Christmas with Jennifer's family

Christmas began after having our Thanksgiving meal at MiMi's house. She likes for us to take pictures for her Christmas card at this time and the past couple of years have proven to be interesting with adding children into the mix. The past two years she has even thought up a fun picture for the kids to participate in. Last years fun picture involved a lot of marshmallows being thrown up in the air to look like snow falling and this year's picture was confetti paper falling like snow. The kids loved it both years and I can't even imagine what MiMi will think up next year.

Brinley in her Christmas outfit dancing around.

Brinley and her cousin Elam. 

The three kids all sort of looking at the camera. If we could only get them all to smile too!

Here is the whole crew - The Prock's, Heflin's, Frye's, and Rock's.

This was little Elam's first Christmas! I am not sure what he thought about all this craziness of taking pictures.

Our little family. The kids are growing up too quick!

Another picture we took was of all of us drinking our peppermint hot chocolate. The kids didn't even want to look up at the camera because they were drinking their's.

Confetti snow! Brinley and Landon loved it and I think Elam just wanted to eat it.

Our little elf Landon.

Jennifer and the kids traveled back home to celebrate with her grandparents in McLean County. The kids got a tour from Great Granddaddy Clayton of his cabin that he has in his backyard.

Great Granddaddy and the kids.

Brinley with her huge Frozen themed art supplies.

Landon opening a gift from Aunt Lisa.

These are my absolute favorite people in this world. I am sad that I had to work and couldn't be there to enjoy the day with them, but unfortunately being a grown up means that you have to work to pay the bills.

A few weeks later we got together again to celebrate Christmas at MiMi's. They chose to have a breakfast and then a gift exchange on Sunday morning after I got off from work.

Amanda and Jessi with Elam. He was sick with RSV so he didn't look like he was in that great of a mood. He apparently didn't sleep well the night before.

Brinley opening one of her gifts. She was pretty good at unwrapping them this year. 

Landon also got better at the unwrapping this year, but he is much slower than his sister and he also wants to make sure and get every single piece of paper off  the gift.

Brinley got some Minion Play-Doh.

Landon got lots of boy themed toys like this military truck and helicopter. He also got some dinosaurs that were a big hit with both kids.

The toy that both kids really liked was the play mat that you drive your cars on.

The biggest hit of Landon's Christmas was the Star Wars gun and light sabers that Aunt Amanda and Jessi got him. The kid didn't even want to put it down during his nap.

It was fun to celebrate with all of Jennifer's family and the kids always enjoy seeing their aunts and uncle. The kids got way too many toys, but we have enjoyed playing with all of them around the house. I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas! Thanks for reading and God bless!

Polar Express Pajama Party

Our friend Ashley opened her house up to friends to have a pretty amazing pajama party. It was themed around the movie The Polar Express, which they actually had showing on the TV during the party. We got to spend some time with some of our work friends and their kids. 

Brinley and Landon enjoying some snacks while watching the Polar Express.

They had a cookie decorating station, too. It was a huge hit with the kids, but they weren't the tidiest so it was a good decision to have it outside.

Brinley enjoyed the cookies that she made. A heavy coat of icing with some red sprinkles.

Playing with her buddy Riley.

There was a special guest that showed up near the end of the party and all the kids were excited.

These little ones couldn't believe their eyes! Santa showed up and told about the night before Christmas. They were all pretty amazed.

Brinley and Landon meeting with Santa. Brinley again said that she wanted a sled. Landon didn't mention anything that he wanted.

Landon was pretty excited about the orange and candy cane that Santa gave him.

Sometimes when I get busy taking pictures I actually forget to have anyone take a picture of us. Thankfully, I didn't forget today. I am so blessed to have Jennifer and the kids in my life!

Christmas is such a fun time of year when little ones are a part of it. They find so much joy in all the little things and have none of the stress that this time of year typically brings. If we could all live with the joy of a child then the world would be a much happier place! Thanks for reading and God bless!

Thanksgiving 2015

This Thanksgiving we were both off from work so we decided to make a trip back to McLean County and celebrate with my family. We were sort of undecided if this adventure was truly going to happen because the day before we were going to leave the kids and I all got sick. None of us were feeling very good, but the morning we were scheduled to leave we all felt better so we all packed up in the car and headed out.

Right before you get to McLean County there is a little old country road that I always see when driving home. I decided that it would be a fun little picture to take with the kids, so we pulled over and got a picture with the Heflin Road sign.

Grandpa giving the kids a tour of his garden. There wasn't a lot of things in bloom at this time of year, so Grandpa just said that they needed to come back for a better tour in the spring.

Brinley was so confused when this thing ringed at Grandpa and Grandma's house. She had never seen a house phone before and was trying to see the person talking to her, but I had to tell her that there was no Facetime.

The kids watching some cartoons with their cousin Kyli Jo.

 We went over to Owensboro and had dinner with my mother's brothers and sisters. Afterwards we headed over to my cousin Tricia's house. It was here that the whole Thanksgiving experience took a new detour. Everything finally caught up to Jennifer and she started to feel sick. She was up most of the night and then decided that she was going to skip going to Thanksgiving at my Aunt Mary Ruth's house. So, we packed up the car and headed to Owensboro and left Jennifer at my parent's house in McLean County. I called to check on her often, but she spent most of her day sleeping.

The kids enjoying some chex-mix with their cousins.

The kids were already over pictures, but here they are with cousin Bernie.

Landon was worn out and even took a little nap with his cousin Kasey.

A couple of the girls teaching Brinley how to play LRC.

Brinley and her cousins Sarah and Abby.

Here was the whole crew that came to celebrate Thanksgiving at Mary Ruth's.

The Heflin's that attended.

Landon was showing Kyli Jo how to take a picture. Landon is going to be in Kyli's wedding next year.

Brinley and her cousin Tricia. 

Brinley and Bernie.

Brinley was turned into a human swing with Uncle McKinley and Kyli Jo.

Uncle McKinley and Landon.

Brinley and Kyli Jo. Next year Brinley is going to be the flower girl for Kyli's wedding.

Landon and Kasey.

Before heading home we decided to take a walk around Legion Park to see all the Christmas lights.

Brinley and Landon posing with the big rocking horse. The kids both wanted to ride on it, but it was stationary. 

They loved taking pictures with all the lights. They really had a good time running around at the park. I thought it was a good activity to get them to run off some excess energy before bedtime.

The kids and I with the Santa and his reindeer lights.

Next we headed home to see mommy. The kids were really happy to see her as was Jennifer. 

Although things didn't work out exactly as we had planned it still turned out to be a great couple of days back in our hometown and seeing family. The kids really had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's house because they got to play piano and pretty much get away with whatever they wanted. We need to make it back home more often because there are some pretty awesome people in Western Kentucky. Thanks for reading and God bless!