Merry Christmas

My parents came to visit us this year for Christmas, it was so good to enjoy a few days with them. As much as I enjoyed our Christmas with them, it wasn't the same without my brother here to celebrate. My brother is serving our country in Afghanistan and his presence was deeply missed. I am so proud of him and his brave service to our country.

This year we started a new tradition for Christmas that we adopted from our friends the Bakers. This year instead of giving the children a ton of toys, which can be very costly and take away from the true meaning of Christmas, we gave them three gifts. A "gold" gift, a "frankincense" gift and "myrrh" gift. The gold gift was a costly gift and something that they really wanted, the frankincense gift was a special gift, something that really means a lot to them. Finally, the myrrh gift was a practical gift. After our tradition of reading the Christmas story together as a family we explained the three gifts Jesus received and their meanings. Then we explained to Claire what each of her three gifts represented. I am excited about this new tradition. I am always looking for ways to help our family reflect on the real meaning of Christmas. I hope this made the girls' gifts more meaningful to them as well.

There were also a few cute moments during our Christmas morning festivities. All season long Claire has only asked for one thing, a princess cash register. That is all she has wanted. Then, two days before Christmas, when we were out shopping so Claire could pick out a gift for Keeley, she saw a Princess Magic Oven. Oh boy was she excited! She wanted one so bad. Well, Nathan and I had already bought her Christmas, but since it was all she talked about from that moment on we felt it would make a more appropriate "frankincense" gift then the one we had picked out for her. So the next morning my mom and I returned her original gift and went and got her the oven. I was so thankful we did this. On Christmas morning before we opened gifts she said "If I get a cash register and a oven I will really have my hopes up!" Then when she opened her gifts and saw that she did indeed have a cash register and a oven she said "I got my hopes up!" It was too cute and made us all laugh. Keeley was also quite fun to watch. Last Christmas, not only was she really sick, but she was really too young to get into it. This year she was so excited. Every present we brought to her she would take to my dad (aka poppy) and say "help" or "out". He would help her unwrap her presents and her usual response would be "wow"! Nathan and I had so much fun watching the joy on our children's faces as they unwrapped their gifts.

Biltmore Estate Visit

The Biltmore Estate has so much to offer for families and so this year for Christmas my parents gave us a year membership to the Biltmore. They actually gave it to us at Thanksgiving so we could see the Biltmore Christmas decorations. The first time we attempted to go, the wait to get into the house was three and half hours. We knew that would never fly with kiddos so we decided to just check out the barn animals this time and come back another day to see the house. Although it was bitter cold the girls had a great time petting all the animals. Keeley especially liked the goats and Claire's favorite seemed to be the baby chicks.

Grove Park Inn

One evening we took the girls to the Grove Park Inn to see their display of Christmas Trees and all the gingerbread houses. Each year the Grove Park Inn hosts a gingerbread house contest. They have hundreds of entries in several different categories. There is even a contest for the kiddos. The houses were very impressive and after attempting my first made from scratch gingerbread house this year I can REALLY appreciate all the skill this takes. The girls had a lot of fun looking at all the neat gingerbread houses.

They had a sleigh and a christmas tree set up in front of the gorgeous fireplace and I thought it would make the perfect background for the family Christmas card picture. After several attempts I finally gave up and decided to use a picture we already had. It was hard enough when I needed one child to sit still and look at the camera, it is near impossible with two!

Tennessee Christmas (comes a little early)

This year we are staying here for Christmas and so we did our Christmas over Thanksgiving with Nathan's side of the family. The girls were so excited! Even Keeley got into the action. She ripped those presents open like a pro. When she opened her Tinkerbelle doll she got really excited and shouted "Yeah". Then we she opened her Tinkerbelle sweatshirt she said "cute". Looks like I have another girly girl! Cate and Claire had a great time opening their presents as well. It is so much fun to watch the excitement on their faces. Once again, Jo Jo went a little overboard so getting all the loot home was quite a challenge, but we made it. (barely)

Happy Thanksgiving!

The wishbone would not break!

Claire and her daddy ready for a ride!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This year for Thanksgiving we went to Nathan's parents house. This was very different from years past when the trip to their house only took an hour, this time we spent about 9 hours in the car. It should have only been seven, but their was road construction through the moutains before entering Tennessee and we literally sat in traffic FOREVER! We had a great time visiting with Nathan's family. We did our Thanksgiving on Friday because Nathan's dad had to work on the actual turkey day. On Friday we drove to Nathan's sister's house in Murray, KY and my parents met us there so they could spend the holiday with us as well. It was so good to see them and I am glad they made the trip. It was sad not having my brother there, but I am thankful that he is safe and we will see him next year.

The holiday did not go without a few memorable moments. While sitting at the dinner table, the girls were playing with a musical snow globe, so it took us about a minute to realize the fire alarm was going off! Sanna looked in the kitchen and noticed her kitchen table centerpiece was on fire!!! Glad we finally stopped stuffing our faces long enough to check it out or the turkey may not have been the only thing that was smoked! Fortunately, the fire was put out with little damage done. Never a dull moment.

A princess and a Ladybug!

Claire and her first "loot" of the night-cookies from the neighbors.
My beautiful Cinderella-much prettier then the orginal Cindrella I do believe!

My miserable ladybug and one excited Cinderella.

Get this hat off my head!

Halloween morning...pitiful! (If you know my Keeley you know how rare this is she never sits still for more than a minute or two.

