It's beginning to look like Christmas

This past week the kids had their Christmas concert at school. M was so excited to be a part of it this year. She has watched her brother perform the last few years and finally she is old enough to take part in it. They both did wonderfully and the show was enjoyable - not just our kids but the whole show. Here is a little sampling for you all!

Unstoppable!

Look who is moving now!

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, Zip-a-dee-ay

My, oh my, what a wonderful day! Plenty of sunshine headed our way - zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay! What a magical time we at had this past week at Disney World. We were lucky to be able to spend almost a week just playing down in Florida. While we were there, we also got to visit with J's sister. Nana and Gipa came down for the week too. It was wonderful.



This trip, we spent three days at Disney. One day at Magic Kingdom, one day at Disney Studios, and one day at Animal Kingdom. We did have some cold weather and rain but overall it was great. The kids all enjoyed our time there and loved just about everything. I think in the end, the favorite was still Magic Kingdom. Our kids are still young enough to be just giddy about the Disney Magic. The princesses were a huge hit, as were the rides. What a fun time!

At Disney Studios...
The big kids loved The Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Rollercoaster

Playing in front of Cinderella's Castle

Dumbo! Little C just kept saying "my turn again!" She loved it!

More fun rides!


Our little parade magnet. Once we took the baby out of the stroller, we got a lot of action!

After a rainy morning at Animal Kingdom

Cinderella! Need I say more?

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

One of my favorite times of year is when we put up the Christmas tree. I just can't get enough of all that Christmas cheer - especially when the family is full of cheer too. We crank up the music and go to town turning our house into a Christmas wonderland. This year was a little bittersweet for me though. Knowing that we have the movers coming on the 28th of December caused me to think twice about all my decorations. In the end, I decided to forgo the garland on the stairs and some other of those extras, knowing that I did not want to take it all down the day after Christmas to get ready for the movers. But, even without it, we still had a great time getting our tree up and starting the Christmas season off right!

Dressing up or dressing the tree????

Christmas Joy!

The beauty in our tree comes from its mismatched imperfection. All of our ornaments were made by someone in the family(mostly at a young age), or are souvenirs and gifts. There is no rhyme or reason to our hodge podge Christmas Tree and I just love it that way! We get a new ornament on every family vacation. This makes putting the ornaments up a very fun event - it is a trip down memory lane every year.

Enjoying all our family ornaments.

So much to be thankful for...

We are so thankful for our family and our friends. We are have so many wonderful people that love us and support us as a family. We are truly blessed!

This Thanksgiving we headed to Nana and Gipa's house for a weekend of family fun. We have all been sick so we were not sure we were even going to make it this year. Everyone was still suffering a bit from a cold but we had a good weekend in spite of it all. We had our big Turkey Day dinner at Mimi and Papa's with all the extended family. The kids had a fun time hanging out with cousins and we had a nice time visiting. On Friday, Nana and Gipa took the kids so we could get some Christmas shopping done. It is always nice to spend some time shopping - especially without little ones in tow!

Gigi and the baby

Nana and the baby

Hanging out with Mimi

Falling behind...

This fall I seem to be falling behind in all sorts of things like updating our blog. It has been a few weeks again. We have been pretty busy with the usual daily activities that go with a family of six! The kids are gearing up for Thanksgiving break and very quickly after that comes Christmas. Where does the time go?

We have had our fair share of being sick this fall. Right now half the family is sick and the rest of us are hoping to stay well. We are planning to head to see family for Thanksgiving so I am hoping this flu bug does not put a wrench in our plans. We are all ready for some turkey, pumpkin pie, and of course a healthy dose of grandparents and cousins!

So, what have we been up to? A few weeks ago we had the baby dedicated at our church. It was a wonderful day. We were able to have grandparents as well as great grandparents in attendance which made the day extra special. As always, it is a great opportunity for us to share our faith and join together in praying for our littlest family member.

The sweetest baby enjoying her day.

The whole family after the service

A trip down memory lane

A few weeks ago, we went back to our alma mater for homecoming weekend. Grandma and Grandpa came to stay with the three oldest kids while we took the baby. We had a great time wandering around campus and visiting with friends. While we were wasting time together, we decided to take a few self portraits of some of our most important places. Enjoy our picture diary of a weekend remembering where it all began!

In front of the TKE house where we met.

Enjoying the quad. This is the building where we both lived the year we met.
In front of Post Hall - just another place I lived.


A favorite study spot in the library.
In front of the bowl...