Dixie National and Little Big Town!

I am obviously way behind in posting this, but here are a few pictures from when we went to the Dixie National Rodeo and saw Little Big Town perform.

Bray with his cowboy hat and corn dog!

Caleb with his new cowboy hat.

Bray bear...notice the cowboy shirt.

The girls of Little Big Town!

Jeffry can you see?? haha

We were able to get pretty close!

My hubby and me!

They put on an awesome show.

Getting the crowd to sing out!

We had SUCH a great time! The boys are really into cowboy stuff so the rodeo was a hit for us. We will definitely be going again next year. Little Big Town was the highlight for me!

Dirt Bikes!

We've spent several weekends camping and letting the boys ride their dirt bikes! 

It's been a lot of fun for them because several of the kids from church have bikes, and they can all ride trails together. 

Jeffry checking Bray's tire

Caleb and Paris

Bray bear

Off he goes!

Caleb with a double thumbs up :)

All the bikes and gear

Love this guy

Christmas Traditions

My friend, Ashley, did a post on her family's Christmas traditions, which got me thinking about our traditions. We have several that have been in place for generations and a few that we have started on our own. 

•  Cookie Decorating- I'm a huge baker. The boys and I always bake some sort of cookies and decorate them. This year we've been loving peanut butter cookies with Hershey kiss centers, reindeer sugar cookies, and drop sugar cookies. Some doughs I make from scratch, some we start off with a mix. I don't really think it matters as long as you're getting quality time with the kiddos! 

Caleb 2010

Caleb 2009

Bray 2010

Me 2009

• Trimming the Tree- This is always done as a family. Gone are the days when I was obsessed with having just the right mix of ornaments on the tree- this red glittery ball can't be too close to another red glittery ball- and now I unpack the ornaments and let the boys do as they please. I may or may not still  "fix" a few after they've gone on to other things. :) Oh, and shatterproof ornaments are of utmost importance. 
• Christmas Movies- We love movies anyway, so Christmas movies are extra special! We start watching them around Thanksgiving and until the New Year. It's a great way to spend some relaxed time as a family. Some of our favorites include The Polar Express, Charlie Brown's Christmas, Prancer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street (both versions), It's a Wonderful Life. 
• Christmas Books- My boys love to read as much as I do! We have a stack of Christmas books that only come out with the Christmas decorations. We curl up together on the couch and they listen for as long as I will read! 

• Christmas Parade- Our town has an annual Christmas parade, usually the first Saturday of the month. We love to bundle up wear our short sleeved Christmas shirts, go see all the floats, and catch candy! This year Jeffry helped direct the whole parade route.
• Gifts with Jeffry- Jeffry and I always pick a special night, usually a night or two before Christmas Eve, to open our gifts to each other. We started this a few years ago, and it's one of my favorite traditions. It gives us a chance to take our time and enjoy each others reaction without the craziness of extended family and the kids around! 
• Deanash Party- Our church hosts a party for the local children's home each year. We buy the gifts on the children's lists, and then we bring food and our families to celebrate with them. Half of the fun is having our children play with them! This is always a special night. 
• Christmas Eve Communion- This is an important tradition to Jeffry's family. We usually spend Christmas Eve with his parents, grandparents, brother, sister in law, aunt, uncle and cousins opening presents and stuffing ourselves. Then at 6 or so, we drive over to their church and partake in Communion as a family. I always get teary! 
• Table Gifts- My grandmother started this with my mom and my aunt. Either Christmas breakfast or lunch, the table is set and each person has a small "table gift" at their place setting. They are usually just a small $5 or less gift that's something fun or useful. My grandmother still buys them all for us, so I always buy hers! This year she's getting 2 crossword puzzle books. Sometimes she will buy the boys character bandaids or playing cards. Just a little happy. 
• Christmas PJ's- Every year I buy the boys Christmas pajamas, which they get to open on Christmas Eve. I got this idea from my childhood best friend's mom. I don't buy matching sets; I usually pick something individual to the child. I also buy them for Jeffry, me, and my brother. We're kids at heart! (And I like having something new to be photographed in Christmas morning, haha).

Better Late Than Never

I have been so busy and overwhelmed lately that blog posting has taken a backseat. And I'm okay with that. Trying to lower my "perfection" standards and accept that sometimes my best is good enough. Thanks to you all who stick by me and still read when I do post!

Now that it's almost Christmas, I guess I should start by going back to Thanksgiving and sharing our photos with you! We are so blessed to have wonderful extended family, and we got to celebrate Thanksgiving twice. We started out Thanksgiving week in Gulf Shores with Jeffry's mom, dad, brother, and sister in law.

Jeffry, Caleb and Trace playing a toss game at Lulu's. 

We rode the boat from our bayhouse and parked right outside. So cool. 

Bray and me on the ride back from Lulu's. 

Thanksgiving dinner...Bray's view :)

Everyone filling their plates!

Looks like Trace is trying to steal some pie!

Sweet Caleb 

Ready to rest after eating too much!