This year for Halloween Claire dressed up as Cinderella and Keeley was a ladybug! I was really excited about Halloween and seeing the girls dressed up until that morning when Keeley woke up with a fever. (Keeley seems to have started a tradition I really hope she breaks. She spent her first Christmas sick, her first birthday sick, and now she has spent her second Halloween sick. I really hope the cycle ends here!) The poor thing looked just miserable all day. I felt so bad for her. Because she was sick I really didn't want her to be outside in the cool air aggravating her sore throat, cough and runny nose, but I didn't want Claire to miss the traditional trick or treating either. We were torn as to what to do, go to a fall carnival or trick or treat at just a few places. We decided to go eat at Chick-fil-A in the mall first and then make our decision based on how cool it had gotten after we ate. When we arrived at the mall we realized the mall was hosting trick or treaters! All the stores (it isn't a really big mall) were handing out candy to trick or treaters! We had our solution. Claire got to trick or treat and we were able to keep Keeley indoors. I will say it didn't take Keeley long to figure out they were putting something good in her basket. She seemed to perk up after the first few stores and then she got really excited with each stopped we made. (Too bad she is too little to eat candy...I guess mom and dad will have to sacrifice and eat it for her :))

Fall in Asheville

I have always loved and enjoyed fall, but nothing compares to a fall in Asheville! It has been absolutely beautiful here. Last weekend we drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Mt. Pisgah so we could really enjoy the view of the moutains in the fall. The pictures don't even begin to do it justice. Little jealous aren't ya?

It's Snowing!!

The first few flakes.
Coming down a little harder!

Right before it stopped.

Last week we woke up one morning to find that it was snowing! I couldn't believe it! It started out as a few falling flakes, but by 10AM it was really coming down and it was actually starting to stick in a few places. Then just like that it stopped! I have to admit it was very pretty and it got Claire really excited. She asked me if it was Christmas! However, as most of you know, I am not a fan of the cold, so it scared me a little too. I couldn't help but think, "Is this normal? Will it always be this cold this early in the year?" In Jackson, we would have several Oct days that were very warm! To my relief I found out that it is not normal. (sigh of relief). It was a fun little treat while it lasted!

Pumpkin Patches

Claire and Keeley with their perfect pumpkin.

When we were in Illinois we took the girls to what we thought would be a great pumpkin patch. Well, as it turned out they were almost done for the season and all they had left was the corn maze. We gave it a shot and then headed to our old favorite The Apple Barn. The girls picked out a pumpkin. Claire picked out the exact same type of pumpkin as she did last year; tall and thin. Every year we try to get her to pick out a nice round, fat pumpkin, but she has a preference to these tall, thin ones. It always takes her a total of two minutes to find the one she wants. Out of the hundreds of pumpkins to choose from, she quickly makes her decision and sticks with it!

Today we took the girls to another farm that also has a pumpkin patch. One of Nathan's clients owns a organic farm that raises organic chickens, pork, beef, etc. I I have been wanting to go check it out for some time so we thought today would be the perfect time to go. The girls had a blast. Although I will say Claire had to get used to the mud. It rained all day yesterday and so naturally her shoes got muddy. This made her quite upset. She kept insisting that we take her to the car, get a wipe and wash them off. We convinced her that it was fine, a little mud never hurt and that there was no reason to clean them so soon, they would only get muddy again. She is such a diva!

Keeley loved watching the animals. She is so fascinated with animals and gets really excited when she is around them. She loved looking at the turkeys, goats, and baby pigs. The cows were the only animal she was not quite sure about. I can't blame her, they must look pretty big to a seventeen month old!

We ended our trip with hot apple cider and I cidersicles for the girls. There is nothing better than a beautiful fall day outdoors, especially in the mountains!

"I'm going to Jackson"

Claire and Ali being silly
Claire and her good buddy Katlyn.

Claire and Gracie playing Tea Party

Poppy and Keeley

Claire and Preston at church. (Preston was quite shocked and excited to see Claire.)

When we began planning our trip to Illinois, I began scheming to see if there was anyway I could manage a visit to Jackson. Nathan's parents ended up meeting us on our way back to NC and they took me and the girls home with them. We spent a few days at their house and then they let me borrow their vehicle so the girls and I could go to Jackson and spend a few days! It was absolutely wonderful!!! It could not have come at a better time. It really did my heart good to see all my close friends again and to see Claire with her friends too. We stayed with my friend Sarah who has a little girl named Gracie. It was so wonderful to be able to catch up with her and to watch the girls play together again. While we were there we managed to see several friends and we even got to meet a new friend that we had been waiting on for some months now! Our good friends had a baby three weeks prior to our visit and we got to meet their sweet little girl! Nathan came to pick me up that weekend, which was perfect because it was the weekend of his birthday. On Sunday, before we headed back to NC, we went to church at Fellowship. It was so good to be back with our church family and see everyone again.

Trip to Springfield and Jackson

October 9th through the 13th my brother had a four day leave, so we headed to Illinois to see him one last time before he actually leaves the country. (He was deployed in August, but has been in OK for training since then and will actually leave for Afghanistan the first week of Nov.) My Aunts and my uncle came to Springfield to see him as well and to celebrate Thanksgiving a little early. It was so good to see him. When we said goodbye in August we really thought that would be the last time so it was such a treat to get to see him one more time. I enjoyed just hanging out with him and Rebecca and the rest of our family. It will be hard this year not to have him around for the holidays so it was good to celebrate Thanksgiving. So much has changed in our families lives since this time last year. It was a great time just to reflect on all the things God has done for us over the past year. I am already looking forward to next Thanksgiving when we will be celebrating Quentin's safe return home!