Christmas with Grammy and PawPaw

It's such a joy to get ready for Christmas. Then throw in some family and it becomes exponentially better! Grammy and PawPaw came to visit a few weeks ago and, as always, we had a great time. The kiddos were so ready to see them! One day over breakfast before they came, Bella said "I just love Grammy" and then kept on eating. It was so sweet! We all just love Grammy!

They helped us decorate the house with Christmas decorations which was so much fun to do together. Our tree is full of ornaments that were mine when I was growing up, Mike's when he was growing up, and now full of the kiddos. It also has some special ornaments from our grandparents. So we ooohhed and awwwed (well, Grammy, Bella and I did) while we decorated.

Grammy's mom, Nanny, always made cinnamon twists and fudge. We have tried her fudge before. And failed. And failed again. So we tried with Grammy here. It turned out to be good drizzle on ice cream that night! But still not like Nanny's. It was neat to see Bella helping out and learning to carry on that tradition from her Great Nanny.

PawPaw and JT have always been little buddies. Probably because PawPaw throws him up in the air or wrestles with him or chases him - just what JT likes!

We all just love PawPaw! One night he was reading to JT and Jonathan brought him the bible. It was such a blessing to hear PawPaw read the bible to JT - even though he also added "Are you listening?" numerous times. That was so funny! JT would look up at him as if he was saying, "Not really" or "Yes". I will always remember this. We are very thankful that PawPaw lives this out and that our kids get to see someone like PawPaw as they grow and learn about the Lord.

Then, it became present time - which in our house is full of expressions! Wonder where they got that from...???

Since we don't have a TV, PawPaw pulled up his football games on his computer. JT went over to sit with him and learned about the game - which was hilarious. JT kept saying "he fall down" every SINGLE TIME someone fell down. They were very serious about their football game.

Grammy and PawPaw, we just love y'all! Thank you for coming and we look forward to seeing you again.

Bella turned 5

Our sweet Bella turned 5 last month! And, celebrate we did! We had cupcakes at school, cupcakes at church, and a family birthday party at home. My sister and her hubs came down too! It was a special day celebrating a special gal. She wanted a Strawberry Shortcake theme this year. Remember the pink dinosaurs last year? Cute!

She got a scooter from Aunt Alli and Uncle Brad.

And a horse from Neena and Granddad.

She was a tad bit excited about that one!

She got a bicycle from Grammy and PawPaw.

I'm probably lecturing on the importance of the helmet or something like that - Uncle Brad was bored too.

Here's when she saw the dollhouse we bought her!

We then went outside to give the bike a try!

I LOVE that my sister is so much closer now!

Happy birthday sweet gal! We sure love you.

Busy at work...or play

These kiddos are happy outdoors! So because North Carolina weather is amazing in the fall, we spend alot of time there (as you can tell from my recent posts). Aunt Alli, my sister, came to visit a few weeks ago and brought some great goodies with her! One of the goodies was huge chalk and 3D glasses - we're still not quite sure how those worked. But Bella wore then, nonetheless.

Check out the stroller in the background too. We went for a mini walk around the neighborhood. It was glorious, y'all!