Christmas in Franklin Part 2

 Tuesday afternoon we went to my Dad's to celebrate Christmas with him. 

We watched Despicable Me... it was pretty cute!

Then we exchanged gifts! 

Anna-Kate loves play dough!! 

Thomas finally got into unwrapping presents only he decided to practice that on Anna-Kate's gifts! 

I think this was when she was doing her girly squeal :) 

It's true...

We stayed and played at my Dad's for a while.

Wednesday morning my grandmother had a special treat for breakfast. Krispy Kreme snowmen doughnuts! They were so cute!

Thomas loved them! Anna-Kate eventually left hers and Thomas didn't waste any time taking over the rest of hers! He kind of likes to have something in each hand when he eats. 

Anna-Kate and I met my very dear friend, Stephanie and her son Jeff for lunch at Chick-fil-a. Anna-Kate absolutely LOVES going there! She always asks if we can go to "chicker-way". When we were on our way she helped me find it and when she finally saw it she let out the biggest, girliest squeal!

We had so much fun visiting and playing. After they lost interest, we decided to take a stroll around Target and pick up a few things.

Jeff will be 4 in just a couple of weeks! He's so big!

Jeff helping Anna-Kate unbuckle... it was so sweet!

When we got back Thomas woke up just in time for a snack while I got dinner ready! He loves eating apples. I have to watch him because he will just pick one up and bite into it but he doesn't have enough teeth to really chew the peel well.

Anna-Kate is my clementine girl. She could eat her weight in clementines if I let her! (Don't worry, I don't!)

My mom and sisters came over for dinner. I made poppy seed chicken. It was really good! 

Thomas was a little curious about the girls in the bathroom... 

Aunt Sara was painting Anna-Kate's nails and then Anna-Kate got to paint Aunt Sara's! :)

So cute!

Lukey Luke playing!

My mom got Thomas the cutest set of wooden blocks! I think they are beautiful! I probably spent a little too much time playing with them... haha!

Anna-Kate got this CUTE little cooking bag with the wooden utensils and a box of white chocolate cupcake mix with raspberry frosting! I might be "playing" with this gift too... ;) 

Thomas finally discovered just how cool the tree was! Thank goodness it was towards the end of our Christmas so we didn't have to fight him too bad. He kept pulling the ornaments off the tree and bringing them to me- he was so proud of himself! 

I'm telling you, we are so richly blessed to be surrounded with such wonderful family! :) 

Weekend In Franklin

Last Friday was my grandmother's 88th birthday. We all call her Nani. She's amazing! She was born and raised in Germany, was a nurse during WWII, met an american soldier, had 8 children and then moved to the United States! I always love talking to her because she has such strength. I feel like I grow so much, just from spending 5 minutes with her! Sadly, when I visit Franklin, I don't get to see her much because she lives in Nashville! She hadn't even met Thomas yet! So I knew I had to see her for her birthday!

Derek couldn't take off work to go see her so I headed out Friday morning with Thomas and Anna-Kate! It's a 5-6 hour drive there, so I was NOT looking forward to my drive! I tried to time it so that they both would nap along the way. Thomas fell asleep pretty quickly and Anna-Kate fell asleep about 30 minutes into the drive. They both woke up in Marion so we stopped for lunch. I had SUCH a wonderful time eating lunch with them! They were both in really great moods! They ate really well and then we all headed back to the car so I could nurse Thomas. We made a bathroom trip right before we left and then we headed on our way! Anna-Kate fell asleep right as we were getting into Memphis and Thomas slept off and on. They both did so well on the last part of the drive! I got very lucky with two great travelers!

We got into town on Friday around 4:30 and met my sister at my grandparent's house. We just all visited for a while and then went to meet my dad and other sister for dinner. Then we walked around Target a bit. Anna-Kate loves Target! Haha!  When I got back to my grandmother's we were all tired but we stayed up visiting a little more. I think I was dreading sleeping because I was afraid Thomas would do terribly!! Thomas totally surprised me when he crawled up on top of me and fell asleep just a few minutes after laying down! It was so sweet! He slid himself off pretty soon after and slept so great the rest of the night. Anna-Kate slept with my grandmother.

Saturday, I met my sisters at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Anna-Kate and Thomas were still sleeping, so I got to go alone! I didn't hardly know what to do with myself! haha!

My sister and her baby came back to my grandparents house and I got to show her how to make baby food for her son! It was really fun sharing that with her!

Then we all went around town to run some errands and to get my Nani a birthday gift. It was a little crazy, but we managed! Anna-Kate only got like a 30 minute nap, so she was really, really sleepy!

After that I went to pick my older sister up from work and we drove out to my Aunts house for my Nani's birthday party! It was SO nice to see all of my family! I think all the noise and the people scared Thomas a little bit but he warmed up to it. Anna-Kate had fun playing with everyone too!

Sunday we all got up and went to breakfast. My older sister came over afterwards and gave me a sewing lesson while she hemmed some of my pants! I'm so excited to try out a new pattern soon! Plus, I've got some fabric for some pillows for my sofa! My Aunt came over with her 3 children while we were sewing, so it was a good distraction for Anna-Kate. Greer gave Anna-Kate some of her Fancy Nancy things she had outgrown! It was really sweet! Anna-Kate had so much fun playing with Greer!! I was glad she wore herself out! After my sewing lesson, I packed our stuff up and loaded the car.

This was so cute! I'm glad my sister snapped a pic! I was feeding Thomas water out of a straw and then Anna-Kate picked up her straw and started doing the same! She's such a sweet big sister! 

Anna-Kate was asleep before we got out of the neighborhood! She slept until I got to Memphis, which was good because since I was meeting Derek in Lepanto, I only had an hour to go! Thomas woke up because Anna-Kate was loud but he didn't really fuss!

I was so glad to see Derek in Lepanto! So glad that I let Anna-Kate ride back to Searcy with him! Ha! She's great in the car but she's quite the chatter box!

Yesterday, I spent most of the morning trying to get things unpacked but I got distracted with uploading all of my pictures- imagine that! ha! Then I spent the afternoon tidying up the house for my first ever Bunko night!

I had a very small crowd but hopefully next month we'll have more! :)

Today I'm trying to get all my chores and blogging done because Anna-Kate has a half day! I'm picking her and Kristen up at 12:15 and then grabbing Ryne at 12:30. Then we are going to the County Fair! I've been in Searcy 6 years now and have yet to go! I'm really looking forward to Anna-Kate seeing all the animals! Then this evening we have our first parent teacher conference!! I am really excited to hear what Anna-Kate's teachers think of her!  Then, tonight is the premier of Parenthood!! Derek and I love to record shows and watch them together! A lot of our favorites are coming back so we are really excited! Tonight is just the start of the fall premiers!! 

My Wonderful Cuties

I could not think of a blog post around these pictures, but I think they're too cute not to share!!

I took these the Sunday I got back from Franklin... so about a month ago. When Derek picked Thomas and I up the plan was to go to our house but we got delayed in Franklin and ended up leaving later than we though. It was midnight by the time we made it through Memphis so we decided that we would just go on to Lepanto. One of the benefits of having a "second" home! :) Lepanto is only 30 minutes away from West Memphis, so our house there has come in handy!

Derek had a dress shirt in the car that he left in Franklin a while back so we stopped and grabbed him some khaki's. My cousin bought Anna-Kate a little outfit for the 4th of July and I didn't want it to get crushed when I sent her back so I had that for her to wear.

It was SO cute on her!! I absolutely love that outfit! I had to get several pictures of her wearing it to share.

I love my chubby cheeked kiddos!!