Fun in the Snow!

Aiden was snug as a bug in all his winter attire but his little cheeks
were soooo cold! They were bright red! He didn't seem to mind at
all though! In fact, He cried when I said it was time to go inside.

Our creative snowman! Shaelyn thought it was
absolutely ridiculous but I thought it was pretty
cute!




Wow! More snow for us here in NC! We don't know what to think!!
The kids are loving it, especially Aiden. Unfortunately the snow is
not a packing type so making a snowman was out the question,
so we had to come up with something different. We piled up some
snow and set a stuffed snowman on top, supported by a branch
against the back of the snowman. Worked just as good:)
Sometimes you just have to be creative.

Our Beautiful Kids!

Shaelyn 11 yrs

Aiden - almost 3

We finally got Shaelyn's school pictures back today!!

They took the pictures in October and here it is Jan. and

I'm just now getting them. We had Aiden's pictures made

in November thinking we would have both kid's pictures

back in time for Christmas. Well, we had Aiden's but not

Shae's so we just held off on giving them out. Well, now

we can show off both of our kid's pictures:) We just think

we have 2 of the most beautiful kiddos!

Happy Birthday Aiden!

All ready for Aiden's party!

Our family:)

Aiden and his Cousin Skyler.

Aiden and Shae with their Cousins (Makalah, Makenna

and Skyler).

Yum! This ice cream and cake is good!

Our precious 3 year old!

Aiden's cake.

Tonight we celebrated Aiden's 3rd Birthday! We had

a small family party with cake and ice cream. Aiden

loves Curious George so we used that theme for his

cake and decorations. He was sooo excited and was

just squealing with delight. It is so hard to believe

that he is already 3! He is growing so

quickly. We simply can't imagine our lives without

this little guy! He has been such a blessing to us in

so many ways! So tonight I say thanks to the lady

who gave life to my little boy. Without knowing it,

she gave us the one of the most wonderful gift of

our lives! Most of all, I thank God for allowing us to

experience the miracle of adoption. We are incredibly

blessed!

Happy New Year

Our New Year's Dinner Table.

Aiden and Aunt Marea.

Jeff, Marea, Sharree and Kerri

We celebrated New Year with Rob's Sister Marea and her

family from Ohio. It was a rare treat and we were so thankful

to be able to see them again. This was their first time of seeing

Aiden in person and he sure was lovin all the attention:) Rob

made a wonderful dinner of his famous lasagna and we had

blueberry cheesecake for desert! Marea and Jeff were only

able to stay for one night but we still had a terrific "short"

visit. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family!

Our Christmas Memories

Shaelyn in front of the tree at Church.

Our "Storybook" children's Christmas program at church.

Rob drew all the characters for me!!

Aiden in front of the Wisemen at the program.

On Christmas Eve Aiden got to meet his cousins Daniel

and Travis for the first time! We enjoyed having them

visit from Ohio.

Shae on Christmas morning.

Things have been a bit hectic around our house but
we have paused long enough during this Christmas

season to make some really nice memories. It started

on Christmas Eve when we make cut out cookies and

let the kiddos decorate them. Boy was that a mess!

We then lit the luminaries outside on our sidewalk and

enjoyed the company of my brother and his family from

Ohio. Christmas morning dawned bright and early with

Shaelyn being the first one up. "Santa" had left new boots

for the kids and a stocking full of goodies. The stockings

were torn into first then the presents from Mommy and

Daddy! After presents were opened, we headed to

my Niece's house for Christmas dinner with everyone.

We ate until we were stuffed then opened more presents.

Saturday morning we had Christmas program practice

at church along with a little party for the kiddos.

Saturday evening my Dad took the whole family out to

eat and we got to enjoy each other all over again:) Then

this morning (Sunday) we had the Children's program.

It was a bit crazy but ended up being okay after all.

Wheeee, I am tired but HAPPY! Thankful for the reason

we celebrate Christmas and for the gift of a Baby in the

Manger. I'm also thankful for my little family and for

the joy, laughter (and yes, sibling fussing and fighting)

that so brightens our lives especially on Christmas

morning! We are BLESSED!

Our Christmas Eve

Stockings are stuffed and "Santa" is bringing new boots to the kiddos:)

Decorating Christmas cookies.

The kids had fun baking and decorating cookies this evening. We

had a few moments of chaos, but for the most part, it was a fun

time. Then we lit luminaries out on the sidewalk and enjoyed

fun and fellowship with my Brother and his family from Ohio.

