Christmas in North Carolina

Our family spent Christmas at home this year and was able to make some fun memories. David was off work for 2 weeks; it was wonderful to have him with us. On Christmas Eve, we acted out the story of the birth of Christ and opened one gift each (pj's, of course!). The next morning we found what Santa brought and opened presents. It was a fun day for everyone, and the weather was so nice that Rachel even got to try out her Heely's.

What a Cutie!

We have a little princess living in our home; her name is Eliza. She is totally loved and spoiled by her whole family. We love to take pictures of her and thought we'd include some of the best ones here. She finally learned how to walk near the end of December and has been going strong ever since. Her favorite thing to do at this time is stand on the fireplace and "dance." Maybe I can figure out how to include some video of her dancing. It's priceless!

Thanksgiving with the Cousins

We were lucky enough to have Uncle Eric, Aunt Gaby, and their two boys come and visit us for Thanksgiving this year. It was so good to have them here and share some fun experiences. We had great weather while they were here, so McKenna, Sean, and Patrick headed outside to build a fireplace in our front yard. They had a blast doing it and managed to create a wonderful fireplace. Oh, what imaginations children have!

McKenna also had the opportunity to be Pilgrim Faith in her second grade Thanksgiving play. She and her classmates told the story of the first Thanksgiving and all that they were grateful for. They also sang a wonderful song of gratitude. She is a talented performer.

We Love Leaves!

Living in the Carolinas, we are blessed with an abundance of trees in our yard. They are beautiful, but full of leaves! Fall is the season when our arms get a good work-out; raking will do that for you. But the children are happy to help if they can jump in the pile afterwards. We had a HUGE pile this year, which we burned after the kids had played in it a few times. Most of our neighbors have leaf blowers, but since we haven't invested in one of those yet, the rakes will do.

One Last Spooky Face

I just had to include one more Halloween picture, a great shot of McKenna looking very witchy (courtesy of the black frosting on her cupcake!)

The Spookiest Night of the Year

Halloween arrived on October 31st, even though the kids were convinced it would never arrive. We donned our costumes and headed out for some trick-or-treating. We had the neighborhood pretty much to ourselves, so a pumpkin, a witch, a cowboy, and Arwen the Elf Maiden were free to run from house to house. Check out the pictures and the fun we had!

We celebrated Dallin's FIFTH birthday on Saturday, September 20th. It was a special day for him. We had 7 or 8 of his little friends over to enjoy a dinosaur party and they all seemed to really have a fun time. We were blessed with good weather, so the dino fans even got to hunt for dinosaurs, stomp on balloons, and make fossils outside. Inside, we played "Brontosaurus, brontosaurus, T. rex" (duck, duck, goose) and had a super dino lunch. Dallin was totally excited about the whole thing and decided he wanted another party the very next day!