Ok, I have been a really really really bad blogger lately. I have a love/hate relationship with my blog. I LOVE reading other people blogs and I know family and friends want to keep up with what we are doing, but dang it if I don't hate the whole uploading pictures thing. It requires patience and that is something I don't have a lot of. Anyway, this post is to catch up for the last few months.

In November we went to the "North Pole" to see my mom. Actually it was North Carolina but EK calls it the North Pole. I had a couple of Southwest tickets from my career woman days that needed to be used so we flew. It was EK's second time on a plane (but she was a baby and doesn't remember it) and it was Reid's first. One weird and pleasant thing about the trip was that my buddy and ex-coworker and his little girl and girlfriend were taking the same flight. And another coworker happened to be on there too, so we all sat together and they caught me up on how the old construction job was doing. Then on the way back we flew into Fort Lauderdale to connect to Jax and I saw another coworker in the airport.

Reid was great on the flight. None of flights were full so he got a seat all to himself. He would sit there and just wait for people to look at him so he could flash them a smile. EK had a great time too. She really enjoyed getting her own juice and of course we brought her movies.We had a great time visiting with mom! She took the kids to get their first "Build-A-Bear". Except in our case it was "Build-A-Kitty" and "Build-A-Dog".

And we got mama a snuggie.



Moving on to Thanksgiving....

My family Thanksgivings are truly a feast. All my paternal extended family and my grandmother's 6 sisters and their families get together for a family reunion. We meet in the Echo Methodist church fellowship hall and get down to business tasting 7 different dressings, more casseroles than you can shake a stick at, turkey, ham, and desserts that you dream about all year. I seriously believe that the best country cooks in the southeast are in my family (but I may be a little partial). I didn't get any pics of the actual meal but here are a few at Papa's house.

Here is also a picture of the guys doing a little target shooting. Don't worry, this is out in the country and completely legal.

Michele and I also mourned that this should probably the last time we let all the kids take a bath together. They are getting a little too old for it:)

We also visited with the Parker side of the family. This is Reidy and Aunt Priscilla.

Brayden enjoyed climbing up the slide.


And for Christmas...

We went to a luminaries event at Seth's school. The kids decorate the sidewalks with bags with lit candles.

Made our first gingerbread house.

Had lots of fun taking our Christmas card photo.

Enjoyed great adult fellowship at our church Christmas party.

Stood in awe of God's creation in my backyard on a beautiful cool foggy morning. He makes even a simple spider web beautiful.

And made a house out of a cardboard box.

A few days before Christmas we set off on a 10 day road trip across the southeast. We loaded up our little Honda Accord with 2 adults, 2 children, one dog, three suitcases, over 20 presents, a pack-n-play, and several other things. We were packed in there like sardines. Thankfully we purchased a luggage bag and rack to hold many of the items. We were in a total of 6 states during our little trip. It started at my dad's house....

EK and I took a little ride on the 4-wheeler.

We did a little singing.

My oldest brother Ryan. Forgive him for his attire.
My two favorite boys.
And my sister-in-law Jennifer who is carrying EK's first girl cousin (Laney Louise) on my side of the family. Currently there are 6 boys and her. She is so excited to have another girl in the family and I can't wait to kiss her sweet face.
We visited with my great uncle Stanley and my great aunt Gloria from Nashville.

Here is Cade who is such a sweet older cousin.
Papa, EK, and Cole.
Daddy and Mrs. Kay got EK a sleeping bag and Dad got Mrs. Kay a sleeping bag. They were snuggling up while we did our bible study for the night.
After our visit in the Wiregrass we headed a little north to visit with my brother Nathan and family and my mom. The twins and EK had fun playing the Wii.

And EK snuggled with her Granny.Here is Michele.

After that we went to Seth's parents house. More to follow on that once I get the pictures from Mr. Reid.

After Christmas we headed up to Gatlinburg and on the way we stopped at the Cabbage Patch Hospital in Cleveland, GA. It was a Christmas present for me, ahem, I mean for EK.

My little poser.

A baby was delivered while we were there. The "doctor" asked for a name and we hollered Ella and that is what she was named.
Ella Katherine adopted her very own Cabbage Patch doll and named her Ella Katherine. Here she is signing the birth certificate.

We let Reidy boy hold a baby too.

Then we finally made it to the mountains and were greeted with SNOW!!!! My little Florida babies had never seen snow .

After this picture our camera's battery died and I forgot the charger so Mr. Reid has the rest of the pictures. More to come about Gatlinburg in a later post. Maybe I will get it done before next Christmas;)