Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas! My family came down from Ohio to stay for a few days over Christmas. Bobby is still here as well. We also had Uncle Jeff and Aie over as well. We really missed Ama and Grandpa out in California though! Daniel was excited to come downstairs to see the presents and the empty cookie plate and milk glass with a thank you note from Santa for the milk and cookies and carrot for his reindeer. :-) He enjoyed opening his presents and handing out presents as well. He "helped" Alayna open her presents too! This was the first year that he really understood presents. Last year he had just as much fun handing out the presents to people as he did opening his own. I had made most of the side dishes and the pie on Christmas Eve, so all I had to worry about Christmas day was the turkey which was nice! We had a nice huge dinner together. Brian built a fire, so everything was nice and cozy. Daniel kept saying happy birthday to Jesus and we also sang the Happy Birthday song. So sweet! I wanted to make a birthday cake with Daniel, but ran out of time. Our church in New York did that with the children and I thought it was a neat tradition. Maybe next year. I can't believe the Christmas season is almost over. I love the decorations and lights. It makes the house feel so warm and cozy that it saddens me to have to take everything down in a couple days. (along with all the work involved!) It also means I have to stop playing Christmas music as well. :-( I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends! Praise God for blessing us with this wonderful season to celebrate His birth!!!

Christmas Cookies

Daniel had fun making Christmas cookies! He helped me with the Gingerbread cookies and the Sugar cut-outs. I love having a little helper in the kitchen! I'm not sure if he had more fun making the cookies or eating them!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

We found our tree at the tree farm we have been going to the past few years. I can't believe this will be our fourth Christmas here. It is definitely different finding a tree in 50 degree weather! Tracking through the deep powdery snow in New York to cut down the tree was the best! When we returned home we made a fire and started decorating. Daniel had so much fun unwrapping the ornaments from the box! So cute and sweet! Then his sweet little hands decorating, oh my! Of course we have patches of ornaments all around the bottom of the tree! Brian's mom gave us an ornament of a euphonium so of course Daniel had to blow in it. Now every once in a while he will walk by the tree and "play" the horn! This Christmas will be so fun with him!

Leaf Peeping

We went leaf peeping last weekend up to Caesars Head. By the time we actually got going, it was pretty late in the day and with the time change, it was going to get dark soon, but we tried anyway. Caesars Head is a mountain around here. The twisty road to arrive at the top was interesting....I am glad Brian was driving! We arrived just at sunset so it was pretty, but quite cool. We had just enough time to climb some rocks, take some pictures and have dinner. It was nice to enjoy the quietness and to enjoy God's beautiful creation! It was pretty clear, so we could see a good distance out. Daniel had fun climbing the rocks and watching a kitten climb the rocks and trees! Enjoy the pics!

Trick-or-Treat

We had so much fun Halloween night. Daniel was so excited to hand out candy to the kids! He was so cute! Each time he would say "Happy Halloween" and ask why some kids did not say anything. A couple costumes were a little scary so he just stood there and stared with a funny look on his face. He had so much fun passing out candy that he did not want to eat dinner! Anyone that knows Daniel knows how much he loves to eat! Jeff and Chan Wey came over later and we went out trick-or-treating. We only went to a couple neighbor's homes. Daniel had fun, but was so cautious walking up to the doors! We came home and watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and had some apple cider. Daniel counted his candy and then wanted to play with it. We sorted the candy into like piles. I am so happy he hasn't asked to eat any of it. I wish I was content just playing with candy and not eating it! Anyone who knows me knows my love of candy! Maybe I could loose the rest of this baby weight if I didn't like sweets so much!! Alayna did well too. She made it to a couple houses, but then started getting a little fussy. I put her in the sling and she calmed right down! I love slings!!! Someday maybe I'll share what I love so much about slings!! Hope you all had a good Halloween! Enjoy the pics!

The Two Sweet Pumpkins!

Happy Halloween! I am going to have the sweetest Halloween with my two little pumpkins! Last night we carved our pumpkin so that we could enjoy it all day. Daniel had a lot of fun cleaning out the pumpkin. We were wondering how he would react since he doesn't like "yucky" stuff on his hands but he did a great job! He was very enthusiastic at first, but then lost interest and just wanted to play, so Brian and I finished it up. I made some hot apple cider and roasted the pumpkin seeds. One batch was the typical salted variety and the other batch was made with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Yummy! Those are Brian's favorites. Tonight we will watch It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and then go trick-or-treating at a few neighbors homes. We will go early to hopefully miss any scary costumes! He'll have fun giving away the candy tonight too! On Sunday our church had Trunk-or-Treat where the small groups decorate a car with a theme and a game for the children. Daniel had fun playing the games and getting candy. He doesn't know that you are supposed to eat the candy. He just likes to play with it in his little pumpkin! It is so cute! I just really don't want to introduce candy just yet. He is totally fine without it! I am sure it will come soon enough. But he is excited to dress up in his pumpkin outfit! He looks so cute! Alayna is wearing a pumpkin sleeper with a little orange hat with a stem. My two little pumpkins! So cute!! Probably the only Halloween I will be able to dress them alike! Kids are so fun!!!

First football game

Daniel and Alayna went to their first football game today. Brian's new group at work went to the Clemson game today. We were trying to decide if we should take Daniel or not, but decided that he would probably enjoy it. People down here are fanatical about Clemson, so we thought we would see what all the hype is about. Well, getting us all packed and there was no small feat. We arrived well before the game started, but by the time diapers were changed multiple times and Alayna was fed, we didn't arrive in the stadium until partway into the 1st quarter. Our seats were just about in the last row of the stadium, so our legs were burning by the time we reached our seats! Daniel did quite well. It was so hot; not my idea of football weather, but he was a trooper! It was so cute watching him try to use the binoculars! He also kept saying that he wanted to go down and play football with the players! Alayna was very content attached to me in the sling. I love baby wearing! I wish I would have known more about it when Daniel was an infant! Overall, it was a nice family outing. It was very strange though going to a game for a team of which I am not a fan. I could have tolerated the heat if it was an OSU game, but not a sea of orange.... It did however cause me to miss college just a bit. I all of a sudden felt a little old going to a college game with two children! :-)

First Blog

So this is my first blog... we'll see how this goes! The intended purpose of this blog is to keep family and friends updated on the happenings with our family, especially the kids! I am terrible at e-mailing everyone, so maybe this will help. Perhaps I will figure out how to post pictures as well!