No More Blog :(

I've decided to stop this blog, for now. It takes way too long to upload the pictures, and I hardly ever write anything on here anyway. I'll post pictures on facebook now, for those of you who care to see how our family is growing :)

The boys called this box their "fortout" for a long time until I recycled it (Jake was devastated!)...they just piled blankets, pillows, toys, snacks into it and had so much fun.

We took the family to see a Thomas Live show to celebrate Jake's big milestone of not sucking his thumb anymore at all. It was a very hard habit for him to break and I'm so happy he finally did it! I didn't really get any good pictures from the day, but I think the boys had fun.

I often find Bradley sitting like this reading a book. He's so sweet! (most of the time)

We had several fun visits from GramE last month. The kids loved going to Discovery Place.

It was fun having all of the cousins in the van together :) We love Claire!!

notice Jake's cool shades

here's a picture where jake looks a little happier :)

snow

We've had a lot of snow this winter! Here are a few pics of sledding in a plastic bin on our driveway :) We were thankful to get to know several neighbors during the snow days though!! Jake now has a friend his age that lives right down the street.

Praying for Ansley

I just posted a link below to a friend's blog... we went to church with this family in Charleston and their youngest daughter, Ansley, was recently diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma. Another friend, Jenny Pruitt, sang this Laura Story song called "Make Something Beautiful" and I find it so touching...just wanted to share the link so you could listen to it too.

Praying for Ansley: make something beautiful

Praying for Ansley: make something beautiful: "here is an mp3 of our dear and very gifted friend, Jenny Pruitt, singing Make Something Beautiful, written by Laura Story."

Random

The boys playing with their Christmas Train...please excuse Jake's messy room. Hopefully we will get it all set up and decorated soon! I definitely underestimated how much time it would take to "feel settled" in our new house!

This was just another lesson to not leave the boys to play by themselves when they are totally quiet. I didn't check on them for a while because I thought they were playing so nicely together...but then when I went downstairs to check...I found that they had torn up a bunch of Styrofoam and scattered the tiny sticky pieces all over the carpet!

Bradley is wearing one of James' old Citadel sweatshirts (30 years old!)

We have been very busy with house projects! This kitchen floor catastrophe was one of the most time consuming...but it's done now and looks beautiful! :)

Our Christmas Tree Adventure

This is the first year that we have driven as a family to the mountains to a Cut-Your-Own Christmas Tree Farm. But then it started pouring snow, so we had to turn around. But first we stopped in a parking lot to let the kids play in the snow. They loved it! :)

We ended up going to Lowes again to get our tree this year. The boys were so excited! We also picked up their new playset in a box from Pop and Nana. The guys assembled the playset when Pop and Nana came to visit for Christmas. Our back yard is so much fun now.

last post of L.A. pics...

I am so frustrated with how to upload pictures on this blog! I finally figured out a way to easily mark pictures and then load them so that I can do more than 4 at a time, but I can't figure out how to get them in the correct order...aaahhh! Sorry that it makes our blog hard to follow. Alright, here are the last of the L.A. pics, in reverse order....

Bobby, Anna, James and I had a fun-filled night in Pasadena the night before we left to fly home. These pictures were taken before my run-in with the law :)

We spent one day in beautiful Santa Monica. Loved it!

I made a point to visit this Sprinkles Cupcakes store, but I was saving the cupcake to eat later that night....and when we got home, there were crumbs all over the counter because their cat ate my cupcake! :) Thanks for the recommendation though, Emily!

I think we were walking down Rodeo Drive right here.

I think this is the fastest car in the world? Tons of people were taking pictures of it, so I figured I should too!

Yummy lunch at Aroma Cafe

Beautiful view from Runyan Canyon

Bobby loves burritos :)

more L.A. pics

We had to pay $1 for this picture, but Jake was excited to see a real live Diego with his mom and dad!

We hiked Runyan Canyon and it was amazing! Great views and good exercise :)

almost to the top...

Sunny Los Angeles

James and I got to visit Bobby and Anna in L.A. for Thanksgiving. Thanks to Frank and Zoe for flying us out there and to Gramps and GramE for keeping the kids!! We had such a great time!

Thanks Bobby for being an awesome tour guide and Anna for planning lots of fun things to do :) We got coffee in Pasadena...

walked down Hollywood Blvd...

saw lots of characters, some wax and some real...

Thanksgiving 2010

Since we were all traveling for Thanksgiving this year, we celebrated early at Jon & Sarah's house with a wonderful Thanksgiving lunch. Thanks for making it, Sarah! The kids had fun playing under the table :)

Jake had a Thanksgiving Feast at his preschool. It was very crowded in his classroom with all the parents and siblings. So glad Daddy could join us!

Note to self: Don't try to drive to the mountains to cut your family's Christmas tree during a major snow storm! :)

James' 10 Year Citadel Reunion Weekend in Charleston

Daddy's Bridge! (James worked on the new Cooper River Bridge right after we got married for several years...see it way in the background?)

We had fun walking around downtown Charleston after a great reunion weekend with James' Citadel friends. Most of the guys from their company all stayed in beach houses on Folly Beach for the weekend. It was a little crazy with all of the kids now. :) We love going back to visit Charleston and it will always be a special place for us!