Christmas Vacation and New Years!

The smile says it all!

Kendal dancing with Dixie!

Jordan, Bayley and Kendal showing off their Poptarts

The Thornton's sledding
Bayley showing off her missing tooth!
Trey enjoying tubing!
Grandma Nancy and Papaw Rick enjoying the kids!
Trey and Grandma Nancy 2007

As much as we enjoy travelling to see our families during the holidays, with 3 young kids it sometimes is exhausting. We had a great trip to Indiana this year for Christmas, however I think this year may be our last Christmas away from home. In the future I think we will either go the week before Christmas or the week after Christmas to see our families, but we will enjoy spending Christmas morning at our own home. We left December 21st to start our travels northward. We made a stop in Georgia to see the dentist (Uncle Spencer) and then spent the night with Spencer, Buddy, and Leigh. I am happy to report that we had no cavities (which is somewhat debateable, depending upon who you ask) and that everyone cooperated pretty well. The kids love spending time with Spencer and Leigh and we were treated to a great food and fun! We definitely look forward to our bi-annual cleanings and check-ups.





Saturday morning we continued our journey to Indiana. The kids travelled well and we got to Daryl's (Jeff's dad) house at about 5:30 p.m. After opening gifts and visiting for a couple of hourse, we headed to Nancy and Rick's (Jeff's mom and step-dad) house to spend the night. We decided to stay at one location for the entire vacation to minimize the packing and unpacking of the car. As a side note, being the thrifty family that we are we took Jeff's company car on this trip as opposed to our nice big van in order to save money on gas as well as to save our van from all the extra miles. Although we saved a lot of money, it did create some issues. We were very limited on room and were packed to the hilt. Knowing that this would be the case, both coming and going we wrote a note to Santa asking him to leave the majority of the kids presents here in Alabama. The kids were fine with this and actually looked forward to returning home to see what Santa had left them. Sunday we attended church in Indiana and then spent the rest of the day with Thornton's (Grandma and Grandpa Thornton, Daryl, Terri, Erin, Barry, Cheryl, and Kelly). We had a very enjoyable time and the kids loved their gifts! Christmas Eve we spent with the Scott's. We played games and had a nice relaxing day. Christmas morning the kids woke up early and found that Santa had managed to drop a couple of gifts in Indiana. That afternoon Nancy had the rest of the extended family over for soup and snacks. It was fun getting to see everyone again and enjoy their company. As if the kids hadn't opened enough presents, Christmas night Nancy and Rick gave the grandkids their presents. Once again the kids got some great gifts! Christmas night we played more games and Bayley pulled her Christmas tooth! Wednesday Rick and Nancy took us tubing. Their is a ski slope about 30 minutes from their house where they have manufactured snow for skiing, snowboarding and tubing. We did the tubing and it was a lot of fun. This was the first time I have been tubing where they had a moving carpet that your were able to ride to the top of the hill and lanes that you went down in on your tube. The kids loved it and for a minute we actually missed not having snow here in Alabama. Wednesday night we played a last round of Five Crowns, which everyone really enjoyed. Thursday morning we headed out early to make our trip home. Trey started running a fever on Wednesday, so we knew he wasn't feeling well. It didn't take long for us to realize how sick he felt....he threw-up in Louisville (about 1 hour into our trip). You should have seen the girls faces and heard them dry heaving at the sight of their brother throwing up. It was actually kind of funny. We quickly exited and did our best to clean the car seat and air our the car, before jumping back in for the remainder of our trip. By the end of the ride, Kendal had started running a fever as well, so needless to say we were glad to be home. The kids arrived home to see that Santa and dropped off a houseful of presents, which perked them up just enough before it was time for bed. By Friday night all of the kids were feeling sick and on Saturday morning I took Trey into the doctor where he tested positive for strep throat. The doctor kindly prescribed anitbiotics for all of the kids and we are on the road to recovery. Sunday we sent Jeff to church by himself again...we have missed more church this year because of being sick then we have in the last 3 years. I am hoping that the next 3 months of winter will be a bit more kind to us as far as the sick bugs go. We love being healthy!!





New Year's Eve the kids felt well enough for Grandma and Grandpa "G" to come and visit. The girls did crafts with Grandma, including building a fun gingerbread house. We played games and had a great time. We love having them so close. The headed home around 8 p.m., the kids headed to bed around then, and Jeff and I weren't too far behind. Sleep is much more important to Jeff and I, than ringing in the New Year.





As you can tell from this book of an entry we have had an exciting couple of weeks. Bayley still has another week off of school, so if the kids are feeling well enough we may try to do a couple of fun activities while she is out of school.