Meeting Cousin Eli

We went to North Carolina to celebrate Christmas with family. But an added bonus was meeting baby Eli for the first time.

Anna Ruth had long referred to him as "My Baby Eli" so she was ecstatic about finally meeting him (as were the rest of us).

Christmas Day on the 20th

Christmas 2015!

We planned to travel to North Carolina to spend Christmas with the Nolens so we had our at home Christmas Day on the 20th. 

stocking treats

Anna Ruth could have quit opening presents after she got this bracelet.
This girl loves jewelry!

The scooter he had been asking and hoping for

A princess castle!
(Notice the necklace)

a need, a want and a book

We have sweet friends who spoil our kids.
Miss Jessie gave Joshua a personalized cowbell and Star Wars walkie-talkies!

Miss Jessie gave Anna Ruth a personalized cowbell and a singing Elsa doll!

Aunt Martha was thoughtful and gave the kids these super soft travel pillows for our long car ride to Durham!

We had a blast celebrating Christmas. It was fun to see the kids excited about giving and receiving gifts. We played with our toys for a couple days and then hit the road.

Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving 2015 took us all back to Camp Dawson for the long weekend.

There were record breaking numbers of family members and quantities of food.

A rare moment...when Anna Ruth reached up to take Tanner's hand as we walked back to the house from the barn. She is typically very selective about who she allows to be close to her and Tanner was found fit that day.

Just before the highly competitive family softball game Joshua stole a hug from Coach.

Anna Ruth and I slept in side by side bunch beds. She looks like a teenager playing on her device early in the morning. Dave and Joshua slept in a tent to avoid the snoring of countless men in the bunk house. They had a blast!

hear comes the pitch!

We loved having time to catch up with family we hadn't seen since the last reunion.

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

In an effort to order our Christmas cards early and get a steep discount in price, I took the kids to campus one afternoon and bribed them with candy in exchange for cooperation and smiles.  Bribery for the win!

Slowly catching up....

It has been too long. I have been busy and have a lot of catching up to do. I promise to work on to catch up and stay up to date as this is our baby/big kid book for both our kids. So...Halloween 2015...

Joshua, the army ranger.

Anna Ruth, the piggy

 At first Anna Ruth was not sure about wearing a costume, at all (see the sad piggy picture above). But after the first piece of candy was dropped in her bag, she was all about knocking on doors!

The night started off rainy but let up right at trick-or-treat time. We made our way to several friends' homes and had a great time.