Family Christmas in TN

Of course while we were in TN we saw a bunch of family, we didn't have enough time to visit everybody but we will be back again soon : )
(Note: pics are uploaded randomly I am too lazy to rearrange them...sorry :<)

We went to Grandmother and Grandaddy Foxes to meet up with all of my side of our family and as usual had an awesome time!!!!! Not to mention as one of my gifts Grandmother Fox made me my very own, just for me entire big bowl of her straight from heaven corn!!! I vowed not to share ANY WITH ANYBODY...but guess what Joey loved it and ate just about half the entire bowl...darnit. I had to share with him... in fact Molly had to stand in the kitchen feeding it to him : ) Like a little bird....chirp-chirp : )

Joey made Grandmother hold the Stitch she bought him in her lap...for safekeeping Joey knows who should hold it : ) Then he has both hands to carry around Toby's Windmill that Gary, Brian and Carmen got for him.

Look at that face!!! Joey loved the Tree of Life Aunt Martha and Uncle Rick got him. In fact most days he carries around the tiger that goes with it.

Opening the Thomas Set that the Roberts got him....man does he LOVE this set. The phone and ticket are BIG HITS!!!! Joey loves to show everybody his ticket to ride. : )

Playing the piano with Martha....they were having a fun time!!!

Watching Uncle Rick open his golf BBQ set. Won't be long and Joey will be out there on the green : )
As always Joey has lots of love for Molly!!!! She and Parker bought him a Backyardigans Playdough set that he LOVES (but I for some reason didn't get a pic of) the cannon shoots Playdough shapes!!! Giving Laura some love : )


Joey wore Grandmothers hat all over the house while Benjamin and Nicholas chased him around. They are the best at playing with him!!! And he loves them SO MUCH!!AS PROMISED!!!! A PIC OF BENJAMIN IN HIS LOVELY PURPLE RIBBON. He looks little like Rambo : )

We also spent time with Bills Family while in town, in fact Bills Nana provided us room and board. Here is Joey knocking on her door when we got into town. When she answered he got so excited.

Here he is with Whitney and Kelsey petting Polly.

Then he made Kelsey read him his FAVORITE thing to read, the Thomas Yearbook Catalog : )

We had to wait and wait to open gifts and as you can see Joey is about to have a heart attack...it is so hard to wait when you are "two and a halves" as Joey calls it : )

Joey loved the Dr. set that Nana got him, he walked around applying bandages and giving us shots.

and the cash register, he thinks it awesome when his credit card is accepted : )

I am not sure the Whit, Tiff and Kelsey were quite prepared for rambunctious Joey trying to bite them with his snake, just look at Kels face! Boys sure are rough and tumble!!

His snake biting Tiff

For the people we didn't get to see, we missed you and hope you all had great holiday!!! Next up Christmas at Disney and Christmas Eve....

Friends at Christmas

We had a great time seeing our friends during our time in Tn. We were so limited on time we didn't get to see many people, but we will be back soon : O)

We went to the Fanikos's house for a delicious homemade pizza dinner made by Donnie and the boys had a great time!!!! They all opened presents but as you can see it was the time playing and jumping on the bed that they loved the most!!! A good lesson for us grown-ups : )

Uh-oh a little mishap with the Santa hat

A wonderful goodbye from Jacob. I know Joey misses Benjamin and Jacob everyday.

Of course what would a visit to TN be without seeing Uncle Bob, Aunt Robin and Cousin Paige. Joey LOVES his Uncle Bob!!!

Opening the wagon they got him. We use it everyday to walk to the playground.

Giving Robin hugs ad kisses for the awesome wagon

Christmas Trains at the Childrens Museum

We made a very quick (and exhausting for Mama and Da) trip to TN this Christmas Season; and on our way out of town back to Florida we made sure to stop and see the trains at the Childrens Museum of Oak Ridge (http://childrensmuseumofoakridge.org/). We visited last year also and it is always FABULOUS!


Joey was especially excited about the red caboose in the background since his favorite bedtime story right now is The Little Red Caboose. If you ask him about it he will tell you how it "grips HARDER to the tracks" it is very funny since he flexes his muscles and balls his fists like he is saving the train himself!!!


The aquarium fish cars were a BIG HIT!

More on our trip to TN soon and Christmas Eve/Day pics...sorry I am so slow :>

Also, on a technical note I am adding a hit counter to the blog, you may have already seen it. It only tracks the number of hits and what city, country they are from. I know some people were worried that I was letting an outside party in on private info. : ) I think it is REALLY NEAT and COOL to see how many people from how many states, countries may be checking us out. Please feel free to check out his blog 100 times a day if you want...that is why it is here!!! No worries!

Santa x's 3

Joey was so extra-special excited about Santa this year and we ended up visiting him three times!!! Just wait till I post the Christmas Eve pics, Joey is already trying to camp out and catch the big man! But of course when we asked who was coming to see him Christmas Eve he said the Polar Express : ) The boy is train obsessed!!! Then again, the Polar Express DOES take its passengers to see Santa, so maybe he knows more than we think!!

