It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year! I love the sights, smells, traditions, and decorations...it's just a wonderful time of the year!
I couldn't wait to start decorating our home for Christmas!

We woke up early Friday morning, and even though I was in the Christmas spirit, my husband needed some sugar and caffeine in order for him to feel that same decorating enthusiasm!
So we headed to (where else) but Krispy Kreme Doughnut!!


The boys sure did enjoy their doughnut!!!

Sophie didn't need a doughnut!
She's sweet enough!!!

After a boost of sugar and caffeine, everyone was ready to head home and start decorating! We worked most of the day and got almost all of it done. I worked on the inside of the house while Shane and the boys put up the outside lights and wreaths on the windows.

I still have a few things left to do like order new stockings for Sophie and the new baby. I plan on getting us all new ones so they will match.
That's six stockings to order, so I hope I can find a good deal. I may have to wait until the end of the season.
I also am going to try my hand at this garland too. We'll see how it turns out!

Boomama is hosting a tour of homes on December 15th. Hopefully I'll have my home ready by then and I may join in on the fun. I love peeking inside other homes and seeing all the wonderful Christmas decorations.
Should be fun!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Psalms 105: 1-3

~Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the people.
Sing to Him, Sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders.
Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those who see the Lord be glad!~

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!!!!

Corban came home from school yesterday with a special Thanksgiving card.

Here is what it said when I looked inside...

Reading this brought tears to my eyes! I thought this was one of the sweetest cards ever.

For about a year, we would pray each night that God would bless us with a little girl! The boys prayed for a sister. We are so humbled that the Lord answered our prayers and blessed us with our Sophie! As we hold our sweet little girl in our arms this Thanksgiving, we are reminded of the Lord's blessing on our family! We truly are so grateful to the Lord for this precious gift!!!!

Santa told us we had been naughty this year!!!

Sophie and my nephew Jake with Santa...

Two months old ALREADY!!!

Our precious Sophie is already two months old. It's so hard to believe. These few months have just flown by! We are truly enjoying every minute with our little princess. She is such a doll! There are not even words to describe the love that we have for this sweet angel!!!

At her doctor appointment this week she weighed in at 9lbs. 5 oz. and was about 21 1/2 inches long! She has almost doubled in size since the day we brought her home!!!

I look forward to her smiles and coo's every day!
Sophie's favorite thing right now is to be rocked. She snuggles her little head right into my neck and we just rock and rock and rock.
Her sweet cheeks are so kissable too!!!

I want to truly treasure these moments with her, because all too soon she will be off running with (after) her brothers!!!

Thank you Lord for this precious blessing!!!!

One way to save $...

With Christmas just around the corner, Shane and I have committed to find ways that we can save money. One of those ways was to learn how to give the boys their haircuts at home. When Shane and the boys need haircuts, it would cost us between $30-$35 dollars. They usually get their haircut about every six weeks of so. Shane decided that we should learn how to cut their hair at home. He went to Walmart and bought some clippers. I was really nervous! I didn't want them to look like LEGO heads after we were done! My brother Steve, has been giving himself, and my other brother Tim, haircuts for a while now. We decided to enlist his help and asked him to come over and give us a quick lesson on how it's done!

We set up a little barber shop in our kitchen and Steve went to town!

My boys thought it was SO... cool that Uncle Steve was the one cutting their hair!
They love Uncle Steve, and we LOVE their new haircuts! It's really easy to do and it will save us some cash!!

Riley Sings Jesus Loves Me to Sophie!

It's a..............................................

We are home from the doctor and everything looked GREAT!!! PRAISE the LORD!!! What a miracle this new life is!!!!



We are so excited to share with you, that in April of 2009, we will welcome a little.......................................................................




BOY into our family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shane and I feel very blessed by the Lord, knowing that He has entrusted us with the responsibility and privilege of raising three little men and one little lady for Him!! What an honor! We are so humbled and grateful!!!!

Today's a BIG day...

We are off to the doctor this morning and (hopefully if this little one will cooperate) will be finding out if our newest addition will be a boy or a girl! We are so excited! I'll post our news when we get home!!!

What a weekend!

