Over the River and Through the Woods

When I was a kid and we moved to the house my parents live in now, one of the greatest things was exploring in the woods.   We lived on about 20 acres, most of its woods.  My brother, Ethan, and I, spent many hours wandering around and exploring new things.  There was a creek down the hill, and many other amazing and wonderful things to see and discover.  This afternoon we took the kids on a walk through the woods, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

Here my dad is showing Elise and Ian where some wild turkeys have been eating some of the corn he's thrown out.

Logan bravely climbed to the top of this brush pile and proclaimed himself king thereof. :)

And then my dad pointed out some animal tracks and some other interesting nature facts to the kids.  They LOVED it!  My dad knows so much stuff.  Its amazing. He's like a walking encyclopedia.

Once we got to a clearing, I let Paige get down a walk around a little.  She thought it was great.  She loved it so much she didn't want to be carried anymore.  Of course I had to, and she fussed and fought me all the way back to the house.

Cory is such a wonderful dad.  These two little girls are lucky to have him around.  He is so good to them. :)

Logan & Ian found sticks and had a mock duel.  At least I *think* it was a mock duel.  For the look on Ian's face, I'm not so sure...

Elise struck a pretty pose for the picture.  She even manages to look adorable on a walk in the woods.

We got back home and Merry Grace asked Grammy to push her on the tire swing.  She quickly decided she'd like Papa to give it a try.  I think he might push her just a tiny bit higher.

After we dropped Cory and the two little girls off at the house, the rest of us walked down to the creek.  This was a favorite place for Ethan & I to play.  Isn't it beautiful?

Even brave adventurers have time to stop and pose for a picture.  

When it was time to head back to the house, Ian really wanted to climb up the really steep hill instead of walk around the easier way.  So my dad, Ian, Elise and I all trekked up this impressive hill.  About three quarters of the way up, Ian lost his nerve and got scared.  Luckily, my dad saved the day and helped him make it back up.

How about this for a view from my parents house?  Not bad, eh?

Christmas Morning

Christmas always comes a couple of days early around our house.  We have serious connections to Santa Claus.  It was a good thing we'd planned to open presents early because I don't think the kids could have made it another day.  I was pretty sure that Ian was going to have a nervous breakdown somewhere around December 5th because he didn't think he could wait to open his presents.

We went Christmas caroling the night before, another one of our Christmas traditions.  The highlight for us was caroling to Ian's teacher assistant.  She lives in our neighborhood and lost her father to heart problems a week after Cory's dad passed away.  So we feel a connection to her on several different levels.  After our rendition of "Away in a Manger" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", she gave hugs to everyone with tears of gratitude in her eyes.  Her appreciation meant a lot to us and we enjoyed singing to her.  Cory's mom came back to our house after the caroling and spent the night so she could see the kids on Christmas morning.  Elise woke up at 5:30, but we managed to hold her off until a little later when everyone woke up.

We always start the present opening with the youngest child.  Paige's "big" present this year was this cute rocking horse.  She rides on a wooden one at Cory's mom's house all the time, so we thought this would be a sure-fire hit.  We couldn't have been more wrong.  She's terrified of it.  This is the only picture we have of her on it and she's in the process of launching herself off the side of it.  Apparently the fur is really scary.  Not to mention the cute sounds it makes when you press its ear.  Also scary.  We hope after seeing it around the house for a while, she'll get used to it.  That has not yet happened.  We shall see.

We did get a cute picture of Ian riding the little pony, in hopes that that would ease Paige's fears.  It didn't.  But Ian sure looks cute.

I have no idea what she's opening, but Merry Grace is at that adorable age where each gift is magical.  This facial expression is priceless.  And we saw it with every gift.  So, so, so cute!!!

Elise opened a couple of wii games that she's been wanting for ages.  I think she was thrilled! :)  And honestly, I've enjoyed playing them as much as she has.  Love it when that happens.

We did manage to get one gift for Paige that she liked--this cute baby doll.  It makes a sound when it drinks his bottle and cries when you take it away.  She played with it through most of the present opening.

Again with the excited face.  Oh my.  Have I mentioned how cute this little sassy gal is?  Well, she is. :)  My favorite thing is that in the second picture she's opening a pair of corduroy pants.  Isn't it great that she can be so excited over a pair of pants?

Ian had a lot of Tarheel gear on his Christmas list this year.  A lot.  This is a pair of sunglasses with the tarheel logo on the side.  I think he was thrilled.

So I have to say that Christmas was a success this year.  We loved being together, sharing in some of our favorite traditions and feeling the love of our Savior in our hearts. Christmas was wonderful.  Just wonderful.

A Girl Needs Her Shoes

I can't tell you how much Paige loves wearing shoes.  She likes her own, but she LOVES someone else's.  Its not a bit uncommon to see her toddling around in Ian's camouflage sneakers or Merry Grace's sparkly Sunday shoes.  For someone who has only been walking a few short months, she manages to get around remarkably well in shoes that are six times her size.

Oh. My. Goodness.  How cute is she in those red high heels?!

