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.)