Playground

 They call this "monkeybarring" (apparently it's a verb now). 

Megan was dying to do it all week.

 She got pretty good.

 We call this sliding.

 Luke didn't know he wanted to do it.

He got pretty good too.

Recently,



At the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort





This one was WAY into it (there was a treasure hunt).

 


This one was convinced she was actually a pirate.





And this one was in stunned silence when she learned about the beheading of Blackbeard.
It was a nice break from, "I don't like this place, this place is UGY (ugly), I want to go HOME".

 



Fortunately, Luke just enjoyed the view.

 



Which happened to be pretty nice.

 



Christmas 2011

 Christmas Eve baking

 Christmas Eve Pajamas . . . I think she liked them.

 Christmas Eve story reading

 Christmas Morning! 

 Waiting for Dad to wake up from his NyQuil induced coma!

 It was worth the wait.

 Who knew that Santa could make that many different pink scooters?

 Too manly for a pink scooter.

 Christmas was extra fun this year because we shared it with Scott and Traci and Enoch who were visiting from Florida.

 Enoch feeling brave enough to step foot on Olivia's scooter.

 but not for long.

 Megan (not to be confused with Edith on Despicable Me).





Christmas fun

  

Proof that Luke survived the chaos of the day.



Miss Megan

 is Five!

 She shared a bubble gum birthday party with her best buddy, Jack (who is hiding under his hand).

Happy Birthday Megan!

Littlefoot

Another one of Aric's Sasquatch sightings??

Happy 236th!

to the Marine Corps, not us.

We celebrated at the Birthday Ball last Thursday

And all day my girls pretended they were "going to the Marine Corps Ball".

I'm pretty sure I never pretended that when I was little.

Semper Fi.

Time Flies

 It's hard to believe . . .

 But Little Luke isn't so little anymore

 He's 1!

Happy Birthday Big Guy!

Happy Halloween

Pumpkin Picking

At the local Methodist church

I'm sure they appreciated Luke's choice of apparel

And speaking of pumpkins, I'm in love with these pumpkins I made this week (with a little help). 

And yes, I'm surprised I pulled it off too.

Go Megan!

No Training Wheels!

Special thanks to Alyssa, her 5 year old friend who taught her.

Walker

By Adeline

Oh Yeah, I'm a Barbie Girl

He's 35!

And apparently he's pretty happy about it.

Or he's trying to mimic Luke's touchdown moves.

Happy 35th Aric!

Touchdown!

I yell touchdown, and Luke does this.

Seriously, does it get any better than this?

Okay, so maybe if we actually scored a few touchdowns, that would be better.

We'll keep our fingers crossed this weekend.

 

Irene

Stopped by for a visit. She stayed way too long, knocked out our power, and made a mess of our yard.

And these poor girls still had to do chores, "WHAT! We have to do work on Hurricane Day?!!" (I know, I didn't realize it was a national holiday either.)

Rough weekend

 

Back to School

And apparently 2nd graders:

1. Are pretty clever. "Megan, you need to make my bed for me because I have to get ready for school." (and it worked)

2. Don't like to have their picture taken at the school. "Oh no, mom, no, no, no. Put the camera AWAY!"

3. "Do way more work than those 1st graders."

Good luck this year Miss Adeline.

So this is what 60 looks like

Happy Birthday Mom and Dad!

Ahh, Vacation!

Mr. Strong, Heather, Sabrina, Grandma, and Aric
looking for Aric's shirt
Pearl and Megan catching some rays

Megan, Aric, and Addie on the tube

The hikers
Luke and Grandpa

The Grandkid lineup (a tricky endeavor)

Happy Birthday Olivia, Ryan, and Julia!

Relaxing at the Nielsen reunion