It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

We spent this last weekend getting ready for Christmas.  Brian stayed home with the kids while I was able to go shopping all by myself.  It was great!!!  I had forgotten how much easier it is to shop without kids.  While I was away they decorated a gingerbread house.

They are very proud of their house, and all through dinner said "Hi" to the "mom and dad" that lived there.

However after taking some pictures we couldn't wait to start eating it!  After this picture was taken the kids ate the "mom and dad".

After nap time, we made some popcorn and cranberry strings, which we put up on the tree after dinner and bath time.  We also put on some more decorations because we couldn't find many that we liked last weekend when we bought our tree.  Amazing how it can take a week to decorate a simple tree.

While we were doing this decorating inside, Mother Nature was doing some decorating outside. 

It snowed all evening and through the night.

When we woke up this morning there was almost nine inches out our front door.  I love the look of lots of fresh fallen snow.

Sadly then we had to go and mess it all up.  The kids enjoyed helping with their little shovels.

My little snow bunnies!!!

Curtain dilemma

We have finally decided that it is time to choose curtains for our two main front windows.  We went to the store and picked out some that we liked and hung them up to see how they looked.  

Now we just have to decide which ones we like, any suggestions?  We thought we had decided, but as we have left them up longer we are no longer so sure.  Not that this picture is really the best of them, but oh well.

Thanksgiving at Topsail Island

This year we again got to spend Thanksgiving at topsail Island with Brian's family.  It reminded us that we left England over a year ago.  Time really does fly.  It was a year ago on our trip down there that we saw our house for the first time and decided against it, but that was before we saw what else was on offer.  So you could say the trip down there brought back many memories from a year ago.

This year Lizzie had no problem with walking in the sand and would even go out there barefoot from the very beginning.  Both kids really enjoyed having so much sand to play in.  They built themselves a bench.

And some sand castles with the help of cousins and parents.

This was one of there better ones.

Jamie once again loved the water and this year was able to play in it more independently, which really saved my back.

I did play with him in the water most of the time, but when I asked Brian to take the pictures he would get to nervous and didn't get any good pictures.

The weather was quite nice for us most of the days so we were able to spend much of the time outside.  I was sad that I hadn't packed a swimming suit for myself because I wanted to jump in the water.  Jamie was getting very brave in the water as well.

Lizzie even touched the water to wash her hands which was a start.

Brian also got some fishing in though I didn't get any pictures of that.

We were also able to enjoy the beautiful sunsets, and sunrises though most mornings we slept in.

The best part was being with the family.  The kids loved that they could usually find someone to read them a story.

It was also fun to see them be willing to give goodnight hugs to everyone they could find especially to grandma,

grandpa,

and cousins.

We had a great time as we do whenever we get together with family and wish that we could see them more often.  Although I feel that we have seem more members of the family this past year, it seems as though the visits are always very short, especially compared to the week to month long visit that we are used to.  

I am so grateful for our families.  

I am grateful for this beautiful world that we get to live in.

I am grateful for the gospel and the peace that it give me.

I am grateful for my husband and my kids.

I am grateful to have a nice home to live in.

I am grateful for Brian's job.

I am grateful for friends near and far.

I am grateful for the life that I have had so far.

These are just a few of the many things that I am grateful for in my life, though the list could go on and on, nap times, washing machines and so many other things.  I have had so many blessing in my life that I sometimes worry about when the hard times will come and what they will be.  I guess we will deal with them as they come.

Now on to Christmas.