thawing out in nashville

after the fun of playing in the snow and the un-fun of sitting in stand-still interstate traffic for over 3 hours, we finally made it to nashville! my great-aunt and uncle were so sweet to open their home to us. aunt norma and uncle clarence are the quintessential grandparents, and we loved every minute with them!


a given when staying at aunt norma's is the texas sheetcake sitting on the counter under a loose piece of foil with a knife conveniently on the cake... oh man... i have a love/hate relationship with this situation. she told me that i could bring the rest home, but um... there was nothing to bring home. uncle clarence ate it all. yeah, we'll go with that.

our main reason for this trip was for hallie girl to meet my grandmother. i think they liked each other. :)



grandmother loved seeing these girls, too! i guess hallie didn't get the memo to dress in pink and jeans.


we ate dinner with grandmother in the dining room of her assisted living home. the kids easily entertained the surrounding residents just by being under the age of 75, and the kids were easily entertained by a ride on grandmother's walker!



earlier that day, we met up with two of my dear college friends who live in the area. i wasn't sure of what the weather would be like, so we met up at an indoor playground called the monkey's treehouse. it was the perfect place to let the kids run and play while we sat and chatted. we could keep an eye on the kids right from where we were sitting. it was marvelous. i seriously think i got up one time while we were there. it was such a blessing to spend the afternoon with these girls!! i have been spoiled to see christie twice this past year and ashley three times!

christie's precious boy, owen, and hallie wasted no time in getting to know each other.


our kids actually did their own thing most of the time we were at the playground, but toward the end, eden and amelia buddied up. eden belongs to (and looks just like) ashley.



noah & caroline became fast friends at the beach last summer.


and heeeere's all the kids! (till ashley has her sweet baby in may!)


we all headed to chick-fil-a next, and we attempted to have a kids' table and a mom's table... um... it worked for a little while, but i think we will have more success in a couple of years!

on saturday, we picked up my grandmother and spent the day at my brother's house. they were so excited to see uncle ryan!


it was a gorgeous day, so ryan and the kids played football in the backyard for a while.


my girls loved ryan's little dog, lucy! not sure if lucy was loving my girls by the end of the day....


caroline jumped at the chance to take lucy on a walk!


this picture is the perfect illustration for the poem we have been memorizing...
"i have a little shadow that goes in an out with me..."


i have wonderful memories of doing puzzle after puzzle with my grandfather and grandmother when i was little... so it was incredibly special for my children to get to work on a puzzle with my grandmother, too.


it apparently wasn't so special for them because within 10 minutes, they were ready to go watch cartoons. :) but hey, i got my picture.

i am so thankful that we were able to make this trip and visit with my grandmother. she seems to be feeling good and is still her same ole self. i love this picture of her with my babies.


and here we are, 4 generations!


my mom totally cracks me up in this one!


before we knew it, it was time to pack up and come home. on our drive home, we stopped to see one of my dearest childhood friends, janie. and now that we're all mature (ha!) and grown-up, she goes by jane. :) she had her first sweet baby, eloise, back in august, and i was just dying to get my hands on that babycakes! facebook can be SUCH a tease! so we stopped at jane's for lunch and for some baby play time. here we are with our babes.


here are the future bff's.... eloise (5 1/2 months) and hallie (8 1/2 months)


"hi, eloise! so nice to meet you!"


"i think i'll just rub your head for a bit."


"what, mom? isn't that what you do to your friends?"


i loved catching up with jane and her hubby, and i love love loved meeting sweet eloise!

it was a wonderful trip visiting our friends and family! as soon as we got home, we unpacked and began getting ready for amelia's birthday the next week! can't wait to share all about it. hopefully that will be sooner than later, but who am i kidding?? see ya back here sometime!