Museum Playdate and more!

perfect climbing weather!

this butterfly landed on Brian and stayed there
for a LONG time..the kids thought it was hilarious!

we always love this exhibit at
Christmas time

checkin' out the snakes together

We went to the Museum of Life and Science with the Klicks before Christmas and had a fun time! It's great that both Brian and Brandon have time off so we can do things all together. That evening we went over for dinner and the kids were able to play together more.

dinosaurs and coloring

Cailey's FAVORITE thing to do was help with Carter. She fed him his entire bottle, and 'helped' me change him into his jammies. She did such a great job and even burped him herself! She is THRILLED to be getting a baby brother the same age. We can't wait for Carter and Ephram to have their first playdate!

Sweet Kinsey wanted to help out as well so Kelly let her give him a bottle later on and boy was she just excited! She kept rubbing him and talking to him so sweetly...precious!

supper time!

kinsey came out of Caroline's room like this and we just
HAD to get a picture of her:)! "The Cooking Paci Rapper"

Monkey Joe's

waiting in line for the BIG
slide

kinsey had a GREAT time...except
for a few minutes when she saw him:


which the other kiddos LOVED!

what a blessing to have Daddy home for two weeks!!

Brian gets two weeks off this December and we planned to fill it with many fun outings and field trips! Our first one was to Monkey Joe's and we had a great time! Their favorite thing was going down the big slide all together.

Planetarium...and more

UNC Planetarium for Star of Bethlehem Show

We went on a field trip with our co op to the Planetarium in December. The kids have been excited about going there because we've been studying Astronomy. We watched the Star of Bethlehem show and all the kids did great! They can't wait to go back and see more. (Kinsey was with Daddy for this field trip).

Afterwards the William's came over for a extra long fun playdate and the kids had a blast together!

outside fun

supper time

older kids played Yahtzee with Daddy

sweet Addison played with food and the tea
set pretty much the whole time!

Kinsey and Jackson played Candy Land with Daddy

Hot Cocoa and Chex Mix time before....

A Charlie Brown Christmas!

Bedtime Hugs

Harrison LOVES Macy and played with her a long time:)

Let it Snow!

The week before Christmas the kids got to see some snow! We woke Kinsey up from her nap so she could see it too...they were all so excited! It didn't amount to anything but was pretty to look at for a couple hours.

I LOVE snow but was glad that it didn't accumulate because we had our Sunday school Christmas party that night and we wanted to go to it! Thankfully we were able to go and had a great time.

December 23

We got a letter saying that our Hague paperwork (from Texas) was approved and mailed to Korea on December 23. Now we wait! I'm starting to BELIEVE that it's actually going to happen and have changed Braden's room around to make it ready for his brother. He is THRILLED and whenever he hears the word brother he just lights up!

We also went through his old baby clothes and found a few outfits that we'll be able to use in Korea. The weather there is the same as it is up in Massachusetts this time of year so we'll have to pack warm things.

I still can't believe that we can get a call LITERALLY tomorrow and have to make all the travel arrangements/hotel, etc. immediately and be in Korea a couple days after the call. Mom is going to come stay with the kiddos and we've had some friends volunteer to help take them to their activities. I want their lives to be as 'normal' as possible while we're gone because I have a feeling things will be a little 'out of whack' when we come home. (Jet lag, new baby, no sleep, different time zone, etc.)

Please pray that everything will go smoothly (I am ESPECIALLY worried about the 22+ hour trip on the plane with a baby who was just taken from the only family he knows and have heard only nightmare stories about the flights!) Please pray for Ephram that we will bond as well as we did with the other two. Please pray for the foster family who has taken care of Ephram since he was a newborn. Please pray for the kiddos that everything will transition nicely and not throw them off. Pray for mom that the kids will BEHAVE while she's here and be helpful (because in the past it hasn't gone so well). Pray that God will provide the funds, frequent flier miles, etc. Pray that we'll bring everything we need too (toilet paper, water, enough warm clothes, other things that we won't think of) and things will go well while we're in Korea. Thank you so much!

Braden's first Concert!

he sang SO loud and did the motions...great
job, buddy!

Braden is in the younger group for choir this year and also loves learning all the new songs. He couldn't wait for us to hear them and was beaming when he finished. We are SO proud of you! I love that he enjoys it so much! He did tell me that it was embarrassing to be on the stage with people watching him but he still wants to be in choir again:).

Joy to the World!

Cailey and Braden have been in a bible study and choir over at Bayleaf Baptist church on Sunday nights and love it! They do the bible study first, eat dinner, and then have choir. Cailey loves to sing so much that it's nice to have a place where she can be doing what she loves. Before Christmas they had a concert and it was just beautiful.

Fa lalalala la la la la

sorry it's so dark...but it was so cute!

Kelly and Beth organized Christmas Caroling this year (in December) and boy did the kids LOVE it! I've been wanting to do this the past couple years but am so glad that we started the tradition this year. The kids went around Kelly's neighborhood surprising neighbors with their beautiful songs and did great! It was pretty much kid led and they could have done it all night (at least Cailey could have!). Afterwards we went back to Kelly's for cookies and playtime. Can't wait to do it again next year!

Christmasy Playdate

playing in an indoor sandbox

i couldn't believe the spread of snacks Cheryl set out for the kiddos..
neither could they! poor kinsey ate so much that she got sick

they watched Rudolph together too

decorating Gingerbread cookies

Cheryl invited us over (before Christmas) for a movie playdate and boy did we all have fun! Cheryl and I spent a ton of time laughing and talking while the kids played and ate and ATE and ATE:). They had a great time and can't wait to go back!

2009 Ornament

stuffing in 'snow' (pom poms)

This year the kiddos decided they wanted to fill a glass ornament with pom poms and use a ribbon to hang it. From there we decided to do fingerprint snowmen on the front and paint the year on the back. The kids did the snowmen and picked out the colors for their scarves, buttons, and the ribbon. They turned out really cute and the recipients loved them! Great job, kiddos!

i LOVE how they turned out...i love
looking at all the ornaments they've made
over the years on our 'kid tree'