Yummy to our Tummies...

Fun Christmas traditions!!
Annie and Martie came over to build some delicious gingerbread houses with Katie and I. It was a fun-filled evening with such wonderful friends! At the end of the night Drew was the judge.... results to follow.
Gingerbread house making and eating materials

Annie's house (Santa's Spa) - 1st place,

Martie's house (Santa's Party House) - 2nd place

Katie (Santa's Mountain Home) and I (Santa's All-Inclusive Resort) tied for 3rd place. Drew was being nice and didn't want anyone to get last!

Cookie Decorating! I was so excited to do this fun project with Syd, and had hoped she could help decorate cookies for some friends. However, I wasn't really surprised when her first dip into the icing went straight into her mouth instead of onto the cookie:)

Sydney's finished product

Matthew 1:21 "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

Phil 2:9-11 "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

The Holidays are Here!!

We sure are enjoying this holiday season. We hope you and your families are too!! We enjoyed several fun Thanksgiving celebrations over the past week. We are thankful for Christ, for family, friends, laughter, and love. The Lord continues to shower us with his amazing blessings. My prayer is that we recognize these are from Him as we strive to glorify Him each day.

If you are a Ktowner, tune into the good ole B97.5 for some fabulous Christmas tunes to get you in the Christmas spirit....some of my faves are
1. Tender Tennessee Christmas
2. Baby It's Cold Outside
3. All I Want for Christmas is You
4. Any and all Christmas songs from Home Alone
5. Melekalekmaka (...there's no way I spelled that right...)
6. Amy Grant Christmas


Syd playing BOO with the Santa hat


Lyd, Wade, and Syd with their Grammie and Pappy (santa)


The best aunt in the whole wide world and 3 silly faces

Sydney and Grammie after face painting at Fantasy of Trees

Trying to get a good pic of these three = very difficult

My favorite pic from the night we decorated our tree. A whole family affair

Flash's LARGE tongue

Sydney once again with her bodyguards

More Fall FUN!

We had a great time at the Peeks Eeks Halloween party this year! This was the best picture we could get of the kiddos sitting by themselves on the couch:) Syd was a ballerina.

Syd cheesing it up in Bishop's (handmade by his momma) clown wig

One of Sydney's fave things these days is to hold hands....here she is holding Carter's (yoda)...so sweet!!

We raked a big pile of leaves, which isn't hard to do at our house for Syd and Millie to enjoy!!

Joy from Trees

What a beautiful time of year! I was just sitting in my office today looking out the window in awe of God's handiwork. Every season brings something different for us from Him, but fall might be one of my favorites...especially when the trees are this breathtaking!

Here is some of what we've been up to lately!


Sydney and Lydia in their matching dresses made by Ash! The pic up top is their "funny faces"

Riding the tractor with Pappy

We had a car divided traveling down to Tuscaloosa for the game. Julie and I pulled for the Vols, while Chris and Drew cheered on the Tide!

Sydney, our dog at the Fall Festival this evening at church

Sydney with her buddy Carter, the dinosaur!

Short But Sweet

We enjoyed a long weekend getaway to Florida with Nana (Drew's mom), and Michael and Emily. We were also blessed by some fun time with Laura and Brent and their two precious kids who now reside in sunny FL. What a great trip!!

We packed it in since we only had two full days there. We enjoyed some beach time on Captiva Island, where Sydney for the first time really got into playing in the sand. In the past when it came to sand, Syd's experience consisted of tasting the sand, and an overall sense of uneasiness about playing in it (getting her hands dirty is not one of her favorite things). This trip she ended up covered in it, and was a very happy camper:) Drew and I found ourselves building castles in the sand with her, and it sure was fun! Sadly I hadn't done that in years. It brought back so many great memories from our family vacations to Hilton Head. Dad would always build the coolest creations......seriously people would walk by and stop to get a good look. I remember him most often making a "dead man" which resembled a man washed up on the beach. Anyway, Drew, Sydney, and I's creation wasn't even close to being as cool. We've got some practicing to do. We also enjoyed some delicious seafood, fun time in the pool, cheering on the Vols, a little shopping, and some nice walks. Thanks for such a memorable trip!

The Mundies

Is this not precious?!

Syd's new fave friend...Emily!

Sweet Parker

Ponytails and Lake Watauga

I have blogged about Sydney's hair recently but here I go again, because woohoo! she's got enough for a ponytail, if that's what you call this;

Syd cracked me up one evening as we were playing with our hair and the camera. She has learned to expect the camera to flash when we count to three and say cheese, so this is the face we've been getting;

Drew and I enjoyed Labor Day weekend with some of our friends at beautiful Lake Watauga. We made the trip last year as well except we had Sydney with us. This adventure was Sydney free:) ... Thanks to mom and dad! It was so much fun. I didn't take many pictures but the snapshots I got were from our "Awesome Off." As we learned that weekend from the Millers, an "Awesome Off" is where each couple teams up against the other couples in random events such as paper airplanes, water balloon toss, rock skipping, corn hole, catch phrase, trying to whistle while eating crackers, and these;

nut spitting

grape toss (We came in 2nd overall)

Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my!

Sydney and I have been blessed to be a part of a play group through church since she was only a few months old. We've enjoyed many play dates with our friends at the nursery at church, various parks around town, Sara's pool (Thank you!!), and the ZOO!! Today was an adventure at the zoo. We had perfect weather, and the animals seemed to be the most active and visible as I've ever seen them. I don't think the zoo is something only the kiddos enjoy. We enjoy it too!! The picture below was one of the neatest things I've witnessed in a while. This baby gorilla is George, and is just over a year old. He was playing right up next to the window, and is tiny! This is him nursing in his momma's open and loving arms! So neat!! I could have watched him all afternoon.

Sydney enjoyed the animals.....for about 10 seconds per animal, then she was ready to move on. This truck though was definitely a hit! She fought me when it was time to get out. She loved it.

Sydney and Carter crusin' together with Miss Sara as their chaperone.

With our friends Katie and Collin.

Sydney and Bishop explored together in the indoor kids play area. If you haven't been to the zoo, this area alone is worth a trip. It is full of different stations for the kids to learn through hands on fun, such as a play grocery store, kitchen, hardware store, tunnel, dress up area, and even smaller animals like frogs, rats, rabbits...to look at as they play.Very cool place!