These are her FAVORITE shoes to wear.  There is nothing cuter than seeing her clomp clomp down the hall in the heels. :)

What an outfit--pajama top, diaper & high heels.

And here she is in a pair of Merry Grace's shoes.  This is pretty much a daily occurrence around our house.  One day last week, when she was running a fever, she was so mad that I took her shoes off to go to bed.  She threw the biggest fit and since she was sick I just gave in and stuck the shoes back on her feet and let her sleep in them.  And that made all the difference.  Once they were back on her feet, she snuggled up and went to sleep.  Heaven help her future husband.  He'd better have a large shoe budget. :)

Seeing the Lights

We kept with our annual tradition of seeing the Meadow Christmas lights.  We all piled into cars and made the drive to see the lights and visit the candy store.  Apparently about 50,000 other people had the same idea and the place ended up being the most crowded we had ever seen it.

So we opted out of the train ride and just grabbed some candy and visited for a little bit before heading home.    Fortunately, the only thing we really care about is being together, so that was fine with us. :)  Cory's dad was forefront in our minds, as this was something he loved doing each year and Joan bought a bag of the orange slices in his honor.  Ian promised to help her eat them, as they are one of his favorites too.

Look at these sweet girls: Lisy, Emmy, Aunt Amanda, Parker, & Ally

Charles Allen was kind enough to stop munching on his white chocolate pretzels just long enough for me to snap a picture of his cute little self.

Cory's sweet smile--while those two little ladies share a lollipop.  I think Merry Grace was making Paigie earn her lick. :)

Ian, dressed in as much Tarheel gear as he could manage, also chose a Carolina Blue lollipop.

Kyleigh is just a cutie. :)

Over Thanksgiving, all our families passed around a stomach bug to each other.  This holiday was a fever that most of the younger kids shared from one to another.  Several of the little ones started running a fever during the night or the next morning after this family outing.  I'm sure tasting one another's lollipops had nothing to do with it. :)  Hey, I guess we just like to share a lot in this family...germs included.  Regardless, it was lots of fun.

Clean-up Time

Wouldn't you just love to clean up this little darlin' after every single meal, every day?  Oh, what a mess she makes, every single time!  But would you just look at that sweet face?  How could you not love doing it?

I did get a break after this meal, though.  My sweet Daddy graciously volunteered to clean her up, bless his heart.  Don't you just want to give that face a big ol' smooch--spaghetti sauce and all?  I know I do! :)

Well Loved

Paige is spoiled rotten.  Completely rotten.  If its not done by Cory or I, its her siblings, her cousins or her grandparents.  But we live in a state of denial around here and instead of thinking of her as spoiled, we just say she's well loved.

And as you can see, there's not a thing wrong with that.

(Can I just say, that this might be one of my favorite pictures of all time?)

Choco-holic

This is a girl after my own heart.  She definitely inherited my love for chocolate.  I wonder if it had anything to do with the mounds of chocolate I craved while I was pregnant with her...One night Cory had brought me home a huge, yummy caramel chocolate bar.  I didn't eat it all that night and left it out somewhere.  The next morning I found this little imp helping herself to my leftovers.

Although she couldn't say the words, I'm pretty sure she was telling me to go find my own candy bar.  She was not handing this one over.  Not that I would have wanted quite so much slobber with mine.  That's a little more "sugar" than I usually like to have. :)

My Little Chefs

When my brothers and I were little, we loved it when my mom would clean out her cabinets and give us her old food to make experiments with.  I do the same thing with my kids and they have just as good a time as I did when I was little.

The only difference seems to be that I thought I was making experiments, where as my kids think they are cooking.  Oh my, they can whip up some "tasty" stuff.  The worst was one time I had a couple of old jars of pickles.  I took one whiff of that concoction and thought I was going to lose my lunch,  Luckily, this time wasn't so bad and I pretended to eat their yummy meal.

Face Painting

One day the older kids decided it would be a good idea to paint their faces with dark reddish brown lipstick.  What gave them the impression that this would be fun, is beyond me.  It was quite a challenge to get their faces clean and shiny without getting any on their precious tarheel shirts--one that we succeeded in, I might say--but not without some work.

You know you've got it good if you can still look cute with this much goop on your face.  And as you can see, they all still look cute. :)

Forgotten Memories

The other weekend we were at my parent's house and my mom has one of those digital photo frames that rotates through a selected group of pictures.  I happened to glance over and see a picture of Ian and Elise with these giant lollipops.

