New Year's Day

On New Year's Day, Cory's Grandma (affectionately known to our kids as "Little Grandma") fixed all his siblings a New Year's feast.  We made the trek to her house and were not disappointed in the least.  She had a turkey, chicken and pastry, yams, butter beans, collards, potato salad, deviled eggs, cornbread, dressing, and several more dishes to top it off, not to mention dessert.  My, oh my, we ate some good home-cooking that day!  After dinner, we spent the day visiting with family.  Beware!  There are a bunch of pictures of these cute cousins together, but they are just too cute to narrow it down.

Merry Grace "running", (or shall we say, "walking fast") through Grandma's living room.  She's better be glad Grandma didn't catch her, or she'd have gotten an extra job.  Although, its possible she'd have gotten out of it from sheer cuteness.  This may or may not have happened before. :)

Elise and Emmy (left and middle) love it when their Louisiana cousin, Katie comes to visit.  They got lots of good bonding time in this trip.  We all just wish the bayou were a little closer to NC than it is...

The two Graces--Merry Grace and Sarah Grace.  Sassy and sweet and nothing but trouble!!!

Ian and Merry Grace posing with Katie.  We sure miss those kids.  Wish the holidays were longer or the distance were closer.

Katie holding her cousin, baby Charlie.  He is the cutest baby!  He's only four months younger than Paige and has been on the move for a while now.  (Just wait until he starts climbing!)  Don't you just want to give him a big ol' smooch?!

Grandma got lots of love from her grandkids.  Here she is with a few of her 19 grandchildren (with number 20 due this summer.) L-R: Sarah, Emmy, Charlie, Grandma, Katie, Merry Grace, Elise and Ian

 Cory's sister, Lynetta, with her cutie patootie, John David.  This little guy and Merry Grace share the same birthday, the only two on Cory's side of the family to do so.    

Uncle Jacob and his little man, Ethan.  

Sweet little Parker is getting so big.  I think she may be giving Paige a run for her money, if Paige doesn't start growing a little faster.  This little girl is nothing but love, though.  Sweet as sugar!!!

Little Grandma (the cook and host for the day) with her namesake, little Parker Ella.    Did I mention Parker was named for her great-grandma? ;)

I love the cute smile from this little darling.  She LOVES lipstick, chapstick, lipgloss or anything that might look like it could possibly be used as such.  She really should have been my child.  I feel the same way about lipstick.  I just can't live without it.  Ally knows me well, though.  Almost every time she sees me she'll walk up to me and say, "I need lips."  Lucky for her, I keep mine close at hand and am happy to share my "pretty lips" with such a cute little gal.

Can you get much fancier than huge glowstick earrings?  I don't think so!

Julian is about the hardest kid to get in a picture.  The two pictures before this were of him ducking his head and then one of him sticking out his tongue.  But I got him anyway. :)  He is the cutest thing.  He's just a month or so younger than Merry Grace and has the most adorable accent you've ever heard.  I don't think there's anything he says that doesn't sound cute when he says it in his cute little voice.

Nothing but sugar and spice.  Oh, how I love these girls!!

After dinner with Little Grandma, we decided a family picture was in order.  After figuring out the timers on the camera, a few test runs, and a possible bribe or two, we got a pretty good family photo.  What a good looking group that is!  We sure do enjoy the chance to all be together.

The day wouldn't have been complete without a stop by the cemetery.  I think the loss hit us all again, as we gathered around together.  Sometimes, what is a reality, doesn't seem like it should be a reality.  Once again, it makes me so grateful for eternal families.  We feel such a loss to not have Cory's dad physically with us.  But we are doing our best to keep him in our hearts.  Our children are doing a wonderful job of helping us remember and remember with happiness and joy.

We capped off the evening with a delicious cake made by Lynetta (it was soooooo good!!!) in honor of our cute niece Victoria celebrating her thirteenth birthday.  She is such a sweet, good girl.  I hope all her wishes come true.