Grandma Packer's Funeral

SO...long time no posts....sorry! Here are some pictures to catch up a bit!
My Grandma Packer passed away in January. She was 95 and lived a wonderful life and had such a happy reunion with my Grandpa who died before I was born (which is nearly 30 years ago--I'll be 29 for 2 more weeks!). I was blessed to be able to go to Utah (with just Ellie) for her funeral and see my family--its been quite awhile since all my siblings were together. Thanks to Blaine for holding down the fort at home while I was gone and to all our great friends who helped with Cam
and Kelsey for a week so I could go to Utah. It was great to see my bestest friend Shelley as well.
We will miss Grandma, but it sure it great to know we'll see her again.

My 4 big sisters (in age...not height for some) and my big brother

The magic of Christmas morning....

We had a wonderful Christmas! It's so fun to see the kids open their presents--especially from Santa!! Here are some pictures of the kids on Christmas Day. Cameron woke us up at 5:45 am telling us that Santa had come and he even ate the cookie we left out for him! Cameron got a snowspeeder from Star Wars, Kelsey a pink horse and Sleeping Beauty to match, and Ellie and new car! Our Christmas celebrating was short this year since we found out 2 weeks before Christmas we were selling our house and so we were packed and moved into a new house 2 days after Christmas and closed on our house on the 28th! Kind of crazy--but it is a blessing to have sold our house so quickly in preparation for our move to D.C. next August. We were sad to leave that great house we've had for 4 years now with so many great memories. We are now in a townhome in Lexington--the kids love the fact that it has an upstairs (something our other house did not have!).

Cameron's "Nightcap"

Cameron has being calling this funny hat his "nightcap" and he's actually worn it to bed a few nights and fallen asleep as the pictures show. We think its pretty funny. We're not sure where he got "nightcap" from--I think its from "The Night Before Christmas" where it says he's in his cap to settle down for a long winters nap.
He's a funny kid!

Time to decorate the Gingerbread House...

The Blood Family, awesome Mac Millar loving the candy cane, the Millar family, Brian and Liz Davis, and our gingerbread house for 2007

We had our 5th annual Gingerbread House Decorating Party this last weekend! This is such a fun tradition for us to have! We had 8 families over this year to decorate houses that Jaimee made during the week. Cameron whispered to Kelsey (not knowing that Mom was listening) "The best part about the gingerbread house party is that you can sneak around and eat as much candy as you want!" He's right--it is like a candy store that night and Cameron did help himself to lots of candy! It was a great night with some of our great friends here in Kentucky.

Thanksgiving in DC

Family by the Lincoln Memorial


Blaine and Jaimee with Justice Alito



We had a wonderful trip to DC to spend Thanksgiving with our dear friends The Moore's. We did some fun things; visited the monuments at night, went to the Native American Smithsonian Museum (on Thanksgiving morning), had a delicious Thanksgiving Feast, went to a session at the DC Temple, went to the Air and Space Museum, and the highlight of the trip (especially for Blaine) was going to the Supreme Court for an official tour (our friend Dave Moore is a law clerk for Justice Alito) and was able to attend an Oral Argument at the Supreme Court with all 9 Justices there and to see the real action. We met Justice Alito, who was very nice, and it was a chance of a lifetime to be there! We love DC and really are feeling excited about moving there next August. We really mean it when we say we hope you all come visit us because it is such a fabulous city to be in. Blaine was able to see the Law School at GW where he will be attending school next year and its right in downtown DC which is very exciting. It was a great Thanksgiving Holiday. It was our 4th Thanksgiving with the Moore's so we were happy to keep up the tradition. We really miss them! Hope you all had a nice Holiday too.

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

One thing I really look forward to is going to the Pumpkin Patch! The kids love the Spooky Farm House, the Petting Zoo, seeing the Baby Farm Animals, and most of all...going on a Hayride to find just the right pumpkin!

Halloween Fun

We had a great time with our Gma Bell and Uncle Phil, Aunt Lisa and Emma and Jacob this last weekend. We went to Keeneland Race Track, had a fun Halloween Party that Grandma brought with her in her suitcase, and of course went Trick or Treating! The kids had a ball!
Here are some pictures of some of the cutest Trick or Treaters ever!

Cameron the Jedi, Grandma Bell the Computer Nerd, Kelsey the Mermaid,Ellie the Pumpkin