Easter

After our baskets, we headed to church for a wonderful service with some great music.  Then we had our traditional lunch at the Arwoods.  Lots of friends, family, another egg hunt and beautiful weather made for a great day.

Our Annual picture in front of the Arwoods bushes

The best I could get of all 3

Aniela and Mamaw

Checking to make sure it was one he wanted

Sammy found the one he wanted

Easter Morning

We woke up to find the Easter bunny had visited our house!  The kids were excited to find all the hidden eggs and open their baskets.  Aniela was quick to find the eggs but was nice enough to make sure Thomas got his share.  They each got new flashlights which was the hit of the day.

Craning to find every last egg

Excited

Sammy raced after them as fast as he could!

Sammy's favorite was the peeps ... just like his mommy

Egg Dying

We dyed our eggs the night before Easter.  The kids had a good time mixing the colors and seeing what the got.  They were even more excited that they got to eat them!

Easter Egg Hunt

On Sunday afternoon, our church had their Easter Egg Hunt. It was beautiful weather and the kids had a blast.  They have been practicing finding eggs for a couple of weeks now.

Thomas checking the egg to make sure it was something he wanted.

Aniela being quite serious about her egg hunting.

Stone and Aniela were a good team!

Excited about their treats!

Valentine's Day

My three loves ...

New Year's Trip

We headed to Emerald Isle to celebrate the New Year!  The weather couldn't have been better and we were on the beach (and some of us in the water :) every day.  Even though Sammy didn't sleep well, I wouldn't have wished to be anywhere else!  It was our 10th year ringing in the New Year with good friends at the beach.  We are so lucky to have them all in our lives! Kelley and Kim took a lot of great pictures which made it hard to narrow down.

First up, our customary walk on the beach.  Sam was snuggled in and ready to nap.

My big guy

Abby and Sidney were a big hit with the girls

 Getting chased down by the waves ....

the wave won!

 Digging is his passion...

much like his father :)

Sweet Sierra loving on her mom

Nick, Sterling and Chris created an awesome castle.  The picture doesn't do it justice.

Football was the other highlight of the trip

 

 

The girls jumping the waves

Nicole (8), Maddie (7), Aniela (4) and Grace (9)

I hope they are doing this same thing ten years from now!

(not a bad picture for an iPhone :)

 Sierra checking out Thomas

The whole crew out to dinner on New Year's Eve ... all 23 of us!

(minus Stone who wasn't in the picture taking mood)

 The kids countdown with sparkling cider

 Abby curled Aniela's hair and she loved it!

SAM!

Christmas Eve

We traveled to Pennsylvania for Christmas.  We had an easy ride and the kids were very cooperative.  But everyone was happy when we arrived.  Pia and Aniela picked up right were they left off and were best buds all weekend.  We had our annual hot dogs & marshmallows on the fire for Christmas Eve.

Sammy happy to be out of his carseat after 12 hours!

 

The girls ... Aniela, Tela, Pia, Mira and Eliza

 

 Been a long time since there have been 6 kids under the tree!

Paul, Mira, Aniela, Sam, Pia, Thomas

Setting out Santa's cookies and milk

Christmas Show

Aniela had her Christmas show at school and was a lamb this year. She looked so cute and was right up front singing along!

They all looked so cute from the Mary and Joseph to the angels, shepherds and animals!

The four little lambs

Holiday Express

We headed to Pullen Park Saturday night for the Holiday Express! They have spent the last two years renovating the park and it turned out great. There are a bunch of play spaces, the carousel and train have been fully restored and the new buildings are beautiful. We rode the carousel and the train and took in all the Christmas lights. It was a very cold but fun night! We ended the night at Gypsy's Shiny Dinner for a warm meal.

Sammy bundled up for the cold!

Waiting for the carousel (luckily it was heated in there!)

Riding the bunny

Enjoying the ride

Bundled up for the cold train ride