Christmas at Gramma's

We flew into vist Gramma the Tuesday afternoon before Christmas. Our plan was to spend a few days with Gramma & Auntie M, then drive to visit Granny & Pa for a week. Then come back to Gramma's for a late Christmas and New Years. But Gramma was too eager and excited for Christmas. So the same night we arrived, we had "Christmas."

 

The kids were very excited to see that Gramma had a tree, too.

And, especially, that there were presents under her tree!

And Ruth? Yes, she was excited about packages ;)

Nathan got some neat things from his Aunt Kristen & Uncle Dave.

Art supplies, a monster truck hauler, a new book... he loves it all!



And Nathan loved opening Ruth's gifts for her, and showing her what she got.

Ruth loves to wiggle with her bouncy, vibrating elephant toy!

And Faith? LOVE LOVE LOVES her first Barbie!

Another fun toy from Aunt Kristen & Uncle Dave!

And a monster truck hauler for Nathan.

Ruth appears to be thinking... "who cares about presents, look at all the ornaments waiting to go in my mouth!"

Faith got a princess crown ornament.

And Nathan got a big monster truck from Auntie M!

He was VERY excited about that!!

And Faith got lots of things, too - but her favorite present was her Gramma ;)

Gramma got each kid their own carry-on luggage.

They've already gotten lots of use hauling their clothes to Granny & Pa's.

And storing toys while at Gramma's, too.

And those carry-ons??? They were full of more presents!!

The kids have seriously been spoiled!

They love all their presents and find such joy in all the simple things, as well!

Like Ruth... she loves her elephant, musical remote, and singing dinosaur.

But she really loved the jingle bells on Daddy's stocking ;)

 

Thank you, Gramma, Auntie M, Uncle Dave & Aunt Kristen, for another wonderful Christmas!

You Might Be Married to a Redneck If....

I love my in-laws. And in our family, you pick on the ones you love most. Right? So all this is meant in love - and laughter! It's for those of you not on facebook, who missed the daily update "redneck jokes." And yes, all theses things actually happened, I'm not creative enough to make this stuff up  :)


You might be married to a redneck if... you leave on a date with your husband, and he's wearing realtree camo.

You might be married to a redneck if... your husband has to shampoo his head and face before he shaves, because his scruff has grown too long since his last shower, 4 days ago.

You might be married to a redneck if... you feel like you just walked into an episode of Duck Dynasty while shopping for your mother-in-law's birthday gift.

You might be married to a redneck if... your husband wants to buy his mother a rifle lock for her birthday.

You might be married to a redneck if... the closest grocery store doesn't sell diapers. But if you want to buy ammo, you can get some at a grocery store.

You might be married to a redneck if... your father-in-law has to move the deer carcass off the hill, so your kids can go sledding.

You might be married to a redneck if... when you chip your tooth, your father-in-law offers you his dremel tool. Because it worked well when he chipped a molar last year.

You might be married to a redneck if... your father-in-law's idea of dressing up for the Christmas Eve service is wearing a collared camo shirt with a coordinating neck tie. And your brother-in-law looks like Paul Bunyan.






You might be married to a redneck if... after opening Christmas presents and eating brunch, your husband declares that its time to "go shoot the dump." AKA got out back with lots of guns and shoot the snow covered pile of junk.

You might be married to a redneck if... your 1 year old uses a granade as a chew toy. (don't worry, it may have been real, but there was no powder in it. And even if there had been, the pin was locked down. haha)

You might be married to a redneck if... your kids' Christmas stockings are really just your father-in-law's wool socks.

You might be married to a redneck if... your kids each get coveralls for Christmas. And they love them.

You might be married to a redneck if... after "shooting the dump", the family takes a Christmas hayride thru the woods and snow for 45 min. With one dog in the trailer and one dog helping Pa drive the tractor. 

You might be married to a redneck if... while on Mr Toad's Wild Hay ride, you cross over a frozen creek. But your husband claims it's just a mud puddle. (thank you, Aunt Monica, for the pics I stole off your facebook page :) )

 

You might be married to a redneck if... you get your mother-in-law an ammo box for her birthday, to go with her new pistol.

And finally... 

You might be married to a redneck if... you call any of these people your in-laws:

Horsing Around at Granny & Pa's

The kids got to go horseback riding at Granny & Pa's.

They adored riding JJ with Aunt Monica in the blizzard!

Here's Nathan, with Granny walking beside:

Faith got to ride first, then patiently waited while her brother had a turn. She rarely wants her photo taken - or at least she's rarely willing to pose for a photo. But while waiting for Nathan to take his turn, Faith just wanted me to take pictures over her in the snow.

Such a cute little snow bunny!

After their rides, the kids helped Granny feed the horses.

They're big helpers! They enjoyed doing chores with Granny many times during our visit.

And rewarding JJ with carrots is always fun, too!

After the blizzard, the kids got another turn to ride the horses.

Here's Aunt Monica & Uncle Junior bringing the horses to the kids.

Riding horses is so much fun at Granny & Pa's house!

 The kids loved to watch the horses, too.

And pet them.

Here's Ruth's first encounter with the horses.

She was fascinated!

What fun we have at Granny & Pa's.

This kids miss them both, and their horses.

And we all miss the beautiful view Granny & Pa have, too.

We can't wait to see you again, Granny & Pa!

We all love you lots!