaware of what had happened. He tried to make it right, but she was concerned that this friend was going to text everyone in the school about how she liked this boy, which wasn't true. And blah blah blah. Ben tried to make it right, and I think that he learned a very important lesson on not messing with a tween's phone. This is serious business these days. I don't know what we're going to do when our own kids are that age!! Taylor reminds me a lot of Sophie. Sophie was the first grandbaby born after I became part of the family, so she always holds a special place in my heart. :) Love her!
IMG_2895
Of course, cousin I Pad bonding time. These two are so cute together!
IMG_3005
Had to document the head to toe Alabama outfit. Grandpa and his outfits. :) Love them!
CAM00704
Terra was my New Years date this year. Seriously, all of the other adults were in bed. It was so lame. I do always know that I can count on Terra to stay up with me. We were watching murder mysteries. That's pretty much what we watch every night while we're there. Ben's mom is obsessed. She gets us obsessed. Funny thing is, I never watch them here in Spokane. Only there. Ben's sisters I think watch them all the time too, at their homes. Anyway, Terra and I were up chatting and watching our mystery shows, and having a great time. We kept on hearing fireworks going off all around the neighborhood, and probably the whole town.
CAM00692
{This was the crappy quality of my old phone pictures when I turned the camera around. But I do love that Terra!! :)}
This boy's personality it totally starting to come out. Now that he can walk, he thinks that he owns the world and is just so much fun to play with! Can't wait for him to start talking and really hearing what he has to say! :)
IMG_2995
New year's day dinner. Since they were all in bed at midnight, we let them have a little party with soda and/or sparkling cider for dinner on New year's day.
IMG_3008