Christmas Fun

We had a fun Christmas this year. We had no where to go on Christmas day, so we just hung around the house in our jammies all day! Ryan had Strep and thankfully Christmas morning was when the antibiotics finally kicked in. Nothing overly exciting happened that day so I'll just post a few pictures. We hope all of you enjoyed your Christmases and were able to spend time with your families.

Let it Snow!!

We had our first snowfall of the season and possibly our only. We got about a foot of snow (don't laugh you Utah folks, that's a lot for us). I wasn't planning on it snowing this much in Virginia, but I was wrong. I was at the store the other day and it was PACKED with people. Because I don't watch the news, I couldn't figure out why it was that way. So I asked someone and they said that it was going to snow (that was news to me). I remembered it was the same in every state we've lived in-North Carolina, Tennessee and now Virginia. Everyone runs out for milk, bread, and for some-beer (can't live without it!)

We had a great time in the snow even though none of my kids own snow pants. Aaron went to Walmart the day of the storm and said it was the best shopping experience at Walmart that he's ever had. Nobody was there! Although he thought he was an expert in driving in the snow, he got stuck trying to get up the hill in our neighborhood so some guys pushed him out and he had to park the car at the bottom of the hill. It's still there, but I just saw a snowplow drive by so maybe we can bring it back to the house. They have cancelled church for the day so we are just hanging out at home and the kids want to plan their own primary so they will be doing a sharing time for us (we shall see how that goes).

Here are some pictures of the kids in the snow. I have to say that the snow here is very icy and not the good powdery stuff you get in Utah, so it is harder to drive in (thus the panic of the locals) Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas week!

Carter's Birthday

Carter turned 2 yesterday and we had a great time for his birthday. I let him pick his "theme" for the party by having him pick a pack of character plates at walmart. He picked Mickey mouse and was soooo excited about it. We had a little party that Samantha planned; she even made tickets for everyone. We had dinner then opened presents and played duck duck goose and pin the tail on the donkey. Duck duck goose just turned into the kids all running around in circles every time goose was said. After that we had cake and ice cream. The cake turned out really good this year. I can't take total credit because I gave Aaron a picture of Mickey and he drew it with a tooth pick on the cake then I frosted it. It's a good thing Aaron has artistic talent because I don't have any!

We just love Carter and we're glad he's in the family.

Ryan made a "birthday cake castle" for Carter and it actually stayed up for quite a while. Usually it is knocked down by Carter much to Ryan's dismay.

Samantha also had her first piano recital. She did a wonderful job. Here she is playing a duet with her teacher (up on the housetop)

Halloween

Happy Halloween! I hope everyone had a great halloween and got tons of candy! We had a great time trick or treating and it was almost too hot for it. It was muggy and in the 70's, but I guess that's better than freezing cold. Carter was so sick of wearing the bee costume so I found this superman outfit in Ryan's old box of clothes and Carter was thrilled.

Here are the kids right before going out to trick or treat. I got crafty this year and made the trick or treat bags for Samantha and Ryan. I can do bags and pillows and that's about as far as I can go :)

My little Bee's

As many of you know, my children were all born in the winter so when it comes to hand me downs, they can share a lot. So in our family, the halloween before you turn two you are a bee. It's really because I'm to cheap to buy new costumes every year :). I wanted to share with you my little bee's throughout the years. It's amazing how your kids can look so much alike. This is proof that they are all from the same parents (no mailman here).

Can you recognize who is who?

I love Fall!

I think when it comes to fall, I live in the most beautiful place ever!! You may not agree and this picture does not do the colors justice, but this what I see everyday out my kitchen window! It is soooo pretty here. I wish I had a big professional camera (and knew how to use it) and could just take tons of pictures of my beautiful surroundings. I hope you are all enjoying your fall wherever it is. I'm sure it can't be as amazing as mine ;)

Apple Picking

Aaron's parents came out to Virginia to visit this past week. On Saturday we went to Ryan's soccer game (where ryan scored three of the five goals) then we went up to Carter mountain to the Apple festival and pick apples. It was so pretty up there and we had a great time. We ate lunch and apple doughnuts then picked and ate apples right off the tree. Aaron's dad bought an apple pie and apple cider that we had later that night. I also made an apple pie and froze it for Thanksgiving. The apples were great, but your stomach can only handle so many apples :)

Here is Grandma enjoying an apple doughnut and listening to the old country band playing in the background.

I wanted this picture to look like Samantha and Ryan were best pals, but they started bugging each other and this is what I got.

Carter would pick up apples from the ground and eat them...yum!