It's cold outside!

Ella's a big fan of spaghetti...mom's not.

It was like 15 degrees this day. Yuck!

All bundled up

Typical Ella pose.

Ella's 1st ponytail...well, sort of

Look at the snow!

Well, it has been awhile since I updated my blog because my computer died...Jason revived it, but not before having to back everything up and wipe the computer clean. What a nightmare!?!?! Anyway, just wanted to share a few pics of the snow and FREEZING cold winter we've had. The kids surprisingly enjoyed putting on hats and mittens and bundling up. Ella's hair is getting so long. I tried to put it in a ponytail and it worked for a little while, but not for long. We'll get there! I had to throw in the pic of her with the spaghetti everywhere. She LOVES it, but mommy doesn't like cleaning up that mess very often. She's still cute, even with spaghetti in her hair!

Happy New Year!

Jason, the kids and I loaded up to spend New Year's Eve with Nikki and Matthew and a few others at their new house in Brentwood. We had so much fun with them! Cole and Luke really hit it off! Their new home is beautiful. Matthew did a fantastic job!

A day at the zoo!

We love going to the zoo! It was nice one day over Christmas Break, so Allison, Jennie, Melissa and I loaded the kids up and went to play. We always have fun there! Ella has gotten old enough to really look around at the animals. Cole just loves being able to RUN freely...within reason. :-)

Merry Christmas!

Jacey is growing up so fast. She looks beautiful!

Christmas at Big Daddy's...best pic I could get w/ both of them!

Nothing makes him happier.

Dora backpack!

Making a mess Christmas morning

Always silly

Jacey & Ella @ Grandmama Polly's

Henley

Boxes are fun too.

My FAVORITE picture of Ella...my girl loves the phone!

His favorite present was the bowling pins and bowling balls!

All the grandkids and great-grandkids (minus Lance, aka Black Sheep)

We had such a wonderful Christmas! We are so blessed to all have each other. After my dad's battle with melanoma this year, I put all the chaos of traveling in a different perspective. One day, my mom, dad, grandmother and other family members will be gone and I know at that time I will give anything to be able to travel back and forth to Dyersburg to see them. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve at my grandmother's and then at Parks & Polly's house. Parks is recovering from quintuple bypass surgery and we are all thankful that he is doing so well. We headed back to Memphis to wait for Santa. Cole & Ella were so good this year that they too many presents! Mommy has been rearranging the house for weeks! We headed back to Dyersburg for lunch at Big Daddy's house and then dinner with Nonna. We finally got home at bedtime Christmas night and enjoyed relaxing for a few days and playing with all the new toys. I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas as well!

Pre-Christmas Fun!

Santa's cookies

We can NEVER get a good pic of both together!

Alli Brook, Aiken, Ella & Cole

Get this off my hands!

Yummy!

We spent a week in Dyersburg before Christmas so we got to spend a lot of time with Dad, Mom & David, Aunt Lauren, Aunt Stacey and Henley. It was nice to see everyone, but it was also nice to finally get settled back in at home. Cole asked me after a couple of days when we were going back home to our Germantown house because he was tired of staying in Dyersburg for so long...he always has an opinion about everything. :-) He said on the way home that he wanted to take "a sweet nap in his sweet bed". Not sure where he came up with that one.

We've developed a tradition of making Christmas cookies with Nonna every year. This works for me because I'm no baker and hate cleaning up the mess! Cole loves eating the cookie dough. Ella joined in the fun this year and really enjoyed dumping the sprinkles everywhere. She wasn't thrilled when they stuck to her hands though. We also got to play with Robin's kids, Aiken & Alli Brooke. We rarely ever get to get our kids together so it was a lot of fun!