Family Night

Tonight we actually had a night together with the four of us with nothing really to do!! The decorations are up, tree is finished, laundry was caught up, the house was somewhat clean, Bo was in town..... so we got bathtime over with and enjoyed some time with the kids. I also wanted to start taking some pictures of them in some of their Christmas outfits. We will call this: Christmas pajamas #1. We took some pictures, played around and then we watched The Grinch and we gave them special surprise to have while watching the movie - the stuffed animal dogs from the Grinch. What a nice start to Christmas!


Christmas Pajamas #1

all of their ornaments are on the bottom of the tree

daddy and his girls

Emma playing

when they got their "prizes"

Emma watching the Grinch

Hannah Boo with her dog

Hannah watching the Grinch

getting sleepy

The rest of Sunday - crazy

The rest of our day:

• get tree in house
• unpack
• kids nap
• get tree decorations out of attic
• bo and i put lights and ribbon on tree
• i start to decorate tree
• get coats, hats, cups, etc. together to head out - again
• wake up kids
• get everyone changed, dressed and in car
• McDonalds drive through/eat in car
• Go to my cousin's house for his house illumination. My cousin does this every year and each year he adds more lights to his house. They also serve hot chocolate and cookies. A lot of people come to this and it is quite a hit. Emma LOVED it and Hannah wanted to run up to the house and prance around in all of the lights.

• everyone back in van
• go to Best Buy
• Bo buys me my Christmas present - a new Nikon camera - LOVE IT!!! I have wanted one for awhile!
• Back home
• unload van
• The kids and I finish decorating the tree with their ornaments. They were precious seeing all of their new ornaments and finding places on the tree. We had lots of Abby's, Elmo's, Barney's and Mickey/Minnie's to add to the tree this year.

Seeing their new ornaments for this year

Emma's Mickey and Minnie skating

Emma pointing to Hannah's Elmo ornament

Hannah helping

Hannah seeing one of her ornaments

both of them helping

"I do it" - Emma

• Bath, Snack, BED!!!!!!!!

WHAT A DAY!!! Would I change anything? Not at all. I love the craziness. Although I am exhausted, I am still up playing with my new camera and updating the blog! Do I really have to go back to work tomorrow?

Oh Christmas Tree!

On our way home today we stopped by the tree lot to get our Christmas tree! I was looking for a smaller tree than last year! I think we picked out a good one! Emma loved the blow up tree they had instead.

Thanksgiving Part 2

Friday morning we were packed and ready to go to Raleigh to be with Bo's family for the remainder of our Thanksgiving weekend. We had a wonderful time, especially with the four grandchildren all together. We managed to get some good pictures of the kids together. They had fun dressing up, doing crafts and reading books. Emma and Owen were playing so funny together jumping around and Gibby enjoyed reading to Emma. Hannah was simply all over the place! They were so precious. Bo's parents had delicious meals for us and we also got some shopping accomplished at Crabtree Mall (love that mall). Bo's grandmother was also there from Kannapolis and I loved how she could see all of the kids together. What a great time!

The grandchildren getting their Christmas card picture from the Hamricks'

you should have seen what the adults looked like while getting their attention

this is the one they chose - love it

Hannah started turning around

play outfits

my two

Gibby and Hannah

playing dress up

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a wonderful Thanksgiving with so much to be thankful for! Our morning started out perfect with the girls sleeping in and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. They were precious sitting in their little rocking chairs and being so attentive. The Sesame Street float was adorable and they both thought it should had been a show and not a two minute song! Emma was also very confused with commercials. Everything she watches is a video or from DVR, so when commercials came one, she said, "Where'd it go"?

Afterwards we went to my uncle's house for lunch. We had a great time just hanging out and we took a family picture.

That afternoon we went home and started cleaning for our Christmas tree. Then, we went to mom and dad's house for dinner with my other grandmother. By the time that was done the girls were beat so we came home and went to bed.

I think it would be impossible to count the many things I am thankful for. But, I am reminded how grateful I am this time of year and how far I have come from feelings I was having a few years ago. I am a different person and so much happier than I ever could had imagined.

Norfolk Illumination/Parade

We went to the Norfolk Parade on November 20th. We knew it would be crazy with lots of traffic and people, but we had a great time. Emma and Hannah were so well behaved even while waiting for a table to sit down and eat at the food court in MacArthur Mall. The weather was perfect. We found a nice spot and waited about twenty minutes for the parade to begin. Their favorite things were the firetrucks, dogs, horses, drums and of course seeing Santa. I loved seeing the sparkle in their eyes and it was a great night as a family.

What a Week

So........after Halloween (which was my last post!) my camera broke! NOT happy, but thankfully it was under warranty and the company repaired it and even covered the shipping!

The past week has been rough. Hannah came down with a stomach bug last Monday. We were hoping that it was nothing big since it lasted about 24 hours. Then, came Wednesday. The high rise bridge near my job was stuck open during a lift. It was taking me hours to get home so my mom went to get the kids from where they stay on Wednesdays. My mom calls me and says, "Emma just got sick all in my car!" G-R-E-A-T. I was stuck in major traffic and my poor mother who was doing me a favor had to deal with a child throwing up in her new car.

I finally got home to take care of Emma who then proceded to get sick over and over again. I had the whole couch covered in sheets, towels all over the place, laundry going, etc. Hannah was okay, Bo was out of town and then my mom felt herself getting sick. So, she had to leave my house and go to her house. It was a long night taking care of little Emma by myself. I hated seeing her so sick. Hannah was not as sick as she was and Emma reacted very differently. She was scared and cried a lot. We slept downstairs so we did not wake up Hannah. I had Thursday off of work anyway for Vetrans Day, so I stayed home with the girls Thursday.

Bo came home Thursday evening as everyone was doing better. Then, Friday morning at 2:30 AM I wake up and I felt sick. So......then it was my turn getting sick all through the night! I missed work (a workday) on Friday and had no energy whatsoever. I ached all over so Bo had to stay home with the girls on Friday.

Saturday I woke up with a slight migraine, but feeling 90% better. I had an Usborne show to work that day. When I got home - Bo got sick. So, he was then sick Saturday evening through Sunday!

OMG - the stomach virus is no fun and it was my first time dealing with this as a parent. Thankfully nobody had a fever and we all were better after 24 hours. Apparently, this virius is going around a lot. I am so glad we got it before Thanksgiving. But, boy I am still wiped out. Bo and I talked tonight that we still do not have our appettites completely back to normal.

So, this should explain why there have been no postings for awhile. I did not have my camera, and had nothing too pleasant to take a picture of anyway in the past week!

We have thoroughly cleaned everything and are finally getting back to normal. I was very behind with work this week since I missed my workday. Last night we were able to get out a little bit and do some Christmas shopping since bo was out of town. I hope that we do not have to deal with this type of thing again for a long time.