Easter Egg Hunt

Going into Easter, I was filled with mixed emotions. You see, this was our first Easter in Greenville. My first Easter not working since 1999. Our first family Easter away from Providence. And actually, our first Easter without a church home. We don't have a church home in Greenville yet, I don't know if it is from lack of trying or just plan still grieving and missing our Providence family. We are actively trying to find a church home, just nothing quite feels like it fits our family yet.

Since we don't have a church home, we decided to go visit the in-laws in High Point, NC. Their church had an Easter egg hunt for the little ones on Saturday morning. It was a beautiful day and the kids loved being at Grandmother and Granddaddy's church (not to mention how much they LOVED hunting Easter Eggs).

After the hunt, Grandmother had the kids all dye eggs and hide them around the yard for lots and lots of Easter Egg hunting. Ben's brother and his family came to visit also, making it a truly wonderful Easter weekend!

Henry

Sara searching for eggs

Emily and her basket

Henry walking with his Daddy

Grandmother and Granddaddy helping to sort the eggs!

Henry and Emily checking to see who got the better candy!

Emily, Sara and Henry

My little man

Sweet girls

We love Grandmother and Granddaddy!

Celebrating with cousin Ford

We went to Columbia for the last weekend in September and were able to share in Ford's birthday celebration! He is now 5 years old! I truly cannot believe that. The kids had so much fun playing with their BIG cousins and Mawmaw and Popa

Mawmaw with Henry

Poppa with Henry

Ellie helping Emily with her shoes

Sara and the blow up birthday cake

The girls swinging

Henry loves playing with his cousin Ford!

Houlie Cousins Visit

Yesterday, we had a wonderful visit from Grandmother and Granddaddy and the kids' cousins Elizabeth and Claire. Ben's parents had been to visit in Atlanta because Claire and Elizabeth's older brother Patrick is very sick.

He was admitted to the hospital in Atlanta on Thursday night and so far the doctors have not been able to determine the cause of Patrick's symptoms. He is very weak and can barely walk. His appetite is very low and he has had no energy for almost 4 weeks. They thought for awhile it was Lyme's disease because Patrick had several ticks on him, but all the tests for that have come back negative. Since in the hospital, he has had a cat scan and MRI, all which praise God have been negative.

Please join me in praying for God's healing presence with Patrick and that God will help the doctors determine a course of action to restore health to Patrick.

In order to allow Patrick's parents to be with him, Ben's parents are taking care of Claire and Elizabeth for a few days in High Point. We are grateful that they were able to stop by and visit with us despite the circumstances.

Claire, Emily and Grandmother

Cousin Claire

Elizabeth reads a book to Sara and Emily

Granddaddy reads a book to Elizabeth and Sara

Wish you could have heard him sing!!!

I tried to get a picture of all 5, but needless to say none turned out quite right.
Oh well!
Elizabeth with Emily on her lap, Henry and Sara on Claire's lap

Henry is getting so big

It is hard to imagine that my little boy is over 2 years old! He is doing so much these days. Henry thinks he is as big as the girls and in size he is! He weighs more than his sister and is barely an inch shorter that Sara. And I notice yesterday his feet are bigger than the girls!

These pictures were taken and Ben's parents. I thought they were so cute and really shows Henry's fun personality! He laughs all the time and is just a bundle of joy to have around.

We are so blessed with our 3 sweet, funny, energetic kids!

Annual Beach Trip

We went to Holden Beach for the week of Aug. 22-29, 2009. This is an annual tradition for the Cox crew. And the past two years we have stayed in the same house.
The weather was wonderful! Mid-80's almost every day and rain only on Friday!
Our days were filled with time on the beach looking for seashells, jumping the waves, walks with grandmother, playing in the sand, and puzzles.

Sara and Emily often woke up before everyone else and had their bathing suits on before breakfast. We spent the mornings on the beach, early afternoon resting and usually the twins and I hit the beach again before dinner.

Henry was not a huge fan of the water this year. He would only go near it if Mommy or Daddy were with him. But he loved the sand and playing under the cabana on the beach!

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