HO HO HO!!!

Well, our favorite time of the year has come and gone (almost).... We still have one more Christmas gathering to go with Casey's family from Texas but I decided to go ahead and do a post of the pics I have so far since there are so many I want to post (26 on this post alone). You will notice from the pics, this was a GREAT Christmas for us!!!

The last day of school before Christmas is a very exciting day for kids.... and parents!!! Me and Casey got to attend not one but 2 class Christmas parties!!! Anna and Cayson were very excited to have us both there.

On Thursday the 23rd we had Christmas with my dad's side of the family at my sister Lacy's house. Papa Dave and MiMi always do good on the gifts!!!!

 The best present he could ever get!!! This has been almost everywhere with us since that night!!

 Almost all of our little family.... Anna was at her moms until Christmas morning.

 Hooded towels and head lights.... need I say more!!!  Love it!!!

Me, Casey, MiMi, Papa Dave, Nan Nan, Papaw, Roy, Cayson, Sissa, Cruz, Lacy, Jax, and Bryce (missing our Anna!!)

Now for Christmas morning!!! Santa is a very BIG deal for me and always has been. As long as I can remember, Santa brings his presents (unwrapped) and places them on the couch. When me and my sisters were little, we stayed the night at my grandmother and grandaddy's house and we all had a couch cushion (mine was always in the middle since I was the middle child) that Santa left our presents on. So I have continued that tradition for our 2 kids which I hope continues on to their children.

 Anna's Santa Clause

 Cayson's Santa Clause

 Out of all the presents that were requested by Anna and Cayson, this was the one that stressed me out the most. For those of you that don't know, this is a LaLa Loopsy doll that obveously every kid in the world wanted. You could not find them ANYWHERE. With the help of my facebook friends, I finally found one on Target's website on the 17th (but not the blue one that she wanted). We were unsure if it would even be here in time for Chrsitmas. Casey went to Hattiesburg on Tuesday the 21st and luckily, Toys R Us had ONE blue one that had just came in and I was able to cancel the one I had ordered. If you ask Anna what her favorite Christmas present was, she will tell you "my LaLa Loopsy Doll", which makes all the stressing worth while! I love to see my kids happy!!!

 Cayson was really into the whole "Santa" thing this year!!

After we saw what Santa brought Cayson (at 5:30 A.M.), we headed to my mom's for our Christmas with her.... We have a big crowd (18 people) at her house at 6:30 christmas morning...

After we finally got Anna home, we finished up with Santa and opening presents at our house.

I love to see this expression.... this face was over a Harry Potter movie!!

this is what my living room looked like after all the presents were opened and they had made their way through all of their Santa gifts!!!

Then, we headed to Casey's moms for the remainder of the day.... Presents, food, movie, nap, and more food.... what I love most about our family gatherings on Christmas day is....all of this is in our PJ's!!!

 

 This blizzard maker made wonderful ice cream!!

 Cayson was the only one lucky enough to get a nap in...

The day after Christmas, the kids were finally able to go outside and enjoy their big present from Santa!! We all bundled up like eskimos and played outside for about 15 min. (which was long enough in 30 degree weather).

To end the day, we ate supper with my moms side of the family (17 people including kids). My mom's brother and his family came down from Alabama and Georgia.

 My grandad and Carol with the 5 great grandchildren

The Kimbroughs, McCarthys, Keyes, Sullins, and Pickerings

 grandchildren and great grandchildren

 Children and the spouses

Love my sisters!!!!

We ended the night with a little karaoke!!!!

I know this was a rather long post but our Christmas is always so wonderful, I couldn't leave anything out!! And guess what, its not over!!! I will be back this weekend for our last Christmas light adventure and our Christmas with The Sheehy family (Casey's sister)!!

Amoungst all the excitement, I was able to remind both my kids and myself what we are truly thankful for on Christmas.... The birth of Jesus Christ!!! Without him, NONE of this would have been possible!!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Merry Christmas

HOPE EVERYONE HAS A SAFE AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

I WILL BE BACK AFTER THE HOLIDAYS WITH LOTS OF PICTURES!!!

Long time no post!!

This will be an extremely long post since it has been over a week since my last post... and due to our very busy lives, alot has happened over the past week or so.

Last Friday was mine and Casey's 5 year anniversary. Since we were going to celebrate the following week on a cruise by ourselves, we decided to spend our anniversary with a family date. We started out with our annual visit to Dixie Electric to see Santa.... It was a BIG hit. All the kids were so excited to visit HO HO!!

This was Santa's first year at being "Santa" so he didn't look the part as much but the kids didn't care... all they cared about was he gave out lots of candy!!

After our Santa visit, we headed to Hattiesburg for supper at Raising Canes then our other annual tradition of Lewis Lights. They were beautiful as always!!!

We had a very fun night and ended it by pilling up in our bed and watching a movie. It was our last night to see our babies for several days so of course they got to sleep with us (which means mommy and daddy got very little sleep)!!

We headed out Saturday morning to catch our boat in Mobile. It was a very relaxing vacation and some much needed "US" time for me and Casey. We don't get alot of alone time with 2 kids running around all the time so once every 5 years is fair I think!!

Of course we missed our kids alot more than we expected but thanks to wonderful technology we were able to talk to them almost everyday while on the boat. Anna stayed with Casey's mom (who does not have internet) so we got to talk to Anna the 2 days we were in Mexico. Cayson stayed with my mom so we were able to talk to him every night through skype. We got home Thursday morning about 10:30 and went straight to daycare and school to pick up our babies!! They seemed excited to see us but I think all the gifts we brought them had alot to do with!!

The cruise ship and Mexico was all wonderful!! Hope yall enjoy the pics... there are alot!!

This is what we did the whole time... EAT!! Free food 24 hours!! The 24 hour ice cream cones was definetely the highlight of my trip!!

 This is the lobby of the ship... very beautiful!!

 Ruins in Progresso, Mexico

 Progresso beach

 These are our fabulous dinner friends Rebecca and Nathan.

A little bit out of order but this is the sunset when we left Mobile.

 Headed out for a wild night on the boat.... I say "wild" but we were usually in bed before 12.

 We loved coming back to our room after supper just to see what new towel animal we would have.

 The Carnival Elation in Cozumel

 This is the national park we went snorkeled at.

 I actually snorkeled for the first time in my life. The waters were really rough so I had a little bit of a panic attack when I jumped in. After Casey talked me down for about 10 minutes, I was good to go. It was a beautiful experience... Im glad he talked me in to it!!!

Our great waiter.... Milos!!!

Now we are preparing for Christmas... The kids are already itching to open the presents under the tree so this is going to be a long 2 weeks. Hope everybody has a wonderful weekend and a Merry Christmas.