Savannah's Birthday and Christmas

It's always a busy time right at Christmas! We had quite a few parties to attend, Savannah's birthday to celebrate, and Christmas to enjoy. Our Christmas week began by eating lunch after church with our minister and his family. Then later that evening we took Savannah for her traditional birthday outing to The Melting Pot. Tuesday was our baby girl's 13th birthday! Can't believe how she's growing up! I guess I rid myself of the tears before her actual b-day because I didn't shed a tear that day. She and I went through her baby book together and laughed alot! She got the biggest kick out of one thing she read- when her baby brother was brought home from the hospital, she called him "Mr. Syrup". When I asked her why she called him that she replied, "Cause he's so sweet!". AAHHH! And they STILL get along great! Well- most of the time! But she sure doesn't think of him as Mr. Syrup anymore! HA! She requested chicken penne for dinner with a cookie cake for dessert. She loved all her b-day gifts. Christmas Eve was spent hanging out together. I was busy all day- doing laundry, bathing the dog, baking and cooking ahead for Christmas day. Conley woke us up at 6 am Christmas morning! That was a long day! They were thrilled with every gift- and every gift was open by 7:30 am! It was a very mild day so they spent it outside shooting Conley's bow and arrows and pellet gun. Savannah loved his bow and arrow set so much she had Gregg take her to Bass Pro to get herself one with some gift money yesterday! The kids have decided to pool their money to purchase a WII system. They are just waiting for the stores to restock since everyone sold out. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Love you all!

Savannah Won A Rotary Club Contest

We are so proud of Savannah! As an English assignment, she had to submit an original motto and essay for the community of Seymour to the local Rotary Club. From all the schools participating in Seymour, her motto was selected to represent Seymour! Her motto, "Gorgeous Views, Great People" will be on the welcome sign as you come into town from Knoxville. Her motto will be on the sign for thousands of people to see! One day she will be able to show her children and grandchildren the sign. Her English teacher sent her a very special letter to congratulate her! She told her how honored she is to teach her and that now she will be able to say that she taught the student who created the motto on the sign! What an honor!!!! She was also thrilled because she won $50! Here are a couple pix from this morning's Rotary Club meeting and motto winner announcment.

Decorating for Christmas

We had to get the house decorated for the holidays a bit earlier than usual. We had the middle and high schoolers over for a Christmas party on the 6th. We had an ornament exchange and played "Dirty Santa". We had to go around a couple of times cause they just didn't want to make it fun by stealing! While we were decorating the tree the night before, Conley kept us entertained by singing karaoke (in character as Diddle, of course)! We've had several mornings with ice on the trees. It looked so beautiful I had to take a picture. We had two parties this past weekend- our church banquet and Sysco Knoxville's party. Savannah took our picture together before heading out the door to that one! Well- I'll post more next week. Can't believe Christmas is so close! AND my baby girl turns 13 on the 23rd! So hard to believe that! I guess I'll tell on myself - Gregg and I were in the car one day a couple weeks ago by ourselves and he-out of the blue- said, "In a couple of weeks we'll have a 13 year old." I just started crying! It's flown by so fast! I am not usually one to have that type of reaction, but it just really hit me! Gregg didn't know what to think! I know you are all laughing! Oh Well!

We Had A Great Thanksgiving Week!

We got back from our trip to DC and had a house full of family! Becca, Makayla, and Olivia got to our house just minutes before we got home. Mom and Dad and Aunt Linda had been staying with our dog, Rascal, while we were away. The kids are really growing up. There were very few disagreements among them! I think we were all impressed! We had a homemade pizza night and the kids got to make their own personal pizza. At the end of the week, we did some shopping, went to Cades Cove, and took the kids ice skating! We had a blast! It just went by too quickly! Enjoy the pictures!