Pre-Christmas in Dixie...with PICTURES!

As soon as everyone was out of school for the holiday, we loaded up for our pre-Christmas trip to Sweet Home Alabama.  It was a jam-packed adventure...780 miles over three days...but we had a great time.

We got to Granddaddy's on Saturday afternoon, and Grandma Linda and Grandpa Cecil were there for a short visit.

The girls were SO excited to meet Granddaddy's new kitty, Jessie.  She is such a sweet fur-baby!

We enjoyed a wonderful steak dinner, and the girls headed upstairs for bed.  That first night Mommy was summoned a couple of times as the girls were tousling over the covers.  I solved that the second night by tucking them in more tightly.  Hee hee!

On Sunday morning, we headed to GG's house.  Uncle Tommy and Aunt Janet pulled in just behind us...perfect timing!

We had a wonderful meal, courtesy of GG, including a Grecian orange cake AND a coconut cake.  We exchanged presents.  The girls were thrilled over new house shoes and scarves from GG, and a kitty and puppy that meow and yap from Uncle Tommy and Aunt Janet.

 

We then drove to my hometown to visit with Mr. and Mrs. T.  Mr. T was my band director, and he and Mrs. T owned the little bakery where I worked.  They are some of the kindest, warmest people you'll ever meet.  I was so thankful to introduce the girls to them!  The girls were kinda tired by that point, but the T's dog Mia helped pep them up.

We also got to see Ms. Jenny.  She's the mom of one of my friends from grade school, middle school, and high school.  Jenny was my first Girl Scout leader, and she and my mom were great friends.  Jenny helped organize the get-together with the T's.  It was so wonderful to visit with her, too.

On our way back to Granddaddy's, we stopped at Noccalula Falls.  There had been so much rain the night before, the falls were raging!  It was really cool to see!

We exchanged presents with Granddaddy and Emme.  The girls were thrilled over their Alabama sweatshirts and Lincoln Logs!  "It's just what I wanted!" the exclaimed upon opening their shirts.

The girls gave Jessie the gift they'd picked out for her, a catnip pillow just like our Sasha has.  Jessie loved it, and she put on quite a show, playing with it.

After a little more play time on Monday morning, we packed up and headed to Aunt Alison's house.  She had a craft set up for the girlies, followed by a delicious brunch (with GRILLED bacon...YUM!!!).  We were so excited to meet Baby Owen when he woke up from his nap.  He is such a precious soul!

This was the best picture we could get of everyone...four kiddos of three different ages is a hard row to hoe!

On our way home, we surprised GG by picking up a pizza for a quick lunch at her house.

It was a very busy trip...but our hearts were full with love of friends and family.