Christmas Pictures

Here is a collection of photos taken over Christmas. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

My silly boy

Here is my first attempt at a slideshow... if you click on the picture, it will take you to smilebox and play 10 photos of Henry. I just couldn't resist posting these one day embarrassing pictures of him. Since Saturday, I have had Henry all to myself while his sisters are spending time with grandparents. I think he needs a little male attention. Luckily, Daddy is coming home tomorrow night for a LONG weekend!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

H learns about Santa

On Saturday, we spent the day with my family celebrating Christmas. We all took a walk to the big rocks for pictures. Henry walked most of the way with his big cousin Witt. In this little video, Witt is telling Henry all about Santa and "lumps of coal". Too funny and so sweet!

Happy Birthday Sara and Emily

My twins turned 3 this past Saturday! I am truly amazed at how much they have grown and how quickly the time has gone. I cannot imagine a single day without being a mom to these two cuties!

For those of you who don't know, Sara and Emily were conceived naturally. In fact, I told my doctors, my family and friends that I thought I was having twins. And most people's response was "Oh, so cute, first time mom." It wasn't until my ultrasound at 18 weeks that I was proved right and we knew we were having twin girls!

I made it to week 37 before my placenta gave out and the doctors induced labor. I was induced on a Monday morning, but the twins did not come until the next day. So much for planning, we had hoped their birthday would be 12-12, but instead it is 12-13! Sara was born at 12:17pm and Emily came 7 minutes later. Both beautiful and I was in love at first sight!

They had to stay in the special care nursery for 10 days because they just didn't want to eat. Luckily, we were able to take them home on Dec. 23- a true Christmas celebration!

And now, three years later, I can barely remember how long those 10 days were when I was at home without my babies. I cannot imagine my home without their voices, laughter, tears, and screams. Their noises make my day complete and make me stop and say Thank You to God for these amazing blessing. Anyone who has witnessed a birth, be it their own or not, knows that a baby is truly a gift from God. And for some reason, God blessed our family with two at once!

Sara and Emily are the best of friends... they sleep in one twin bed together even though there are two in their room. They insist on sitting in one chair to eat supper some nights. They dress alike most days, thanks to mommy (and grandparents). They share toys, books and stuffed animals with each other. Most days they play well together and can usually resolve their own disagreements without any intervention.

There is an amazing bond between twins that is hard to explain in words. It is beautiful to watch and a joy to learn about!

Happy Birthday to my twin girls- Sara and Emily!

Age one- Christmas 2006

Spring 2007

August 2007

Spring 2008

Christmas 2008

The Baby Jesus

Sara and Emily have discovered our manger scene and love playing with all the pieces. The only problem is that there is only one baby Jesus and they both want to play with him. Emily was in tears last week because Sara wouldn't share the baby Jesus. It was sad, but also quite comical to hear the tears over wanting the baby Jesus!






It seems that the girls aren't the only ones who enjoy playing with the manger scene. Henry enjoys the pieces also, but insists on putting them in his mouth! Too bad I haven't caught that on film, but I found myself saying to him today "Henry, don't put the baby Jesus in your mouth." Not something you hear too often from a minister!

Christmas Pictures

I've been slack about blogging lately because we spent much of last week at home with a stomach bug. I did take pictures and some flip videos, but who wants to see us hanging out in our pajamas for a week?

So, here are some pictures I had taken at the beginning of December for Christmas cards. I took the kids to Portrait Innovations and was pleasantly surprised with how well the pictures turned out. They got all three kids smiling and sitting in the same place! Some of the pictures are too cute for words.

Enjoy!

Why we have no ornaments on the tree...

I can't keep any ornaments on my tree thanks to our cat Cali. Need I say anymore?

Friday's Thanksgiving Celebration

We went to Ben's parents house for Thanksgiving on Friday to celebrate with the family. Ben's sister and brother were both able to be there with there families. We attempted a family Christmas picture of our three kids with little success. I included a couple of those failed attempts here.

