Swimming in the Pool!

While we were at Grammie and Poppie's house, the boys and Fiona swam in their backyard pool. Whenever we went down to Ocala to Auntie Em and Uncle Mark's house, they swam in their pool, too! I only went into Auntie Em and Uncle Mark's pool once and I only went up to my waist. All the other times, the pool water was way too cold for me. :) 

Fiona, chillin' out, while floating. =)

Preston, about to jump in.

I think he looks cold...:)

Bennett and his floaties...

It was 68 degrees outside!

Tilly played on the porch with all the toys while everyone else swam.

I thought this was a cute picture of Tilly in her car seat. :)

Christmas!!

On Christmas morning, Bennett and Preston like to get up really early (I used to do that, but not anymore). :) We have to hold them back from rushing into the living room! Then all the family starts to come in. For Christmas, on both sides of the family, we have a cousin present exchange. I usually draw the names from a hat in November and then people have time to shop (we said that it had to be from Goodwill or a garage sale). It takes about 2 and a half minutes for everybody to rip open all of their presents because they are so excited. At the end of the day, we had a Yankee Swap Party. It was so fun! For those who don't know what Yankee Swap is, here are the rules of the game.

Mom and Dad on Christmas morning.

Tilly and me. =)

Preston got this from our Alaskan cousins, the Simes family.

Preston got a bike helmet from Mom and Dad!

One of my new hats!

Poppie got whiskey! :)

Mom, Dad, Grammie and Poppie called us to the table and then they set a gift bag in front of us......

........tickets to LEGO LAND!!!!!!! Thank you Grammie and Poppie!!

After all the wrapping paper was cleaned up.

Bennett got Harry Potter glasses, scarf and a wand. Poppie tried on his apparel!

I also gave Bennett fake teeth for Christmas because I know he hates them and gets creeped out when people wear them....Poppie tried these on, too. ;)

Mom made her world's best scrambled eggs and her HOMEMADE CINNAMON ROLLS!!!!!!

It makes you want to eat the computer screen (this is a river of cream cheese frosting)!!

On Christmas, Grammie and Poppie's Church was having an "Ugly Christmas Sweater Sunday!" I borrowed one of Grammie's sweater. =)

They had poinsettias outside of their Church. :)

Fiona had Olivia's name for Christmas, so we gave her these fluffy pink shoes. She looked so cute in them!

Lincoln gave Bennett a real bow and arrow!!

Lincoln, opening one of his presents!

Our Yankee Swap party!

Uncle Jeff and Charlotte, chillin' out. :)

Halfway through the game, Bennett ended up with a stocking holder!

Lincoln tried on Preston's helmet.

Charlotte did too!

Bennett in his uniform and the helmet.

Christmas Eve!!

Auntie Em and Uncle Mark's Church was having a Christmas Eve service on a "farm" down in Ocala. When they mean farm, they mean big beautiful ranch. It was not at all a chicken coop, horse manure kind of "farm", it was a picture out of a magazine. The house was something you would see on Extreme Home Makeover. There were LOTS of people there. The had hay bales set up as seats but we just spread out a blanket since there were babies that liked to move around a lot. The pastor preached and then we did the candlelight service. It was really pretty with all the candles lit up since it was dark by that time. We all had fun time!

The beautiful farmhouse.

Lincoln, climbing on the fence.

Olivia and Matilda, sitting on the blanket (this didn't last long). :)

Mark Cummins is the Pastor at the Church of Hope in Ocala.

The candlelight service.

I don't think anybody swims in a pool on Christmas Eve!!!! (This is the pool in Auntie Em and Uncle Mark's backyard.)

Tilly was worn out!! :)

Counting the Change!

For 3 years, Grammie and Poppie have been saving up their find-around-the-house-change or dig-to-the-bottom-of-your-purse-change or just pocket-change. :) So we sorted out all the jars full of change a couple weeks ago. Bennett and I were in charge of the quarters, Preston was in charge of the dimes and nickles and Fiona was in charge of the pennies. There were SO many quarters, I bet you could swim in them! After we had sorted them out, we took them to then bank and poured them into the change counter. A policeman was working in the bank at the time, so he came over and helped us. Halfway through counting them, the machine all of sudden stopped. The policeman knew what was wrong, so he went back and grabbed a flat cart. Apparently the machine was so full of coins, they had to replace the bags underneath the machine!! After the machine had counted all the change it told us how much money Grammie and Poppie have saved for 3 years......$969.83!!!! We all made a bet of how much we thought it would be at the end, but Grammie was the closest! :)

Sorting out all of the change:

My job: the quarters.

Fiona, putting the pennies in piles. :)

Preston was in charge of the nickles and dimes:

Bennett and his quarters. :)

The policeman helped us work the machine.

The bags were so full of change, that they had to replace the bags!

Wowzers!

 

After we went to the bank, we went into Jacksonville to go to the St. Johns town center (it's like a little town of stores....a HUGE outdoor mall). We went into the Apple store, because Bennett's iPod wasn't turning on and when you did, it looked like a static TV. They gave him a whole new one for free!! I heard a guy next to me say to an Apple employee, "Where is you newest, greatest, fastest iPod touch you have in this store?" The employee pointed to the one I was playing with, so I gave it to him. He looked at it and then said, "I'll take two."  :O

It was very busy because everybody was Christmas shopping!

Tilly listened to who knows what kind of music!

We went to La Nopalera for dinner. It was so yummy!