Gingerbread Houses in January

Building Gingerbread Houses has become a yearly event with the Wilson family for us. However, both families are so busy around Christmas that we don't get a chance to do them until sometime after the holidays. Last year we weren't able to get together until MARCH! This year we were able to get together within the first week of January. Here are a few pictures of the process.

Tubing in February

We went to West Virginia with some friends to "tube" for the first time. It was freezing cold but luckily we had all our good snow gear to keep us warm.

Trent and our friend Matt play around in the parking lot before we go inside the tubing park.

Ella and her best friend Kayleen from church.

Baking Christmas Cookies

I totally forgot that I started uploading this post last month. I apologize for not doing a better job of updating the blog. Most everyone I know has become a member of Facebook and it is so much easier (and faster) to post and upload photos there. I will try to get everything posted within the next few weeks from the Christmas season.

Trent and Ella at Auntie's Cabin

When Abby and I were little we always got excited about going down to Aunt Hazel and Uncle Harold's cabin because it meant that we got to ride the horses. It's funny how things have changed...Libby built a new barn and moved her horses over to her house years ago and not long ago the fence around the barn was taken down. Now I watch my children play soccer where the horses once used to graze. And the biggest change?? Since there are no longer horses to ride we must find other types of entertainment..........................

















GOLF CART!!!!!
John and Brent take Ella and Cole for a ride.

John, Trent, and Henry finish a ride up to the top of the hill and back.

Who needs horses when you've got a golf cart?!?!

Oh, my! I don't know if Pops knows how to operate the cart!

Love this picture of Brent hanging onto Cole for dear life and Henry telling Pops where to go.

One thing that has changed a lot would be the creek. My mother would've NEVER, NEVER, NEVER let Abby and me in the creek. The creek has been cleaned up a lot since I was little.


Ella's creek shoes didn't get too wet.


ABSOLUTELY LOVE Jill's face in this picture.

Appears that Ella is having a lot of fun!

The Harlem Globetrotters

Tonight we had a great time getting to see the Harlem Globetrotters play. And guess what???? They won!! Can you believe that? They must be the winnest team in basketball! I wonder how they do that!?!?! :-)

I had never seen the Globetrotters play until tonight...with the exception of seeing the cartoon version on an episode of "Scooby Doo" back when I was a kid. If you don't remember the episode I'm talking about here's a link to a synopsis and a short trailer of the episode. I couldn't find a link for the original from the 70's, so this link will take you to the remake from a few years ago:

http://whv.warnerbros.com/WHVPORTAL/Portal/product.jsp?OID=25414

This Scooby-Doo episode should've been my sign that this is no ordinary basketball team. After watching them play tonight I will now refer to the Globetrotters as the WWF team of basketball. It reminded me of professional wrestling, except it was basketball. Yes, they are still awesome ball handlers but I never knew how "staged" the game was. It was quite funny and enjoyable and Trent had a wonderful time. Now to share with you a few pictures.

Tonight offered a special opportunity for Cub Scouts. We received discounted tickets and were able to enter early to visit with some of the players. This was a combined outting for both the Cub and Boy Scouts which Trent thought was pretty cool. We also had several sisters join the group! Trent's Cub Scout Master, Jimmy, is standing in the back on Globie's left side (he's the bald one).

I was amazed that it was actually ELLA'S IDEA to take a picture with Globie. She's always been scared to death of these kind of creatures.

Ella waits very patiently to go inside the coliseum.

I'm not sure what this player's name is but Trent was amazed at the spinning ball.

Trent enjoying the beginning of the game...watching the Globetrotters perform a "Magic Circle" to the tune of Sweet Georgia Brown.

During halftime Trent played around with one of the other Wolves from his pack. This is David and he was in my class last year. Like I've said before...every kid in Trent's pack has either had me for a teacher in the past or is in my current class. It's unusual but kind of neat.

Third Annual Gingerbread House Get-Together...in MARCH?!?!?!?

It has become an annual festivity - making gingerbread houses with Jeff, Sharon, Jonathan, and Elizabeth. But this year was a little different than in the past.

Usually we meet together sometime during the week following Christmas. I know what you're thinking, "Don't most normal people decorate gingerbread houses before Christmas?" Well, there are several reasons for waiting until after Christmas...
#1-we are all too busy before Christmas
#2-The Gingerbread House Kit is a great Christmas present(thank you to Jeff, Sharon, Jonathan, and Elizabeth for picking out a great kit!)
#3-The kits go on markdown after December 25th if you need to purchase one
and most importantly #4-Who said any of us are "normal" :-)

Now that Mom and Dad live in Atlanta we spend the days following Christmas at their house. This meant that our after Christmas festivities would have to be postponed until January. However, January was jam-packed as was February so we had to hold off until March. So tonight was the night. As we listened to Christmas carols (Jeff insisted) we enjoyed laughing together as our family made a ST. PATRICK'S GINGERBREAD HOUSE. Here are a few pictures from tonight.

