WHAT A FUN SURPRISE!

We had a great family surprise the day before Christmas Eve. We went to see Charlotte and her finance, Critter in Chatanooga. When we got there, they told us they had a surprise for our family for the day. They took us to the TN aquarium. WHAT A BLAST!
My favorite part of the day was seeing Addie bond with the penguins. Penguins are her FAVORITE animal. So it was so fun for us to see her come face to face with them.

The kids got to feed stingrays. It was way cool! Even Abel got in there to feel them.
Here's Charlotte and Critter. Charlotte had a butterfly land on her arm in the butterfly exhibit. Addie thought it was WAY COOL...

Abel was loving the sites as well...


Picture time!

We also had the great surprise of going to the IMAX. We saw Under the Sea. It was GREAT!


The pictures below I took with my iPhone... not bad!!!
We had SUCH A GREAT DAY! Thank you to the FOSTERS (Critter's parents) who treated all of us to the Aquarium and the IMAX. We had such a great day!

Pirana... you don't wanta go swimming with these guys!

Inside a tunnel


Sea Horse

These were umbrella Jelly Fish. They were SO SMALL
The Sharks were SO COOL. We got to see them eat.

AIDAN TURNS 7

We had a birthday party for Aidan.... He turned 7 in November and we celebrated in December. I think we will celebrate Abel's birthday next month. Too many birthdays in a row.... YET, SO FUN!
It snowed the morning of Aidan's birthday party. It was COLD but the party went on! Ted planned a Indiana Jones Treasure hunt for the kids. He had clues and treasures hidden all over the house.
The kids had a great time!

Here's his cake... Thanks Granny Charlotte for another great cake!
Love the joy in my boy's face... and in his daddy's face too.




Someone enjoyed their piece of cake A LOT!


These pictures are of the kids going on the treasure hunt... FUN TIMES (even if they were stuck in doors!)

GINGERBREAD MANIA...

This is the finished product. Avery and Addie decorated this Gingerbread House. THANK YOU TO THE HORNES for having us over to decorate houses. We had a BLAST!


This picture is so funny because you can tell Avery was trying to convince Addie to do it HER WAY.


Abel took a little break for some play time.


Aidan's gingerbread man, Charles.


Ted's creation (Above)... A levitical priest!

Addie's gingerbread WOMAN

Avery's gingerbread girl... Rebecca

I accidentally dropped Charles... I FELT HORRIBLE!

We repaired him as best we could and even gave him a cane... since he lost a leg.

This is our make shift ER that we took Charles to.




Below is Samantha totally preparing for the Gingbread Contest... She was taking it OH SO SERIOUSLY.
Samantha won the BLUE RIBBON for this AMAZING gingerbread house.