Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours!

Special thanks to under grace photography for our family pictures!

Brrrrr

It's that time of year where it takes us about 15 minutes longer than usual to get out the door.

Due to all the extra padding it takes to keep warm.

At least they look cute all bundled up.

Bernard is thrilled to announce he is now a yellow belt.

So if you are a robber don't come to our house, or he will kung foo you.

Now that it's almost Christmas I'll post some thanksgiving pictures.

Better late than never.

Happy Fall!

This year we had a ninja, wonder woman, and a dalmatian. A little random but still cute. Gabbi went trick or treating with us in the cul-de-sac, then stayed behind with daddy to hand out candy. The big kids and I trick or treated with our neighbor Max and his mom, and it was a lot of fun. The kids were so excited and sweet. I didn't teach them any jokes before we left but I heard a funny little ditty by Bern. It went a little something like this: knock knock, who's there, bag, bag who, please put some candy in it?

Earlier in the day we took the kids to Daniel's, one of the local pumpkin patches. Highlights included petting the animals, running around in the mazes, swinging, train rides, grinding corn. Low lights included Gabbi eating the corn while playing in the corn bin, which resulted in some "issues" for her the next day. And Bern's hard head accidentally colliding with another boy's mouth in the maze, resulting in the boy losing a permanent tooth. Not cool at all.

Bad baby! Don't eat the corn!

Sometimes they drive me batty! Ha ha ha he he. Now we know where the boy gets his bad jokes from.

Gabbi and daddy horsing around.

Love her!

Good

Better

Best

Vacation

Last week Brian and I headed to Savannah to attend my friend Patti's wedding. Along the way we made stops in Nashville and Atlanta to visit friends, and spent a few days in Hilton Head to visit the ocean. It is never easy to leave your kids for a long period of time, but my mom did a great job with them and some alone time was much needed. We had a wonderful trip, full of good friends, food, quiet time, etc. Here are some pics from the beautiful wedding. A couple of the pics are small due to the fact that I am pirating them off my friend Jill's snapfish account.

The gorgeous bride and her groom. Is that not the most beautiful gown ever?

Grade school/high school friends Jill, Patti, myself, and Jacquelyn at the Friday night party.

On Sunday night we met our friends Hayli, Nathan, and BJ at passion city church and got to worship with Chris Tomlin and Louis Giglio, which was a very fun experience. We couldn't wait to get back home and see the monkeys, and now we are trying to get back into the swing of normal life again.

10 anniversary and Gabbi

So it's October and I blogged once in September. In my defense we were busy. But, I failed to commemorate our 10 anniversary, and there is no excuse for that my friends! Except to say I was actually celebrating our milestone rather than typing about it. We had a great day, and spent some time in wine country. In some ways it doesn't seem like 10 years have passed, and in other ways it has as I am feeling a bit ummm, older. I am so thankful for Brian, and that I found one of the best at such a young age. Let's face it, I was not looking for a husband at band camp! But, I needed him and God knew that, and I am very blessed.

In honor of our anniversary, I present to you a montage of Heather and Brian through the years:

San Francisco, we made some new friends.

Prom/homecoming fashions through the years. Pretty, huh?

I think this was within the first year or 2 of our marriage, we were vacationing in DC, and the Carolinas.

Our 1st Christmas tree.

College dress-up party.

One of Brian's office parties, classic.

Enough about us, how about our cute little bubble baby?

She's very adept at helping herself to snacks in the pantry.

Cheetos make her happy.

Tutu's do not.

She has also gotten good at stripping down in her crib, but at least she hasn't figured out how to get her diaper off.

Gabbi's 1st Steps!

Someone suprised us last night with some walking!

Looks like we're going shoe shopping soon!

Gabbi's Birthday

Gabbi turned one on the 15th! We had a great day, and started the morning with a little present opening. She liked the box better than the present.

She likes pushing the lids down, but hasn't mastered getting them up yet.

Later we had a little party for her.

We were excited because cousin Paige and Kyle were out from Rhode Island!

Kyle kept Bern very busy, or Bern kept Kyle busy, either way we didn't seem much of them the whole day.

Presents

Bella and cousin Elyse.

She wasn't so sure about the cake till I let her try some icing on my finger, then she was more than happy to destroy.

Happy birthday Gabbi, we love you!