cole christmas, christmas eve

waiting "patiently" for her cousins to arrive

aunt lauren and andrew

susanna and aunt kristen

susanna, luke and sarah

the whole crew

the kid table

holiday stress is taking its toll on her :)

the beautiful tree

trying to wait patiently to open gifts

luke and papa cuddling

so excited about her ladybug luggage

andrew in his new ride

running out of room for the grandkids' stockings

precious girl!

digging into the stockings

what's he got mommy?

happy b'day jesus cake

the kids eyeing the cake

papa reading the story of jesus' birth

we celebrated with my family on christmas eve and had a wonderful time! my sis and her crew came and we spent the whole day eating, opening presents and making awesome memories. it couldn't have been any better!

christmas day, part 1

santa's almost empty plate and note

stockings hung by the chimney with care

caroline's gifts...normally gets 3 gifts, but we made an exception for ballerina barbie :)

susanna's gifts...don't make fun, it's not like she knows or cares :)

ready to check out what santa brough!

loving her dollhouse

grammie showing susanna her gifts

happy baby!

susanna reading her new storybook bible...she's gifted :)

showing sis how her toy works

a lap full!!

papa and the girls

she inched her way over and starting tearing into it!

caroline stepped in to help :)

we spent the night with my parents and celebrated christmas morning with the girls there. we made sure santa knew we would not be in charleston :) it was so fun with caroline! she was way into it this year and was pumped when she came to get us in the morning. she even let us sleep until almost 8am...good girl :) she was thrilled santa ate the cookies she left and that he even wrote her a letter back.

christmas day, part 2

mimi, me and caroline

mom, mimi, me and caroline

caroline and papa...two peas in a pod

me and a very tired susanna

caz, cali's dog and caroline...by the way, caz said he didn't want kids until he hung out with caroline :)

brett cole and caroline...too cute!

caroline, dallas, grandmother, susanna

previous crew with me added :)

after opening and playing with presents, we all got ready and headed over to the nursing home to wish my mimi a merry christmas! she was dressed in her christmas sweater ready to visit with us. caroline told her all about her morning and what she got from santa. we then headed north to dalton to have lunch with my grandmother at her house. she's amazing...she had a ton of food ready for us as usual. the woman has more energy than i could ever dream to have. she is so amzing!!! it's always a fun, crazy time with the cole extended family!

fortney christmas

susanna trying out her jumperoo

the little girls blowing out the candles on the happy b'day jesus cake

caroline and bekah

we're going to disney world

caroline showing off her american girl doll

all the girls with their american girl dolls (abby got one, but she prefers woof woof right now)

susanna trying to figure out this present thing

john buried under susanna's presents

we always celebrate with john's side on christmas day night! we had a wonderful dinner and then opened presents for hours. the kids had a blast! susanna didn't make it through everything so we opened all her presents for her. it was such an awesome time together!!

mimi's b'day and precious time with old friends

happy 85th b'day mimi!

beautiful then and now :)

mimi surrounded by her grandkids and great grandkids...only missing ashley and kelli :)

bo busnell, caroline, susanna and david hunter

my mimi turned 85 after christmas and we celebrated with her at the nursing home with a cake, balloons and gifts! she was such a trooper with all the kids, grandkids and great grandkids running around :) my mimi is such a classy lady and is holding together well since we lost my grandbob at the beginning of november. it was a hard holiday without him.

i also got to spend a couple of hours with some of my best girlfriends from high school, kim and garret, and all our kids. love those girls and their boys are precious :)