There's Something in the Water...

Part of our Christmas celebration was a trip to Millers Creek to see my Grandpa and the Church family. This is one of Mark's favorite parts of Christmas, since he loves all things redneck. And there's a lot of that to be found in Millers Creek. He gets my Grandpa's home-grown green beans (Grandpa wasn't even a little bit surprised that they were Mark's favorite and he didn't like other green beans anymore... Grandpa just noted that - obviously - no one else knows how to can them right) and hear peopletell funny southern stories. My aunt's best friend from high school (who also dated my dad) stopped by for an awkward (for me anyway) visit - her last name is also Bumgarner. Weird? Not in Wilkes County (my Grandpa's "lady friend" is actually some sort of cousin, people). Grandpa also sat Nathan on his lap and gave him a short background on the proper way to refer to people of other races... through the ages (I won't type out all the terms he went over). I'm not sure that Grandpa is the one who should be teaching Nathan about the history of race relations in the south, actually. But it's always nice to see my cousins (I only have 2, and we only get to see them a couple of times a year) and Justin, LeAnn and baby Lucas too.

But on this visit to Millers Creek, there was good news - Lucas is going to be a big brother! And we got home to even more good news - another of Mark's roomies, Jeff, is expecting his third in late summer as well. I think there's something in the water. I am now officially paranoid that (men stop reading here) the spotting I had a few weeks ago wasn't the real thing. But the smart part of me knows that I'm not pregnant, I can't be pregnant, and I honestly don't want to be.

Still - this is a BUNCH of babies! So far it's all been boys, so we're (and by we I mean LeAnn and me, since clearly the daddies don't get a vote) hoping for a girl.

We joke that Nathan, Lucas, and James could all be roomies at Clemson, since they'll be in the same class (and Matthew just a year ahead of them) - now there will be 2 more, just one year behind. Whew that's a lot of kids who know how to spell C-L-E-M-S-O-NNNNN before their own names!

Anyway congrats to Jeff & Crystal, and LeAnn & Justin, and to big brothers Matthew, James (who's about to be a middle child!) and Lucas!

And since I finally got my act together, here are some pictures from Nathan's first Christmas at home (I can't get the slideshow to work well, so you have to click on the thumbnail):

by mgoetts

For the Millers Creek pics, you'll need to click on this icon for Mark's webshots album:

by mgoetts