An average day.....

Well, nothing spectacular happened today and yet it feels like a lot happened today. Megan was up from 2-4 this morning and then awake by 7:15! Oh yeah, I'm already scared of today before I even get to my cheerios! Well, I'm still coughing up a lung, Jacob woke with snot dried all over his face and Megan was up because she can't breath--combined we have a cold!

So, staying in the house just becomes miserable sometimes ya know? So, off to make a return and do a little toy shopping in exchange for Christmas shoes that didn't fit. We arrived home to find a sack of hand me downs so after Jacob went to bed I took Megan donning her purple pajamas, new pink tutu and blue flip flops to Target! Oh yeah, I was that mom who took her kid in what she was wearing in search of kleenex with lotion for my poor little girl's red nose! I should have taken a picture, but we were just enjoying our time today. (blessing each other after sneezes and reminding each other to cover our mouths when we cough).

Before we reached home for lunch Megan informed me that I was making her rude. What a teachable moment sharing how we choose our attitude and how God wants our hearts to be happy and to show Him rather than choosing to have a bad or "rude" attitude. And yes, I laughed at that scowl on her face proclaiming it mommy's fault that she was being rude.

We are planning this weekend for a visit from our great friends who moved to TN shortly after we did last year. They'll be here for a week and we'll get to hang out and let our little girls giggle and love on each other--I promise cute pictures will be posted. The girls are so sweet together!

Today we also had sweet friends worried about their little boy--they had to have tests done at the hospital and fortunately he's home now and all is good, but what a reminder of how fragile our little ones are!

So, I'll keep our snot, cough and stuffy nose! I'm blessed to get to snuggle and sit up all night to help her breath and make special trips to Target for Kleenex with lotion so my princess's nose doesn't hurt. I love an average day.....

Megan's new hobby

One of Megan's favorite gifts for Christmas was a camera of her very own! I thought I'd add a couple pictures she's captured. I went to download them to the computer thinking she'd taken maybe 50 and there were almost 300! Most were of her red toenails, the carpet and furniture......there are options on the camera too that add backgrounds or accessories (hats/ears) to faces! Hope you enjoy! Thanks Mimi and Poppy!

Your address is written in pencil

When I changed dorm rooms in college my aunt informed me that she had written my phone number in pencil because I moved around too much. I lived with one roommate for all 4 years, but I think we lived in 4 or 5 different rooms. Jim and I have moved often over our nearly 12 years together--sometimes close; sometimes far. A very close move is upon us again.

We recently were told that the house we are currently renting is being placed on the market and that our lease wouldn't be renewed. Within days we discovered that the family renting our house in TN is not going to stay beyond their lease either. So now, we need a home here and have an empty home there......

Tonight I'm happy to report we're on our way to a resolution! We have secured a short-term rental here in FL only minutes from where we are now (friends who currently are working out of town). We have also decided to put the TN house back on the market the first of April. Please pray with us that the house will sell quickly and that we will be able to settle a little more permanently by this summer. We're loving it here and Megan will be starting preschool next year so we're really hoping to stay very close by.

So, I hope you have your pencils handy to erase and rewrite and then erase again.......

Sweet friends!

Megan and I both have been blessed with sweet friends! Our family joined the Y late in the fall in order for me to work out and have a place for the kids to stay while I do so. I've been blessed with a dedicated work-out buddy who has a daughter just about Megan's age. So while we work out the kids get to play. This has been a huge blessing because Meg is a bit clingy lately and doesn't like to "go at the Y" if her friend isn't going to be there. So let your friend know you appreciate them--we all need friends whether we're young or old(er).

(This picture is the girls sharing ice cream at Chick fil A after playgroup)

A stop at the playground

Here are just a couple cute pictures from a recent afternoon at the playground!

It's a little cold here too!

Sunday morning I got to work with Megan's compassKIDS class! The room where they meet has coffee filter snowflakes hanging from the ceiling and Meg was so excited to see the snow! Granted, that's probably as close as we'll get--other than looking at pictures on other's blogs....but just so you know it is a little cool here.

On Friday we bundled up and took the kids back to Sea World for the afternoon. Megan's been missing Shamu she told us! I'm not sure if you can see their little red noses, but under the covering of the shows the wind was nippy.....enjoy the cool. I just heard the weather man say "the 70's are back!" So who's coming to visit the warmth first?

