Happy 2014

To all of our friends and family we would like to say thank you for being such a huge part of our lives. We are so thankful for everyone and hope that ya'll have a blessed 2014!

Grandma & Grandpa visits for Christmas!

We had a great Christmas this year.  Grandma and Grandpa came all the way over from Oregon to celebrate this wonderful holiday with us.  We had a very relaxing time enjoying good food, christmas festivities and LOTS of presents.  I had so many pictures I couldn't post them all.  So, here are a few of my favorites.  Grandma made these super cute PJs for the kids (Noah's included a cape!) 

 Grandpa got to play dress up princess with Maleah, which she loved!

 Santa came and filled the stockings, so they must have been really good kids this year.  Good thing Henry had good reports for santa!

 We all got wonderful gifts.  The kids LOVED their new fishing pole, play dough sets, tools, and remote control cars.  All I have heard is that this is the "best christmas ever!"

 Dave surprised me with this super awesome coat…he did a great job!

We also had the opportunity to Skype with Nana, G-pa, Uncle Christian and Aunt Hailey where the kids got to swap gifts.  They enjoyed their new boots, gift cards and Maleah went a bit crazy over her new make-up & hair set.  Needless to say we are all getting make overs!

Christmas program continued

Here are a few more pictures from the christmas program. As you can see, Noah was less than thrilled to be on stage. And there is a picture of his undressing show.  (I can't wait for him to see this when he is 16!) I think Maleah was mesmerized by all the people. 

It's your job

Today Maleah fell asleep on our way to the store (and this was a much needed nap) so I told Noah that we would need to sit in the parking lot for a bit. After talking about his day and some deep mama-son discussions I decided to go get a salad. It came with toast which I gave to Noah as a treat. He takes a bite and then responds "mom, this feels greasy. I bet it has gluten in it. Why would you feed me gluten?" I quickly told him that it was a treat and he could have said no he didn't want it. His priceless reply was "Actually I would say no thank you. And it's your job not to feed this to me." I think this kid has got his food down! And I won't be sneaking any gluten by him. 

Family time at bridge street

One thing that I love about Alabama is the awesome blue sky and mild weather.  On nice days like this one we often with go down to Bridge Street to see the fountains and this horse.  

 The kids love people watching and seeing the water and boats too.  A couple of days ago we came down here for the lighting of the tree.  Though the kids were a bit tired, they enjoyed seeing Santa and watching the huge tree get lit up.  I thought it was neat that they had snow machines for Santa to make it snow and lots of holiday music.  We had a great time!

1st School Field Trip

Now that Noah is in Pre-K he got to go on a field trip with the kindergarten class-bus and all!  I put my name in the hat to be a chaperone, and was excited to find out my name got drawn.  This first field trip was to constitution village.  It was so much fun!  The kids got to see how a blacksmith would make tools, make candles, scarecrows and milk a prevent cow.  The best part of going was watch noah interact with all of his friends.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to get to do this with him!

Halloween 2013

October 30th- We held a Family Fall Festival at our church this year, which is how we celebrated Halloween.  Thankfully, the weather was amazing! Which was a good thing because there was no trick-or-treating the following day due to rain.  The kids enjoyed sporting their costumes-Maleah a purple princess and Noah, spiderman.  They did crafts, games and collect loads of goodies.  Goodies, which they diligently saved for the candy fairy.  Noah was very determined that the fairy would bring him a BIG gift if he didn't eat any candy...

 …which, she did!  Both kids were pleasantly surprised to find an awesome Nerf gun in the place of their big buckets of candy.  Way to go Candy Fairy!

Going on a bear hunt

We are going on a bear hunt and we are going to catch a big one.  It's a beautiful day and we're not scared....I love that book and I love these two even more!  I am sure the bears were absolutely terrified of this duo!

Counting down till 5

"Mom, I am going to be 5 in a couple months" is the frequent conversation we have been having.  I cannot believe how much he has changed and grown over this past year.  This year he has learned to swim, write his alphabet, spell some words including his name, count and write numbers, days of the week, seasons, can quote many catechisms and scriptures, sing many songs, tell funny jokes, give awesome big boy hugs, play nicely with his sister, and warm our hearts.  I could go on and on with all that he has learned and developed but most importantly he is the big brother whole looks at his sister who is throwing a dirty kleenex on the floor and says "stop glittering and pick that up!" His clever wit, huge heart and dazzling smile are a mama's dream.  So I say to him, "Yes, you are almost 5. And what a year it will be!"

Need I say more?

October 2013

Tate Farms

October 12, 2013-This year was an especially exciting harvest season because we got to celebrate as a WHOLE family!  I know I say this all the time, but a family unit is such a special thing.  Making memories is so much more fun with Dave being here.  To carry on tradition we took the kids to Tate Farms to pick our pumpkins.  We rode the hayride out to the field and the kids were released to pick their perfect pumpkin, which will later be turned into mama's perfect pumpkin pie and breads.  I love how both kids picked big pumpkins that were just to their size.  Maleah at one point decided she needed two...

 But in the end, they each found their favorite prize.  The only rule was that they had to be able to carry them.

 Noah managed to carry two for a while, but finally settled on just one BIG pumpkin!  The whole time we were riding back to the farm, he would giggle and say "Mom, this is going to be a lot of pumpkin for you to cook!"  He has no idea.  For now I think we will keep them on the front porch with the bails of hay and worry about cooking them in late november.

The three little bears (sort of)

On a fine warm fall afternoon, we took a stroll through fairytale garden...

While we were there, we ran into mama bear,

 daddy bear,

 brother bear,

 and goldilocks.

We are not quite sure where the other bears were.  Perhaps they were off napping and enjoying the sunshine.  Noah seems to think they ate the last family that came through...