Christmas Eve

We headed to Bob and Elizabeth's for Christmas Eve festivities as usual. The kids always love the time they get to spend with their cousins. 

Elaina enjoys playing with Amelia. I'm sure Amelia gets tired of playing dolls and "little kid" stuff with her but she seems to tolerate Elaina following her around everywhere pretty well:) 

The Crew with Nana and Papa:

I had more pictures and then unfortunately accidentally deleted my memory card:( So, I stole just a few from Wendy. She had this one of Elaina opening her present. 

Lanie picked out her own outfit for Christmas Eve and she requested that her hair be in a "hotbun". I obliged and styled it for her but I refused to spray it with sparkle glitter like she asked. Girl likes some sparkle!

 That evening we headed to the candle light service at Zion as is tradition. The kids have become so much more well behaved as the years have gone by! This was Elaina's first time to actually get a candle of her own. She was mesmerized.

It's a wonder we even let Rhett have one of HIS own. He's still a nutty kid when it comes to fire and scissors. There's just a crazy streak running through his veins:)

It was a great night of celebrating Jesus's birthday and hanging with family. That's all Christmas is about! 

Wilderness in the Smokies 2013

We had a Morgan family mini-vacay back at Wilderness in the Smokies. This year the trip fell on Amelia's birthday so we celebrated with a little cake with the cousins! 

I'll be honest. The indoor water park creeps me a bit. It's just so....damp. And kind of humid. Sort of like the perfect petri dish for the growth of lots of bacteria and such. But, I persevere because I love my children and my children love the indoor water park. And Elaina looks really cute in her little polka dot bikini:)

And she loves spending time with her cousin Amelia. 

 She was happy to just hang in the shallow end of the wave pool. 

The boys wanted to be deep into the waves when the wave pool started up. I don't do the waves. It makes me all nervous. All those kids in those circle floats and the waves all crazy.

Bobby's a brave soul and he'd venture out.

It was always a good sign when Bob would give the "I see six!" signal:)

Elaina....still cute in the shallow end:)

I'm pretty sure Bob was saying, "Elizabeth, we could be somewhere peaceful, quiet and dry. Why are we at a water park in the winter with 7 kids we know and 182 we don't? Oh yeah. Because we love our grandkids...."

 Cutie patootie.....and Elaina. 

 Cousin shot!

The slides are always a highlight and this year Rhett was big enough to ride all of them. He was in hog heaven on these things! They are actually quite a bit of fun! 

We had lots of fun making memories with our cousins! 

Twas the Night Before Christmas!

In keeping with tradition we spent Christmas Eve with Bobby's family. We headed over at lunch time to hang with our cousins and open presents! 

G and Amelia:

I must admit that Wendy and I both agree that I took the cake for present of the year this year:) When you get tears it means you've hit the jackpot! 

Elaina got a baby from her cousins and she couldn't have been more happy about it. 

What also makes her happy is looking at her picture after you've taken it. "lemme seeeee!! Lemmme see it!"

It made me happy to watch Cade try to diaper the baby she brought with her (at her request). It was about a 10 minute ordeal but he finally got it! Look at that determination on his face:)

 Elaina also got a pair of gloves and a little head wrap from Nana. I had to include this picture because she just looks so cute to me. Who am I kidding though? She looks cute pretty much all the time. 

Rhett enjoyed hanging with the cuz. At least I think he did. His facial expression in this pic would make one think otherwise:)

Hugs from Nana.

We are very blessed to have gotten to spend another Christmas with Nannie. She painted us all cards this year (last year we got some painted ornaments). It's always a treasure because she's such a great artist!

I would love one day to be in a picture with my children's children's children! Wow! 

We finished out the evening with the candlelight service at Zion and I'm pleased to announce that not one hymnal went up in flames and no one caught their hair on fire. That is always the main goal of the candlelight service when you are in a small wooden pew with 7 kids. We had a great time celebrating with family! Merry Christmas Eve!