So Thankful...

We have had a wonderful time of Thanksgiving!
We are most thankful this year that my sister, Allison, is expecting in May! What an incredible miracle from God! I'll post a picture of her when her belly starts to pooch... for those that know her- I know you'd like to see that!! :) Congratulations Allison , Jon-Micah and big brother Caleb! We can't wait to meet little peanut in May!!

Visit to Searcy

A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving we were thankful to be able to go to Searcy to spend some time with my brother. He is such an amazing person and we love and miss him very much. He'll be graduating in December so hopefully we'll see more of him soon!

Our little "crazy hair" Emery & Uncle Chris

Cheeseballs...

The kiddos with Chris & Beth Ann

Emery posing in her sweet outfit that Dee-Dee made (see her link on my page if you're interested!)

We got to spend some time with one of my friends from college, Leslie, and her family while we were in town!

Night on the Town

Jay and I were thankful to be able to go on a date... to the CMA's!! Dates are few and far between these days, and this one will be hard to top!! We had such a great time and it was so neat to see so many "cool" people at one place. We even managed to go to an afterparty at The Symphony Hall- which was spectacular in itself!

Carrie Underwood performing

At the afterparty


"King" George Strait performing


Brad & Keith performing

Kid Rock doing his thing...

What a wonderful night out with my wonderful hubby!!

North for Thanksgiving

We were so very thankful to be able to headed north for Thanksgiving to spend time with Jay's family in Michigan. Emery experienced her first "airpane" ride and really enjoyed it! We had a great visit with everyone! Elan had a blast playing with his cousins Corey & Carter- they are three peas in a pod!

Elan & Jay spent quite a bit of time playing Corey & Carter's Wii...it's at the top of Elan's Christmas list now... oh boy Santa...

Emery & Nana playing the piano

We got to see our first snow of the season!

Emery & Aunt Julie

Silly siblings...always having fun!

Cousins and best buds...

Posing in front of the tree

Emery loving on Pa...

Emery loves Kramer... not sure he loves her so much...

The whole gang!

Emery hanging out with Aunt Dea

Emery & Aunt Kel

Elan & Emery got to spend time with all of their great grandparents, which is so special!

Great Grandma & Grandpa Weertz

Great Grandma & Grandpa Houtekier
Spending time with the Segadis!

We got to go to the Titans/Lions game on Thanksgiving Day and it was a blast! Pa helped in the building process of Fords Field and it is such a nice facility! Too bad they don't have a very good team to cheer for in it!

GO TITANS!

Friday night Jay, Elan, Uncle Seth and Aunt Dea headed to a Red Wings hockey game. Elan is a sports fanatic, and particularly loves hockey. It didn't matter that the Preds weren't playing, he was still so excited to see "daddy's team" play.

Jay's cousin, Chris, is a firefighter and he was working on Thanksgiving Day- so he surprised the kids and showed up at Jay's parents with the big engine! All of the kids went outside in the freezing cold and had a blast climbing all over the engine, spraying the water hose and even went for a cruise around the block in it- with the lights on and ringing the siren as they rounded the corner... not sure if that's legal or not, but they sure had a blast! Thanks Chris!!

Titans Game

Last but not least~ Jay, Elan & I were thankful to be able to go to a Titans game!! Thanks to Jay's boss- we were finally able to put our hands on some tickets- they've been hard to come by this year!! We love going to sporting events together, as you can tell, so it was a real treat- despite the freezing temperatures!

Elan with his Titan Tattoo- what a fan!!

We hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving- we have SO much to be thankful for!!

Happy Fall Yall!!

So far, soooo busy!! We have had a fun and event-filled fall so far! I'll try to go in chronological order of the fun that has been going on...

ELAN'S FIELD TRIP

Elan had his field trip to Walden's Pumpkin patch and they all had a blast! It was a beautiful and warm day- perfect for being outside at a pumpkin patch!

Emery even found herself a little pumpkin!

Elan and his buds- Grace Ann & Mackenzie

PUMPKIN CARVING

We had some friends over to carve pumpkins a few weeks ago. The kiddos had fun decorating cupcakes, carving pumpkins and roasting marshmallows!

After a few too many juice boxes!

TRIP TO THE MOUNTAINS

We took our annual fall trip to Gatlinburg with the Byrd's and had so much fun! We enjoyed a rainy Friday in the cabin playing games, building firetrucks, eating and ok- I will admit the girls did take a few/several hours to go shopping while the daddy's did these things with the boys! Thanks Jay and Robert for being so supportive of our "habit/hobby"! Saturday we went to Dollywood and we ALL enjoyed it so much!! Even Emery and Austin got to enjoy the fun! The boys were fearless on all of the rides and even wanted to ride the big roller coaster that Dana and I worked up the courage to go on! Going on a bear hunt...

Cheese balls...

The first year the big boys slept all by themselves- first of many slumber parties I'm sure!

So proud of the firetrucks they made

The "babies" riding all by themselves!!

Aden & Elan checking out their maps to make SURE we're going the right way...

Make note of the HUGE wooden roller coaster in the background... yes- this is the one that Dana and I rode! It took some convincing- I had to work really hard to twist her arm :), and it was SO fun!

Riding with the big boys

The kids had so much fun playing on the playground for a couple of hours while the "big kids" took turns riding rides!

Riding the train through the park

Eight hours at Dollywood can make you crazy!!

Another fun year at the cabin with some of our very best friends!

ELAN'S SCHOOL HALLOWEEN PARTY

Elan had his Halloween party at school last Friday. The kids were all so cute dress up and we even took time to play Boo Bingo! Bonnie made the cutest "mummy dogs", "ghost sandwiches" and candy corn cookies- she's is such a creative and wonderful cook!!

CAMPING TRIP

The past weekend we went camping at Defeated Creek in Carthage with some friends from church. We didn't know what to expect going camping on Halloween weekend, but the trick or treating was over the top!! The campers really do it right with the decorations, etc! We had so much fun and really enjoyed the beautiful weather Saturday and getting all bundled up for the cool nights and mornings around the campfire. We're already looking forward to a spring camping trip!

Frances & Elan playing on the rocks
The girls playing a pretty intense game of cards!
And the guys in a game of bocche ball...

Trick or treating at the campground- check out those "eyes" on that truck!!

Our little pirate and ladybug!

Emery checking out her "loot" in the camperA fun weekend of camping can make you a little crazy!

CALEB'S 3rd BIRTHDAY PARTY!!

Cousin Caleb ("CC" as we have nick-named him) had his THIRD birthday party Sunday. We can't believe he is turning three! He is such a sweet, rambunctious, fun, silly little boy and we love him SO much!!
The guitar from Gran & Grandad was a HIT!!

Grandad taking Emery & Caleb for a ride after the party

Happy Birthday Caleb!! WE LOVE YOU!!