Getting ready for Christmas!!

Clara is 2.5 years old in the top pictures!

Yes, they are both wearing princess shoes!

She loves Christmas, maybe even more than me. She has spent so much time making gifts for people this year!! 

This boy LOVES a good train!!! Robby & I are super excited this year because both of his brothers & their wives are coming in town for Christmas!! Yay! I think that's why I love the holidays, everyone is usually together & celebrating the birth of baby Jesus!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! This year was super fun!!! We did a lot of fun Thanksgiving activities & spent the whole week learning about the first thanksgiving & doing crafts with friends!!! Rhett & Valerie came in town & the entire week was perfect!!

Indian costumes & feast with Lillian :)

Great thanksgiving breakfast with friends!!

Lunch at my parents with Clara's favorite boys!!!

Love my Thomas!!!

Dinner at the Austin's :)

Black Friday shopping!!

And of course allergy free tree shopping with the Austin's!!!! 

Fall fun, field trips, & family time!!

We spent Robby's 32 birthday at Homestead Hollow & then had 3 big dinner nights! First, a date, then with family, & then with friends!! It was a great weekend!!

Clara was a rockstar ninja on the trampoline thingy!!

Every weekend we go on a family run! Clara loves it & is very good at running!! Plus she is super cute in running clothes! Next year she wants to run the kids Mercedes Marathon!

Oh how she makes me happy!!

Veterans Day parade with the best kiddos!

We took a field trip with friends to guntersville, AL to see the Nina & the Pinta! Clara loved it & so did Joseph! She found out that the Nina's real name was the Santa Clara.... She asked me why Christopher Columbus named his ship after her!! So cute!

Joseph's trip to the ER!

Joseph is my first baby to go to the ER! I'm not really positive how it happened, but I heard a loud thus from behind me as I was picking smooshed cheese puffs out of the rug! When I turned around Joseph was laying face down on the ground! He was bleeding something terrible, so I ran him to the bathroom, grabbed some steri-strips & pinched the cut together. After that, I cleaned us up, called Robby & my mom, & took the kids to Children's ER. J got 4 stitches & took it like a man! I was very proud of him!! Children's did a great job keeping him happy with toys & an iPad! Child life specialists rock!

Happy Halloween!

This is just a hodgepodge of pictures from all of the different Halloween activities we did this year! This is one of my favorite times of the year! The weather, costumes, fun & of course free candy!!! Aunt Audra Claire made Clara the beautiful Dorothy outfit & Joseph was a scarecrow! Another big milestone for Clara is that she had her first play date without mommy!! She got a great report & had a blast! I prayed that homeschooling Clara wouldn't make her feel socially awkward & so far, I am having a hard time keeping up with her social calendar!! Every day I feel like, right now, we are exactly where God wants us to be. I pray that my heart & mind will stay open to what the future brings! 

Camping trip!

We took our first camping trip last weekend! It was really great! The kids did wonderful! They would have spent the whole day in this tent if we hadn't made them play outside!!!

Clara really enjoyed hiking!

All of the children wanted to sleep in Melissa & Shaun's tent! I did too once I saw this mattress!

My sweet blue-eyed boy!

Hiking with my boy!

I love how her hands are on her hips

Robby & I have always loved hiking & being outside! This is our kind of adventure!!

Sticks!! Everywhere!!!

Sweet girls!

The camp fire was Clara's favorite!! She told ghost stories while we made s'mores!!!! I definitely want to make camping a frequent thing for my family! I love nature, the absence of most electronics & how it forces you to be still & spend quality bonding time together!!!