Christmas in TN

So, we learned that even if your cul-de-sac is plowed... that doesn't mean that both lanes of I-40 will be clear for travel.  It took about 8.5 hours to make a usually 6 hour trip to TN.  We went 9 miles in 2 hours through the mountains with no place to exit.  Praise God the kids were really good... having a DVD player and goldfish for dinner probably helped.  :)

We had a fabulous time with family in Knoxville. Presents galore, great food, lots of resting, and fun.  The kids both loved seeing Elle and Emerson again!

Mimi got Elle and Hannah matching jammies!

Granddaddy, Mimi and all the grandbabies!

Gearing up to watch the bowl game.  Daddy had a UT shirt on under his sweatshirt, and Uncle Tyson had a UT sweatshirt he wore to the game.  Who would've thought our teams would ever meet up in a bowl??

Snow Beautiful

It snowed Christmas night and we woke to a beautiful Winter Wonderland of 7-8 inches.  Mommy, Jackson and Hannah were thrilled!!  (Daddy doesn't enjoy it quite as much, but he's a trooper!)  The snow was pretty deep for Hannah, but she plowed right through, giggling the whole time.

Our first venture out, we sledded and played with neighbors Chris, Aaron, and Rees. 

Lola and Hannah excited to see each other.  This was seconds before a large Lola smooch!

Rees and Hannah

Then we built "Dan" the Snowman, made snow angels, and sledded some more.

Hannah was so tired, but didn't whine one bit.  She loved it, despite the look on her face!

I'm sure the snow lingered for days, but we had plans to trek to TN.  Our town actually sent 3 plows down our little cul-de-sac within 2 hours of the snow stopping.  So, off we went to Tennessee the next morning.

Christmas Morning 2010

Hannah's new ride.

Mike and I had to drag Jackson out of bed  (seriously, not a morning person!), but it didn't take too much coaxing.  As Daddy carried Hannah downstairs, she said "See!  See!  Woooow!".  Santa brought her a Cozy Coupe, elmo, puzzles, and little people farm.  The Coupe was the favorite, by far!  She has played with a neighbor's car for a while and she is thrilled to have her own now.  She gets in and out of it all day long! 

Jackson got a new scooter, Star Wars game, Star Wars Crossover transformer, transformers, books and a few other things.  Star Wars has definitely been the theme for him!

Grandmomma came over for our tradition Christmas breakfast (Monkey Bread, sausage and eggs), and spent some time playing with the kids and their new toys.

Our Griswald Christmas (aka One Christmas We Will NEVER Forget)

(other potential title - If My Husband wasn't a Manly Man, I would have a Bug Infested, Burnt Down Home)

It has been a hectic, yet fun-filled Christmas season.  Jackson understands more and more about Christ's birth and the reason He needed to come "save us from sins".  Hannah was started to say "Jesus" ("Jeez Jeez") and could point to characters in the nativity scenes.  My heart was happy.  We were all geared up for some family celebrations and a quiet Christmas at home.

Then some odd things began to happen.

After Jackson's family Birthday Party on Christmas Eve morning, we were resting around the house for a little bit before venturing out to Granddaddy and GranDee's for dinner and presents.  I went to grab their presents from under the tree when I saw a bug on the window next to the tree.  That's weird, I thought.  I killed it and then went in for the presents.  And that is when I saw them.

Uninvited Christmas guests.  Many, too many tiny black bugs.  Ones I had never seen before.  They were everywhere under the tree and some in the bagged presents. 

I'll admit it.  I freaked out a bit.

Every present was removed from the tree, taken apart and inspected.  Mike moved the tree over some and I vacuumed tons of dead bugs from under the tree.  What were those things and HOW did they get in my house??

And then I looked closer.  Through a gap between branches I saw the trunk of the tree.  It was black from bunches and bunches of those black bugs.

That is when I really wigged out. Oh my goodness, it was disgusting!!

Mike and I threw on a movie or two for the kids while we quickly grabbed all the ornaments off the tree.  Then we drug it out on the deck (with gloves!) and Mike took all the lights off.  I continued vacuuming like a crazy woman and inspecting every nook and cranny for more of those suckers.  And felt itchy all over. Ugh!

And then he sprayed a LOT of raid on it.  My hero!  :)

And in case you think I am exaggerating, here's a look at the tree (post raid):

We are considering artificial for next year.

Even though he was less than 10 feet away, Jackson was so absorbed in the movie that he was totally oblivious to what we were doing.  After the movie finished, he turned and said "Hey, what did you do to my tree?!".  At that point we could laugh about it.

Daddy removed the scrawny tree we use in the loft and put all the presents under it.  Let's just say Charlie Brown would be proud.

We changed clothes, cleaned up, and went on our merry way.  Disaster averted.  (Can you imagine if we had left town for a week and came home to a larger infestation??  **shudder**)  With a little google research, our only guess is that the tree came with a bug or two... that we didn't see...and the warm temperatures in our home caused the eggs to hatch in the 4 weeks we have had the tree.

But wait, there's more...

Christmas Evening I was sitting at the dining table decorating cookies for my daddy and watching the snow fall.  I smelled something odd... like plastic burning.  The scent would come and go.  Mike and I wandered all over the house smelling everything to find the culprit.

