A Wedding Weekend~

My niece Jessica and Peter got married today and Savannah was in the wedding

so we had the great joy of keeping BC for the night.

He was perfect of course~

Once everyone was ready we headed to the wedding.

It was so wonderful watching Jessie become Mrs. Verdin

and take photos of our families~

My mom & dad, The girls with their sweet guys, the big family~

 Jason's family, Marcia's family, My sister and I~

 My siblings, My family, Marcia & Chris~

 Mom & Dad, Us, Savannah, Josh, & BC~

Family is everything and we are very happy to celebrate Jessica & Peter!!!

A Big Day~

We headed to Gwinnett this am and met our social worker at the park for WP's 3 year home visit 

then to pediatrician for flu mists/shot {both went perfect}~

Then to Target for shopping/my flu shot and finally to pick up BC for the weekend.

Savannah and Josh have a wedding so we are blessed to have BC all to ourselves!

Amy and Jason invited us to meet them in town for a walk around the square seeing all the scarecrows~

It's awesome our kids are so easily entertained!

Afterwards we returned home for ~

Baths for everyone and bottle for BC.

I think it's going to be a pretty wonderful weekend!!!

Christmas @ Uncle Jason's House~

Tonight we were excited to celebrate Christmas with Jason, Amy, and kids before they head to Michigan on Friday.

We had dinner and then the OH SO fun opening of gifts.

We let the littles exchange gifts and bigs do too~

 I think they all were super happy with what they received~

Let's see... EK: horses, SJ: bunny, PC: dino, WP: dino, EC: bear puzzle.

They will have fun new things to play with tomorrow~

Thank you Jason and Amy for having us!!

 Sure missed Josh, Savannah, and Amelia!!!

Parade of Lights~

In keeping with holiday tradition, we met Jason's family last night to watch the Parade of Lights~

 And like many other events this year...

This was Payne and Evie's FIRST Christmas Parade.

It is often so hard to prepare them for what they will experience.

Like a Christmas parade???

It is just a matter of doing it~

Look at the cute glasses boys!

Payne LOVED the firetruck.

Evie loved gathering the candy after she got over the shock of the loud sirens.

Great time had by all and you can tell from shorts and no socks we were having an unseasonably warm day... 70s.

Made for a very enjoyable evening!!!

Thanksgiving Two~

Our second Thanksgiving was spent Saturday evening with the addition of my sister and her family.

It was also the day we had planned to shoot our Christmas card photo.

Amelia shot this of Scott and I~

 

Josh was on his way back when he got a call his dad had been taken to the hospital with pneumonia so he turned around and headed straight back to him. Please be praying for Mr. Ben and their family!

Since Josh wasn't in photo Savannah wasn't either {She shot our photo!} and they will be featured on the back along with sweet Abby.

I did get a very sweet shot of my beautiful children~

I also took time to shoot a few senior photos of Rosemary~

 The last to the right so symbolic of her week applying to colleges and wondering where God will plant her for His plan!

As we crossed back over the street, I was struck once again by how wonderful Home is during the holidays~

 Thankful to have a houseful once again~

My Grandfather~

My Parents~

My Sister, Marcia and her family~

My brother Jason and his family~

 {Missed you Jessie, Peter, and Josh!}

And wasn't God so AWESOME when He painted the sky with such beauty~

 Even three little boys were awe struck~

Thanksgiving Two... a Huge Success!!!

Thankful Day 7 {Family and Home}~

I grew up in this small town on the lake {well actually on a beautiful dairy farm} but still in this area

and actually said when I went to college I would never come back

{Just a great place to be FROM}.

Six years ago we were living in a suburb of Atlanta raising our 4 girls.

We felt the pull to move back home not really knowing why it was God's will.

Many things confirmed this call on our family and it has been the best thing we could have ever done for our children {Bigs and littles}~

It is also a beautiful blessing that we live only 5 miles from my parents and my brother's family.

