Emalyn is one!

Here are pictures from Emalyn's first birthday...

Introducing Bubba....

Long story short, we said "goodbye" to George and "hello" to Bubba.

He is 11 weeks old, roughly 7 pounds (smaller than all our babies!), and is a bundle of joy.

Welcome home, Bubba!

George is settling in....

He is an affectionate dog.....getting love from Luke

....and more love from Caleb.....

...and more love from Chris.......then, back asleep! What a low maintenance, sweet-natured new family member!!

Thanksgiving--fun at both grandparents' houses

Welcome home, George!

More pictures to come! : )

Our new baby, GEORGE

An AWESOME night!!

We had a super time with Camy tonight. What fun it was to hang out and see what she and Cliff do behind the scene with the stars. And, as always, it is fun to catch up and plan future times together. Love and miss you, Cam! : )

The Turkey Trot

Our sweet, little saints

In honor of All Saints day, our church organized a kids' presentation in which all children from age 4 through 4th grade dressed up like a saint and taught the parents about him/her.

Though Luke has taken off part of his costume---his England shirt----here he is as St. George (most likely the name of our future dog). Luke stood up at the microphone and said outloud to a room full of parents (with me mouthing and motioning like a crazy mom from the back) that St. George is the patron saint of England and boy scouts. Legend tells us he slayed a dragon to save a princess who was to be sacrificed to the dragon. He was a brave Christian and reminds us to be brave in our faith. Luke's birthday is the day we celebrate St. George.

Caleb, mortified for about 10 minutes by his costume, lit up once on stage and simply but boldly stated, "Hola. I am St. John of the Cross." St. John of the Cross is a poet from Spain who was kidnapped and tortured but grew stronger in his suffering.

"Boo at the Zoo"

We had a super time with Pops at Boo at the Zoo this year. All the boys dressed up in their costumes and trick-or-treated the zoo workers. We also got to see a special Scooby Doo play in which they incorporated several animals, which was really fun. In the end, Scooby discovered that it was the groundhog who had stolen his own shadow!

Soccer

We've had a great time with soccer this year. Both Luke and Caleb have scored several goals which is always extra fun. Here, Chris and Caleb are trying to corral Paul as we watched the end of Luke's game. Paul was certainly a force to be reckoned with this season!

A perfect fall Saturday

Happy 4th birthday, Caleb!

A weekend to remember....

We celebrated our 10th year of marriage this past weekend. It was a relaxing, fun, memorable weekend in Sea Island, GA. We are so grateful to our parents for keeping the kids so we could spend this time together. We ate great food, took long walks on the beach, Chris played in the ocean while I slept in a chair on the beach, and we were pampered by hotel staff that treated us like royalty. The weekend was--as our marriage has been and will hopefully continue to be--an incredible blessing.

A wonderful day at Alabama Adventure!!!

A million thanks to Demi and family for our first of MANY fun days at AL adventure. We stuck to the water side of the park today and had a blast. Here we are, just getting started.

Chris, Luke, and Caleb on the log ride...

Paul watching as the "big guys" come down the splashy slide.
We swam in the wave pool, the Salamander Bay, Castaway Island and the lazy river.

3 sweet boys

Chris and Caleb barreling down one of the slides at Castaway Island.

It was a wonderful day, and though the kids are exhausted they're already asking, "When can we go back?" Thanks again, Demi!!! : )

Paul playing Choo-Choo

After the end of year kindergarten pictures for Luke, and the end of year 3-K pictures for Caleb, I figured it was time for some documentation of Paul. Here he is playing with his train set just before bed. Though this video does not really show him talking much, he has hit that "vocabulary explosion" stage where he is really learning to talk. He is so cute, and he is such a joy. I love to watch him play!

A preview of the Barnett/Newton Beach trip...

We had an amazing time in St. Simon's Island....where the Spanish moss in huge, old Oaks makes the town gorgeous.