Christmas at Gramps & Neenas

The day after Christmas we headed down to Ky. to have Christmas with my family. I just love hitting the road and going!! I have to say though that Miss Gracie is not a patient traveler!! She doesn't get overly whiny really, she just CONSTANTLY asks that well known question of all time amongst young travelers "Are we there yet?" Church is about a 30 minute drive and we do it very often.....she tolerates that pretty well, but usually asks at least once "Are we there yet?" even though we know she knows exactly where we are! Grandma's is about an hour away and that is a LONG trip according to Gracie and Granny's, which is a bit over two hours is VERY LONG! So, when we were leaving for Gramps and Neena's Gracie asked if it was a long way. Daddy told her "YES, it is a VEEEEERY long way"! ...."Yes, it is longer than church, longer than Grandma's and longer than Granny's" Gracie seemed concerned "Is it as long as China?" (Even though that trip was over two years ago and she was only 3 she does remember it was LONG..lol!) Daddy told her that it was not as long as China. After just a few hours into the trip Tom and I both agreed that we should have told Gracie that Gramps and Neena's house WAS as far as China......it would have put it into perspective for her....it's a LONG way (8 hours)! lol! We were ALL growing weary of the "Are we there yet?" question from Gracie by the time we made it to Gramp's and Neena's house! At times she would ask and then ask again without even taking a breath! lol!! We finally did make it to Gramps and Neena's house..."GRACIE WE ARE HERE!!!" YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Isaac wasn't so concerned about getting there, but he was concerned about the Ohio River bridge. While going over the bridge he commented that Daddy should be very careful driving because "this is dangerous"!! When we were packing up to leave Gramp's and Neena's to come home he got very quiet and said, "I hope we make is safely over that bridge again because it is dangerous"....No clue why he was so concerned about that? I do wonder though if perhaps he saw some footage of the Minneapolis bridge collapsing a few months ago.

Once we arrived the long drive and constant bombardment of "Are we there yet?" melted away (although I do think it continued to ring in my ears for a few hours after arriving ;) ) and we all had a GREAT time......even Gracie quickly forgot about the hours strapped in the car! lol!! What kid wouldn't be thrilled to have 4 days of non-stop fun with 8 additional playmates?! Yep, 12 cousins in all.........all under one roof! :) Ages 16,14,12,10,10,10,8,7,5,5,4&3. Hard to believe that we have no more babies or babies on the way. We've had babies or babies on the way for the past 16 years!! I'm pretty sure that all of the families are now complete and a new era has begun. Kind of sad it a way.......but not in another. ;) Lots of fun, noise, chaos, games,football, bouncing (Jacob spent the majority of his time on the trampoline!), laughing, movies,excitement, gifts, food, ping pong, etc. etc........but most of all LOVE! :)

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture with all of us this year....bummer!!

Isaac opening his new Superman Backpack from Gramps and Neena.

I love you Neena!!

Heidi with her new Pirates calender from Aunt Terrie and kids. You know Heidi really loves all the Pirates movies. I know I posted that she got the Pirates 3 movie for her birthday. I do NOT like that type of thing.....yuck!! I honestly think what she really likes about the movies is Jack Sparrow.....Johnny Depp....shhhhhhh!!! ;) When she opened this gift at Mom and Dad's I told everyone that the only problem we've had so far with a 14 year old and a 5 year old sharing the same room is that Gracie is afraid of Heidi's Johnny Depp poster ...Ha Ha Ha!! I don't know what there is to be afraid of because the poster is of Johnny Depp and not Jack Sparrow and I'll have to say he cleans up rather nicely! ;) Heidi wasn't too happy when she had to take it down! We had to remind her that when she was 4 she was afraid of "Tickle Me Elmo". Poor Elmo spent many a night outside Heidi's door sitting on the floor! ;) So, I'm not too confident that this calender will make it hanging on the bedroom wall, but I'm sure Heidi will try! :) Neena with her new griddle. It works great! She tried it out while we were there and you can cook lots of eggs and bacon at the same time.........which we definitely needed to be able to do!

Mr. Garett...Go BLUE!!

My little bro...Joe. Can you guess where he is from? ;)

Avery and Gracie having fun together. They have a lot of the same interests and really enjoyed each other!

Drew, Riley, Jacob and Devyn playing with the magnets...Isaac in the background. The kids really do SOOOO well together! They all just get along great really. We are so proud of them! This is where they all laid there heads at night. We put them all down on the floor in a big long row here.....making memories for sure! :) Wish I would have thought to take a picture of that! The two older ones...Joshua and Heidi slept on the couches in the other room. Riley (in the red) and Jacob are the best of buds and spent all day almost every day (it rained one day) jumping, jumping, jumping on the trampoline! The four youngest grandkids all ready for bed....Avery 3 (Joe and Jamie's youngest), Drew 5 (Terrie's youngest), Gracie 5 and Isaac 4

Whew, did you make it to the end of that one? I think I did......lol!! ;) We feel so very blessed to have such a close and loving family!!! We miss you all so very much already!!

Hugs and Kisses,

Wendy

Oh, one more thing..........this is my niece, Emily. She is Joe and Jamie's oldest daughter. She was baptized last month. We are all so very proud of her for making the most important decision of her life.......to follow Christ!! She is such a little sweetheart!