Mimi brought the Snow!!

These are "excited".."can't wait" faces!!!  Mimi found a deal on a fight from Nashville a few months back and it just so happened that a huge snow storm was headed our way the same day!!!  But, the Lord was with her and she made it to her flight in Atlanta and to Greenville in just the knick of time!  Jer braved the roads to go pick up Mimi from the airport! 

And we woke up to beautiful white blanket of snow...

Yay!  We were so excited to dance and play with Mimi!

Fun times...

Snow FUN!

Our Second Christmas...

At the end of January, we loaded up and headed to Tennessee to have a belated Christmas celebration with my family!  As you can see...they were super excited...

YAY!!!  Christmas with the family at last!  We had such a fun time just relaxing and being together...

The boys of the family...

Christmas gifts are always exciting...even if it's 3 weeks after Christmas day!

Lots of sugar from Papa...he sure loves his boys...

Papa is training for an Ironman so he had some long rides on his trainer while we were there.  Jackson and Bella helped make the time pass by faster...

Fun times with cousins...

                                                

Our First Snow!

This was an unexpected few days of snowy, cold weather!!  The kids loved it...well, Jackson was a bit skeptical but Bella sure loved every minute of it!

They worked so hard on their first snowman...with help from daddy of course...

All done!  And they were soo proud!

Snow angel time!

Love this little guy =)

Florida Trip...

A few days after New Year's our sweet "Old Pappa" went home to be with Jesus.  This man was a blessing to every person who had the privilege of knowing him.  He was full of gentleness, kindness, patience...such a loving man.  Bella calls my dad Pappa so she decided that Gaga's daddy should be called "Old Pappa."  =)  He sure loved his family...children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  We will sure miss him so much but his legacy will live on in the next generation.  I am forever grateful for the father he was to Pappa Chip and ...who then went on to be an amazing father to Jeremy...and now Jeremy is living out what he experienced.  

Last summer we were able to enjoy a special lunch with Old Pappa and Mrs. Carolyn.  I will always cherish this sweet picture since it was the last time we were with him.

Although we were sad that Old Pappa was no longer with us, we sure enjoyed our time with She-She at her house!  The kids loved playing with all her fun toys and eating all her yummy food!  Bella certainly enjoys sleeping in She-She's big bed with her and playing dress up in all the fun clothes!

After the service, we stopped by to love on Grandma Smith.  She is struggling with Alzheimer's and is completely bed-ridden.  We were thankful to have the opportunity to hug her neck and sing her some sweet songs.

Christmas

We had a change of plans on Christmas Eve...and you know what...although we were very sad to miss the big Tennessee family Christmas gathering it turned out to be one of the most special Christmas days.

Sweet Bella came down with the flu!  So, we enjoyed a nice, relaxing, cozy Christmas at home. =)

Don't you know that if you feel awful and terrible with the flu to just smile big on Christmas 

Eve!?!  It makes everything better....

Sweet Jackson loved every minute of the Christmas festivities...he always seems to be just along for the ride!

Christmas morning these two woke up eager to race down the stairs and see what surprises were awaiting!

SO fun!!  The first gift on Christmas morning was the Jeep!

Then daddy delivered everyone their stockings...

The big Christmas surprise was a Trampoline!!!  They loved it and were so excited! =)

I sure love these munchkins...

Ballet Recital

Here are some pictures from Bella's first ballet recital in December.  She was absolutely breathtaking!  When she walked in with her class, neither Jeremy nor I recognized her!  Such a beautiful girl on the inside out. =)

My very favorite pose from the recital...can I just freeze time!?!

Bella's sweet friend Claire...we are very blessed to have such sweet girlfriends to dance with each week!

Advent

This year as we prepare our hearts and minds for Christmas, we will be using the "Jesus Storybook" Bible along with corresponding ornaments to hang on our little tree.

We will read a story each day and hang the ornament on the tree.  The first story begins with Creation and they all lead up to the 24th story which is the Birth of Jesus.

We printed the ornaments, cut and pasted them to card stock.  Then, Bella and I attached red yarn to hang them.  I wrote the corresponding Bible Story on the back. 

Here is the booklet we printed with the ornaments from this website:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Login?f=%2FProduct%2FThe-Jesse-Tree-Project-Add-ons