Pictures and tidbits!

The boys enjoying apple cider after decorating their trees.

They also had ccokies they helped make during tree decorating.

This is not a great picture, but. . . Cody received 2 perfect scores on his SOL's last year. They have a small program for all those who score at least one perfect score. It is a very hard feat and we are extremely proud of him!! Way to go, Cody.

Keegan is making a project at school for Christmas. As you can see he is quite intent on working. It turned out to be a cute little wreath. Great job, Keegan.

We have in the past bought 3 trees--one for each boy. This year, we bought 2 and they paired up. Since living here in Spotsy, we visit Belmont Tree Farm to cut our trees down. It is a nice experience and the kids look forward to it each year. They each spent time decorating their trees (Cody did his alone as Chloe had other ideas of what to do.) Chloe entertained herself with the countdown to Christmas house. Jonathan and the kids pose in front of the lake at the tree farm.

Our church, Pillar, attended the sleigh ride event in Dumfries. It was not at all what we expected, but the kids had fun. It was EXTREMELY cold!! All the kids had a pony ride except for Chloe who screamed when we tried to put her on the pony. They were able to feed the animals and play on the different things.

Christmas video starring the kids

This is really cute of the kiddos!! Click below and check it out!! Let us know what you think:)
Be patient, it does take a minute to load, but it is well worth it!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1318218565

Thanksgiving 2007

We celebrated Thansgiving several times this year. We ate turkey at the beginning of November with my sister and Matt. Then, we spent the actual day of Thanksgiving with friends. The Friday afterwards, we began our Thanksgiving tour of food!! We ate the ever famous shrimp at my dad's Friday night. My brother, Marvin, was actually there. This is the first time we have seem him in over a year. He met Chloe for the first time and she fell for him quickly. We had loads of fun hanging out with him and daddy.

The next morning we traveled to Kinston to Nana Jo and Granddaddy's house. All the family (minus Cindy and crew who we missed very much) gathered around. It is lots of fun to see everyone and it always gets a bit loud. All the kids and men had a wonderful game of football. I don't know about the others, but Jonathan was very sore. Is there an age limit for this tradition??? We ate and ate and ate and talked and ate and . . . do you see a pattern here? That evening we headed home and besides Jonathan, all of us were out by 7:00. We were very tired.

I took lots of pictures and I hope you enjoy the slide show.

Photo shoot

Our wonderful friend, Jennifer Clifton, has recently begun photo shoots. She has a great eye for seeing things in her camera and enjoys taking pictures. Last week, Chloe had her first photo shoot. We were not really sure how well she would do since we had a busy day and she had a late nap, but as you can see, she's a natural. Next project: ALL 4 kiddos:))) Wish us good luck!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving today. Our family and several church families gathered today at the Clifton's house to celebrate together. There was tons of food, football, and fun!! The kids played a very rough football game that they enjoyed while we all watched in fear of who was going to get hurt. Thank goodness nobody did. Then, everyone headed inside to watch football on TV (and eat some more). The kids also enjoed making Indian necklaces that they wore with pride. Before the day ended, we again stuffed ourselves and all seemed ready for bed. We had a great time hanging out with everyone.

When we returned home, the boys made turkey cookies. They iced the cookies and used different candies to create with. Jonathan even joined in on the fun and made a different looking turkey. Chloe fell asleep on the way home and never even woke when we put her to bed so she missed out on the fun.

Tomorrow, we head to NC to papa's house for some shrimp. We look forward to this meal all year. Saturday morning, we will head to Nana Jo and Granddaddy's house for more food. It seems to be a trend that we celebrate all events for several days. This seems to be a good thing for all of us and you won't hear us complaining.

Catching up

Life has been busy as usual:) We are all working hard both at our jobs and at school. Cody made the Honor Roll for this 9 weeks and has enjoyed learning all about Albert Einstein. Keegan is having a wonderful year. He is doing much better in school and earned a white ribbon for AR this week. Kale has taken off in reading and reads without being told. We are very proud of all 3 boys and their excitement about school. Chloe continues to do well with Mrs. Bonnie. She repeats pretty much everything anyone says and completely understands everything we say. Chloe seems to have been with us forever and has so many characteristics of us all that without looking at her, you'd think I actually gave birth to her:)

Chloe really likes her new hat!

Family picture at the telescope place. Can you see the snow at our feet?

Posing in the caves with our hard hats.

Group shot after leaving the caves.

Last weekend, we headed to West Virginia with the Pelts. This was the second time around and just as much fun. We had both added an extra child to our families so again we had to rent a ride and we also stayed in 2 cabins this time. The Pelts has warned us several times that Jillian is a bad rider. Well, let's just say--NOT!!! She did great and hardly made a peep so I am not sure what they were talking about. We visited a telescope station and then went to some caverns. The boys really enjoyed exploring the caves and looking at bats. We had a wonderful time in West Virginia and hanging out with friends. Ready for next year????

Apple Orchard PIctures

Here are the pictures from our trip to pick apples. I blogged it back for September, but never added pictures and I realized there were some really cute ones, so here they are:))

Mountain trip with grandparents

The last weekend in October, Jonathan's parents came for a visit. We decided to head to the mountains to see all the beauty and have some fun. We were not sure how it would go since it had rain so much for the few days before, but it turned out to be a beautiful day! We went to to Sky Meadows first since they had some events going on. When we first arrived, the events were not happening so we went hiking. Of course, we picked the shortest hike which all so happened to be pretty much straight up. We all made it to different points up each seeing a breath taking view. When we made it back down, we went to the old kitchen to see some different items being made with apples. The boys really enjoyed this and Chloe just enjoyed eating some apples. There was also an old sort of barn and they were able to climb up and see into the loft. Next, we headed to Skyline Drive to see all the leaves and views. As you can see from the pictures, it was gorgeous. It was fun to stop and see the different views. We had a wonderful time and were all very tired by the time we arrived home.

Just a side note. . .For some reason I had blogged awhile back about a trip to Maryland and not published it. I realized it tonight and published.

Chloe's party

We had her party on October 26 with Nana Jo, Granddaddy, and a few friends at the local Burger King. (Yes, this is the same BK where she knocked her tooth out:) Chloe enjoyed playing in the playland with her friends. We had supper, then cake, and last presents. She enjoyed her first cake which was a pumpkin. Opening presents is all new to her, but lucky for her she has 3 big brothers willing to help show her the ropes. She will enjoy playing with her My Little Ponies as well as wearing the cool new outfit. Ater the fun, we returned home for more presents. Nana Jo and Granddaddy had more for her to open. This time, she really for into the spirit of it. She was VERY excited to get a shopping cart with food and a stroller with a baby doll. She pushes the shopping cart around constantly and talks all about the food.

Today, we headed to my sisters in Maryland and once again celebrated her birthday (as well as Thanksgiving and my dad's birthday). She has totally gotten the opening gifts routine down now. The horse and pink Dora truck were quite fun to play with. Of course, chocolate cake made the deal even sweeter. Aunt Wee Wee had even fixed Chloe her own small birthday cake to enjoy. So, I'm guessing she's going to think her birthday is just a several week affair!!