It was such a strange moment, because I had totally forgotten about that day.  We'd gone up on the parkway or  up in the mountains...for what I can't exactly remember.  It seems like it was for apples.  Anyway, on the way back to my parents house we stopped at this little convenience store/produce stand and Cory took the kids in.  When they came out, he'd gotten both of them these giant lollipops.  The kids thought they were the greatest things ever and I remember Cory saying, "I spent $10 on suckers that they're going to only eat a fraction of and make a sticky mess of everything.  But they've been so good on this trip, I just couldn't tell them 'No'."  And my mom got her camera out and said, "That's true, but just think of it as a $10 memory."  And she snapped that picture of the two of them in the backseat with the lollipops.  When I saw the picture, the events of that day that were insignificant in a lot of ways, came flooding back, triggered by that one photograph.  It made me wish I could remember everything my kids do.  Well, let me rephrase that.  Not every single thing.  I really have no desire to relive the stomach bugs or wiping poopy bums and probably a few other things as well.  But those sweet, little, seemingly insignificant moments.  I wish I could remember them all.  I hope one day, my memory will be restored and I'll be able to remember all those little moments that I treasure, but that my mind just cannot hold.  Until then, I hope I've taken enough photos to help me remember.

Until We Meet

Cory's dad passed away the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  This is the first loss of a parent for either of us.  In fact, between the two of us, three of our grandmothers are still living--with two of them being 89 years old.  His passing wasn't completely unexpected.  He had had heart problems for many years and this last year had really taken a toll on him.  I wonder if any of us knew how much he suffered the last little bit.  But even having said that, I don't think anyone was ready to say good-bye.  There would never come a time, no matter how much time we had, that we would ever be "ready" for this kind of parting.  However, I feel that there were so many tender mercies witnessed throughout this ordeal--too many to name and some too personal to share.  The blessing that has come from this experience for our family, is a deeper appreciation for our Savior, who made it possible for families to be together again.  We have a more personal understanding of the Plan of Salvation that I feel so grateful to know about.  And I think we have a greater desire to try harder to live better, so that one day we will be reunited, as a family.  Eternity just seems a little more personal.

There are many things I remember about Russell and the kind of man he was.  But when I see him in my mind's eye, I picture him as he was in this picture--happy, smiling and surrounded by a bunch of grandkids who adored him.  And we think about him everyday, especially when the kids run through the house belting out "I've got sixpence, Jolly jolly sixpence...".   We're starting a different chapter in our lives, just as he is starting a different chapter in his.  And while we miss him tremendously, we're anxiously awaiting the day when we will, indeed, meet again.  In the meantime, we hope he'll save us a spot. :)

Mission Prep

My sweet brother, Adam, has been living with us for about a year now, while he worked for Cory. We've loved, loved, loved having him here. In early November, he received his mission call and had nine days to get ready before entering the MTC.

The kids, clearly, are going to miss having a human jungle gym to play on and we're going to miss the company. But we're thrilled for him, all the same. :)

We tried to squeeze in as many things as we could during those nine days, starting with a family bowling night. My other brother, Ethan, and his wife, Lois live about 40 minutes away, so they came and bowled with us.

Everyone had a good time bowling. We put the bumpers up, which undoubtedly helped our scores. Even Merry Grace had a great time and was pretty good for a three year old.

As is evidenced by the fact that she got a spare!!!

Cory beat us all, but just barely. Adam and I only lost to him by two points. We'll get him next time. :)

The next night we went out as couples to the melting pot, for salads and chocolate fondue. There's Ethan & Lois, Adam & his sweetie, Meredith, and Cory. I'm (obviously) taking the picture. We had such fun and great laughs. Ethan keeps us entertained. :)

Over the weekend, a couple of family friends threw a going away party for Adam. They had a cookout and then a bonfire to roast marshmallows. Here are Adam with Meredith. She had already submitted her mission papers as well, and although she lives out west received her call while she was home for all the farewell festivities. She was able to open her call with her family around and we used the cookout as a chance to celebrate two missionaries. She'll be a mission medical specialist in Paraguay. Have I mentioned how much I love this girl? She's cute and adorable, as good as gold, and so much fun to be around. We couldn't be happier about these two getting together and can't wait to see what the future holds. My fingers are crossed. (Okay, so my toes are crossed too. :))

And here are Ethan & Lois at the cookout. They are so much fun! My brothers must be pretty smart, because they sure have chosen wonderful gals. :)

This is about the only way you can keep tabs on this little imp. She is into everything. Thank goodness Cory has strong shoulders. :)

The girls loved playing on the swing and riding toys and just being together with family.

For Ian, undoubtedly, the highlight was the large box of papers he got to burn in the fire. Oh, he was in heaven. We're just glad he didn't burn the place down.

Then, just a couple days later, we all met at the stake center for Adam to be set apart as a missionary. Here are the three brothers. What a handsome, funny group.

By the time the setting apart was over, a brief stop at McDonald's for ice cream, and the drive back to my parents house, it was already getting late. With some final packing left to do, we ended up not getting to bed until after midnight. That sure made 3am come awfully early. We decided that our little family would get up, tell him "good-bye" and then head for our house without stopping at the airport. We had family prayer, lots of hugs and then he was off. Of course, we didn't let him go off without some whooping and hollering. As they drove off in the van we yelled, "Hurrah for Israel!", a handful of top-of-the-lung "Wahoos!!!" and a good amount of laying on the horn. Yes, we sent him off in style.

So now he's been out for a couple of weeks and is really starting to catch the vision of missionary work. Hurrah!