This has been a wonderful, but very busy weekend! Saturday was Corban's last soccer game of the season! He had a great season and was very sad to see it end. He is already looking forward to next season. Shane did an awesome job as coach and really grew to love each child on the team! The team celebrated the end of the season at Bobcats arena on Sunday afternoon! More on the later...

Saturday afternoon Shane took Corban to an ALL-PRO'S- DAD and KID'S event at the Carolina Panthers training fields. During the three-hour event, dads and kids rotated through stations and participated in games. They met up with a few of our neighbors too and had a great time!

Also, on Saturday afternoon, Sophie and I were blessed by a few of my close friends from church with a baby shower! They did a diaper, wipes, and formula, shower! It was such a sweet time of fellowship! My life has truly been blessed by these women and I am so thankful for each one of them!!


Sophie and me with my sister B and her sweet baby Jake

Two peas in a pod

My friend Michelle made this AWESOME diaper cake!!

I hate that I didn't take very many pictures. That is SO... not like me.
My friend Sarah took some, so when I receive those, I'll be happy to share!
Thank you Celia and Sarah for a wonderful shower! I love and appreciate you both so much!!

Sunday afternoon, after church, we headed to Bobcats arena to celebrate with all of CHAMP Sports Ministry the end of a great season! Unfortunately, the Bobcats lost, but everyone still had a great time! After the game was over the kids got to go down to the court and try to shoot a basket in the goal! It was so much fun!!!
(Thanks mom for watching Sophie for us!)

Corban and his BFF Abby holding their trophies!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread!

Riley and I were in the mood to bake today, so we pulled out one of our favorite fall recipes...

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

It's delicious and it reminds me of fall.

Here's the recipe...Just in case your in the baking mood too...
FYI: It makes a ton.
I got 1 loaf, 4 mini loaves, and 12 muffins out of this recipe!

• 3 cups white sugar
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 4 eggs
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 9x5 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips.
   
3. Bake for 1 hour, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on wire racks before removing from cans or pans.

Sophie SMILES!!!

Sophie just started to smile this week! It melts my heart when she looks at me and then breaks out into a huge grin!
It's so precious!

A day with Daddy!

Shane took this past Friday off! It's always such a special treat to have him home with us during the week!! This day off was a little different though. Shane decided that he wanted to spend some quality time with each one of the kids on Friday. Shane is one of the best Daddy's in the world. He makes his family his top priority. He works very hard to provide for us and in order to do so, he usually has to work long hours during the week. Because of his long days at work, weekends are meant for family time!!! When Shane does take a day off, he likes to spend it just hanging out with our family! Friday morning, after he took Corban to school, he decided to spend some time with Riley. He took him out for doughnuts!! This was such an extra special treat for Riley because he doesn't always get very much one on one time with Daddy! They had a great time. Then, later on that morning, Shane and Riley picked up burgers and went to Cor's school to have lunch.

(Corban had to dress up like a scarecrow for school!)

Corban was so excited to have his daddy and brother join him for lunch! Then Shane came home, dropped off Riley, and picked up Sophie. He has been begging me to bring Sophie downtown to his office so his co-workers could meet our precious princess. I just hadn't had a chance to do so yet. Shane's office was throwing a Halloween party on Friday, so he decided to stop by and take Sophie in to meet everyone!

He is so proud of his little girl and just loves to show her off! It was a special day for each one of our kids and I know they were so happy they got to spend some quality time just with their Daddy!

Halloween Fun!!!

We had a very fun-filled Halloween! We met up with several of our neighbors outside, and the kids had a wonderful time trick-or-treating! We live in a neighborhood that is absolutely filled with young families. Literally, hundreds of people fill the streets on Halloween night! We love bumping into our neighbors and seeing everyone dressed up in their costumes! It's so much fun! Both Corban and Riley filled up their pumpkin buckets with tons of candy! After about an hour of door- to- door fun we came back home and gathered in our neighbors yard to share appetizers and desserts! By the time the sun went down it started to get really cold though, so Sophie and I ended up coming home while Shane and the boys stayed and played outside!
Everyone had a great time!

Riley the monkey, Corban the Power Ranger, and Sophie the sleepy Bunny!

Some bunny loves me!!!!