New Years Day

Our last Christmas celebration was on New Year's Day with my Mom's side of the family. There are 4 siblings and 4 spouses, my Dad's sister, 14 kids (ranging from 1 to 29) and 3 spouses, 1 boyfriend, and 3 grandkids! (I hope I counted everyone!) It is a HUGE gathering!

Again, it was so nice outside, we got to sit on the deck to play dirty Santa. (Only in the South can it be nice enough over Christmas to hang out outside, which is where you have to be with a family this big!)

Lindsey can't decide what present she wants.

After everyone was done stealing and we all got what we wanted (or most of us), we headed back inside and "danced".

Adam got it started and was hilarious to watch! We've got video that I'll post later.

I decided to challenge him to a dance battle...

The video of this will be coming later too. :)

Obviously, I won (sarcasm here) and then battled Alexis. Of course, she beat me. (I say she cheated though, because she picked one of the hardest songs!)

No video of this one, thank goodness!

As Jeremiah was getting ready to leave, Taylor wanted to tell him 'Bye...

Uh oh, where's Jeremiah?!

We started 2012 off right...with a fun-filled family afternoon!

Keene Family Christmas

After our wonderful morning of Santa, breakfast and church, we headed to Tuscaloosa to celebrate Christmas with Mama Donna, Papa Rex, Aunt HeHe, Uncle Josh and 'Lexis. We hung out, played Kinect and watched Mom cook dinner (we helped a little, but I think Taylor helped the most!). After dinner we opened presents. (There were way too many presents even though we talked about keeping things to a minimum this year.) Taylor and Alexis played Santa and handed out all the presents.

This picture only shows about half the presents! See what I mean about too many!

She took her job very seriously!

Adam was excited about the books picked off his Amazon wish list!



Dad got a stove for the camper, a moustache trimmer, and clothes!

Adam was very against us getting Dad a moustache trimmer, but its what he asked for, so its what he got!

Josh got a laptop!



Alexis got too much stuff to name, but here's picture of her modeling the jacket we got her and showing off some make-up from Mama Donna and Papa Rex.

Mama Donna got permission from Josh before getting this for Alexis. :)

Taylor also got too much stuff to name, but a couple of her favorites were her Dora couch and Rockin' Elmo and guitar!

She knew exactly what to do with this! Thanks Aunt HeHe and Uncle Josh!

Rockin' Elmo! Thanks Mama Donna and Papa Rex!

And the guitar! All goes with the Cookie Monster keyboard from Santa!

I wish I had a good picture of the curtains Mom made me for our 'Bama room. She bought white curtains and sewed a Houndstooth strip down each one. I'll post a picture once we've hung them up! She kept asking me to give her an idea for a Christmas present and less than two weeks before, I bust out with one-of-a-kind curtains. I don't know how she did it. Thanks Mom!

Here's the only picture I have right now, but it doesn't do them justice. This is me thanking Dad for his part in the curtains! :)

Another wonderful Christmas celebration with our family. We are so blessed!

Christmas weekend

Nannie and Papa came to stay with us Christmas Eve and see Taylor open her presents from Mommy and Daddy. Taylor got new tennis shoes (because she needed them) and new boots (because she LOVES boots). She also got a Tag Jr. (because learning toys are so much fun!).

Showing off her boots!

I'm not sure what she's wearing in these pictures. She slept in her Christmas pajamas, and these are definitely not them!

Santa came while Taylor was sleeping and left her three presents, just like the wise men brought Jesus.

Disney princess dress up shoes! Because Mommy's not ready for the constant changing of dress up clothes!

Cookie Monster keyboard to go with the Rockin' Elmo she was getting later from Mama Donna and Papa Rex.

Vacuum cleaner because this girl LOVES to clean! She wants to help me do everything!

See, I told you!

Santa also filled her stocking. That's Boots the monkey sticking out the top. Santa knew how much Taylor loves Dora and her friends!

Showing off the hat and gloves Santa left in her stocking. Also, see the Christmas pajamas mentioned earlier? Much cuter!

A little while later, Mama Donna and Papa Rex joined us for breakfast and then we all went to church together to celebrate Jesus!

She got to wear her new boots to church!

Christmas at the Tomlins

We started the Christmas season off by making wrapping paper out of left over butcher paper from Taylor's party. She had so much fun painting with brushes and her hands!

Our Christmas celebrating began the weekend before Christmas at Nannie and Papa's house. We had dinner at Uncle Mike's and Aunt Linda's on Friday night. Taylor and Henley were so happy to see each other!

Saturday started off with a little yoga with Daddy!

Then, the girls took a trip outside. They got to open an early present from Nannie and Papa so they would be warm!

Taylor is "cheesing" for the camera!

The Harp family came over for lunch and it was so nice outside, we got to hang out on the porch! Once lunch was over, all the kids got to open their presents.

After all that fun, it was naptime for the girls and Dirty Santa time for the adults. Thomas got a red nose and reindeer antlers. Adam got beer goggles!

The book in his hand is another gag gift that Chanda ended up with. It brought us all laughs the rest of the weekend!

After all that fun, and Taylor got up from her nap, it was time for us to open presents from each other.

Much needed new clothes! Nannie knows how much Mommy loves purple, although, I'm beginning to think Taylor's favorite color is pink.

A dog that barks, wimpers, and walks when it detects motion around it.

We got Henley this jacket for Christmas. She tried on every piece of clothing she got as soon as she opened it. This girl loves some clothes!

Then, Taylor and Henley got to see their stockings from Nannie and Papa. Nannie fit a lot of stuff in that stocking!

The girls were worn out after such a fun day! But, they still had energy to snuggle up with each other and read (with their light flashers from Nannie and Papa).

We ended the weekend headed to church as a family. Nannie and Papa love to show off their girls to all their friends at church!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! Uncle John and Aunt Cathy came in the weekend before to attend the UA football game (one of Aunt Cathy's bucket list items) and spend Thanksgiving in Alabama. It was great to see them!

We started off the four day weekend at Aunt Karen's for Thanksgiving lunch. I took some stuff I found on Pinterest (again, love it!). I made a veggie tray to look like a turkey and a cranberry salsa which was delicious! This isn't my actual turkey, but the one I copied. :) Also, I can't seem to find the picture of the cranberry salsa, so I can't share, but Google the recipe, it was great!

After lunch, we headed down to spend the weekend and celebrate Thanksgiving with Adam's family.

We had a blast! Brad, Chanda and Henley came down Friday and the girls loved playing together all weekend! They played outside, road on Papa's golf cart and boat, and had a tea party on the porch with Papa. Papa sure does love his girls! Nannie does too, but she's usually behind the camera!

They sure do love each other! I left out several more pictures of them hugging. :)

We tried to get in a little photo session for Nannie and Papa's Christmas cards, but the girls weren't loving it. They did get a decent picture for the Christmas cards, but Taylor and Henley did not want to cooperate!

Once we let them get up, Taylor had fun running around the yard and playing "Boo" with Nannie and her camera.

It was a great weekend and we are always reminded of how blessed we are to have such a wonderful and loving family!