The scent got stronger.  We finally discovered the smell was strongest around a light switch, which was confirmed by the switch plate feeling abnormally warm.  I had the cell in my hand ready to call the fire department out to my house on a snowy Christmas night. 

Mike talked me down. 

He took the plate off and inspected.  Fortunately we have a good friend, Fleegle, who is an electrical guru.  He and Mike worked out the problem - a burned out or faulty dimmer switch.  Praise God that I have a handyman husband!  He removed all the bad parts, taped up the wires and we'll get a new switch after this snow has subsided.  Scent is gone.

I still asked him sleep on the couch just in case something else was going on with the wiring, so he could be close and could alert us if we needed to get out.  The switch is just below Hannah's room and really scared me.

Can you imagine the potential disaster if we had not been home??  God is good, friends.  Very good.

We are now enjoying the remnant of a White Christmas.  It is beautiful, and it has kept us from leaving early to visit family out of town.  Which, we see in hindsight, is not such a bad thing at all.

Our Six Year Old

Jackson, life with you has always been an adventure.  Your curious mind, boisterous energy, wild imagination, sweet spirit, and love for people make you such a fun guy to be around!

At age 6 you love:  SCHOOL (you are so bummed to be away during track out), anything legos, anything Star Wars... and Lego Star Wars is just icing on the cake!, play fighting/karate with Dad, anything chocolate, Wii, books, anything Dinosaurs, and nerf guns.  You really love to "teach" us the things that you have learned at school.

We love you, son!  We are so very proud to be your parents.  God has blessed us with a great adventure with you!

Just because I am feeling nostalgic, let's take a walk down memory lane... (age 1 and birth pics to be added)

Age 2

Age 3

Age 4

Age 5

5 1/2 years old

Family birthday party

On the 24th morning, Grandmomma, Jenny, Uncle Matt, Aunt Cheri, Ethan, Caleb, Granddaddy and GranDee came over for a birthday celebration for Jack.  Jackson was so excited!  We keep this party pretty low-key due to all the other celebrations... but Jack took it upon himself to make up a party game.  He made up a game called "Guess the 6's or 9's".  It was funny - he just drew the 2 numbers on 2 different pages and hid them behind his back for us to guess.

He still doesn't seem to be bothered one bit that his birthday is so close to Christmas.  We are so glad the family doesn't mind one more gathering to celebrate just him.

He was one happy little guy to get 2 lego wii games that he has been asking and begging for for months!

Post-cake reclining.  Hannah was mimicking Jenny and Matt.

School party

Friday we took cupcakes in to Jackson's class for his upcoming birthday.  He was so excited and proud.  And he loved introducing his baby sister to everyone.  Hannah walked right in and sat in an empty seat to get her cupcake too! 

His classmates are just so cute and funny!  They always sing a "Cha Cha Cha" version of Happy Birthday.  You'll also notice that they literally make it their ambition to eat cupcakes as messy as possible.  There were lots of smurfs (of course, they have no idea what a smurf is, I discovered).  It was also Pajama Day in his class since they had won an award for good behavior.

Bring on the festivities!

December began with the whole house sick with bad colds and two of us (Hannah, then mommy) with pink eye.  Some festivities had to be missed (town parade, the girls missed the Bridge Christmas party).  Two and a half weeks later, we were finally all healthy and ready to enjoy the season of Christ's birth!

Here's a smattering of what we've been up to:

Annual ornament exchange with some old friends.  I think this might have been our 10th year doing this!  We went to Biaggi's for desserts.

We've had 2 minimal snows... mostly ice and not enough to play in yet. Jackson and I spent a "snow day" making a gingerbread house together. He did most of the design and placement all by himself. I just did some piping.  Thanks Grandaddy Pete for the kit!

snow day snuggles while watching a cartoon

Friday night we went to a gathering to celebrate Uncle Matt's graduation from Seminary.  The pictures below are of Thalia, Amanda, and Hannah playing "tunnel" under the dining room table.  Amanda was a trooper and went through dozens of times!  Hannah was squealing with delight.

Mr. Joe and his girlfriend.  :)

Saturday was the Christmas gathering in Pinetown with all of Granddaddy's side of the family.  We enjoyed seeing great-granny and all the family.  A photographer was invited to attend in order to take pictures of everyone family set with great-granny.  So special and I can't wait to see the pics.  It was a HUGE gathering of folks.  Many met Hannah for the first time since we had to miss last year due to sickness.

Sunday night we hung out with our buds, the Isaacs, and went to the Living Nativity at our old church.  It was great to hang with our dear friends that we don't get to see nearly enough.  Jackson has really missed playing with Luke so caught up by a day full of playing with nerf guns, wii, legos, pirates, and star wars.

Monday night mommy's Connection Group had a Cookie Exchange/Pajama party.  So fun!  The best part... I got Claire's yummy baklava!

Next up:  party at Grandmomma's, Family Birthday party for Jackson, Christmas party at Granddaddy and GrandDee's, quiet Christmas at home, a few days at Mimi and Granddaddy Petes, and a gathering with my college friends and all their family.  Whew.