Caleb and Trace at Thanksgiving dinner #2 with my side of the family. 

Jeffry cooked our first turkey on the Big Green Egg! It was sooooo yummy! Not dry at all. Success!

Going thru the buffet line. 

Trace enjoying his dinner!

Haha, Trace waiting on everyone to go through the dinner line. 

And after dinner...football. Love Bray's outfit. 

All the guys kicked back enjoying some down time.

The big boys at their special table...complete with candle. 

This Christmas season has been so enjoyable. Although we have been beyond busy, I have been able to relax and enjoy things in the moment. God is truly blessing us right now! So thankful.

Tennessee Trip

Trying this post again!

We had a great family vacation in Pigeon Forge the beginning of this month. We left after school Tuesday night and drove all the way through with our camper in tow. Jeffry and I got in the bed at about 3:30 AM just knowing the kids would sleep late. They woke up at 7 AM! Crazy start to vacation, but it was great. 

Our Tennessee vacation schedule usually adds up to this: NO schedule! Everyone gets to chime in about where they would like to stop, and we work it into our day. It really makes for a laid back time, which is what I think we love most about our time there. 

We visited the Titanic museum that opened in April. It was very educational and interesting; Brayden especially enjoyed it because he had recently read a story about the Titanic. I didn't get any pics because they won't allow cameras. So sad. 

Our favorite thing about our Tennessee trips is hiking trails. VERY important seeing that we have three boys. This is what boys live for! Last year, we saw a mama bear and three cubs...hard to top that, but this year we found SNOW! The roads around Cade's Cove were closed due to snow and ice, but Jeffry does not give up until he has exhausted every effort! Especially when it comes to his boys seeing snow. We drove back into Gatlinburg and got some info on another area of the National Park that usually only locals go to. The guy at the gas station assured Jeffry that if there were snow to be found, we would find it there. And we did!

 I love this picture of all my guys hiking. Bray's pointing at something and looks so excited!

I love this picture of Jeffry and me. Taken on the Sky Line in Gatlinburg; it was my first time! I was a little nervous. You should see how you are barely strapped in that thing!

Breakfast at FlapJack's. Our favorite pancake cabin...a must for every Tennessee trip!

I think this was my favorite picture of the trip. Trace outside of the Ole Smoky Candy Kitchen with his lollipop. Sheer joy. 

We had a great vacation and really just enjoyed some quality family time together. 

Everyone is well now, thank you to those of you who asked! Hopefully I can get back in the swing of posting now. I've missed it!

Weekend Wrap-Up

I'm a little late on posting this! Busy weekend and super busy Monday at work, probably one of our busiest days in a while! So thankful.

Friday I spent the morning at the store planning out the rest of the year as far as advertising, sales, etc. I'm SO excited about all the great deals we are preparing. Wish I could spill the beans, but I can't! If you live in our area and are interested in the sales we have coming up, just keep up with Jack's on our Facebook page or our website.

Jack's car show last year

I left the store about lunch time on Friday, got Trace from daycare, and headed home to pack for a quick trip to Jackson to visit my family and honor my great aunt for her birthday. Trace and I left to get Caleb from school and then started on our drive to Jackson. We got there just in time for dinner and met my parents and my brother at Vasilio's. It's this great Greek restaurant in Madison, where I waited tables all through highschool. Bill and Soula, the owners, are like extended family to me. My grandmother is Greek, so naturally, they always called me a "good Greek girl". :)

My Greek grandmother, Andromache "May" - I've always called her Mom 

After dinner, we went back to my mom and dad's house. I've been in desperate need of a pedicure for a while, so I got the great idea to take advantage of the free babysitting and go get a pedi. I went to the mall and got there at about 7:50; an hour and ten minutes later, I had freshly manicured hands and feet! Ahhh, I must say it was so nice. I remember thinking how I loved that they were so fast...they just get you in and out...part of the big city mentality that I miss sometimes.

I went back to my parents and talked with my mom for a bit, then my brother and I left for our tradition: late night movie date. Whenever I come into town, we always go to the 10:00 movie at the Madison theater. It's such a fun tradition for just me and him to spend a little time together. It usually ends with us having to go to Walmart in the middle of the night. Last time we bought 10 cases of blueberries...you never know!

My baby bro back when he graduated highschool

My great aunt Mable (my grandaddy's sister) is moving to Florida on Friday to live in a retirement home near her son. Her 80th birthday is in a few days, so we went ahead and celebrated her birthday with a family lunch on Saturday. We had a private room at AJ's for family members and the sweet lady (and her mother and daughter) who helps take care of Aunt Mable during the day.

Aunt Mable with my Grandaddy

The food was so incredible. I ordered red fish tacos and all I can say is that I've thought about them several times since then and I want more! The lunch was such a sweet time of honoring my great aunt, who really is the epitome of a Southern lady. I mean, look at her picture. How many 80 year olds do you know that still look that classy?!

Aunt Mable with Trace...Did I mention that I have that same leopard jacket?