Christmas in Freeport

Christmas morning found us at Tina's house! Everyone was there as we shredded into gifts at 6:30 in the morning. Then it was the traditional naptime, dinner and fun! Terry's house was fun with baby baths, movies, bus rides and all the animals! Wil got a new jeep for Christmas and Elsie got a new red car that matches her cousin Joe's. It was fun racing with them! Wil rode his jeep until the battery died and then rode Tina's! We drove back on Sunday after a wonderful church service and lunch. This trip was fun because we had Grandma Terry with us! She is staying with us through New Years!

Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve, we drove to Perry to visit a little with my parents and Grandpa Hoyt. Mom had the place decorated so pretty and we even had a Rudolph on the wall! We all drove up to Grandma Jane's house for the annual Christmas Eve/Bad Santa celebration. Grandma, Aunt Karen, Uncle Richard, Mom, Dad, Grandpa Hoyt, Kevin, Becky, Camden, Luke, Aunt Mary, Uncle David, Sarah and of course, James were all there! We enjoyed the craziness the babies added to the evening. The food was great and so were James's story of his recent dental extractions! I love my crazy family, they are such a hoot!

Christmas Cheer!

We spread the Cheer around with Wil and Elsie! We took treats into their Day Care and visited one of Jason's patients on Christmas Eve before heading to Perry! Merry Christmas!

SEC and a visit from Freeport Folks!

Alright, I've put this off as long as I could! As you know, the Gators lost to Alabama at the SEC championship game. There aren't too many pictures from this one! We had a fun trip, mets some friendly Gator fans in our parking lot and enjoyed the first half! Its just a hard game to lose after not losing any this year! I think Alabama should win it all (Go SEC!)and I think we will be busy in Florida come bowl season! The best part about the weekend was seeing Terry, Jenny, Joe, Aubriyah and Winter again. They came in to watch the kids for us and we got a chance to catch up-I love when they help us out! The kids do too!

Christmas Card

Here are a few of our recent favorites and a few older pictures thrown in! When Santa came to Day Care, Wil was a little nervous! He was a little more calm when we took them to see Santa at the Suwannee! Elsie was her usual sweet self! Why was Wil so nervous? He has been good, right?! Merry Christmas!

No place like home for the Holidays!

Hey Guys! Elsie and Wil here! We have been enjoying an awesome Christmas season so far, how's yours going? Grandpa came for a visit and helped us decorate for Christmas! He also brought some of Grandmas famous Christmas tree cookies to snack on! We've been to church to learn about baby Jesus and Dad and Mom took us to see thousands of Christmas tree lights at the Suwannee Christmas Lights festival! We drove through a winter wonderland, sang carols around the campfire, shopped for crafty things and sat on Santa's lap! Just a few more days until the big day! Happy Birthday Jesus!

Thanksgiving and FSU

After Jason and Wil took in a victorious UF basketball game against FSU, we headed over to Perry for Thanksgiving! We were so blessed and thankful to have so many loved ones there! Both of my grandparents, David, Jeanie, Jim, Kelly, Abigail, Jason, Bill,Becka, Wyatt, Ramona, Mom, Dad, Aunt Karen & Uncle Richard. We ate, laughed and said many thank-yous and I-love-yous! I love my family! Then it was back to Gainesville-thanks to our excellent babysitters in Perry! We tailgated with Tony and Jon and donned our eye black in tribute to Tim Tebow's last gator game and Senior day. It turned out to be Bobby Bowden's last game at the Swamp which made it a little sad. The Gator walk was crazy and you should have seen the flash bulbs going off towards Tebow's last touchdown in the Swamp!

Elsie's first Gator football game!

Jason takes the kids to the park every chance he gets and always captures a few cute action pictures. The Gators played FIU and we thought this would be the perfect game to take both kids to! We joined Tony, Michelle and Olivia for some first class tailgating and then made our way to the game. The experienced Wil did great and Elsie seemed to enjoy herself too! It got pretty hot and nap times were colliding with the second half of the game so we left at halftime. Jason and I also had a good time and thank God for tevo!

Grandpa's house and USC

Mom, Dad and Grandpa were kind enough to watch the kids for us so we could follow the Gators up to South Carolina. It was fun to watch the Gators win and afterwards we rushed home to the babies! The kids had a lot of fun on the farm! Wil took in a long tractor ride with Dad and made many new discoveries. PaPa also taught him how to pick greens and pine cones then Grandma made Wil-sized bisquits! There were rides on the tractor, lawn mower and even the scooter!

