Having Fun In North Carolina

Katie and I left Knoxville on Thursday afternoon to head to North Carolina. We had such a fun trip over. I had told her that we could listen to Christmas music on the way over since we hadn't celebrated Christmas with our family in NC yet but then no more Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving next year. We sang our hearts out on the way over!! Traffic was horrible - thank goodness for the GPS because we escaped interstate craziness several times for the saner backroads.

When we got to Mom and MomMom's - Aunt Linda, Uncle Ronnie, Uncle Jim, Aunt Rima and Ronnie were all here (and of course, so were Mom and MomMom). Katie hadn't seen Uncle Jim and Aunt Rima in several years and she was use to getting to my moms and it being quiet and people showing up later. Everyone was in the kitchen, a small kitchen, and Katie was like "wow, so many people it's making me dizzy..."

Uncle Jim and Aunt Rima gave her a stable set with a horse that resembles Sunny a little. She was very excited but so cute!! Ronnie started putting it together for her and like a true Hulen (must be where I get it...) he dove into assembling it without the instructions. Well, he started having problems. Katie realized this and went and got the box with the picture and brought it to him and said "Here, this might help you". He continued to have difficulty with the doors and roof and Katie went and got the instructions and gave them to Ronnie and said "I think you need these". Katie actually helped him figure out the doors and roof. He was pretty blown away!

Katie was WOUND up and of course didn't fall asleep until close to midnight and again, of course, she sprang out of bed at 7am. So, she was a little tired and cranky today but we still had a great day!

Funny story - Katie when she goes over to Cassie and Alex's house... she gets upset when they squabble... especially if they squabble with their little brother Malachi. The family has told me that Katie will try to tell everyone to get along and she's even broke down in tears a few times when they wont stop arguing.

Well, on the trip over, I was trying to explain to Katie who Uncle Jim was since she hadn't seen him in so long. I was telling her that Uncle Jim was Grandmom's brother just like Uncle Ronnie was... that they all three grew up together. She sat in silence for a minute or so and then she said "Mom, you don't think they are gonna squabble do you?" I knew exactly what she was thinking... comparing them to the Rhyne's and I said "Nope - they play nicely with each other's toys now that they are all grown up". She said "Good!"


Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Linda came back over this morning. I love seeing Aunt Linda and Katie together! They just adore each other and always have so much fun! Aunt Linda always knows just the thing to do with Katie or just the thing to get for her! Uncle Ronnie always just enjoys watching Katie. Aunt Linda and Katie definitely have one big thing in common... missing Sarah! When Katie saw Sarah's picture in the guest room beside her picture, she picked it up and gave Sarah a kiss and said "I'm sure missing you!"

They gave Katie a Disney Princess Tent Set! She LOVES it! I thought she was going to sleep in it tonight but she decided the floor was too hard. She moved all her animals into it - her ipod, DVD player, books... there was barely any room for her - let alone me when she convinced me to climb in with her. She helped Uncle Ronnie put it together and again - she picked up on something that he and I missed when we were getting it assembled! But, to our credit - there were no instructions! :)

Katie discovered her new favorite dessert today. Chocolate Peppermint cake!! Also, she loves MomMom's deviled egg sandwiches! Ever since Lisa fixed deviled eggs at Thanksgiving - Katie wants them like every other day! Well, MomMom had fixed egg salad... but Katie wanted nothing to do with egg "salad" so I changed what I was calling it to "deviled egg" sandwiches and she ate one and a half for lunch and two for dinner! Kids! It's all about the psychology!

We got MomMom's iMac set up tonight! It has the 24" monitor and I set the display for the larger font, increased the font settings in all her programs and SHE CAN SEE! YAY! She was in tears - happy tears but tears!!! She's been having so much fun with Mom on their eBay store, we had to fix it so she could continue... so Don and I went in together with Mom to get it for her for Christmas! PLUS, now she can video conference with Katie and I which she is going to LOVE! She loved chatting with Don tonight! I don't know who is more excited, MomMom with the new computer or Don, now that he has another MAC convert...

LA :)