Christmas Fun

We spent Christmas up in Oregon with Tom's family. It was cold and kept snowing off and on, but the accumulation came one day late for the White Christmas I keep hoping for. The trips out there and back weren't great, but the time there was packed-full of fun.

We started off the celebrations at Tom's dad's house on Saturday.

Here are all six of the grandkids on Tom's side
Matthew, Troy, Helena, Mayah, Paige, and Kinley

The kids had a great time playing with each other. Ok, the boys didn't like Kinley "playing" with their cars and trains, but they all had a great time.

You can see the fun the girls were having with the all the "girl" toys. Kinley really likes to accessorize. She was also making sure the other girls had pretty necklaces, too.
We had great food, great fun, and watched a great movie ( I thought).

Just a warning: Might want to think twice about having Uncle Billy watch the little ones.


On Christmas Eve, tradition says that we all meet at the big house to start lunch and start the fun. This year the guys decided to make the morning time for sledding, but that's another blog...

So, after a great lunch/dinner, Santa came to see the kids. Kinley was all excited about Santa, but when the time came to sit in his lap, it was a no-go.
Each little one got to buy a present for another little one, and here is Kinley with her gifts from Isabelle. Kinley has started showing some new emotions. Once Santa started passing out the presents, Kinley's bottom lip started sticking out when the other kids were getting gifts; she finally smiled and got really excited when her name was called out. She said "my present" and reached out to grab them from Daddy.


Here is Kinley with a new baby from Isabelle. She also got a great little Tupperware set that she and Olivia played with for a while.

On our way home we asked Kinley this baby's name and she told us Tessy. "Ironically" this Papa Nick and Nini's puppy's name. I'm pretty surprised because she usually just calls all her dolls baby, and Tessy, the dog, was only around Kinley for a few minutes. So, we have our first named baby, Tessy!

After the big house fun we headed up to Debbie's for some more celebrating.
Here are the 4 girls in their matching outfits Grandma got them. Don't they look chic? We sure think so.

Helena is only crying because she's tired. She actually really likes her new boots, but all the chaos was just too much for her little self.

So, after our celebration at Debbie's, the Jensen girls and Nick Cline came over for game night again. This year we played Apples to Apples. We played longer than the game said, but this still didn't help. We lost. I think the trick is to play a game there is no way we can lose because those Jensen girls are too good, oh, and Nick too.

The day after Christmas we woke up to about 5 inches of snow, and it just kept coming! After a while Kinley and I bundled up to go out and play. Tom came out to clear off the car and suggested making a snowman.
Here they are trying to make the snowman, but apparently the snow was too dry to stick, so Tom just threw some snowballs at Kinley. She thought this was great. Each time the snow smacked her she just giggled.


Like any kid, Kinley thought it was a good idea to taste what all the white stuff was about.

Very cold!

This is our family picture in the snow out front of Debbie's house. Kinley was ready to go in by now. I guess it gets frustrating when you can't use your hands because the mittens are so big and the hat keeps falling over your eyes. Who knew?



This last picture is probably one of my all-time favorites. I just think it looks so peaceful and quiet.

Round 2

Just wanted to let everyone know Tom flew back to Knoxville yesterday. He is heading down to Chattanooga today for a second treatment on his foot. This is the same thing he had done in September. He gets knocked out, but there is no cutting; more like a big sound wave going into his heel. He'll be flying back tomorrow morning, and hopefully feeling much better. According to the doctor, after 2 treatments, the success rate (significantly less pain that lets you do what you want) jumps from 84% up to 96%. We just pray that this what will knock out the pain and let Tom train the way he wants to.
Once Tom gets back, we only have a day or so before we head out to Oregon on Thursday for all the Christmas fun with the Pappas family!

Kinley Updates

Just wanted to let y'all see a few new pictures of Kinley. She's such a little person! Her sentences are getting longer everyday. This morning Kinley woke up and had a little juice then said, "Momma wake up." After a couple of minutes of me talking with my eyes closed, she said, "Momma out bed!" I knew at this point I had to actually get up. She then told me..."I huny (hungry)" I ask what she wants and she tells me...Quesadillas. This is her new favorite since we were in Texas. Luckily she eats these up. Well, enough of the talk. Here are the cutie pics.


Kinley insisted on going onto the balcony when is snowed. She only walked in her little path and I only let her stay out for a bit because it was only about 20 outside.


Here is the little precious all bundled up. Notice her "mittnahs"


Kinley's new favorite game is getting on Daddy's back. She will either jump on him or lay on him or ride him like this.



She's not quite brave/strong enough to sit up on Dad's back during the ride, but this works just as well for her.

Christmas Pictures

I'm sure any of you with kids know how hard it it to get one, let alone, 5 kids to take a descent picture. Since we had my mom's house decorated, we decided to take the kid's pictures. To start it off, Ryan refused to change his shirt and even be in a picture. Kinley can't sit still. Lori's girls slathered on some bright red lipstick, and they couldn't keep their hands off each other. So, here's what we came up with...