Gingerbread House Party

Right after we got back from Atlanta we had our annual gingerbread house decorating party.  We all had a great time!  The Thomas' worked hard to reclaim the title of "Decorator Extraordinaire" and they did a great job!  Their adorable girls singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer probably had a lot to do with their win.  This is one tradition that I love and look forward to each year!  Our house is full of lots of little kids, it's loud and crazy, and oh so much fun!

Ryan and I were prepared this year and hoped that we would be able to compete with our very talented friends.  We opted for a beach house, complete with a shark pursuit in front!

The girls teamed up to create a pretty pink princess palace! It was amazing!

Hadley trying to distract DJ.  He had great aspirations this year to claim the title 3 years in a row, just didn't have enough time!

Trevor knows the best way to decorate is with sweets in your mouth!

Our house was on "stilts" made of marshmallows.  When I woke up the next morning this is how I found our house!  The hurricane must have come early this year!

Uncle Stephen did it!

We are so proud of our Uncle Stephen.  He started hiking the Appalachian Trail in Maine late July and finished on Thursday, December 6th.  We all drove to Springer Mountain to meet him and walk the last mile with him.  Charlie and Samuel had a great time with their cousins and it was great to have the WHOLE family together!  Stephen-we are so proud of you and all you accomplished this year.  We all hope that you learned a lot while you hiked!

Charlie and Elynn had so much fun together.  2nd cousins just a couple months apart!  I think they will be good buddies!

We were supposed to have some warning that he was close.  We were all sitting in our cars because it was so cold.  Melanie looked up and said there's Stephen!  No warning to be ready with our signs or anything!

Samuel hiked up the mountain about 75% on his own. I was so proud of him!

Stephen reading and signing the hiker log.  The last entry he will be making!

The Cowan scout men

 Champagne for the big finish!

Real boys pee in the woods, right?

Stephen and Mark (Monster was his trail name) started on the same day, became great friends, and finished together!

Stephen, what an accomplishment!  We are so proud of you, thanks for letting us celebrate with you!

It was a LONG day!

My sweet little boy turns 1

We drove to Atlanta on Wednesday to spend a few days with our family.  Charlie got to celebrate his birthday with all his grandparents, 2 great grandmothers, his uncles and his Aunt Alice.  We had a great time together and Charlie really seemed to love all the attention.

Uncle Zach knows exactly what to do to make me smile!

Our snowman melted a bit in the car ride from Wilmington to Atlanta, but I guess that is what snowmen do when they come inside out of the cold!

Charlie was so excited, he kept reaching for it so we had to move it away while the candle was in it!

Samuel helped Charlie blow out his candle.

Samuel got the Rudolph cupcake.  We certainly didn't want to leave him ou t!

I think he liked it.  When Ryan tried to move it away to clean him up he reached for it with a death grip!

Getting all cleaned up!

The best way to eat a cupcake is from the top of course!

Samuel loves his uncles!

Christmas Tree Extravaganza!

Picking out our tree this year was amazing.  We went back to the man who we bought our tree from the past two years.  The first tree we saw when we walked on the lot is the tree we chose (of course we had to walk around to make sure, but we came back to go old #1!).  The boys sat for a milisecond so I couldn't get a picture of both of them together, such is life! We had a good day putting up our Christmas decorations, having breakfast for dinner and then decorating the tree.  With each new ornament Samuel placed on the tree he said, "yay, I did it.  Look, mommy, there are a lot of ornaments on here.  Can we turn the lights of now and look at the tree?"  So after about 15 minutes of decorating it was finally complete and we all sat under and around the tree admiring our good work!  Now the challenge-keep Charlie's hands off!

I am getting a new camera for Christmas, can't wait for good, crisp images-this is so blurry and it is the most important!  The angel was on my grandparents tree for 60 years and my grandmother gave it to me when Ryan and I got married!