Christmas...

This year for Christmas we headed to Florida. We left the Wednesday before Christmas and arrived that night. It was a pretty good trip. Tyler did good and we also brought Kylie and she did good too. We only had to make 2 stops, so we made it there in pretty good time. Just in time for dinner and then headed to church. Ty was so excited to see Austin and Madi and I'm pretty sure they were quite thrilled too. Thursday (Christmas Eve) we got up and headed to GG's for the day. We started a puzzle, played games, ate, snacked, and then ate again. We had a great yummy meal. Mike and Renee came down. Ed, Suzie, and the kids went to Panama this year for a mission trip, so they weren't there. After dinner, we cleaned up and then the kids had to all do a performance. So Austin played the piano, Madi "did" to, and Ty just kind of danced around. Then we did the dirty Santa games. There were so really good things this year, so no one really had to fight over them, everyone went home with something good! After that we did our gift exchange. We drew names this year, so we all opened our gifts for each other. It was fun. Britt had my name and got me so really cute stuff. I think everyone enjoyed their gifts and even more just all being together. Then after the presents we had dessert. Pecan and Pumpkin pie. David took Ty down to moms to put him to bed around 9, cause he was super tired. We followed shortly. We had to get everything ready for Santa to come. Austin and Madi set out milk and cookies for Santa and after a few other little things we played Super Mario Brothers on the Wii. We were pretty much playing this game every night on our vacation. David only played like one day, but us sisters LOVE it. We only had a few fights and mom threatened us only a couple times that she was going to turn it off, so pretty successful, if you ask me! ;) We got to the final castle, but didn't have time to save the princess, hopefully Mandy will do it while we're gone. (Sorry for the tangent, I just really love that game, so I had to give it a shot out!)
Okay, so anyway. That night Ty got up during the night so I gave him some milk and right after that, I caught Santa red handed making sure he delivered all his toys to the kids. So I took a quick picture to show Austin and Madi. They were quite impressed!! ;)
Christmas morning we were all up around 7. Of course we made the kids wait so that we could video them coming in. Tyler slept till 10 that morning so he missed all the Santa festivities. After the Santa presents, Brad came over and we all had a very yummy breakfast. Then we opened all the gifts for each other. We all had a ton of gifts and Loved them all!! I got some really cute preggo clothes, jewelry, some odds and ends, and a Cricut!!! I was so excited. It's a machine that cuts out all kinds of letters and things. It's great for scrapbooking, and all kinds of crafts. Mandy and I both got one and were so surprised. Mom also got us each a scrapbook to make for Christmas. So every year we will make a new Christmas page for our book. It will be something really neat to look back on and remember each Christmas. David got some clothes, odds and ends, and a Wii!!! He also was super excited. Ty got some toys, an awesome Elmo airplane rider thing, squeaky shoes, and a cute bag. He loved everything too! We really made out this Christmas. Thanks Family for everything, you did way too much!! GG also gave us all pjs and money. We were so thankful for everything and just grateful that we got to be there!!! That afternoon, Austin and Madi went to their dads and we just hung out and played games. Dad and David went hunting and we all went to the movies to see "Did you hear about the Morgans?" It was a really cute movie. David came and got Ty half way through when they got back and I'm sure mom was thankful because she was wrestling him to go to sleep. ;) Saturday we all went to Pensacola and just shopped around with our Christmas money. We really didn't buy much. Mandy got stuff to decorate her room (which was super cute, BTW) but other than that, and a few clothes Brittany got we really didn't get much. That night we just went home and relaxed. Sunday morning around 3:00am, we got a call from my sister saying that GG couldn't breathe. So they ended up taking her to the ER where the admitted her and tried to get her medication regulated. Basically her blood pressure when really high and so they had to tweak her medicine to try to get her stabilized. She felt much better by Sunday afternoon, but they wanted to keep her overnight. After church, we came home and had steaks and just had a real nice lunch. It was fun just all sitting around having fun. That afternoon we played the Wii and took naps, since we didn't get much sleep the night before. After church that night we went to Firehouse Subs and had dinner then the girls went up the hospital to play a few rounds of Speed Yahtzee (?). Some new Yahtzee game that's super fun! I think GG enjoyed that. We left around 9:30 and headed back home. Monday we got up and started cleaning and taking down the Christmas