Our Christmas weekend in Spartanburg

After gifts, breakfast and hanging out we headed to Spartanburg. We made it in time for lunch or "the big feast" as Jake calls it. We were laughing like crazy people while we ate. I have no idea how it came up but it all started when I told Ranee what my mom named her cats when she was a little girl. I won't say it here. It is a word a little yankee girl had no idea was a racial slur...She had black cats when she was growing up...I think you get the picture. Like I said she had no idea that is was a bad thing to say up in Vermont were it is not racially diverse at all! Ranee started laughing because she said she just couldn't picture my mother saying it. Once Ranee starts laughing she can't stop so that was pretty much the way the rest of the meal went. We were burning calories as we ate! And of course after the eating there was sleeping...


We opened gifts and Aaron was excited to get this t-shirt. Isn't that cute the brothers match.

All of the ladies were excited to get Snuggies! I gave one to Roz, Erin gave one to me, Roz gave one to Erin and Della gave one to Ranee. What are the chances of that?! The commercials are hysterical but I swear it is one of the best inventions ever!

I kind of forgot to take pictures of the actual gift opening. But this is what we gave the Martin's. I think they liked it!

And of course some Wii playing.

In true South Carolina fashion we ended up getting out the guns later in the weekend. I shot a hand gun and a rifle. I hit the clay things (whatever they are called) with both. Ranee got this great shot.










Jake found this awesome stick and had to have a picture of it for the memories.


The cousins. We missed you Sara, Kayla, and Megan!


While we were down for the weekend I went and got my eyes checked and ordered 2 new pairs of glasses all for $75! Aaron and Jake were wrestling and broke mine...They were being held together with super glue while I waited for my new ones to come in. I also got a gift certificate from Ranee to get my hair cut. I will post the new me soon!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we had fun with fondue. When I was growing up we did it New Years Eve but we decided to make a new tradition. We even "fondued" hot dogs! After dinner, Jake got all ready for bed while we got the chocolate fondue ready. Jake is a huge chocolate fan and was very excited. But not excited as he seemed to be all night long...Jake is a sleeper, he always has been. But for some reason (I can't imagine what it could have been...) he woke up 3 times during the night to go to the bathroom...

These are a few of the pictures of the evening. I have tons more I could post, but I knew I would be posting even more from Christmas day so I went conservative and kept the photos to a minimum...kind of.

Cinnamon rolls at Sister Hemby's

Sister Nina Hemby is a wonderful lady we know through church. The Wednesday before Christmas she invited Jake and I to come over and make cinnamon rolls. One of Jake's friends from church was there too, so the boys had fun playing while the dough was rising. Nina and I had fun playing Yahtzee. We had a great time and the cinnamon rolls were delicious!

Aaron Insulating...

How could I forget to post these pictures? Aaron spent a few hours insulating the floor and this is what he looked like while he was doing it. I couldn't resist taking pictures.

Our Gingerbread House

We had a great time decorating our ginger bread house this year. It is one of Jake's favorite Christmas traditions. We know consider ourselves experts because it came out sooo adorable! :) Here are about a million pictures to prove it! They aren't all in order. As soon as it is done and pictures are taken, Jake wants to eat it. He says he loves ginger bread (I think he has had the soft cookies and likes those). So, he takes a few bits and says this one doesn't taste that great, forgetting that he has never eaten it and liked it. Gotta love Traditions!

(After church there was a group effort getting it together so that is would be dry enough to decorate that evening.)

Busy week at school before CHRISTMAS BREAK!! YIPPEE!

It was a busy week at school before Christmas Break! My dad, Aaron (he is home for good finally! He got here last Tuesday night after getting laid off. We knew it was coming and Aaron is going to get unemployment and is all enrolled in 18 credit hours at UNCC starting in Jan. I folks will be looking for a part time job...Scary..), and I got to go to Jake's school on Wednesday and have a special Christmas lunch with Jake. It was $5 a piece (besides Jake he was free-how kind of them) for a cafeteria feast!

On Friday Jake had a poetry reading and Christmas party. The whole class got to read 3 of their poems and they all did great. Jake's poems were called "Camp" (the house on the lake my grandfather built when my mother was a child. We try to go every summer and we LOVE IT!), Snakes, and "The Golden Bird". He did great and we are so proud of him! We brought him home early to wait for Nee to get home from Uruguay and avoid the bad weather that never made it out way.

MY PARENTS GOT THEIR MISSION CALL!

On Friday my parents got their mission call! Dad had just gotten back from visiting Tina and her family in Uruguay the day before and Mom is still there. Mom gets back next Friday and there was no way they were going to wait to open it! I picked Jake up from school early which he wasn't expecting. When I told him why he said "Oh no! I haven't even seen Nee to say goodbye!" He thought they were leaving immediately and that my mom wasn't even coming home first. When I explained that they wouldn't be leaving that day he was much more excited. For some reason he also thought that Elders from the church would be there to tell them where they were going...I guess we have been talking more about them going on their mission, than how they would receive their call. When we got back we got all set up for the whole family to be listening. On my cell phone we had Aaron (we thought he was at work but he actually surprised us 15 minutes later-he had taken the day off and driven home for the weekend early!) on speaker phone. On Dad's cell (on speaker phone) we had my mom, Tina, all Tina's kids and on Tina's cell was her husband Allen who was at work in Uruguay! I think that is how it was all set up...But anyway on to the important stuff! They are going to Seattle, Washington and report to the Mission Training Center on February 1st. Mom here are some pictures of what you missed on this end of the phone. Congratulations!

You can see the phones all set up in this picture. Jake's reaction caught at the moment it happened...have I mentioned I love my camera? :)

Reading the whole letter so we know all the details. There were actually 2 letters one for each. I of course had to make the comment, after my dad read his and was moving on to my mom's, that I hoped they were going to the same place. (I also told my mom she could go visit Forks...Twilight fans know what I am talking about.)

Jake was pretty excited.