The kids are now in bed, stockings are stuffed and "Santa" has

arrived. I am feeling incredibly blessed this evening! God is so

good to us! Merry Christmas to all!

Let it Snow!

I can not rememer a time that we have had snow

to compliment our Christmas decorations. Needless

to say, we are thrilled!!!! The kids have enjoyed it

and I love to look at it! Sure makes for some

wonderful Christmas memories!!!

Christmas Card Photo Session

Finally - camera was a bit blurry, but this is the one we finally used!
Wheee! Glad that's done!

(attempt #2) - This one took 2nd place but again Aiden
shut his eyes.

(attempt #3) - Shae and Sophie did well, Aiden got distracted.

Shae thought we should just use this picture,

but of course it was missing someone :)

(attempt #4) - Aiden's eyes completely shut and horrible camera quality!

(attempt #5) - cute kiddos, horrible camera quality!

To say that I had a hard time getting a good Christmas Card

photo for our cards this year, would be an understatement!

My camera was acting up, and the kids would not cooperate!

Here are our attemps.....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Aiden is "thankful" for our dog Sophie. They are pals!

We are thankful for Mimi (my Mom). She loves Shaelyn and Aiden

and they love her too. This picture was taken after Thanksgiving

dinner today.

We are so very thankful this Thanksgiving for the

many blessings God has blessed us with this

year!! There are so many things that come to mind

that I would have difficulty listing them all! One

special thing I am thankful for this year is time

spent with family. Yesterday we took the kids

to the parade and happened upon my sister and

her kids so we joined them and had a great time.

Today we had my Mom and Dad and my Sister and

her family over for Thanksgiving dinner.

(17 people in our little house) It was nice to spend

time with everyone. We sure did miss my brother

and his family and Rob's sister and her family in Ohio.

We also missed Rob's Mom and Dad and Sister's family

in New York. Wow we would have a huge crowd if

everyone could come. We cherish our family and thank

God for them. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

First Night in Toddler Bed

Much to my surprise, Aiden fell asleep in his toddler

bed tonight! I could hardly believe it! Rob's co-worker

gave us a nice TV/VCR and we put it in Aiden's room.

He can not see it well from his crib and until tonight, was

unable to see if well from his toddler bed. Well, I got

a bright idea to move his toddler bed to be positioned

in front of the TV just to see if he would sit on the bed

to watch his favorite Blue's Clues videos. Sure enough

he sat on it without any problems. Then he little by

little became more comfortable on it as the evening

progressed. Soon he was fast asleep on it! Yay!! Now

I am soooo excited:)

Dirty Boy!

Aiden is 100% boy! He loves anything to do with rocks,

sticks and dirt. Today I planted some pansies in the pots

on our front porch. It didn't take him long to discover

the freshly cultivated dirt. When I turned my back for

just a minute he had both hands in the pot digging for

all he was worth. This is the scene I turned around to.

I quickly got the camera and captured these pictures. If

it is dirty....he loves it!

Trick-or-Treat

Shaelyn and Aiden with Papaw.

The back of Aiden's costume was sooo cute!!

Our little "mouse" ready to trick-or treat!

We took the kids to the Mall and to a few houses

this evening to trick-or-treat! We stopped by

Mimi and Papaw's house before we went so they

could see the kids in their costumes. Papaw was

dressed like a farmer and was all ready to had

out candy at his house. Shaelyn looked beautiful

in her 50's attire and Aiden was adorable as a

little fat mouse. He did not want to keep the hood of

the costume up however, so it was hard to tell what

he was suppose to be. We enjoyed seeing all the

different costumes at the mall and enjoyed

just being together as a family. We were thankful

Rob was off tonight! It was a fun night!

Jack-O-Lanterns

We did not get to take the kids to the pumpkin patch

this year due to some rainy weather. Instead we opted

to just buy the kids a pumpkin at the store. They were

still very excited about picking out their pumpkins.

We almost waited too late and had a hard time finding

nice pumpkins! We finally found some and then were

back home to carve them. The dining room table became the

carving station and needless to say was cleaned very

well after the event:) Rob was off tonight so he helped

Aiden with his and I helped Shae with hers. We had a

fun time! We already had a fake jack-o-lantern on

display on the front porch so we just added our two real
pumpkins for a nice trio of Halloween fun. Another fun

tradition at our house is sealed in our memories! We are

blessed!