One thing we did discover about making Gingerbread Houses in March is that the frosting and candy are not as "fresh" as in December.

Christmas 2007

Here's a quick rundown of what all we did during Christmas...

Christmas began for us on the 23rd as we celebrated with half of John's family at his grandmother's (a.k.a. Mema) house. As you can tell from this picture both Trent and Ella were getting a bit tired, and Christmas was just beginning!

Grammy and PawPaw got the kids lots of toys but Sydnie and Ella enjoyed their Barbie heads the most...

That was, until Grammy and PawPaw gave them the pink guitars. Unfortunately, we couldn't figure out a way to leave them with Grammy and PawPaw to take home.

Trent and Dylan really enjoyed the Superman hats and shirts from Uncle Larry, Grace, Daniel, and Mark.

The next day was Christmas Eve and Pops came over to our house to put in the new dishwasher he and Mom gave John and me for Christmas. It was quite exciting! While Dad was finishing the dishwasher installation Mom, Abby, Ella, Trent, and I went for a quick lunch at the kid's favorite restaurant (McDonald's) and then took off to the Christmas Tree Festival downtown. There were about 20 trees and they enjoyed the Elvis tree the most.

After our downtown trip we went home, took a quick nap, and then trucked on over to Aunt Rinkie's for Christmas Eve dinner and opening presents with another part of John's family. One of the things about having a cousin close to the same age is that you always get matching gifts at Christmas...however, Sidney and Ella's matching pj's are just so cute!

After dinner, we made one last stop at Aunt Mary and Uncle Clay's house to finish up celebrating Christmas with John's side of the family (he has a lot more aunts, uncles, and cousins than I do). Ella is not unhappy in this picture, just tired...it was about 10:00 or so.

Leaving out cookies and milk for Santa was the last job that had to be performed before we could go to bed. Ella was so excited this year that Santa was coming!! I've never seen her so happy about going to bed before.

Finally, Christmas Day arrived and Santa had made a stop at our house!! Santa left Trent a Nintendo DS (the top item on his list), Rubix Cube (can you believe these things are making a come-back??), a Braves Andruw Jones figure (that will now stay inside the box since he has been traded to L.A. - maybe it will eventually become a collector's item and worth a lot), and several packs of baseball cards. Santa left Ella a baby doll(at the top of her list), a Teresa Barbie doll(her collection is getting bigger), a Barbie talking camera (what was Santa thinking??), and some Barbie clothes.

Grammy, PawPaw, Pops, Purson, and Abby came over to eat breakfast and watch the kiddies open up the rest of their presents. Trent was excited to get the Baseball game for his new DS and a carrying case. Trent and Daddy spent the rest of the time engrossed in the DS while Ella opened her gifts. Ella received a new pair of Dora the Explorer bedroom slippers, a Barbie hair and makeup kit (that goes well with the Barbie head she opened on the 23rd), a Cinderella Barbie doll, and the Barbie Hot Tub Party Bus...Daddy really enjoyed putting together this glorified motor home and then applying the hundreds of stickers!

After Grammy and PawPaw left for Dylan and Sydnie's house, we opened gifts from Pops, Purson, and Abby. Pops and Purson gave Ella a beautiful pink coat with matching hat and Abby gave her a jewelry box. Pops and Purson gave Trent a Lego Remote Controlled Dinosaur that Pops and Trent will be able to put together during our visit to Atlanta after Christmas. Abby gave Trent a Batman Lego set...the last one he needed in the series which Daddy and Trent spent the rest of Christmas morning putting together.

Christmas Day is traditionally the day that is spent with Carrie's family. We all meet at Aunt Hazel's house for opening gifts and eating a late lunch. Trent was most excited by the Mario Cart DS game Aunt Hazel gave him and Ella liked the Barbie car from Pops and Purson.

The most exciting part of the day for Ella was that she "graduated" to sitting downstairs with the other kids. Ever since she was born she has been sitting upstairs with the adults at the kitchen table (mainly due to messy eating). However, this year we all felt she was big enough to take her plate into the family room so she was able to eat with Henry and Cole at the coffee table!

Our finally Christmas stop was back at Mema's for Grammy's annual Open House. What a great way to finish the holiday! Here Trent shows Dylan his newest favorite toy.

A NEW Family Portrait

It has been a long time since we scheduled a family portrait for the four of us. Actually, with the exception of the quick one we had made earlier in the year with John's family, the last family picture we had taken only included 3 of us...at the time we had the picture taken in November 2003, we had yet to find out if Ella was going to be a boy or a girl! So we decided it was time to have a new portrait done of our "bigger" family. Of course the fact that Ella now questions why she is not in the picture hanging in the hallway was also a little push to have a new one made. :-)

So we made an appointment for Monday at 6:30. I hoped that we would make it in before the big Christmas rush...I was wrong. It was packed!