The After Christmas Crash

WE waited for 1 1/2 hours to get to see this man with the white beard... The things we do for our kids. Crazy huh?




Well, it all has come and gone.... We anticipate that one day, and it is gone it seems in fleeting moments. I hope you all had as great a Christmas as we did.. It took us approximately 7 hours give or take a few to open all of our gifts this year. We like to let the kids enjoy their gifts and incorporate some play time into the manic removal of paper and bows. It is wonderful to see their faces light up with each gift.. We had Mimi and Papa here too. It was the first year we were away from them and they got to come down. It was a really good day.

We went to Aunt Elaines for their family Christmas on Sunday. It was really good too. I love seeing all of them. They are a wonderful family. It was kindof different too. Uncle Don had passed away in March and his daughter Polly and her grandmother also passed away this year too. It was a hard year for all of them. I hope they were able to remember them and have fun at the same time. As one of the "family outsiders" (inlaws) I can say that i am very blessed to be in a family like this one, they are so welcoming.

We are all looking forward to our new Christmas party with my family in Camden this weekend.
My kids always get excited about seeing all of their cousins. I cant wait to grill out burgers or steaks or something other than ham..... Haha. Actually, i really missed getting to be there on Christmas morning, but we have started our own tradition with the kids getting new pjs on Christmas eve and pj day all day on Christmas.... THe kids love it!!!

This year on Christians list at the top, was a puppy. I regret to say that i have not found the right one yet. We had, but did not move quickly enough. He was gone within 3 days. It is a daunting thing to look at puppy after puppy online. Did u know there are over 200,000 in the petfinder database alone? I never did until now. Anyway, if you know of anyone with baby (less than 10 weeks) lab and sheperd mix puppies. let me know. We are slowly recovering from the chaos of Christmas, but did enjoy the love and spirit of it all. I now have the pictures i was going to post for you to view. Hope u like them.

Love ya Courtney....:)

I am totally blowing my sister away.... more than one blog a month... WOW>>
I just thought I would write out a few things.. My husband and I just celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. Wow. 15years flies by so quickly. I have been so blessed by this man and the kind of guy he is. He treats me so well and puts up with all of my stuff? Did i mention i think he is crazy??? No really, he does love me just as i am..I am really blessed. Anyway, since we havent sold our house in VA yet (grrrrrr.) we got a babysitter and went out to dinner and a movie. It was great. We havent done that since May.

This past weekend, we went to Pine Mountain and had fun at our little cousin (Lausyns) birthday party. It was a blast. It is always good to visit with Joci and Chase.. They are great people. Next week should be great too. We will get to see all of our relatives on both sides. I just love Christmas.. I just took some pictures of the kids and will post them sometime soon. I hope everyone who looks at this has a great CHRISTMAS. May the SPIRIT of the season JESUS bless you all. Love you.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!!!

WOW time sure does fly.. Only 16 days until CHRISTMAS!!!! But if feels like April... I have to admit that it isnt too bad. Somedays I wish we still had temperatures that felt like Dec., but then again, I really dont miss all the cold weather. I do wish it would snow atleast for one day, but that is only for a fleeting moment.

The kids keep talking about snow on Christmas day, we'll see how they do when there is no snow. I just have a hard time thinking about Christmas when we are going shopping in shorts and flipflops, like we are at the beach.. Anyway, It has been fun fixing up the house, and putting up the trees.

We are looking forward to Mike and Connie coming to visit. As soon as they get here, we will be heading to Aunt Lanes to celebrate Christmas with them. Coming home Christmas eve and then to my mom and dads the following weekend. I am looking forward to all of it. It has been so much fun being close to the fam.. Thanksgiving was a blast.. EVERYONE was there... Over 20 people in my moms house... alot of them sleeping... but it was great!!! Black Friday shopping with Courtney was even more fun... We left from my moms house at 4am and were back at 1030. We did so good... I am very blessed to be close to family again...

well until next time...

Well, i have been repremanded for not keeping up with my blog. So here goes. We have traveled almost every weekend since the last post. Keith got a great surprise when Courtney was able to get him tickets to the Alabama vs. Tennessee game. He had a blast. It helps that we won!!! We have all had so much fun going to Courtneys and hanging out with them and mom and dad. We have gotten to spend some time (very little) with Jeremy and Leanne, or Eric and Mindy. But we have really enjoyed being so close that we can see them all. Now it is their turn!!!!

Over the course of time, we have had some sad news, Great Granny Owens passed away. She is Keiths' moms' mom. Christian and I were able to go to Smiths Al. for the funeral. He did really well for his first funeral. I think it helps that we had been able to see some of his cousins recently and he is really comfortable with them.

We also celebrated Jessicas birthday, spent time with Mimi, tricked and treated, got sinus infections, spent time at Joci's, and I passed a Jazzercise movement screening (1st step in becoming an instructor). Keith on the other hand has been in New Orleans, New York, Orland, Houston, and somewhere else, I forget??? He has been travelling alot. We have also had loads of homework, housework, and just plain fun!!

I hope this keeps everyone a little more updated. I will try to post more often. Maybe once a week. We are still trying to get our house sold in VA. That is not fun. We hope and pray it sells quickly. We are getting more people coming to look at it at least. Oh yeah, my car decided to start spewing antifreeze today!! Yeah ME!!!!!!

Anyway, enough for today! Love to all who read this!!

First blog

Hello! This is my first official blog. It is really kind of exciting. My name is Nina. I am the mother of 4 beautiful kids. They are the best. We have just moved back to the south. It has been wonderful. We love to see our family more often than ever before. Yet we do miss Mimi and Papa a whole lot. They are still in VA. Last weekend, we were able to go to Tuscaloosa and see my sister, brother-in-law, mom and dad. My sister got tickets to the Ala vs Arkansas game. It was so much fun.That was after we got to go to my cousins and see my husbands side of the family. It was a rodeo night in the rain, and then a birthday party on Sat morning. We had a blast. It was a very fun weekend. We are hopeful to go to the Alabama vs Georgia game this weekend.