Christmas Day

*Santa left a note for Joe*

*Opening presents*

*Joe & all his presents!*

*The GeoAir Airport!*

*The enormous train set that now takes up half our living room!*


Joe had a great Christmas morning. He was very excited that Santa came. He knew Santa was going to bring him the Geo Airport so he started opening presents just to find it! He got a whole bunch of GeoTrax trains, planes, and tracks. And a new learning video game for the tv, some books, more matchbox airplanes, Wall-E shoes, and a couple stuffed animals. He's been playing with the new toys all morning. I think he's going to take a great nap today!

Xmas Eve Skating

*Joe tries skating for the first time! This little walker helped a lot.*

*Joe skates with Dave*

We had a great Christmas Eve that started with a trip to the ice skating rink. It was Joe's first time on the ice, and he thought it was super fun! He could balance on his skates right away, but still fell down a lot.
We continued our Xmas celebration by going to the Christmas Eve service at our church at 4pm, then coming back home to a big turkey dinner! It was my first time making a turkey and it was delicious (even if making it was pretty gross!).
Joe left cookies & milk on the table for Santa and carrots for his reindeer.

Christmas Program

Joe had his preschool Christmas program this morning. They sang lots of songs, and in between singing, Joe had to suck his thumb. Silly kid. He did great and wasn't nervous, even in front of the audience of over a hundred people! Dave couldn't come because he was in San Francisco for work. So I had to try to get all the pics and video done myself, it was hard to focus! We all sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and had birthday cake when it was all done.

Snowman

Dave and Joe made a snowman 2 days ago. They gave it an alien head. It's no longer standing though, it fell apart from the rain yesterday.

Winter Fun

*First time sledding*

*Dave & Joe going down the hill in the backyard.
It was cold! That's my breath you see, not a ghost!*

*Joe and I played in the backyard with his dump truck*

We've been having great winter fun with all the snow on the ground. It's been almost too cold to go outside most days, but we've bundled up and braved the below freezing temperatures a few times. Joe LOVES sledding! He asks to go everyday!

200th Post & Happy Thanksgiving

Can you believe I've posted 200 times now on this blog?! Be sure you check out all the pics.
We made these fun turkey cookies for Thanksgiving while in Nashville. Check out the next few posts to see out adventures in Tennessee.

Cooter's

Being a "Dukes of Hazard" fan, we had to visit Cooter's! Dave was reluctant, but he did have fun too. If you're a fan, I recommend checking it out!

Opryland

We visited Opryland at night and went on a boat ride. Joe loved it. Then we went back the next day and saw it in the daylight. It was all decorated for xmas, it was beautiful!

The Grand Ole Opry

We toured The Grand Ole Opry and even got to go on stage.

Downtown Nashville

We spent an afternoon checking out downtown and had some real southern BBQ at Jacks.

Basketball

We spent a little time seeing who was the best basketball player in the family...it turned out to be Dia!

Black Friday

*The crowd outside the mall, waiting to go in*

*The line at Children's Place was LONG!*

Dave and I braved the crowd at Opry Mills Mall in Nashville for the midnight opening on Black Friday. It was a lot of fun. We only went to 3 stores and were in line a long time to get our good deals!

Nature Walk

*Turtles getting some sun...just before Jeff knocked one out with a rock!*

*Checking out the lake with Grandpa*

*Aunt Dawn & Joe looking a the geese*

*Uncle Jeff & Aunt Dawn*

*Dave & Dana*

Cousins

Joe had lots of fun playing with his cousin Zach, only on this particular day. Otherwise Joe liked being the big older cousin who beats up on the younger ones!