I am SO thankful for my parents who are always available and love our whole family SO well~

 And my siblings that bless my life so much~

{I tell mama all the time they are the best gifts she ever gave me!}

I LOVE you Daddy, Mama, John, Marcia, and Jason.

We are very blessed and I'm thankful for each of you!!!

So today I am thankful for Family and Home!

 

Exodus 20:12 

 Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Trick or Treating~

Payne and Evie definitely thought their first experience with ToT was SO fun.

We always go to my mom and dad's first and this year was just SO sweet.

They were greeted by my mom and she just covered them in love... like she always does right? big girls?~

 She had big goody bags waiting for them and they loved it.

We met Jason, Amy, and the kids there since we always ToT with them {our tradition!}~

 Look at those adorable boy cousins!!!

And thanks to Amy we got this awesome big group photo... just missing the 6 big grandchildren and 1 greatgrand!!!~

 My 5 LOVE their 3 cousins!!!~

 After my parents' house we made our way to Aunt Susan's neighborhood for ToT~

 Along the way we met up with Evie's BFF from China~ Lily Hope {Sweet!}.

Such a great night of fun and home in bed by 8:30!

Now the REAL fun can begin!!!

More John Deere~

I grew up on a farm in the same house my parent's still live in today~

 They {along with my brother Jason} still run the dairy farm and raise crops to feed the cows. Their house is surrounded by farm land. It takes lots of big equipment to farm the land. I had mentioned to Jason about giving the kids a ride in the tractor and today was the day! He is planting corn right next to my parents' house~

 SO beautiful this time of year... everything new and growing!

The big girls went for a ride first~

 They LOVED it!!! Then the boys... Payne was beside himself with excitement~

I'm pretty sure they honked the horn about 1000 times.

Evie didn't want any part of getting in that big tractor.  

We had a little play time on all the riding toys memommy has at her house~

AND Pop gave EK a snake skin he found UNDER their house! Yikes~ 

This just about thrilled EK beyond words and she has spent this afternoon researching king snakes. She wrote in her journal about them and even taped in part of the snake skin.

Today when we drove away from the farm I was awe struck at the awesome legacy daddy has given Jason and now he gives to our children~

Thank you Daddy and Jason for being the amazing men you are to our family. 

If you haven't watched this video, it is worth your time...

 Farmers Tribute: So God Made A Farmer. Paul Harvey

(Mama and Amy~ please make sure Daddy and Jason watch this! They are our heros and we LOVE them without measure!!!) 

Our Egg Hunt~

Today was the perfect day for family over and an egg hunt!

It felt so wonderful to be outside with everyone feeling better.

The bigs and big littles hid the eggs while the little littles watched through the front door~

   They could barely wait for Max, Addie, and Slate to arrive... Memommy too!!!

After a sweet photo of the whole crowd... they were off~

 Such an awesome sight to see Payne and Evie running for their very first Easter eggs ever!

LOTS of eggs~

 AND candy! :)

Such a fun afternoon just spending time together~

 and then finished it off with grilled hotdogs!

Looking forward to having them all back over tomorrow for a delicious lunch and more egg hunting I am sure!

Happy Easter everyone!!!

A Very Merry Christmas~

At 5:10am two little girls stood by my side of the bed and asked if they could get up... umm, no but I let them sneak a peek and then back to bed. They did sleep until almost 7 then we were up for the Big Day~

 Everyone was very surprised and very happy... EK: Santa really did bring what I asked for! :)

 The bigs will not like the photos below but were just too sweet not to post. They were REALLY surprised since they didn't ask for anything. LOVED surprising them~

 By late morning, Josh and Savannah were home sharing lots of gifts. Everyone was thrilled... especially Scott and I... Loved our new Keurig!!!

 Pretty much spent the day just relaxing and snacking and playing then we were off to Jason and Amy's for Christmas dinner~

 Their new house is beautiful and loved being there with them.

Thanks Jason, Amy, Max, and Addie~

 We had a Very Merry Christmas indeed!

{9 days until China}