~ We're Still Celebrating

We still have our tree up.

The twelve days of Christmas seemed to fly by this year.

Actually, the whole season was over before I was ready to say goodbye.

So I've declared Christmas not quite over in our house until I have a moment to enjoy it.

In the meantime, here's a look at our 2010 Christmas season...


- Eight inches of snow (just to put us in the mood)

- One night of baking

- Two strange rashes, three fevers and one case of strep throat

- One beautiful Christmas Eve with church family and friends

- Four happy boys on Christmas morning

-12 hours with four kids in a Yukon (both directions)

- Six nights in strange beds

Bennett and Aidan asleep in the hotel in my hometown

This is the guest house where we stayed in Nashville.

The moment this one goes up for sale, I'm packing up my family and taking them with me! (Just kidding!)

- A tender Tennessee Christmas with too many family and friends to count

Lots of cousins

Beautiful nieces

My brother (left) with his wife and friends

My Brother and Dad

The matriarch of my family and the one we hold responsible for all the chaos - 94 this year!

Beautiful sisters-in-law

Ken's brother and nephew

Siblings

Crazy People

Niece and her adorable red head

Grammy and her youngest great-grandchild

- And one family still celebrating the gifts of family, friendship and forgiveness this Christmas Season

It's all because of Jesus!

~ My Old Stomping Grounds

While we were in Tennessee, my sister and I took our boys hiking to one of my favorite places in my hometown called Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park. Besides being a really cool historical setting, it's the perfect place to enjoy all that God created.

The boys had a blast.

They searched for perfect walking sticks,

and threw rocks into the river.

They did all sorts of boy things.

They caught worms,

and climbed down into the old paper mill ruins.

and basically lived on the edge the whole time making mom crazy!

I spent the day saying things like:

"Don't get to close to that bluff!"

"I don't want to have to carry you outa here!"

"Don't get too close to the water or your shoes will get wet, and then you'll have to hike with wet shoes!"

"There could be snakes in there!"

"Don't push each other!"

"If Daddy were here I'd let you...(fill in the blank)!"

The best part of the day (for them , anyway) was finding frog eggs in the river.

The boys had jars. They went prepared to catch bugs, but once they saw the eggs, they emptied those jars real quick. They spent much of their time trying to scoop eggs into their jars. It amazes me how much time goes by and how creative they are when they are exploring and discovering nature.

My favorite part of the day - the sound of the river and the beautiful falls.

So peaceful!

It was the perfect place to take the boys!

And speaking of the perfect place, doesn't this look magical.

We never get any farther than this spot because it is the perfect place for imaginations to run wild. The fort itself encloses 50 acres and to hike the perimeter is over a mile long with another 2 mile trail after that. We never get to finish the trail because we love this little spot.

If I were a kid, I'd play here for hours. Oh yeah, I did. Well maybe not for hours, but my friends and I would go right to the small waterfalls, climb out onto the big flat rocks in the middle of the river and lay out in the sun.

The one thing I know for sure is that I did not appreciate it enough when I was a kid. Isn't that true about so many things. Oh the wisdom that comes with age!