Meeting Luke and the Veterans Day parade

Wil and Elsie were itching to get to Jacksonville to meet their newest cousin when Aunt Becky invited us over on Veterans Day for the patriotic parade. Even though Kevin, Becky and I were outnumbered by babies, we still had a good time at the parade! Camden, Elsie and Wil all enjoyed the trucks, bands and flags and Luke pretty much slept through the whole thing! We drove back to Becky's for lunch and baby holding. Luke feels so good in my arms! He is a sweet heart and he loves cuddling and eating! I was so thankful to have celebrated our veterans with him!

The Homefires are Burning!

Here are some good ones from around the house! Enjoy them while they are small-they get big so fast!

UF vs Vanderbilt

For this game we actually tailgated and had the best time with the Struekens. We had chilli and munchies and tossed the football to the kids in the grass. The game was packed and having an 18 month old with us made it seem even more packed! He was amped up and high-fived everyone around us. When he got a little restless we broke out a gator puppet and exchanged bites. This was Wil's first complete game (Jason was very proud!) Afterwards we picked up little Elsie from Jake and Kim's house. Jake reported that he and Elsie sang "The Boys of Old Florida" and swayed together as is tradition at the start of the 4th quarter. Go Gators!

Luke Daniel Bailey!

We got back home and were just settling down when Becky called to tell me she was back at the hospital! Luke Daniel was born at 2:12 am on Monday November 2nd! He weighed 9lbs and 2oz and had a length 21.5 in long. For more go to Becky's blog. We are going to see them on Veteran's Day-everyone but poor Jason, he has to work.

FL/GA game and Halloween at Becky's

For Halloween, all my family (except Katie and Brian)rolled into Jacksonville to stay with the Baileys. They all chipped in and helped babysit Wil and Elsie while we watched Florida beat Georgia again! We rarely leave a good game, but we decided to high tale it back to Becky's to join the Trick-or-Treaters. Wil had to be talked into his cowboy costume when Dad arrived. Our little cow was well on her way to earning her treats! Once Wil was in full costume and once we hit a few houses I think he finally understood what all the fuss was about! He likes the suckers the best-which leaves the chocolate for me! Joani (Kevin's sister) treated us to chili and snacks. Thanks to everyone for babysitting and getting them into costume for us! We had fun taking them out. After a hot and muggy Halloween night, we all congregated, talked, ate and clocked Becky's contractions! The next day Becky and Kevin headed to the hospital for more monitoring. We all waited as long as we could by getting haircuts, playing outside on the blanket, and generally enjoying all the babies together. Elsie and I even walked over to Heather and Chris's house to meet their new son, Samuel! Luke was not to arrive this day so we headed back knowing it would be soon!

Elsie's Yoga Class

Hello friends and loved ones! If you are feeling stressed or overwhelmed with life, take a few minutes with me to unwind and relax with a little yoga. Remember not to sweat the small stuff and focus on the good in your life! Namaste!

UF vs MSU and a visit to Freeport

For the UF vs MSU game, Terry, Ralph and the whole bunch watched Wil and Elsie for us. Wil and Elsie have so much fun at Grandma's house! They get to play with all the toys, meet the chickens, play on the front end loader, drive the lawnmower, sit and laugh with Joe, eat good home cooking and go to church on Sunday! We missed them while we were in Starkville, but knew they were in good hands and having fun!

Gator Homecoming and Olivia's Birthday

What a fun weekend we just had! We took the kids to their first Homecoming parade-We stayed for most of it! It was a little hot and we didn't want to wear them out too much because that night we took them to Gator Growl. We got together with Jon, Victoria, Kim, and Eric for dinner at our place. Kim babysat for us on Saturday and we were so thankful as we cheered the Gators on to another exciting win. I really enjoyed this game and we also enjoyed having Jake and Kim over afterwards for laughs and long talks! On Sunday we stopped by the Struekens newly renovated (and gorgeous!) house to sing Happy Birthday to Olivia. She turned 3 on Sunday. Olivia and Wil played outside, colored the porch and played with the dogs and a new my little pony scooter.

LSU and Wyatt's first Birthday Party

After enjoying an awesome victory at LSU, Jason and I picked the kids up from Grandma's house and headed to Wes and Kasey's house to sing Happy Birthday to Wyatt and watch him dive into his first birthday cake! I can't believe he is already one! He is still the sweetest baby and I think he enjoyed seeing all of his family! We sure had fun with Wyatt and his entourage! Kasey knows how to throw a party!