Christmas memories

Didn't exactly plan on taking this long to post these, but I have met my lofty goal of getting them up before Valentine's Day......wooohoooo!

This is how Luke spent Christmas morning....sitting on the hearth, pounding the candy that Santa left piled there. He didn't have much interest in presents, just candy....LOTS of it!

Ahhh....Ty and Tractors...a match made in heaven.

The girls were saving for their American Girl dolls, & thought they couldn't even ask for them for Christmas because they were too much.....so they were shocked & amazed when they opened them Christmas morning! Any reservations we had on splurging for these dolls went out the window the second we saw their excitement.......they LOVE them!!!!



Ty's favorite jingle of the season, "It's a pillow, it's a pet, it's a pillow pet"!



Happily modeling the matching pj's from Mema & Pappy!

Luke started smiling like this and giving me REAL kisses....my two favorite gifts of the season.

Until next year....Merry Christmas!

Fa la la la la la la la.......LATE!

They found the one!

A family favorite at lights on the lake.

Whispering sweet nothings to Santa.

On their best behavior for the big guy :)

Gobble Gobble!

What fun we had, this past Saturday, at the local Turkey Trot! I had decided to run the 10k...but imagine my excitement when it became a family affair...as my girls decided they wanted to run the 1 mile wingding!!! They loved that they had numbers....it was an

"official" race :)

The only bummer was that we all ran at the same time...so I had to rely on Jed to snap some photos! He got some priceless shots at the finish :) Here they are....in the order they finished....and some cute things they had to say about the race! I am SO SO proud of them for doing it all by themselves :) They loved it....look at those smiling faces!

Emma: "Mom, I'm so proud of myself for winning a blue ribbon!"

Ella: "I didn't talk to anyone...I wanted to win!"



Anna: "This is the best day ever!"

They were so excited to tell me that they ran the WHOLE way!!! And that they saw a dead cat, a baby shoe, and a dead squirrel...this was big news. They were thrilled with their ribbons too :)

I don't know how long their enthusiasm will last....

But I'm savoring every minute of it!!!

Happy Halloween!

Our wild animals & their hunter...

"Only YOU can prevent forest fires!"

Hoot! Hoot!

My lil' stinker.

This deer was sure NOT to be caught in headlights...or camera flashes.

Don't moose with me.

Trick or treating with family & friends was fun for all! So cute to watch all of the kids go to it...some were exceedingly shy (Ty), while some were surprisingly into it (Sophia)....some slept all warm & cozy in their snugglies (Sammy & Ryan), while some preferred all the comforts of the barn (Grant)......some tried in vain to control their over-sized antlers which kept slowing them down (Luke), while all the others raced door to door in search of MORE CANDY!!!

Of course, we LOVED all of the costumes!!!

Already looking forward to it next year!

Peace, Love...

...& Candy Corn!

9 years later....

We celebrated our 9th anniversary this past June with a photo shoot at the laurel fields...where it all began :) We were hoping to get a decent family photo & were amazed that the photographer captured that & so many other priceless moments. I can't even tell you how thankful I am to have these photos....this will definitely be an anniversary tradition!!!

A huge thank you to http://www.theresaforrestphotography.com/

for sharing your talent with us!

Here are a few of our favorites:

Happy Birthday Nate!

Sorry we missed your "construction" party...it looked like TONS of fun!



We love you!!!

Open House!

Emma and Anna were thrilled to show us everything in their classrooms, especially their amazing teachers! They are learning so much & having tons of fun along the way, we are so proud of them! It was really a great night :)