Saturday, December 30, 2006

The PARTY!

We had a special birthday party for Chris and Rebecca at Grammy's house today!
Here is Rebecca in her party dress.

We were joined by Aunt Susan, Uncle Troy and Aidan, Gup and Gams and Nana and Papa. Everyone joined in the present opening.

I think we now officially own every toy that plays music and talks! Rebecca loves them - she spent the whole evening going from one toy to the other and pushing all the buttons.
And of course, here is the cake picture!

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Two special birthdays!

As if Christmas isn't enough - we have also celebrated two birthdays this week!
The first one was Chris' on the 26th. Chris is a wonderful husband and an amazing father! I am so thankful to be his wife and to be on this incredible journey of life alongside him!
Here is a picture of Chris with the three kids on Father's Day - (maybe it's time to get a more recent one).

And then today is Rebecca's birthday. I cannot adequately express how blessed we are to have Rebecca in our family! She is such a joy and light to all of us.
Her brothers think she is pretty special too!

Here she is tonight showing off her great musical skills - two instruments at once! This girl has talent!

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Christmas as a quintet!

Wow - what a full few days we have had!
It all started on Saturday when we had Garvey side Christmas at Aunt Susan, Uncle Troy and Aidan's house. We were joined by Grammy, Gup and Gams and Mr. & Mrs. Baker. We all had a great day and we found that Rebecca was much more interested in the packaging than the contents!
Here is a picture of most of the gang -

Then on Sunday we went to morning service and then an evening - Candlelights and Carols service where the kids sang. David and Steven were dressed as shepherds (with a huge thanks to Grammy the costume guru!) and Rebecca wore her special Christmas outfit.


We opened our stockings and presents from Santa (and Grandpa Mike & Grandma Sheila) on Christmas morning. The boys were up at 6:30 raring to go - it is so much fun to watch them enjoy the wonder of it all!


The rest of Christmas day was spent at the Jones' house (Laura's sister). The cousins had a great time opening gifts and then running all over the house together. We all enjoyed some yummy mexican cuisine for dinner.
Here are the 7 grandchildren -

Here is Rebecca with her new piano after we returned home last night!
You could say that Mama enjoyed putting Rebecca in her pretty Christmas outfits!

It was a great Christmas! We are so thankful for our family both immediate and extended!
Today is Chris' birthday and the 28th is Rebecca's birthday - we will have a celebration for both on Saturday! Stay tuned...

Monday, December 11, 2006

Got TOYS????

I sometimes suggest that the boys can give Rebecca a few toys to keep her entertained in her exersaucer. I left the room for a few minutes and found out that Steven decided to give her EVERY toy on the main floor! She didn't seem to mind too much!

Monday, December 04, 2006

Family Vacation

Hopefully you all haven't given up on us since I haven't posted in over a month! Most of November was fairly quiet and there wasn't much to report! On the 25th we left at 4:00am and drove to Maggie Valley, North Carolina. Laura's dad and his wife, Pop and Grandma Jane, drove up from Florida. We rented a house in the mountains and stayed for a week.
Here is the house (notice the VERY steep driveway).

Laura and David took a long walk up the mountain and back. We clocked it by car the next day and it was 2 1/2 miles - 1/2 of which was uphill! We have quite the hiker on our hands. Here is David at the top of the mountain.

We spent a day in Asheville. We went to see a Gingerbread House Display at the Grove Park Inn - absolutely beautiful site - this is Laura and Rebecca on the patio of the inn.

We also spent a day in Gatlinburg, TN. We drove through the Smoky Mountain National Park to arrive there and it was beautiful. We even saw a bear in the forest. We went to the aquarium there and walked through the shops.

We had a great week enjoying the area and the company! All the kids had lots of fun with Pop and Grandma Jane!