Here is the very best picture we got with him and Santa, of course at Disneyworld. It was so hot he couldn't wear the nice Christmas outfit I had planned, in fact the next day we went to Blizzard Beach Water Park (more pics of that later)
This pic is where Joey told Santa he wanted 10 trains and Mama and Da just about had a heart attack...Santa had NOT planned on bringing him 10 trains and he had not mentioned them before ... but he has not stopped mentioning them since : ) Santa scrambled on Christmas Eve and luckily Joey got his 10 trains : )

Our neighborhood had a great holiday party in the subdivision park with Santa, Mrs Claus and horse drawn hay rides...very nice!! Joey snuggled both Santa and Mrs. Claus like crazy...getting those good boy points in early!

Here he was when Santa asked him what he wanted (this was BEFORE we saw Santa at Disney, so he must have started him thinking about the 10 train thing) I thought it was cute how he was really thinking hard about it!!! I mean when Santa asks you a question, its serious!!! Haha : )

Joey and I on the hayride....

Last but not least, when we were in Tenn. for a quick visit we went to see the Santa that Joey has seen since he was born at West Town Mall. Just to keep with tradition and since we were there anyway!!! Boy has our baby grown up!!!

2007

2006

2005

Our Holiday Season

We hope everyone had an awesome holiday season. Here are some random pics of our season and what made it so great. Getting mail was AWESOME! Joey could not wait to see the cards and letters that came ( we had to keep out Aunt Martha's and Uncle Ricks out all season, cause Joey loved pointing out Molly as much as he loves hugging her : ) sorry Parker and Jeff but you are not near as pretty!!!!)

Anyway, here is Joey opening a letter from Santa that was mailed by a mystery party....who are you???? Cause Joey was so thrilled by your gift, as were we....to see his beautiful face light up....

PS - Joey is SURE he can read. He has just watched too much Sesame Street!!! He looks at letters and names them: some correctly, some not... A-D-R-Y-Z...so we had quite a time getting this Santa letter away from him : )

Opening a Mickey Card from Aunt Martha and Uncle Rick before going to Walt Disney World...Joey LOVED IT!!!

When we got home from TN Joey had more mail and a package (stay tuned...opened on C. Eve). A Penguin card from his Grampy and Mimi Zanoni with STICKERS!!!!
A card and $5 from Mamaw Zanoni...that $5 will go right into Joey's college fund so it can grow and grow for whatever future he chooses!!!

We learned a valuable lesson this year...CHRISTMAS TREES ARE VERY EXPENSIVE IN FLORIDA (over $100 at least).... they are not grown nearby and must be shipped in, so next year we are buying an artificial tree. On a good note we were at the beach watching dolphins swim today so there is a trade-off!!! Joey is helping us pick out a tree...doesn't he look like such a grown up boy!!!!

Helping Da trim the tree.... well kind-of

Decorating the tree....

And then he found the train...that for some reason would not work. Poor Baby, kept taking it to his Da saying "needs batteries!!!! Fix it Da!"! Poor Bill was heartbroke...the poor baby Joey would not let it go and woke up asking if Da could fix the train....

So, before he came home Bill went out and bought Joey a Lionel Polar Express and set it up around the tree. You have never in your life seen a happier boy!!!! or Da!!!!! They played the

rest of the night.

Joey figured out the remote in no time!!!!

Setting up the tree in Joey's room, complete with a carolling Thomas that he is dancing to in this picture.

The Advent calendar full of Hershey Kisses...of which Joey promptly took out and ate almost all of them....oh well!!! : )

Some Gallman Elves sent Joey his own elf whom he quickly found in the tree carrying gifts and candy. What an awesome tradition they shared with us...Thank You!!!!

Look what the Elf brought me!!

Disney #2

Oopps, I meant to post this one after Disney #3, sorry!!! Anyway, we learned on this trip that Joey LOVES watching the parades. This is a great pics because the lady in front there is watching Joey and NOT the parade. She came up to us afterwards and said she had more fun watching Joey's excitement and expressions!!!

Here he is in Epcot-Italy, running around and around. I love this pic 'cause you can see the "big ball" as Joey calls it and 'cause I love Italy!!!

As we were leaving, kids were playing in the water-squirting Tiki Statues so Joey jumped in there. As you can see he can match boys bigger than him when it comes to having a good time!!!

He got SOAKED!!!

When I saw this picture I just about fell over and it is the reason these pics have not been posted yet. SOMEWHERE in this complete mess of a house is a picture of Bill and his Dad at Disney in the '70's riding these Race Cars and I SWEAR it looks identical... the problem of course is that I cannot find the picture. I will eventually...or if you have it email it to me : )

Joey in Bruce's Mouth

At Epcot he discovered the Trains..... he was fixated for forever and FREAKED when we made him leave. The setup, like everything at Disney is awesome!!!

Some more favorite moments with the Characters...by far seeing them is Joeys favorite. We have found the not-so-crowded places too!! Epcot and Animal Kingdom are the places to go to score a QUICK meet and greet!!! This would have been our Christmas card if it hadn't blurred!

I had to PRY him off Minnie...he calls her his girlfriend : )

What a great look of complete JOY at seeing Donald Duck

Again, stay tuned for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party very soon!