The Best Year Yet

At the beginning of each new year I look back and say the time flew.

 This year is no different.

I can say without a doubt that 2013 has been the best year of my life!

Here are the highlights through pictures :)

January

*Pregnant with sweet Hadley

*Enjoying our last warm winter in North Carolina

*Auntie Em came to visit!

 February

*The sweetest baby girl was born on 2-1-13.

Our precious Hadley Marie

March

*Adjusting to life with three

*Last month in North Carolina

 April

*Saying goodbye to the Army (Wooohooo!!), and seeing our friends and family

*Staying with Dad and Mom for a while

*Grandma Patty's 75th Birthday

*Sunday School Party

 May

*Snow.  Enough said.

 June

*A glorious 2 day/2 night child-free camping trip with Noah and Alex for our 5 year wedding anniversary!

 July

*Hadley is growing up!

*Moving into a home with a hilly yard: perfect for slip and slides!

*Chance got his first teaching job!!!

 August

*Chance started teaching (this is the picture I text him on his first day. Great movie!)

*I started back to finish my English Education degree

*The kiddos started school

 Septemeber

*Landon had his first real birthday party.  3 years old!

*Hoos family reunion at the Shull's (my grandparents)

 October

*First real pictures as a family of 5

*Isaac turned 5, and had a pumpkin patch birthday party.  Time is flying!

*UCM Homecoming parade with all the cousins

 November

*Enjoying the beautiful fall weather

*Being thankful.  Thanksgiving with the cousins!

*Puppy and Monkey's birthdays

 December

*Preparing for Christmas

*A growing girl!

*A trip to the zoo with our friend

*Celebrating the birth of Jesus!

This blog has been a great way for me to connect with my family and friends back home when we are away.  Since starting back to school in August, I have felt the need to get rid of the clutter in many areas of my life.  The online world has been one area I have let slack (gladly), and I plan to say goodbye to this blog in 2014.  Thanks for sticking around whoever you are :)  It's been fun.

We have been so incredibly blessed this year.  

I can't wait to see what God has in store for our family in the coming year!

Christmas 2013

Our first Christmas back home was a success!

The kids had a blast and were only spoiled a little ;)

We are so grateful to be around our family to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus.

It has always been a blessing to have babies this time of year, because when I hold them, I think about what Mary must have felt holding Jesus on that night.  It's always special :)

Here are the kids watching a Christmas movie the night before Christmas Eve.  They planned the floor bed, not I.

I don't think they love her.....

Christmas Eve evening at Grandma's

My Christmas clown princess.  Such a cutie!

Sitting with Aunt Kathy, not being loved on at all....

Christmas Eve morning at Mom and Dad's.  It was chaotic, but super fun to see the kids getting older and having fun together.

Sweet cousins.  I cannot wait to see them grow up together!

How many more years do you think we'll be able to put them in matching pajamas?

I'm thinking 10 or 11.

A Little Bit

Hadley keeps us all entertained to the max around here.  

Even the boys want to sit and play with her!

She makes the funniest face when Chance blows his nose.  She imitates the best she can, and it's adorable!

And then she has this hair.  Since the day she was born, Hadley has had an extra full head of hair.  This picture is fuzzy (she never holds still these days), but this is her entire head of hair up in a ponytail.

I love it :)

'Tis The Season

We are loving it!

Christmas is so near, and we are spending every minute soaking it in.

I finished all of my finals yesterday.  When the semester started I wasn't sure I'd survive, but I did.  And with good grades.  Woohoo!

Today is my first day home with nothing to do except soak in the cute kiddos.  So here's what we've been doing lately!

Clockwise from top left:

*the boys making Christmas cookies

*Isaac's homemade transformer

*Landon building

*a homemade Spiderman mask

*a last jump into the leaves

Oh happy day!

This baby girl is so fun everyday!

She has learned how to clap and it is just so cute!

Over the next few weeks we have a lot of fun stuff going on with family and friends.  The year is almost over!  Wow!

Thanksgiving

We had a very relaxing Thanksgiving.  This year we went to my Grandparent's house.

They live on a beautiful property that the kids love to explore!

After eating we went outdoors to explore, then back inside for games and relaxing.  Some of us did more of the relaxing as the pictures will show :)

Aunt Kathy holding Hadley.  Our poor baby girl had a fever and was cranky due to teething, but she is feeling much better now!

My sister's three and two of mine :)

Playing Simon Says.  Or picking noses.  I can't tell....

My Grandpa :)

Like I said...some of us did more relaxing than others....

The pond outside of the house.  It was slightly frozen and beautiful.

My favorite picture from the day

We have so much to be thankful for.  God has blessed our family beyond what we could have ever imagined and we are so grateful that we are home to be around for these times.