drew takes a break from mowing the grass with his lawn mower to close his eyes and kiss on maisey!
ben followed dailey around the house the whole time, trying to play with whatever she was playing with. here she's giving him such a sweet, big hug!
and here she is with drew snuggling while watching sesame street. movie date already?
any time i DON'T hear lots of noise, i usually just prepare myself for the worst. but the silence this time was because maisey and ben were behind the rocking chair hugging!! it was the cutest thing i've ever seen!!! all day long, i had to keep an eye on them because they kept going back there to get some lovin!
the boys look like they are playing with maisey's little piggies
and here are all four of the kiddos after they had sufficiently worn themselves out taking a snack break. they all had such a great time, and their family is one of the biggest blessings we've receieved since moving to spring hill! then, my mama and daddy came up later that night to take care of the boys so that michael and i could head to the great smokey mountains with our life group for a little getaway!!! it was WONDERFUL! the cabin was amazing, and had a great view! we woke up every morning whenever we wanted to and took our time drinking our coffee...that alone was worth the trip since that never happens at home! we had a ball, and every night at dinner, we didn't have to ask for any highchairs! ahhh, the highlife! :) us girls had our fill of outlet shopping (nevermind that the cashiers know darci and i by name at a particular store!) and the boys had fun racing go carts and playing pool. thank you mimi and pop for taking care of the boys. it was such a blessing to know that they were happy and didn't miss mommy and daddy too much.
here are all the girls before we hit ober gatlinburg. 
with tara and darci in front of the alpine slide that we didn't get to ride
all the boys were such troopers and the grumbling was at a very minimum so that the girls could all be happy and take a cute picture
and here is me with my wonderful hubby in front of the fireplace. it was such a blessing to be able to reconnect with him, be silly, laugh with our friends and make memories that we'll never forget. yes, this lifegroup has meant so much to us over the last two years!the only thing about the whole weekend that wasn't good was that my sweet babies are now sick again. just fever and yucky noses. that congestion is just no fun! so since we have been back home, the three of us have been constantly in our pj's and not doing much more than snuggling on the couch. which is just fine with me since that's one of my favorite things to do with these loving boys. they are just precious, and i must say that a getaway like this one really makes me appreciate them more and be a better mommy. enjoy the cute pix! we'll post more soon!!
ben climbing up the slide
with their buddy brax, who they love to play with! they've been the three amigos since they were just weeks old. 
You may think that this picture didn't quite turn out. But when I saw it, all I could think was "wow, that's exactly how Ben looked while opening his presents! Needless to say, he had a ball and was a whirlwind of motion. 
True to his personality, Drew had fun opening his presents too, but he was much slower and cautious, taking his time and studying the paper and bows very carefully. 
In Centralia (Michael's hometown) they have a tradition that I just love. Every christmas morning Santa Claus goes through the whole town riding on the back of the firetruck (complete with lights and sirens!) passing out goodie bags to all of the children that come out to see him. It's really such a neat thing to see all the kiddos running down the street as soon as they hear the sirens getting closer to their house, and even more special as I think about a tradition that Michael had when he was a little boy passed down to our boys. So, of course, we bundled the boys up and took them out to see Santa. 
Then, when we got back from Missouri we had a couple of days before my parents came up to celebrate christmas and new year's with us. Once again, there were more presents than anybody deserved and we had a great time being together. We were so wrapped up (no pun intended!) in watching the boys with their presents that we really forgot to take very many pictures. But here's one that captures it all. Ben is saying "oooooohh" -- which is one of their two favorite words right now (the other one is "uh-oh") -- at a present that Drew just opened. Everything about watching them during this time was special and really cute. 
And this is our family picture. We tried to get Reagan in the picture too, but she was much too busy with her own presents to stop and pose.
We are so blessed! Not just because of all the stuff, but because we had such wonderful family members to share it with. We hope you all had as great a time with your family and had a fun New Year's too!!!