Nine Months

December 12, 2011

Our sweet Zachary is nine months today.

He loves to sit on the floor and play with his toys, eat and giggle at his silly brothers. He has two bottom teeth and one coming in on top. He sits up well on his own and is starting to army crawl and roll everywhere. Time to get out the baby gates.

We are having so much fun watching him grow!

Christmas Parade

December 3, 2011

We took the kids to the Flagler Beach Christmas Parade this afternoon.

It was a chilly December day in Florida at almost 80 degrees.

Santa dropped from a plane and parachuted onto the beach to start the parade.

The boys thought this was so cool!

The kiddos waiting for the parade to start.

Mommy and her lil Christmas Elf:-)

Santa finished off the parade waving to the crowd from the ladder of a firetruck.

Everybody had a great time!

O Christmas Tree

We had a great time this year picking out the Christmas tree.

This is the one!

The boys thought it was cool how they wrapped up the tree.

Landon helped Daddy cut off the special net the tree was wrapped in.

Ayden's turn.

Setting up the tree.

After some lights, ornaments and TLC the tree was finished.

Thankful!!

We had a wonderful quiet Thanksgiving at home this year. The list of things I am thankful for goes on and on but here are a few...

My God...His mercy and grace.

My amazing husband who loves me unconditionally and shows me everyday.

Three awesome little boys.

The most wonderful family and friends a gal could ever ask for.

The struggles and challenges of this year knowing that each one provided opportunities to persevere and grow.

The list goes on and on. Thank you God for my wonderful life...may it always be for your honor and glory!

This was Zach's first Thanksgiving. He LOVED the sweet potatoes.

Our Thanksgiving feast

Ready to eat!

Jackson

This is Landon's turkey that he made in school and named...Jackson.

The day he brought Jackson home he climbed into the car and proudly displayed him to his brothers. I told him that he must have accidently brought home Jackson's turkey. There are no little boys named Jackson in Landon's class and I got the cutest your so silly mom grin ever that afternoon!

Ayden's First Fieldtrip

Darren took Ayden on his first field trip with his school to the Florida Agricultural Museum. Mommy was helping out in Landon's class that day so just the boys went.

First Baptist Christian Academy and Mr. Turkey

Here's a few more pictures from the trip.

Halloween

The boys had fun picking out costumes this year

Zach was mommy's lil pumkin, Landon was Jango Fett from Star Wars and Ayden was a Power Ranger.

The Browers joined us this year and all of the boys were dressed up as Star Wars characters.

Many of our friends came by to trick-or-treat with us. It started raining so we had to wait it out a bit under the porch.

Landon with Dylan the ninja warrior.

Our little Power Ranger

MiMi and Zach passed out candy to the trick-or-treaters.

Pumpkin Carving

The boys finally got to carve the pumpkin they picked out on our Blue Ridge trip.

Zach was the foreman for this carving project.

The boys did a great job scooping out all the seeds.

The finished product.

Mom

We were lucky to have my Mom go with us to Blue Ridge this year. She works so hard and doesn't travel much so we were glad she decided to come with us. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful mother that sacrifices so much for her family and loves her grand babies rotten!

Experiment

The Blue Ridge Scenic Railway ran right below our cabin. Darren thought it would be fun to take Landon down right before the train came by and put a quarter on the track.

Landon finding the quarter he left on the tracks.

He was so surprised to find the quarter still on the tracks and flat as a pancake.

Landon and his new flat quarter.

Pumpkin Patch

We found a great pumpkin patch on our drive to visit one of the local waterfalls.

The pumpkins were HUGE! This is not the best picture but you get the idea of how big these pumpkins were.

Pumpkins!!

We found a waterfall not far from the cabin that was easy to access for the boys.

Zach stayed at home with MiMi....she spoiled him rotten!!

Train Trips & Apple Pie

There are two things we must do on our trip to Blue Ridge. The first is ride the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway and the other is visit Mercer Orchards and get apples to make homemade apple pie.

The boys LOVE to take the train into McCaysville Georgia. It is a beautiful ride along the Taccoa River. We grab some lunch and fudge then back on the train to head back to Blue Ridge.

There is a wonderful little orchard in Blue Ridge called Mercer Orchards. On the weekends in October you can pick your own apples. They also have a huge market to buy apples and other yummy treats. We picked a few of the boys favorites and made an apple pie topped with vanilla ice cream.

These have become family traditions for us that I hope will continue on for years to come!

Zach's First Trip

This was Zach's first trip to Blue Ridge. He got to sleep in, play with his brothers and get spoiled rotten by his MiMi. He even got to walk around downtown one day and see the sights in this special carrier. It was a great first trip to Blue Ridge for Zachary!

Blue Ridge Cabin

This is our third trip to Blue Ridge as a family. Darren and I took the trip many years ago when it was just the two of us. We have added a few to the family since then.

This was the amazing view from our cabin of the Toccao River.

The Blue Ridge Senic Railway ran right below our cabin.

This is a view of our cabin from the railroad tracks below.