Sharing our life - all our adventures and bumpy rides. Family of four with two young boys - moved back home to allow them the similar experiences and opportunities we had living in North Carolina. Come explore with us!
For our holiday pictures this year, we opted for a different backdrop than the field by our neighborhood pool. I convinced the family to set out for the Historic Yates Mill County Park one Sunday to grab some family photo shots.
A nice stranger offered to take a picture - otherwise my plan was to go with iPhone timer setting. Ha!
Even though the shadows were all over our faces, I still think these photos are great! My boys are smiling!!
Handsome man!
Unfortunately, Moose could not accompany us on our picture taking day (no dogs allowed in historic county park), therefore, we took some pictures of him playing in the leaves at home!
That's a wrap on 2023!
Looking forward to what 2024 brings - wishing for a happy, healthy, and peaceful New Year to us all.
After a leisurely paced Christmas Eve morning, I lost track of the time working on some Christmas cookies with the boys in the afternoon and felt a panic that I hadn't even started prepping for dinner! Thankfully, my family went all hands on deck - Brock and Kade finished the pizzelles all by themselves while Brent and I tackled the meatballs and pasta sauce in the slow cooker; giving us all enough time to shower before 4pm church service!
After Christmas Eve service, we returned home and all got in comfy clothes for Spaghetti with meatballs and Key Lime Pie for dessert. Yay for matching Christmas jammies!
Very interesting who was more excited to put out the cookies and milk for Santa.
Late night photo after Santa arrived... and after that amazing Santa put together that air hockey table!!
Again this year we zip-tied the baby gate to the top of the stairs. They are still able to peek downstairs and see the presents.... but still not sure about what little hands will do early in the morning with no one watching...
Nevertheless, they were just as excited when we woke up after 8am to go downstairs and see what Santa brought!
One present each before breakfast - Brock chose one from Grammy & Grandpa.
Kade chose the gift from Brock.
A taekwondo dragon hoodie!! This kid loves hoodies!
After breakfast (plain and blueberry pancakes with bacon and sausage), it was time to open stockings - the boys fight over who will help Moose open his stocking!
On to gift opening! Kade played Santa and was very good at whose turn it was to open the next gift. There were a few this year that were for both Brock and Kade together. Nice that they don't fight over who unwraps! (Brock was also struggling with a very wiggly tooth that was bothering him)
This gift was too funny. I thought they were old enough for a little gag present wrapping....
All of those boxes for Roblox gift cards!
Fascinated by the "Would you Rather" book from Grammy & Grandpa.
Brock was gifted this xRocker Gaming chair - you can hook it up to your video game consoles and listen to the sounds amplified through the headrest - and of course, just rock in the chair!
Kade spent most of his Christmas Day figuring out his new Zelda Nintendo Switch game.
After a fabulous filet mignon dinner, Brock and Brent carried the Air Hockey table up to the playroom! I was so excited we finally have a kid that can do some of this heavy lifting!!
Paddles and puck light up! Air hockey family tournament in our very near future!
Through it all Moose has been the bestest boy! He only stole one tissue paper, laid on three Christmas bags, ate four shipping boxes and knocked down zero Christmas trees.
Merry Christmas and Happiest Holidays to all family and friends!!
Twilight Tickets are the best! Skip a lot of the crowds and enter at 4:30 instead of the typical 6:00pm! The boys were just as excited to see all the lights at this hour - and it didn't feel as cold as when we were leaving.
There were quite a lot of fun interactive things for the kiddos!
Dragon Boat - 2024 will be the Year of the Dragon!
Sparkly twinkly forest - so pretty!
White huskies!! (everything wolf-shaped is really a husky in our eyes) :)
Kade found something interesting - I love how he starts softly and gets louder and louder when no one tells him to stop.
Kade and I had just read a picture book together about the Monkey King stealing peaches out of a garden, so this was pretty cool!
After a little treat of hot cocoa, the boys were ready to head home. Lovely displays of real animals and Chinese folktale animals.
