Early Christmas and 2 Special Birthdays in NC

Keith and I went to NC for an early Christmas and birthday celebrations, because we are spending Christmas with his family this year. It was great spending time with Nana, Papa and my sister Tara and her family! We celebrated an early 1st birthday for Samantha and Dad's 60th! We will miss them SO much over Christmas, but felt so blessed to have this time.

Nana and my little Diva - yes, I know this kid wears a lot of different hats and headbands --heck, why not until she begins fighting me! ;)


I love this picture - what a sweet moment.

"Mom, seriously!"

After MANY shots, we finally got a few pictures where everyone is looking at the camera. Whew, that is a challenge. :)

Our little snow bunny

Showing off her 1st birthday outfit. Thanks to my friend Kendra for making her adorable tutu!

Dani and Grace were there to help Samantha celebrate.

"Up there" -- Samantha favorite thing is to point - now usually nobody is sure what at, but it is cute nonetheless. ;)

Typical Sami - God help you if you wear glasses in her presence. Sorry Dani! :)

YUM!!! She LOVED the icing, but could have done without the cake (Tara -- she must get that from you! :) )

Happy 60th birthday Daddy! What a year to celebrate God's blessings, after the scare we had around this time last year.

Great to get some sister time - I miss both of my sisters SO much! I just wish Tia and her family could have been here too.

Looking good Daddy - 60 is just a number!

Thanks everyone for making our early Christmas and the birthdays SO special! Thank you Nana for putting together an amazing birthday party for Samantha -- it meant so much to us!

I loved waking up to you all - having coffee with my parents in the morning, going out shopping, hanging out with the neighborhood ladies at the PartyLite party, seeing Dani be a reindeer in her school play, and just soaking up every minute I had to laugh and be in your presence. I am so blessed to have such an amazing family and Samantha is so blessed to be surrounded by so much love!

I love and miss you all. Have a Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving with Friends

This year we couldn't go see family, which we missed dearly! So, since we could visit my sister's family in CO, we decided to spend Thanksgiving with our dear friends, Heather, Freddie and their family. We split up the food and had a feast - including a 20lb turkey (yes, I know), various delicious sides, pumpkin and banana cream pies. yum. Why so much food -- why not!! ;)

While nothing replaces family, it is nice to have such special friends to share the holiday with. We just adore this family and got to meet another wonderful friend of theirs, Wei.

Instead of taking the pictures myself, I put my camera in the trusty hands of Heather's oldest, Kaitlyn. So here is the evening through her eyes. And to be honest, I think it captures the evening better than I ever could. :)

Kaitlyn - the girl behind the camera! :)

No, I am not sleeping on the job, but rather being climbed on by my daughter!


Keith - stop trying to scare the children. hehe

This is an intense competition of Mario Cart on Wiii.

No makeup and a whole lot of food -- so be nice!

Porter even got in on the Wiii action.

Heather - aka - "Super Mom." I keep asking her to write a book. ;) Seriously, one of the sweetest people I know.

Freddie - finally giving in after being chased by Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn - what a goof! :)

Sadie - tons of cute poses in her arsenal

Okay Keith might kill me for posting this - so it might be a limited time viewing.... here is Keith doing the Hula-hoop on the Wiii that night. At least I didn't post it with a suggestive title, like my brother in law Brian did of Tara. tsk, tsk. :) However, I am not above blogging it and laughing at my dear husband's crazy hips - it is like the beast has been unleashed. (I do love you bunches hun!)

Weekend with the Newbroughs

In early November we went to WV to see Keith's family and to celebrate a belated birthday with his dad, Ken. Logan surprised everyone by coming in that weekend to see Keith and his family. No one knew that he was coming - including his parents - but what a wonderful surprise it made!

Here are the 3 Musketeers - Keith, Logan and Randy - hanging out. It is always nice to seeing them bonding - despite the grotesque humor and football marathon that often accompanies these get-togethers. ;)


For bath time, we took over Ken and Karen's sink. Samantha still loves bath time and now that she is coupling that with brushing her teeth (okay, sucking on the brush and eating off the toothpaste) she really is starting to look like a big girl.

Ken was suckered into buying a moving/barking pup for Samantha that she was enamored with at the mall. She is still fascinated by it, but I think she enjoys Sadie freaking out about it as much as anything.

"How do you get this thing to shut-up, Mama?"

Looking sweet together, but this was just mere moments before she had a diaper blowout that Keith and his mother were left to deal with while I was at a craft fair that day. Keith told his mother to let it wait for me - yes, he truly said that - but when they did change it, it was SO bad that we even had to clean that area of the carpet -- ewww. However, what this does show is how much my husband avoids diaper changes -- just wait till #2 dear Keith, for your avoidance will have to end. ;)

Of course, I put her in one of her many head-bands before we headed out to Red Lobster for Ken's birthday. I swear it looks like she is posing -- do I really take that many pics of her. :)

Haley and Samantha

Ken & Karen

Too many cameras flashing - I swear we all looked at a different one. :)

Vicki and Randy

Sadly, we didn't get to see Tammie, Mackenzie, Mallory or Jeff. Mallory couldn't make it home from college and Tammie was home with the flu - thus, meaning she was kept from coming to visit. Sorry Kenzie -- you can slather her with kisses and hugs over Christmas. We sure did miss seeing you guys, though.

Thanks everyone for a great weekend!