14 Years Together!

Steven and I started dating 14 years ago! We dated for six years and we have been married for eight years. It has been a wonderful journey, and I'm so thankful for the time we have had together. We celebrated our dating anniversary by taking a trip to Asheville, North Carolina. We headed up on Friday night and came back Sunday morning. While there we toured the Biltmore estate, ate at Biltmore's Stable Cafe and leisurely walked through downtown Asheville. Mochas, chocolates, pizza and ice cream were some of our yummy sustenance during the trip. It was a wonderful time to rest, reconnect, have deep and long conversations, and enjoy each other's company. We truly have grown up together over the past 14 years and are still best friends. It's been a great adventure, and we're thankful that we have been able to share it with each other.

Fun times together!

Elise and Isaac have had some great adventures over the past week! They've played trains together, taken a ride on the Santa Train in Spencer, and played in the fountain at the mall. Here are some pictures I got on my phone of these special times...

Christmas interviews...

Here are sheets that Isaac and Elise brought home from preschool this past week...

Excited about Christmas!!

Elise made this shirt in preschool with her hand and footprints! How cute!!

Warm December Days...

We have been having unseasonably warm
weather around here for the past few days and the kids and I have really taken advantage of it! We have gone to a local church where the kids can ride their bikes in the parking lot and play on the playground. Here are some pictures from our grand adventures over the past couple of days:

Operation Christmas Child 2012

A couple weeks ago, the kids and I went to the Dollar Store to get some goodies for our Operation Christmas Child boxes.  The kids picked almost everything out themselves.  I'm not sure they quite understood that all the toys were really for other kids until we actually dropped the boxes off at the Lifeway store!

Putting the boxes together:

Isaac's box, for a little boy:

Elise's box, for a little girl:

Ready for drop-off!

We are thankful to be able to participate in such a wonderful family activity for an awesome ministry to kids around the world.

Reading lessons for Isaac...

Steven has been working with Isaac on his writing and sounding out words.  Here are some words he recently wrote on our chalkboard after Steven asked him to sound them out and write them.

Soccer game fun!

These pictures are from an early November soccer game, where Isaac played for the first quarter of the game.

Fun at Monkey Joe's

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we took the kids to Monkey Joe's. They had a blast playing on all the big slides and bounce houses.

Here are some pictures of their fun!

Black Friday Shopping...

Isaac's 5th Birthday!

We had a wonderful day celebrating Isaac's fifth birthday!  Here is our little man right after waking up on his first day of being five years old:



His special day started out with a bike ride with Gramps on Isaac's new 16 inch bike!  He's practiced riding his new bike each day this week.  On Sunday he needed help getting on and off of the bike, but by Monday, he was able to do all of that on his own!

After his bike ride with Gramps, we went to have lunch out with Steven, near his work.  Isaac chose Moe's as the restaurant for his birthday.  We all enjoyed our nachos, quesadillas, salad, and of course, chips and queso!

Then, we headed to pick my mom up, and we went to Discovery Place Kids for a bit!  Isaac had lots of fun on the tractor and the fire truck.  He enjoys sitting in the driver's seat and pretending to drive these huge vehicles.

Since it was such a beautiful day, we spent the rest of the afternoon at two parks in the area.  North Mecklenburg Park, which we've visited several times... and another park on Sherwood Lane that we'd recently learned about.  Isaac and Elise both enjoyed climbing the rope and coming back down.

The evening ended with homemade pizza, cake, and ice cream.  And a couple of presents (in addition to the ones he'd received at his party on Sunday.)  He got a Imaginext airplane and a Discovery Toys Race Car/Submarine building kit.  

It was an awesome day celebrating an awesome boy!

We love you Isaac Ryan!  We treasure the five years we've had with you, and we look forward to the fun adventures the future holds for your precious life!

Isaac's Family Birthday Party!

On the Sunday before his birthday, we had my parents, Kati, and Ray over for a hot dog lunch and birthday celebration for Isaac!  We had a great time!  

Here are some pictures from our time together...

Eating yummy grilled hot dogs:

Opening presents!

Isaac got his first Lego kit from Kati and Ray!

And a couple of remote control cars!  (One from my parents and one from Steven and me.)

Steven and Isaac, testing out the race car from Mommy and Daddy:

Ba and Isaac, testing out the remote controlled car from Ba and Nana (which can also be controlled by an iPad or iPhone!)

And his big surprise from Gramps and Nana - a 16 inch bike!

Cake time!  Isaac asked that we please not sing to him.  We honored his wishes and he had plenty of fun blowing out the candles!

Thankful for this little man!

Daddy and Isaac putting his Lego kit together.  He LOVED it!

Isaac (and all of us) had a blast!  We love birthday fun!