Grandmoms 80th birthday

My grandmother Pat Sparks turned 80 this last week, and we celebrated with all the family! Who would ever guess she is 80? At Dollywood she runs circles around the rest of us. She works out every day, grows a lot of their food (with Granddad's help of course), and is frugal to a fault. She is in terrific shape and I am just amazed by her wit, strength, and determination. She is a light to us and such a joy. We had so much fun at the party! Malerie even got to come in (although her plane was delayed...and that is a different story!). Grandmom told me that she felt so blessed to have such a wonderful, loving family and that just seeing everyone made her day.

In true Grandmom fashion, she baked her own cake...because no one else can do it as well as she...so why shouldn't she? ;) and who are we kidding..it was terrific!

Bridgette and Mason loved on her, and Bridgette had made her TWO cards! She was determined to make her feel loved and special. 

It was a great time and I am so thankful to be blessed with my grandparents. I have been fortunate to know them all and still have 3 terrific ones left.

Fawver Christmas Wrap-up

This season has been filled with joy and happiness at the Fawver home. We have experienced so many celebrations...it's hard to remember where to begin!

I suppose we started the Christmas season by introducing "Twinkle" our sweet female Christmas Elf. She was not a Santa spy, but rather a really funny and sneaky friend that hid and pulled some funny pranks on us. Various stunts included hanging Bridgette's panties on the tree, drinking syrup, hiding in the freezer, leading a parade, etc. :) But, although the fun and magic of Twinkle was exciting, Bridgette continually reminded me that Twinkle was "only a toy" and "cannot move on her own." So this begged the question..."How did she do this? She can't move!" I am sure "Santa" will last a really long time in this family.......she already noticed he used the same wrapping paper we have at home. Ah well.
A couple days before Christmas we celebrated with the Marley's at their home with a delicious dinner and some gifts for the kids. Bridgette got a Baby Princess Aurora complete with crib (decorated by Mimi Nina) and Mason played with multiple balls in a basket. It was a fun evening, as always.
Christmas Eve was a particularly jam packed day...we arrived in Newport just in time to see Santa deliver Mimi Kay & Papaw Billy's presents for the kids. They were absolutely mesmerized by his appearance and the waaaay cool gift of a John Deer kids jeep. They loved it!!
After Santa's appearance, we opened the remaining gifts, both to adults and kids, and spent a lively hour stuffing our faces (a common occurrence in my family). After dinner we participated in a White Elephant gift exchange where some hilarious gifts were given. I will take credit for one: When I was in college, my Grandmother Pat entered the tech world with a cell phone. She completed this advancement with a much needed accessory--a cell phone holder---that she made herself out of a sewn wash rag. It was one of the funniest moments ever. We begged her to make us all these special holders, but alas she refused! LOL :) So...back to the gift, I wrapped a sewn wash rag with sparkly letters stating "cell phone" on front. It got lots of laughs.
Some more gifts were a talking toilet paper holder, Angry Birds lip gloss, small candles, talking mistletoe. All so fun.
After our Christmas Eve family celebration, we continued the tradition by going to FUMC Newport for candlelight service. I just love it. :) Our Bailey family was asked to participate as angels and shepherds (or so we were told....) and wound up being the entire nativity scene, complete with Unco (Weston) and Tessa being Joseph and Mary. I was sweating keeping Bridgette and Mason away from Baby Jesus (and nearly got waaaaay too hot....whew). It was a little funny but most of the congregation said it was precious. :)

The next morning, we woke up to look for Santa. Thankfully, I noticed that Santa had forgotten to stuff the stockings (LOL) and quickly did that before the kids awoke. HA. But Bridgette and Mason were incredibly happy and could hardly wait to open all their presents (but they had to, because we were waiting on Mimi Nina and PP Marshall). When they arrived the tornado carnage commenced. We had a wonderful mess with a zillion gifts, including an art easel, basketball goal, plasma cars, several stuffed animals (Hello Kitty...a current fave), trucks, legos, and more.

We had our traditional Christmas morning breakfast (monkey bread) and sang Happy Birthday Jesus! Then we played and played and played!! That afternoon, we went to Grandpa Marty's and GB's for our Bailey Christmas dinner. It was a large event with so much energy and terrific food. We were joined by both my cousins, Kimberly and Katherine and their families (including Baby Emily)! We played a ton with Unco and Aunt Tessa.

Gifts there were books, more trucks, and a Minnie cheerleading outfit. It was very fun too. I acquired a sock monkey that sang and danced during our White Elephant exchange and it may have been our best gift ever! Mason has played it nonstop and danced.
Well....since Christmas has passed, we have just played and been so happy (and a little sad that the fanfare is over). What a magical holiday and wonderful time we had celebrating the birth of our Lord. Spending time with family and those we love is the most important gifts we give.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

New York Baby!!

Travis and I went on a trip together to NYC to have some adult-only fun :) We had a terrific trip!
We arrived early Tues morning and walked around different areas of NYC, starting in Greenwich Village, the Fashion District, and ending up in Times Square. We had dinner at Del Friscos at Rockafeller center, and saw the beautiful tree. Dinner was terrific, then we went to see A Christmas Story on Broadway, which was the most unbelievable show I have ever seen. It was absolutely hilarious and engaging with incredible acting and dancing, especially the young cast members. Travis and I were blown away by the musical and definitely recommend it.
The next morning, we went shopping on 5th and then went to the Russian Tea Room and had an authentic Russian meal. Personally I think it has seen better years. Then we visited Trav's Mecca- THE apple store. AMazing. :)
Then we checked off one from our bucket list: biking in Central Park. It wasn't very cold--we had a really good time. We were ready for a nap after haha. We went to dinner in Little Italy at Angelos and it was the best meal we had! It was incredible. Packed full of Italians...loud, boisterous, drunk Italians :).
Our last day we hit up American Natural History Museum and the dinosaur skeletons! :) Really cool exhibits. We went to NY Public Library- possibly the nicest building we went in. Afterwards, we met Trav's cousin Tim for coffee and dessert. It was so nice to meet him and talk to a NY native. :)
We had a tough journey home and were so weary when we finally hit our bed. We missed our kids so terribly much and it was so wonderful to be home with them. It was a terrific trip!

Gonna pick back up...

Yes it has been months since I have blogged, mainly because I could never sit longer than 2 minutes at the computer without a child crying. :)
So, there is so much to talk about. Mainly Mason has grown like a weed and is now 15 months old. He is talking quite a bit and says several distinguishable words. He says "mumay" for mommy, "DAAAA" for Daddy, "sissy" for Bridgette. A few other words- giraffe, food, milkie, wa-wa (water), Nene "Mimi", Paw-paw, truck "vroom vroom", all his animal sounds, please, thank you, Santa, Jesus, pasta, Elmo, and many many others. Our favorite thing is when he sees his Dad he yells DAAAAA. It's so precious.
we just went to Dollywood to see the Christmas lights last night and it was the beginning of a new holiday tradition for us. We just loved being there at night in the cool, brisk weather. We laughed and saw Santa, rode some rides, sipped hot chocolate. It was a little perfect. :) Mimi Nina and Paw-Paw Marshall went with us.
I have really been into establishing some fun family traditions, from Christmas lights and carols, to every day traditions like singing and dancing to fun music while I cook dinner. I love the thought of establishing comfortable routines that our children will look forward to for years to come.
Tomorrow is a special day for our church, it will be our first Happy Birthday Jesus party at the North Knox campus of Faith Promise, and I am just so happy to be a part of it.

We have also joined a spectacular group of people to "do life with" at the church- we feel so blessed to be a part of such a loving church that is reaching out to everyone in Jesus' name.