Hopkins family Christmas

This year we were able to stop by for the Hopkins family Christmas too. My mom and her sisters along with my grandparents all gather when we can. I truly love my family and was grateful for the time to see them and catch up a bit! Each year my Granddaddy reads Luke's account of the birth of Christ. It was neat to see Megan truly hearing him for the first time this year.

Christmas with Mimi and Poppy

Megan and Chloe










Uncle Jason and the kids!










Jim and big brother Chuck

Jacob snuggling with Mimi

Megan helps make candy cane cookies!

Our trip ended over in Jackson with Jim's folks. Megan loves to visit their Chloe (long hair daschund). Jim's brother and one step brother were able to come as well. Megan got to help Mimi with the batch of candy cane cookies this year! What a big helper! Jim is excited--this is one of his favorite traditional goodies each year.

You know when you're just going to have a rough day? Many of you know I have a very messed up stomach so when I woke up sick the day we were driving home I knew it would be a very long day! Little did I know I was in for a rough 24 hour stomach bug. I'll try not to be graphic, but as we were stuck in Georgia traffic Jacob starts laughing at my unfortunate sickness. How silly that my being sick made him laugh, but hey....a little comic relief did us all some good. I think it took us about 14 hours to get home (plus we lost an hour....). We were ever grateful for our beds that night and a restful Sunday afternoon : ) We're all rested and fortunately noone else caught the stomach bug!

Christmas with Nana

Alana and Meg in their cow pjs










Jacob's new hat and football










John, Janna and Jim










Alana and Meg fishing










the annual picture in nana's chair



This was a special Christmas with my mom (Nana). After the year she's had I think we all were more appreciative of each other and the time together. We began our day at Opryland having pictures taken of the kids (so we thought). Jim and I didn't really dress for a photo shoot, but needless to say we all jumped in to help wrangle the kids. I'll add some of these pictures once I get them (hint hint nana.....)

Here are some fun pictures with my brother, his wife Janna and their daughter Alana.

Our first stop

Janna and Katie

Papa and Gan Gan

Calen and Eli

Jacob the reindeer

Megan with her antlers

Alana and Megan

So, when you're preparing for a 10+ hour trip what's the last thing you want to break? Oh yeah, the DVD player in the car!!!!! We had wonderfully gracious friends who allowed us to take their portable player with us to help entertain the kids on the long trip. Thank you so much Maria!!!! The kids were fantastic and we drove all day to reach my dad's that evening. The kids were so excited to see Papa and Gan Gan. We got to see my step sister and her family, my step brother and my brother and his family. Since arriving home we've learned that my step sister Katie and her hubby Randall are expecting their first child together! Congratulations again you guys. We're so excited to meet this new little one. We have 5 grandkids on this side so excitement was in the air. Here are a few pics from our time there.

Collins family Christmas

Since we were traveling to Tennessee this year for Christmas we decided to have our family Christmas before we left. We wanted the kids to open their presents and be able to play a while before we loaded up for the long trip since their presents weren't easily transported this year. Jacob got his first train table and Megan got a new stroller. She also got a ClickStart First Computer which she is quickly learning to master. I'm amazed at how she's figured out so much on her own so quickly. We let them play with the big things that weren't wrapped then we stopped for a yummy homemade breakfast complete with the reading of the Christmas story from Meg's Bible. We then let them open the rest of their gifts and play for the day while we packed and got ready for our journey..... Here are pics from The Collins family Christmas.

December Fun

So, it's taken me some time to get caught up with all the technological stuff I got for Christmas, but I figured it all out today, so here comes some catch up on the blogging!!!!! Woo hoo! Thank you mama and Kelly for my new computer and Jim for my new camera! I'm in hog heaven with all these gadgets that work and are fun to use!

I'll start this blog with a couple pictures from early in the month. Megan got a bag of hand-me-downs that included a peter pan costume. Then my mom aka nana came to visit with new toothbrushes.....they light up and blink for a minute so you know how long they've been brushing. The kids LOVE their new toothbrushes. The last pics are of gingerbread houses we made at the Y with our sweet friend Bo before the Couchs moved to GA. Megan and Bo were born about a month apart and have been the sweetest of friends their whole young lives. (Meg wasn't really in a picture mood, but they did have fun making and eating their houses.)