decorations. The kids got back home and Ty had a ball with them back. So we just really sat around and played all day. Tuesday, we pretty much did the same. We just all hung out and relaxed. I met Kelly that afternoon when Ty got up for his nap. I hadn't seen her new baby, Colton, so we met at Books a Million in P'cola and visited a little while before we both had to get back. That night we headed over to Ben and Amy's for a Locklin/Todd game night. It was a lot of fun. There were about 20 people in all. Amy made a yummy dinner and we all enjoyed games and each other's company. It was so fun to all be together again. We stayed there till around 10:30 and then headed home, Ty was exhausted. Wednesday we got up and met Mike, Mandy's boyfriend, that flew in the night before. Then we all loaded up (except dad, cause he had to work) and headed to Foley to go to the outlet malls. It was kind of a rainy day and very cold. But it was fun all being together. We went to Lambert's Cafe for lunch (home of the throwed rolls). Austin and Madi got a kick out of that and loved the fact that they got to throw food. Ty took a nap, finally, and let us enjoy our meal. ;) After that we all loaded up and headed home. Ty slept the whole way home and I think Madi and Austin did too! When we got back home we just visited until it was time for church. After church, David, Tyler, and I headed to my friend, Michaela's house. Michaela, Jenni, Kimi, and I have all been great friends since kindergarten/1st grade. So we all got together and let our kids play and got to catch up. It was fun seeing everyone and letting David meet them all. We stayed there till about 9:30 and then headed back home for some Wii. Thursday we got up and just went to GGs. We pretty much stayed there all day and played with our cricut making our scrapbooks. That night we all went to the Shrimp Basket for some yummy crab claws. David and I have been craving them!! It was so yummy. Ed, Suzie, and the kids got back in town just in time to join us. It was a great meal! Then we headed to GG's to ring in the new year. We played games, Buzz Word, Bunko, and more Buzz Word. It was fun although the boys (except for Brad) are not big game players, but they did play. Mom organized it and had lots of yummy snacks. It was just so fun all being together! Then we watched the ball drop, watched the pelican drop (in P'cola) laughed our heads off then quickly headed to bed around 12:10, we were super tired. Ty only made it till about 10:30, but Madi and Austin were troopers! ;) Friday morning, I went to a good friend, Emily's house and had breakfast with her family. Then Tyler and I came back and we just relaxed, played games, and scrapbooked. Around 3:30 we headed to Memaws to see her and her whole family. It was fun catching up with all of them and seeing all her precious grandkids. We stayed for about an hour and then headed back home for Poppyseed Chicken. It was another yummy meal! Afterwards, we did Christmas with Savannah, John Blake, and Hannah and then played Buzz Word. We left around 9 to get our stuff packed up and everything ready to go. We also played Wii, one last time! ;) Throughout the week, David went on several outings. He went hunting a few times, took Papa's boat out and took Austin fishing, made an awesome bow hunting target for Austin, did lots of yard work around GG's house. He was a trooper and really helped out. He spent lots of time with Austin and really enjoyed that. Everyone spoiled Tyler to death and he loved having his cousins to play with at any given moment. It was so fun to watch them all play together. I loved every minute of being home. It never seems long enough. We were so blessed to be able to spend that much time there, it just is always hard to leave. We are so very blessed with a wonderful family on both sides and enjoy every minute we get to spend with them. Thank you for making this the best Christmas yet. We love all of you and can't wait to see you again!
We got back home around 11:00pm on Saturday night. We were all exhausted. David, of course, drove the whole way, so I know he was super exhausted. We got back home and it was 17 degrees. Thankfully our house was warm! We just brought in what we had to and dumped it. We still haven't finish unloading the car. Sunday after church we headed to the Branch's for lunch since Sarah and Byron were in town. We had a great lunch and enjoyed catching up!!
Monday morning, Bill took David to the airport. He flew to St. Louis for his annual youth minister conference. So, Ty and I are holding down the fort and trying to stay warm while he's gone. Last night, Sarah, Candace, and Shanna came over for dinner. It was fun all being together again and catching up. Ty didn't really feel good, but he did good. My wonderful babysitter, Darla, made me a chicken casserole to stick in the oven and I can't wait to enjoy that tonight!! We are so very blessed in every way!!
Sorry this post was so scattered, I just didn't want to leave any detail out! Now only 19 more days till we hopefully get to find out if we're having a boy or a girl!!! I can't wait!!