Ben's parents have a fantastic house and yard that begs for kids to explore and play. The girls had a blast playing with their cousins in the yard and climbing all around. The fire outside was a nice added touch to keep the grownups warm while they sat, sang and enjoyed the rare time together.

Another attempt at a picture was one of the 9 grandchildren. It was taken late in the afternoon and my kids just were not wanting to cooperate. But it still is nice to see all 9 grandchildren together and a couple of pictures with Grandmother and Granddaddy.

As you can tell, we had a great long Thanksgiving and it was spent as it should be- with family, enjoying good food and enjoying time with one another.

I hope each of you had a Happy Thanksgiving!Sara

The twins with some of their cousins

Henry

An attempt at a Christmas card picture

Take #2

S & H with daddy and cousin Elizabeth

9 grandkids

Grandkids with Grandmother and Granddaddy

Thanksgiving/Birthday in Columbia

Here are some pics of the kids at my parents house for Thanksgiving.

Henry in the rocker

Sara and Em

The birthday cake

Daddy and Henry

Waiting patiently for cake

Singing along

Now can we have some cake please?

Emily and the Jack in the Box

We visited Ben's parents on Friday for Thanksgiving and the girls discovered a Jack in the Box. Emily couldn't quite decide whether she likes it or not. Her facial expressions in this video say it all.

Early Birthday Song

As I mentioned in my last post, we celebrated the girls birthday with my parents and my sister's family over Thanksgiving. Their actually birthday isn't until Dec. 13 when they will be 3 years old, but we are celebrating already.

Here is the ice cream birthday cake that the girls loved because Mickey and Minnie Mouse were on top. They couldn't wait to get the topper off the cake.

Can you tell we are big fans of Mickey Mouse in our house?

My silly Em

On Thanksgiving Day, we celebrated the twins birthday early with my family so the cousins could all share in the celebration. Mawmaw and Papa gave each of the girls their very own Micky Mouse Clubhouse with lots of accessories. The girls absolutely love it and think that it is the best present. I have even caught them asleep hugging the big plastic Mickey Mouse head.

After opening their presents, I caught Emily on camera playing with the box... or should I say IN the box. Listen closely to her words, it cracks me up!

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I have so much to be thankful for. I asked the kids at church to think of their top ten things that are thankful for a few weeks ago, so I thought I would do the same. Here goes...

1. God- for the gift of life and for loving me even when I fail.
2. My husband who supports me, loves me, cares for me and is the best daddy to our kids.

3. My kids who keep me laughing, teach me and inspire me daily to be a better mother. They are truly gifts from God!
4. My parents and sister who have always encouraged me in everything I do.
5. My job in a church that allows me to be a minister and a mother. I am surrounded by amazing people who remind of God's presence everyday.
6. My home... I love my home- the layout, the size, the location. It suits all of our needs.
7. My friends... there are too many to name, but those who have known me throughout the good and bad times and who still love me for me.
8. I am thankful that my husband has a job that challenges him and uses his gifts and talents. And I am thankful that Greenville is only 2 hours away from us because he can still come home when he needs to.
9. It may seem trivial, but I am thankful for my Honda Odessey because it is safe, the three car seats fit perfectly, XM radio and a rear entertainment center for those long drives with the kids.
10. Food... especially Trader Joe's yummy frozen meals that keep me fed after the kids go to bed.

And I know I said 10 things, but one more...
11. Sleep... I love that my kids NOW sleep through the night since none of them did until they were one year old. I love that my cats curl up in bed with me and keep me toasty warm on these cold nights. And I love that I wake up in the middle of the night when one or both of my girls climbs in bed with me when daddy is gone.

So, there you go... just a few things that I am thankful for as I look forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with my family over the next few days.

I hope you all have a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving with those you love!

