Merry Christmas 2008

Happy Birthday Owen

Today we celebrated Owen's 7th birthday. Its so hard to believe our first born is already 7 years old. My how time flies. Owen chose to have his party at the High Point Bowling Center. Everyone had a great time. Benjamin actually slept thru alot of it. That boy can sleep just about anywhere. Owen is a wonderful child and we are so blessed to have him in our lives. Happy Birthday buddy, we love you.

Christmas pictures

Candle Tea

Saturday we went to the Candle Tea in Old Salem which is another of the family traditions we celebrate. My mom and dad started this tradition in 1976 and we have gone every year since. I have to confess that I have missed 2 years. One when I was being a pain in the butt teenager and the other I was in preterm labor with Owen.
The Candle Tea is a moravian tradition that features both the Christmas story and some historical Moravian customs and has become a tradition in Winston since 1929. We sing Christmas carols, learn to make beeswax candles, eat sugar cake, & hear the Christmas story. We usually wait in line for about 2 hours but it is totally worth it. Old Salem is such a quaint little town and I love it. If you have never been there during Christmas I definately recommend it.

Visit with Santa

Last night we went to a Christmas program put on by the youth at my sister's church. The youth did a great job and afterwords Santa dropped in to visit the kids. Ben flipped around and looked at him like "Who the heck are you?" Everyone sat on his lap and there were no tears. Success!!!

Decorating the tree

Well this is the tree we came back with from our mountain trip. We are very pleased with our selection and the kids could not wait to decorate. If you will notice there are not any ornaments on the bottom of our tree. Benjamin started crawling a little over a week ago and is into everything.

Boone 2008

Saturday we took our family trip to Boone to get our Christmas tree. Its something we started doing several years ago and has become a family tradition. We eat at the Daniel Boone Inn and then stop at a local choose and cut tree farm and get our trees. The kids really enjoy it.

Ben is on the move

Benjamin turned 9 months old on Saturday and started crawling on Sunday night. Its all over with now, he will be EVERYWHERE!!!!

Creekside

Saturday was such a beautiful day we decided to meet Jessy and her family at Creekside in Archdale. The kids rode their bikes through the walking trails, played by the creek and on the playground. We had such a good time.

Playground

Today was such a beautiful day I decided to take Makenzie and Benjamin to the playground after lunch. About the only thing Ben could do was swing and he loved it. He just giggled like crazy.

Happy Halloween

My sister and her family came over and celebrated Halloween with us. Everyone had a great time.

Benjamin the bear

Rylan(football player), Owen(Knight),

Makenzie(Snow White)

Emma(butterfly)

Makenzie loves to dance. I caught this video of her and had to share it. Enjoy!!

Sunday my parent's took Owen and my nephew Rylan to the mountains for the day. They went to Grandfather Mountain and on the mile high bridge(which terrified me). They both came home with coon skin hats and bow & arrows. Owen has used his to fight off his little sister. :) They had a great time. Thanks Dad and Sharon for taking them.

Mommy's little pumpkin

My sister hollowed out a pumpkin over the weekend and we took the babies pictures in it. They turned out great and it was alot of fun.

8 months

Our baby Benjamin is 8 months old today. Its so hard to believe that it has already been 8 months and that he is only 4 short months away from his 1st birthday. Ben is 19.4 lbs and is working on his first 2 teeth(on the bottom). He is sitting up on his own and wants to crawl but isn't yet. He is the best baby in the world, happy all of the time. The only time he ever cries is when he is hungry or tired. God has blessed us with 3 incredible children and we are so proud of them. They have brought so much joy to our lives and it just gets better every day.

Roasting marshmellows

We grilled out at my parent's house Saturday and after dinner we built a fire in the fire pit and roasted marshmellows. The kids loved roasting marshmellows but didn't want to eat them. ??? Thats the best part. As we were pulling out of the driveway Makenzie started crying not wanting to leave the fire. Benjamin just stared at it for a little while and drifted off to sleep. Not too impressed I guess.

When Dad does the bath

John was in charge of getting Benjamin dressed while I was getting ready for church. John put Ben in the floor with no diaper while he got his clothes out and anyone with boys knows what happened next. He peed all over himself and was playing in it. So therefore he then needed a bath. I walked into the bathroom and above is what I found. :)

Shopping cart cover

I recently ordered a shopping cart cover from a lady that I met at a festival in Archdale a few weeks ago. She sells all kinds of things, dresses, rompers, nursing covers, etc. She has a wonderful selection of really beautiful prints to choose from. I chose one called animal cracker with red corduroy on the other side. If you are interested in any of her stuff the website is http://www.oohlalacreationsonline.com/ It was only $25 and no shipping, not a bad deal. We took the kids to Toys R Us tonight to make Christmas lists and got to use it and Benjamin just loved it.