December and January

We started our "Christmas" vacation a few days after Christmas with a visit to Tennessee. It was great to see Nana and Papa Savery and have a little bit of "r & r." The first day we opened presents from family and friends. Kara's favorite is a John Deere tractor that makes noises, moves, and has animals that fit in the seat. Rebekah has multiple favorites... a hamster family, a princess outift, books, etc. A great dual gift was a "cleaning caddy" with equipment that is just their size to help me clean. Scott, as you can see by the picture, got a "'coon" skin hat.

On January 1 we headed to Pigeon Forge to visit Dollywood. We had a great time although it was a little cold for Kara and I had to carry her everywhere. We enjoyed a Christmas show, music, food. We toured the inside of Dolly Parton's $750,000 bus and Scott and I even went on a roller coaster.

We left the girls with Nana and Papa for a couple of days and went skiing at Showshoe in West Virginia. As it was after the holidays the crowds were minimal. They had received a lot of snow earlier in the season so despite warm weather we had relatively good skiing. Unfortunately, it did rain one day but we still had fun in the outdoor hot tub.

We even had one morning of snow! Rebekah loved it, we even made a snowman, i.e., "Ba Ba." Kara would not keep her hat or gloves on and therefore got cold. Rebekah and Scott went sledding down the little hill on the side of the house.


We bought a wood burning stove for our living room while in Tennessee. We had to rent a U-Haul to bring it and the wood we bought back to Norfolk. It has been so wonderful to have when cold and it keeps our living room cozy and warm.

The day after we returned home from Tennessee, Nana and Papa Goese arrived for a week. It was a great visit. We enjoyed the fireplace as it was cold the week they were here; however, we did brave a visit up to Williamsburg. We walked around and the girls, of course, enjoyed the horses. After visiting Williamsburg we drove around Yorktown although it didn't last too long as Kara was pretty tired by them. I worked a couple of days and my parents watched the girls which was really nice. While they were here it got so cold our pipes froze. Scott thawed them out with the blow torch when he got home. Thanks, Scott!

Kara has really started to talk over the last month. No, Yes, Momma, Dadda, More, Up, Down, multiple animal sounds including moo, meow, woof, neigh, baaa, etc., etc. Today is the first day she let me brush her teeth! A true miracle. She and Rebekah are really becoming good playmates and spend a lot of time together playing games only they understand.

Rebekah announced yesterday that she was going to marry Daddy when she grew up. She loves her Daddy. Whenever he is gone she whines about how much she misses him and cannot wait until he comes home. She is such a willing helper which makes a huge difference here in our house.

e.