I'm flip crazy

Seriously... I love this thing. I can take quick little videos of the kids and post them or email them. I am not going to bore you all with the videos of the girls brushing their teeth or doing a puzzle, but I had to share this one! The angle is kind of crazy because as you may can tell, Henry knocks me over during the middle of it. But if you listen closely, you will hear Henry saying hello to Daddy, uh-oh, "I love you Daddy" and at the end leaning in for a kiss to Daddy.

We so miss our Daddy during the week!

wolfman

With three kids under the age of 3, it is often hard to find a place to go out to eat that the kids enjoy and is KID friendly. We have one place that we all love... Wolfman Pizza! It is our typical Sunday lunch after church if the kids have been good and Mommy and Daddy are filling up for an adventure. All three kids LOVE the breadsticks and pizza from there. And Mommy and Daddy can be pleased as well because they have great 8 inch pizzas and a variety of subs. My personal favorite is the white wolf pizza..."Garlic butter, mozzarella, gruyere and parmesan cheeses. Topped with roma tomatoes and fresh basil. " Yum!!! If you live in Charlotte and haven't had Wolfman, you should go try it. I can't wait to have my leftovers for lunch today. Here are the kiddos munching on some cheese pizza at Wolfman. Henry's face at the end is priceless! He really is starting to look more and more like Ben.

My new flip

Ben gave me an early Christmas present yesterday- A Flip mino! This little gadget is fabulous! It allows me to take short little videos of the kids and upload them quickly to the computer so I can send them to Ben. He gave it to me early so I can start sending little videos and updates to him more regularly. I think it is because he misses seeing the kids so much during the week. And we miss him too! Here is one of the first videos of the kids and Ben while he was home. Hopefully, I will get better at the filming...

Pajama Day!

We had pajama day at preschool last week. Here are the twins in their super cute, super comfy fleece pajamas. Sweet little girls!

He is all boy

I walked out of my bedroom and had to laugh at what I saw. Henry is truly all boy and loves to climb, wrestle and run. I snapped this adorable picture of him and you wouldn't know he was doing anything wrong, but look a little further and see where he was...

Yep, he is on top of a table!!!

Daddy's cookies

With Daddy out of town during the week, we thought we would make him some yummy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
Everyone helped!

Ant Bites- not for the weak!!!

I've been debating for some time on whether to post this or not, but since those who read this have asked how Emily is doing, I thought I would share. On Tuesday, October 14, Emily sat in a bed of fire ants at preschool. The teachers did not see the ant hill because it wasn't a hill. It was flat and spread out over a large area.

Poor girl had close to 200 bites on her torso. As you can most were on her back. By the time I got to the preschool, the teachers had gotten all the ants off and had covered her with a baking soda paste which helped. Thank goodness for my dear friend Vicki who remained calm and cared for Emily as if she were her own.

Emily did not have an allergic reaction to the ant bites this time. I have been told that if she gets bitten again by ants or stung by a bee that she could have an allergic reaction then. We are watching her closely as the ant bites are still not quite healed.

Throughout it all, Emily was a trooper. She says that the ants were loving her and giving her kisses, but that it was scary. Oh, my brave little one! Thank goodness that God was watching over her and protecting her.

Here are some pictures from the day and days after her ant bite attack!

Most of the bites were right at the underwear line or her lower back.

A side view the day after she was bitten.

Emily's back... doesn't it make you want to scratch just looking!

Here's Emily saying "I'm a brave girl."
And she is!!!

The Party

The Farm

We spent the weekend at my in-laws farm in Surry County. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a blast! We began the morning picking up walnuts in the yard. They all three loved filling the bucket.
We then went on a hay ride on the back of Granddaddy's tractor. We rode to see Gizmoe the donkey and lots of cows. Sara and Emily loved seeing the cows up close and wanted to pet them, but the cows wouldn't come quite close enough.
After lunch and naps, the kids enjoyed riding on Granddaddy's lawnmower. So much fun. We ended the day with a party at one of the cousin's places... I'll post those pictures next.

Enjoy the pictures of our day on the farm!