Jane Ramsey's boo boo

JR tripped yesterday and fell head first into the corner of a door.  Sweet girl had to get 7 stitches!  Look at that dirty face (took picture after eating a PB & J for lunch). 

Gingerbread House

Another successful attempt at our gingerbread house this year!  We certainly learned our lesson after that first year.  The kids had a fun time, worked well together, and managed to sneak a few candies (even thought I told them it was old since I bought the kit on clearance last year!).

Jane Ramsey's 1st dance recital

Jane Ramsey has completed her first dance class with a dance recital last weekend!  I consider it a success as she actually went out onto the stage!  She didn't do much dancing, more standing with her hands in her mouth and her eyes shut tight, but that's ok!  She looked cute.  I didn't get great pictures, but click on the dark one.   She is on the end, back turned!  I guess she was in mid pirouette (HA)!  She (and we were) was proud of herself and her flowers in the end.  That's all I can ask.

All decorated

We decorated our tree first thing this morning, at least after a cup of coffee.  The kids barely allowed us to do that!  They had the BEST time decorating.  Not sure why there is a shadow but this was a cute picture of the final product!

Christmas tree "store"

Tonight we headed to the Christmas Tree "store," as Drew coined it, to pick out our Christmas tree.  I really wanted to go cut one down in the mountains but we aren't able to this year.  We found a nice tree, on the skinny side, but nicely shaped!!  We look forward to decorating it in the morning!

Since I didn't blog any in November, I have some catching up to do.  I hope to do that soon.

Rocket's 1st Birthday

Rocket turned 1 today!  He is a fun dog to have around and great with the kids.  His latest trick is walking on the treadmill!  Nice for rainy days!! 

Happy Halloween!

Dance class

Jane Ramsey had her ballet open house on Thursday.  She has been very slow to warm up to dance from class to class and within each class.  Now, she will at least stand up and participate!  This last class that I was able to watch, I think was the best yet.  She really looks forward to her class each week but that doesn't always translate when the curtain goes up!  Oh, well.  She sure is cute!  Here are a few pics that show her progression...

 Ready in first position

 Well, maybe not....at least she is standing, she was sitting!

 Ok, this is fun! 

 PURE JOY!  Click on this picture to see if you can enlarge it to see her face.

That's my baby girl I love so much!

Happy Birthday, Jacob!

Jacob celebrated his big 3-5 yesterday!  Happy Birthday to the most incredible husband and Daddy!  10 years ago, yesterday, we were also engaged!  October 19th is a great day.

Lego KidsFest

My favorite spot at home...

Our front porch

My little ballerina...

or tree climber, take your pick!  Today Jane Ramsey had her first day of school, this afternoon she crashed on her bike, played baseball, and a climbed tree.  She had numereous incidents, besides falling off her bike, that invoked tears but she gets right up and keeps going.  She is fearless, sassy, and SO much fun.  Tomorrow, she starts ballet!  Hopefully she will learn some gracefulness!  Should be interesting...

Big man on campus

Ready!

Not looking too excited here!

Today was Drew's first day of 4 day, 4 year old preschool!  He has graduated to one of the upstairs classrooms and will be doing car pool now!  Where has time gone and how did my little boy get so big?!? 

Drew has a hard time with change but being able to go last week to meet his teachers, Ms. Jessica and Ms. Patti, exploring his new classroom, and talking a lot about it, Drew ran into the classroom and no tears were shed!  The first thing he said when I picked him up was, "I had so much fun!" 

I think this is going to be a huge year of growth for Drew!  I'm excited to see what is in store!

Happy 7th Birthday, Cate!

Cate turns 7 today! She woke up at 2:00 wondering if it was time to get up yet! She has been one eager beaver to open up her presents this year. Her "big" gift from us was an i-pod. This child LOVES music and audiobooks. She was hoping for one and she was not disappointed!

Too bad she had to go to school today, but I took in some cupcakes for her to share with her class. We will go to dinner tonight at our neighborhood pizza place and come home for some chocolate chip pound cake, her request!

Cate, we LOVE you so much. I am thankful that God gave you to us! You are a continual blessing to us and to many others.

Happy Day!

2nd grade!

Look how she's grown since first day of Kindergarten and 1st grade.

She was excited and nervous but much more confident walking into school today. Bittersweet feelings about school starting back!

New camera

Jacob gave me a NICE new camera for my birthday which I am LOVING. It is so I can capture these precious faces....
I love this picture of Drew. We've had a fun summer that is winding down! Cate starts school on Thursday. We spent another week at the beach with the Hwangs, played at the pool, attended the NoDa School of Arts productions of "Grease" and "Alice in Wonderland," and keep trying to check activities off our list of summer things to do. I'll try to add more pictures soon!

Lucy!

A few weeks ago, Faith, Sasha and Lucy came for several days. We had the best time! Over that weekend, we kept Lucy for a couple days while Faith and Sasha went to a wedding. We got several comments while out and about about having 4 kids! She was fun to have around and so agreeable! The kids loved having their cousin to play with! Wish we lived closer.

Knee Deep

"Wishing I was knee deep in the water somewhere

Got the blue sky breeze and it don't seem fair

Only worry in the world is the tide gonna get my chair

Sunrise there's a fire in the sky

Never been so happy

Never felt so high

And I think I might have found me my own paradise."

From "Knee Deep" by the Zac Brown Band (my new favorite)

Wishing we were back at the beach where all our "worries"/reality did seem to float away for that week! It was such a sweet time with the family. These are the last of our pictures from our time there!

Bodie Island Lighthouse