so much to be thankful for

 family portrait taken thanksgiving 2012

 leaf 'fight' with just jonas

 eme and luci buried in the leaves

 sisters-in-law

the newest members of the family enjoy the leaf pile

As we have done in recent years, we spent Thanksgiving Day at Heather, Jeff, Eme and Tyce's house.  The weather was gorgeous so some of us met up early to take a long walk at Shelly Lake.  Then we spent most of the daylight hours playing in the leaves before indulging in a huge feast, which gets better and better each year.

It's so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of day-to-day life and to lose sight of the things that are truly important.  I feel incredibly lucky to have such a loving family and to also have many friends who I consider an integral part of my loving family.  I'm so very thankful for my amazing husband and my two beautiful little girls.

random fall photos

buzz buzz buzz goes the honeybee

The girls dressed as a flower and a bumblebee for Halloween.  I thought for sure that Luci would refuse to wear the bee costume since it wasn't a princess dress, but she was all over it! We went to Jonas and Maggie's annual pumpkin carving party and Luci buzzed all around the land flapping her little bee wings and
really getting into character.  Both the bee and flower costumes worked out well providing cozy warmth on a rather chilly evening.  Trick or treating on Halloween night yielded an inordinate amount of candy.  We have enough to last through the year - especially since Luci seems as equally interested in sorting/organizing her stash as eating it.

carolina beach

 

for kai's birthday (i'm only a month behind!), we spent the weekend at carolina beach.  i love the beach in the Fall - the water was still warm enough for swimming and at night it was cool and crisp. our hotel room was right on the beach so we enjoyed great views and the sound of the ocean made for excellent background noise.  the girls loved playing in the sand , taking long walks on the beach and our trip to the aquarium. Taty joined us on this beach adventure, and was very helpful managing our two little crazies, even allowing Kai and I a dinner out at a nice nearby restaurant.  we took the ferry to Southport, where we enjoyed a nice seafood lunch, on the way home.

take me to the river

We finally made it down to Captain and Taty's River House for a fun and relaxing weekend filled with lots of kayak trips, good food and outside time.  The kids had a wonderful time and Jack enjoyed his many swims chasing us around the river.