December 2010

Practically all of December was spent in Joplin/Stockton.  Drew spent the first part of the month in Colorado finishing things up with work and prepping for the move.  He stopped in Missouri for a few days and then drove to meet the movers down in Georgia to get moved in.  He then flew back to Missouri to spend Christmas and a few more days of leave.  Since he left his vehicle in Georgia, we were able to all drive down together as a family for the long drive to Columbus.  It's SO much easier when we're able to travel in one car together (we're definitely not looking forward to that part when we make our trip to California in September). 

We rented an apartment in Georgia since we were only going to be there for a few months.  We would prefer it to be our last stay in an apartment ever.  There are perks, but we have found it to be more of a nuisance for many reasons.  Drew's parents kept Roxie for us while we're away and my parents kept Rico.  It was so nice to be able to leave the pets there so we wouldn't have to pay a ridiculous amount in pet deposits and worry about dog barks/howls in an apartment.  

Here are some highlights from December:

The boys and I were able to visit my friend Erika.  Luke didn't find Mom and Erika yapping for a few hours to be too entertaining.  He fell asleep under the tree.

I love this picture of Luke because he's actually smiling.  He almost never smiles for pictures anymore.  I don't love this picture because he's got the horrible chapped face/chin we dealt with all winter long.

While we were in Joplin, Luke "helped" a lot around the kitchen at Nana and Papa's.  I'm not sure eating out of the serving dish before we sat down for dinner constitutes as helping, but we're all family, right?

Helping Papa feed the puppy dogs

My grandma and aunt were able to come down from Nebraska in early December to visit and to meet Levi.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to recover those photos from the camera fiasco.  It's always great to see them.  We sure wished we lived closer to be able to see them more often. 


We always have a list of things we want to make sure we do when we're "back home". This trip back it was Bass Pro and Lambert's.  Who knows what we'll decide we can't live without next time.

This is totally random, but there's this little church somewhere in between Springfield and Stockton that still has outhouses.  I finally stopped and took a picture.  At least they are very nice outhouses, being gender specific and providing privacy!

We were able to celebrate in Stockton the weekend before Christmas.  Drew's brother and his family were there and we had a lot of fun with them. 

Luke was obsessed with Grandma's train set

Opening presents with cousin Avery

I found a Nancy Pelosi book on the clearance rack for a buck.  Drew was less than amused by my gag gift.

Luke and Avery had a lot of fun together and maybe made just a little bit of trouble.  Next year's Christmas should be really interesting with all 10 grandkids there.

Tractor rides and/or golf cart rides are a must when we're at Grandpa's

We spent actual Christmas in Joplin with my parents.  My brother was able to come down so that was great to see him.  Drew's parents were able to come down and eat Christmas dinner with us as well.  It's so nice our parents live so close together so we're able to spend time with both while we're there.

And here are just some other random shots...