Family Christmas at the Farm

Christmas afternoon we got all the family together at the Coxes farm house. The kids went on a boat ride, a golf cart ride and just had fun running around playing with all of their cousins.

This is me with my sweet sisters.Hang on kids!!!Brooke was so excited that she had just opened a card and gotten a dollar. She kept singing, "I got a dollar, I got a dollar." It was so cute.

Kids on Christmas Morning

Christmas morning is always an exciting time for the kids. As usual they had a great time opening gifts and seeing what "santa" brought for them.Ho! Ho! Ho!

Family Resemblance??

Nicholas has a slight resemblance to his aunt La-La! Do you see it? It's very subtle.

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Every year we make a trip to see Santa at the North Pole (I mean Point) Mall. We have had an annual picture taken with the same wonderful Santa for 7 years now. It has become a tradition.

He is the best! Hope he is around for many, many more Christmas seasons!

Holiday Party

Nick & SG had so much fun decorating their HUGE cookies at his class "holiday" party.

Here's the proof that Nicholas made it onto the "nice" list this year.

His teacher has pillows on the floor for the kids to lie around and read on.

And The Winner Is....

Here is the finished Christmas card design. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Thanks for cooperating (at least for this picture) kidos!!

Caroling for Cans

Last night we went Christmas caroling with the boys cub scout pack. Their mission was to collect canned food to give to a local food bank. They met a week earlier to pass out fliers to the homes in the neighborhood to tell them we were coming and what we were doing. Most every house gave us several cans of food. This was a lot of fun and brought back a lot of memories for me of going Christmas caroling with the kids in my neighborhood every year.
Afterward we built a fire and shared hot chocolate, wassail and cookies in the neighborhood park. It was a fun night.

Chestnuts

The kids had a lot of fun hunting for chestnuts in the mountains. Atleast that's what we think they were. They were pretty large when we found them but after we got them home and they had a chance to dry out they shrank to about 1/2 their size. None of us had ever tried a chestnut so Beau cracked one open so we could taste it. It was terrible!!! I had to spit atleast 10 times to get it all out of my mouth. Maybe they are better roasted with salt and butter or whatever you put on a chestnut. Anyway, at least the kids had fun collecting them.

All was not lost!

Nick's pockets are stuffed with chestnuts.

One for you, two for me!

The haul back to the cabin. Love that winding road through the tall trees.

Turkey Day Hike

This year we spent Thanksgiving in the mountains. Pigeon Forge, TN to be specific. Usually the family all travels south to spend the long weekend at my parents house but this year we decided to mix it up a little and head north instead. After stuffing ourselves with turkey, dressing, cranberry relish, sweet potatoes, pecan pie, etc., etc., etc... We all headed outside for an afternoon hike to try and walk off some of the food we had just eaten. Papa has made hiking sticks for everyone and the kids even had their names burned into theirs. So off we went through the woods and down the mountain until we made our way to the stream. It is very pretty with waterfalls and large rocks to climb on. On the opposite side of the stream from where we were there is a highway much higher up from where the stream is. A few unlucky motorists had the misfortune of going over the side of the mountain and the remains of 3 or 4 cars are lodged in among the rocks and trees. Judging from their appearance I'd say they have been there for quite a while.This is my nutty sister Laurie. Goof-Ball!!Alex is so handsome!

Nicholas loves to have his picture taken.

Christmas Card Pictures

I think the idea of getting the perfect picture of the kids all together for a Christmas card is what a lot of parents dream of this time of year. The reality (for me) however is that this is a near impossible task to achieve (unless you are a professional and they aren't your own kids). You take about 200 pictures praying to get just one "good" one that would be suitable for the family Christmas card. Thank goodness for digital cameras. I'm so glad that I can look through my pictures on the computer or even on the tiny screen on the back of my camera and just delete the duds. No trips to the 1 hour photo store only to discover that there are no "keepers."

Here is a sampling of what I came up with this year. Please leave your comments on your favorite one(s). I need help deciding. :)

Sunday Afternoon Fun!

Yesterday we all spent the afternoon over at the Vickery Chili Cook-Off. The kids enjoyed (a little too much) some bubble gum flavored cotton candy.

Then SG had fun playing with the cone afterwards. It became a long nose, a unicorn's horn and a beak, among other things.

Alex (above) and Nicholas (below) tried their hand at the rock wall. Alex made it all the way up on his first try. Nicholas made it about half way before he chickened out.
The moon bounce was a big hit also.They had a lot of fun.

Halloween Happenings!

The kids had a blast Trick-or-Treating last night. Here are the pictures.

This is what SG wore to school yesterday.
They got to trick-or-treat at school before their class party.

SG is the "Hot & Sassy Skeleton Girl", Alex is the "Mad Pumpkin" and Nick is the "Gangsta."Posing on the front porch for mom before heading out to trick-or-treat.

The pumpkins were a hit!

Bath time was fun also. SG had to get her hair washed 3 times to get all of the pink paint out.

Every Mom's Theme Song!

This is awesome! I can totally relate to this. :)

The Mom Song by Anita Renfroe.

Pumpkin Carving at it's Finest!

As promised, here are the pictures from our pumpkin carving venture. The pumpkins turned out really cute and the kids all had fun playing in the "guts." Alex has gotten really good at carving. He carved his own pumpkin as well as the little one for SG. Nick did most of his pumpkin on his own also. They all look great!
This is Alex's Pumpkin. It's half pumpkin face and half mask.

Nick's pumpkin had WAY too much candy!

All 3 kids pumpkins together.

This is SG with her Jack-O-Lantern.

Nick's pumpkin in progress.

Be careful with that sharp knife Alex!