O' Christmas Trees

The kids wanted Christmas trees in their rooms this year so trees they got!  Thankfully they LOVE this season as much as Brian and I do and the decorations that come with it. We went to several stores and these are the trees they chose.

Kinsey's tree is silver with colored lights and hot pink and navy ornaments. She picked out a hot pink tree skirt to go along with it too.

The boys wanted a traditional green tree with white lights and tarheel ornaments. Oh..and no tree skirt.

Cailey girl had the hardest time deciding between a green tree and white one but finally chose the white tree. She wanted white lights so her turquoise, lime green, and hot pink ornaments would stand out.

We literally have a tree in every room except for the bathrooms.  LOVE Christmas!

the olden days

 Mom and dad have a record/cd/tape player that Brian decided to introduce the kids to. The older two knew what a tape was but none of them knew about records. So we put on a record and had a dance party..until it scratched..and skipped. Then the party was over:)

Thanksgiving Day 2013

 it snowed off and on yesterday (mixed with rain) so the kids were excited to get up and go outside to see what was left. they had fun with the little ice that was found surrounding the garden.

 my four turkey's

(it was SUPER cold)

 Cailey spent her afternoon helping Nonny in the kitchen

 this guy could be found pounding nails down in the basement while Poppy worked on his boxes.

 watching the parade...and playing with this much loved toy from their toddlerhood during commercials.

 horsey rides

 we played lots of games together

 my momma who worked hard cooking dinner

 the feast

 the 'rents

 family pic time

 me and my honey

the kids played monopoly with Brian and after a long game KINSEY won!  she was pretty excited.

Tis' the season

 After the Christmas parade we came home and decorated the house for Christmas. Kinsey put all the lights on MY nonny's tree this year.

 Ephram putting the angel on top of the tree

 I love this picture. Christmas music in the background, family time, decorating the house, excitement over ornaments from years' past, hot cocoa, and making memories.

 decorating the kids' tree...I let them do this tree completely 

by themselves

 I LOVE nativities and our house is filled with them...those and advent calendars are my weaknesses during the Christ season. Each of the kiddos were setting up their own..and Braden helped Ephram build his Lego nativity.

Parade Day!

The weather was perfect for our Christmas parade this year!  We didn't even need coats..but hot cocoa was still a must:). We didn't leave very early but still found great parking and the perfect spot for watching the parade.

 there were many candy canes to keep them nice and sticky:)

 While we were waiting we watched girls from Meredith College perform Christmas Carols Acapella which Cailey LOVED!

 Braden and Kinsey wanted to wear their Christmasy mouse ears

 Chillin' with hot chocolate

After the parade we went to Jason's Deli for lunch together. I love this sweet tradition!

recycler

This guy cracks me up...daily! His favorite toys are empty boxes then he creates amazing things out of them.  I was making the kids mac and cheese for lunch and asked ephram to throw away the top of the box. He was sad and said, "but mommy, I was going to use this for a phone! can't I keep it?" Of course I let my creative, imaginative, and fun boy keep his phone:)

lunch date

Leslie and I were able to get away for a much needed lunch date!  I'm so thankful God put her in my life and for all times we laugh together:)

New Friend

I met Linda at co op and we were in the same R&R this fall. We grew close just as it was ending and decided we should hang out during the break. We've been walking a couple times a week and it's been SO good to walk and chat. We literally never run out of things to talk about and have such different backgrounds. Thankful God brought us together:) 

LEAVES!

 The kids made a giant leaf pile then jumped in it!  Kinsey even did a front flip into the leaves.

 it's raining leaves

 pure joy

 raking the pile back up

and more jumping. Last Saturday was one of those really fun days where we had no place to be so we played outside most of the day. the weather was crazy warm and overcast...perfect for jumping in leaves:)