SNOW!!

Moving to Tennessee from South Carolina meant one thing for sure...colder weather. Cold weather hopefully means snow at some point. Last year we got a nice amount right after we moved here. This year did not disappoint either. In the course of 2 weeks during February we had snow on the ground 4 different times. This meant we were out of school for a total of two weeks as well. We did not have snow that whole time, but due to extremely cold weather and the constant threat of snow the kids and I enjoyed a nice, unexpected winter vacation!

One of my best memories from our snow this year was convincing the kids to go night sledding. All of our big snow came right after dinner on two different occasions. Within an hour each time, we had close to 4-5 inches with more falling. The conditions were perfect. Add to it, that all of the neighbors and their kids had come out to play as well and we had two perfect evenings and a lot of fun!

Here are some pics from our first big snow. It came on a Friday night...

And here are pics from the 2nd big snow, which was much bigger and close to 6-8 inches. It came on a Wednesday night.

Our house after the Friday snow...

Our house after the Wednesday snow. So much more!!! This was 5 days later!!!

Our backyard

Mike sledding in the backyard

Will and Luke had a competition jumping out of the swings on the swingset. Here is Will's jump...

and here is Luke's.

And Wynnie loving her swing!

The sideyard

Even Gracie went outside to play in the snow!

The kids in the cute snow gear!

Christmas 2014

This was our first Christmas in our new house in Ooltewah. And honestly...it was just lovely, but I do love Christmas, so maybe I'm biased!

For the 2nd year in a row, we got a real Christmas tree. Not sure we will go back to an artificial. It is so much fun going to look for a tree with the kids and then decorating it. We literally made a day of it. This year we did lots of fun things. We went to see the lights at Rock City, we did Christmas baking with Mimi, we did lots of Christmas shopping and watched lots of Christmas movies. I hope we are helping shape our kids memories about Christmas. Mike and I love that time of year and it seems as though our kids do too. Hard to believe these pictures are already 3 months old...here are a few of our memories from the season.

Picking out of tree!

Sweet Luke decorating the tree.

Christmas Eve 2014, the calm before the storm.

Mike and I on Christmas Eve. Will is our annual photographer!

First picture Christmas morning.

Will and his Legos on Christmas morning

Wynnie and her new pots and pans

Luke and his Paw Patrol toy.

The sweet Fessler kids:)

The Fessler family, Christmas 2014, Rock City

Catching Up

Taking a quick photo op at Grandma's birthday party

You know that moment that it hits you that you have forgotten something on your to-do list? Um...yeah, that moment hit me last week when my mind briefly thought about my little blog. I have totally forgotten to update on ANYTHING in 2 months!
Well, I have a good excuse (I always do). Basically, we have been running crazy since Halloween. There was Thanksgiving and a birthday party for Mike's grandma who turned 90!! There was a Christmas shopping weekend, a baking Christmas goodies weekend, a decorating weekend and then the craziness of Christmas and New Year's. Throw in school, work, community group, laundry, dishes, keeping the house clean and my online course and well...you see...I am a little short on time. But not to worry. All 5 of you that read this, I am back!!! For now!:)

The Paul Fessler family with Grandma Fessler at her 90th birthday party

 So, like I said, we spent Thanksgiving with the Fesslers. Mike's Grandma had her 90th birthday the Friday before Thanksgiving. 90!!! Oh my word!! That is so worth celebrating!! So, as a family we all decided to spend Thanksgiving with her and to throw her a party. We all traveled to Sandersville, GA for the holiday. We did all of our cooking there and joined Granmda and extended family for Thanksgiving day. The next day, we did not go shopping. We got up and cooked some more for the big birthday party.
We were over cooking and eating by the time it was all over, but it was so worth it. We always have fun spending time with Mike's cousins and just getting to catch up with them.

After the party, we drove back to the Atlanta area to spend the rest of the weekend with Mimi and Poppy. While we were there, it worked out that some of our best friends from Charleston just happened to be in Atlanta also. So, we were able to meet up with them and go out to dinner and to see the Hunger Games. Its kind of tradition now. This is the 3rd Hunger Games movie that we have seen together on a double date. Already planning how to see it together next year!!

Us with the Daltons

Alrighty, friends...stay with me. More to come. I promise!

Halloween 2014

Halloween has already come and gone. This year was somewhat memorable. This was the Halloween of cold and ear infections and fevers and strep throat. Sounds fun, right??? Ummm...not so much. Halloween day I got to go to school with the boys and be a part of their Halloween parties. Luke had been sick all week long and Halloween was his first day back. He got to trick or treat at school which was a good thing because he didn't want much to do with it later on that night.

That night after our annual sloppy Joe Halloween dinner we headed out to Marmie and Poppy's neighborhood to trick or treat with our friends Cooper and Caroline. They made it about 45 minutes before the the cold and the wind was too much.  Luke was crying because his ear hurt, and yes it was covered up, and Will was crying because he didn't like the wind. Wynn, on the other hand, could have gone another hour. She loved it. She and I went with Cooper and Caroline's little brother Tripp and their mom Kate. After the first house Wynn got the idea and at each of the following houses decided to help herself out of the neighbors' buckets as they leaned down to put candy in her bag. Good thing she was cute, cause that was the only way she was able to get away with that!!

Had it not been so cold, the boys would have had more fun. As it was our little Red Power Ranger, Batman and Ladybug got more than enough candy and we got a Halloween we will never forget!

Fall Fun

Every fall we take a trip to the Georgia Mountains with Mimi and Poppy and the Fessler Family for pumpkins and apples. This year it didn't work out schedule wise to go so we decided to do something fun and fallish around here. I had seen several friends post on Facebook about Old McDonald's Farm in Sale Creek. It looked fun, so we headed up one Sunday after church. It was a blast and well worth the $12 a person. We stayed there about 4 hours & could have stayed longer, but we ran out of stream. This might become a Fessler Family tradition, because we want to go back next year!!

The Fessler Family 2014

Will's 6th birthday

I've mentioned that we do special days for our kids' birthdays. For Will he wanted to go to Rock City. He had decided earlier in the summer that that was what he wanted to do, and he patiently counted down the days. My sister was in town, so her family and my parents joined us. It was a fun day that lasted all day! We started off with a donut breakfast and ended with a large family gathering at Amigo's for dinner after all of our Rock City fun. Will had a great day & I'm so glad we got to celebrate him!