Celebrating Birthdays

For some January is a blah month of cold weather and let down from Christmas. Not here...Half way through January the celebrating returns as Jeff and I celebrate birthdays one day apart (me on 1/16 and him on 1/17 - we are 2 years apart though). This year the kids gave me a gift certificate to Yogurt Mountain and sweet cards. So on that cold Jan night, we were out getting yogurt at Claire's insistence that we celebrate Mommy! On Friday, we sent the kids to school and Jeff and I went out to lunch together to celebrate on his day. Grandmommy and Grandad came in for the weekend to continue to celebrate with us by enjoying the kids and us and keeping the kids on Sat night so we could go out to a nice dinner and to see Bill Cosby perform at the BJCC. He was hilarious with good clean fun! He's 76 and has not lost his touch! He could talk for hours I think. So it was fun to celebrate this year as we teeter the decade of 40 where Jeff hangs on to 39 for dear life and I tipped into the decade at 41. Thankful to all who made it fun - cards, calls texts, emails and for my girls for a fun dinner out too! It's always fun to celebrate at my office since 3 of us share the same day - and we welcomed Russ to 4-0 with lots of great kid pictures posted around the dept and desk decorated! What a great way to start 2014!

2014 Jan Bdays - slideshow

Happy New Year!

2014 is off and rolling and we are 2 weeks in. We've had waves of well below freezing (9 degrees) and waves of spring weather that sends you out for a walk. Like many of you I enjoy reflecting over the last years events and pondering all we have experienced - good and not so good - and remembering that in all experiences we learn and grow. In putting this together I realized how many people we have spent some time with since 2014 started and I was encouraged that truly God puts people in your life to spur you on and encourage you. Here's a glimpse of some pretty special people in our lives! (If you are wondering what we did to ring in the new year, it was get to bed on time because our 2 kids are up early no matter what the day!) We kicked off the year with a visit from my dear friend Julie. We met on a mission trip in Oct 2006 to Ghana and have been bonded in friendship since. She and Jeff share the same birthday, the day after mine and we decided to celebrate with a movie of our favorite character, Madea and some girl time. Later we got to play with Brodie and Ellie as they came through town. My mom kept Brodie for a few days then Andrea came through with Ellie as they made a southeaster tour. Cousin time is the best! You'll see some other special neighbors and friends that are just fun to be around! People either bring you up or bring you down...all of these folks, bring us up! Thanks for getting 2014 off to a good start! (I see some typos in the slideshow...forgive me!)

2014 Jan - slideshows

Christmas Highlights

Hard to believe Christmas 2013 has come and gone! We all said it came quick this year and it did. I have many reflections so I'll hit the highlights. I always feel like I can enjoy the holidays as soon as the shopping is done and I was pretty much done by the first full weekend in Dec. It was fun to take Claire shopping for her brother and to get a gift for Toys for Tots. Good for her to learn to give to others...she like us all, has no trouble receiving. Our family time started the Sat before Christmas with exchanging gifts with the Hendersons via Skype. (They now live in the Raleigh, NC area and he had to work on Christmas! Bummer!) We found a way to make it work! Sunday lunch time my cousin Kay and her family stopped through en route from NC to MS. What fun people and great to catch up! That afternoon YaYa and Jim came over to exchange gifts and brought dinner. Fun to play and enjoy gifts and games and food together. (Side note - We had Joel in the MD office Sun morning confirming Hand Foot and Mouth Virus which is why you will see some bumps on his face in the photos!) Monday we welcomed in my dad from his visit to the Hendersons and The Carver side would arrive including Uncle Bob from Charlotte. Christmas Eve was spent cooking while the rest of the crew played with the kids. I whipped up 3-4 side dishes, a red velvet cake, and strawberry layered salad while Honey Baked Ham did the meats. We got kids down Christmas Eve and Jeff, Bobby and Grandad spent 2 hours assembling one of the kids gifts (a play set- you'll see before/after pics) in the basement. I spent some time trying to locate my missing cell phone (more later). Christmas day was great! Enjoyed the day of eating, giving and receiving and reflecting on the birth of Christ. I pondered the responses of those in the Bible to His arrival - wonder, treasuring in her heart, GO and see what has happened, GO and find out so I may kill him...much like many of us respond in today's world...we either welcome Him with worship or kill him by our denial of His existence and purpose. The kids enjoyed all their gifts. Hard not to go overboard wanting to give kids what you know they will love and watch their joy without it being too much and wanting them to appreciate and be thankful. Everyone was gone by the day after Christmas and we began putting things away and regrouping. The mystery of my missing phone was still there until Friday morning my neighbor called and asked if I'd lost my phone. The Leaf pick up people saw it and took it to her door and she asked another neighbor about it who saw us out looking for it. It was out there because we'd gone out for a walk and I was tossing leaves on Claire and crunching them with her...Believe it or not it still works! It was a wonderful first Christmas for Joel a bit dampened by his virus and now double ear infection and upper respiratory virus. On meds now and moving in the right direction. Thanks to all for a wonderful Christmas 2013 and looking forward to what the Lord brings in 2014 (doesn't it feel like we were just hyped up about Y2K!)

2013 Christmas Visits - slideshows

Merry Christmas!

A room says a lot about a girl

It was a year ago this month Claire showed interest or rather the physical capabilities to climb out of her crib. Good thing because baby brother would need it soon. Lots of changes for this little girl in one year. Her room has morphed with her and adapted as she's gotten more independent. She enjoys playing in her room. click this link: Claire's Baby Room to see where she was 1 year ago and here's where she is this year:

Henderson Family

Here's the Henderson family! Brodie and Ellie are growing fast and so cute! They moved to Cary, NC this past summer and are enjoying their new home. Just wanted to show off my bro and his family.

Christmas Photo Shoot

For those of you in the Birmingham area, Lisa Townes has done a wonderful job taking photos for us. She is very fun for the kids too. Here's some from our Christmas pictures taken to document growth and have some good ones for Christmas. Slideshow is just under 2 minutes to watch. Thanks for enjoying these kids with us!

2013 Christmas Photo Shoot - slideshow