Stuck!

A few weeks ago, Zachary decided to get stuck in his toybox. I found him like this and the scene was too funny to not get pictures...

Chattanooga

For Christmas, Zachary was given a gift of two days in Chattanooga and he could bring any friend he wanted with him. He chose McKinney. We went during the week after Christmas. The boys had a blast.

We spend day 1 visiting the Tennessee Aquarium. The boys enjoyed every second of the Aquarium.

They loved running around on the grounds outside the building.

They loved pretending they were being attacked by sharks.

They LOVED petting the Sting Rays - even though McKinney's face doesn't look that way in this picture.

And most of all, they enjoyed every new fish that they discovered. We didn't go more than a minute or two without hearing "Hey! Look at this one!" coming out of one of their mouths. They found themselves racing to be the first to see the next beautiful creature.

On day 2, we went to the Creative Discovery Museum in downtown Chattanooga. This was the ultimate indoor playground. 100% interactive yet educational at the same time. Surprisingly, the boys took about 5 minutes to enjoy a few books in a quiet spot they found. It didn't last long, though.

They quickly discovered that they could move the sand around just right and suddenly they are archaeologists discovering dinosaur bones. As quickly as they became archaeologists, they just as quickly became monkees. They spend nearly an hour playing in the huge indoor playground. There were three levels and it was very easy to lose them if you didn't pay attention. For a while, we had to separate and plant ourselves at the two doors of the room so the boys couldn't escape to another part of the building without us knowing.Once the playground grew boring, they moved into the musical wing of the building. Xylophones, kettle drums, and whatever this is in the picture never knew what was coming. They couldn't make the noises fast enough.In the end, we spent almost 5 hours in the Children's Museum. They may have enjoyed that more than the Aquarium.

What an amazing trip that neither boy will forget for a long time. Marty and I were thrilled that we were gone for 36 hours and Zachary and McKinney didn't fight once. We all had a great time and are very thankful for the opportunity to take quick trips like this as a family several times a year.

Christmas with Granny, Papa and the Crazy Cousins

When we get together with Marty's family, it is always a fun and chaotic event. This year, we did gifts the day after Christmas with his family. The kids were all very excited. It was as if it was Christmas morning all over again. We don't have pictures of everyone, but these pictures should be able to give you a little glimpse at the fun evening we had together.

Christmas with Grandpa

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Zachary hanging with Aunt Jackie waiting for his turn to play the Wii.

Aunt April, Mimi, Uncle Casey, Uncle Dalton, Caleb, Zachary and Savannah. Almost the whole gang. Still playing the Wii.

Uncle Dalton found some tough competition in the 5 and 6 year olds. Notice the hickey he got for his Christmas present.

The newness of the Wii hasn't worn off yet. Zachary and Savannah played until after midnight. If only their energy could be bottled up. We could power an entire town. We had a great Christmas visiting with this side of the family. Amazing that Christmas was at Grandpa's house, but we have no pictures of Grandpa hanging with the family. We'll try harder to include everyone next time.

Christmas Brunch

Christmas morning, we had about 17 people over to the house for our annual Christmas Brunch. It is sort of a hodge podge of folks, a little family and a little friends, but everyone is welcome and everyone has a great time. The only rule is "No Gifts." We started that rule the first year so there would be no competition of gifts among the grandparents. All of the gifts are opened on a separate occasion. We had lots of delicious foods on the menu this year that included: monkey bread, homemade biscuits, breakfast casserole, homemade grape jelly, sausage balls, a fruit platter, an edible arrangement, grits, hashbrowns, several coffee assortments, pumpkin bread, banana bread, chocolate chip muffins, strawberry muffins and I'm sure I'm missing something else. It was wonderfully delicious. Everyone arrived around 10:00 and the last person left a little after 3:00.

Christmas Morning

For months, Zachary has been asking for a Nintendo DS. For months, we've told him, "no." For months, we've been the meanest parents on the planet. Little did Zachary know that for Christmas he would be getting a Wii. He was so excited. These pictures don't even begin to describe the sheer joy he felt on Christmas morning when he opened this box. For a week now, all he has done is play all of his different games. We decided that we'd let him play as much as he wants over his break from school and limits would come into play when school started back.

The day after Christmas, Zachary woke up in tears. He was so mad that he hurt his arm at Grandpa's house on Christmas night. Finally, we had to tell him that his muscles were sore from playing the Wii all day. Then, suddenly, the muscles didn't hurt anymore. He said if he kept playing that he wouldn't hurt anymore. Guess he was right. He hasn't complained since. Maybe he knows better. Wonder where he gets his bullheadedness from???

Pink Pig

A few weeks ago, we participated in the Elkins/Staples family tradition of going to ride the Pink Pig. This is our 4th (I think) year of taking the kids to Lenox Mall to ride this Atlanta tradition. The ride is a little cheesy and you can visit last year's blog post to get all of the details, but the kids look forward to this evening every Christmas. Andrew, Morgan and Zachary love that they are now big enough to ride the ride without sharing a seat with their parents.

After the ride, we always head over to The Varisty for a delicious dinner of hotdogs, burgers, onion rings and fries - or as Morgan calls them, fry-fries. It never ceases to amaze us how much food those kids can consume when we go there to eat. I fear when they are teenagers.