The man eats

Giving Thanks: Day Six

We are thankful for mornings like this

We are thankful for a safe drive home back to the coast. We are lucky to live only 5 short hours away from the best of both worlds - mountains and ocean. 

Giving Thanks: Day Five

I am thankful for a road trip and bumpy backwoods mountain roads

 

I am thankful for naptime

 

 

 

I am thankful for times like this

 

 

We are thankful for having firsts, our first trip to a real christmas tree farm

 

 

 

We are thankful for a child who likes Santa



Giving Thanks: Day Four

We are thankful for Grandma's

We are thankful that we can still wear bathing suits in the mountains 

 

We are thankful for Greg & I alone time (while the fam watches the munchins)

 

I am thankful for alone time with my little man

Giving Thanks: Day Three

I am thankful for the men in my life

 

 

 

 

We are thankful for Aunts

 

We are thankful for home cooked food. 

 

We are thankful for a healthy 5 month old today.



Giving Thanks: Day Two

We are thankful that Anna and Quinn can go to a great state college in the mountains, ASU here comes the Law family (in 18 years) 

 

We are thanksful for heat and warmth

We are thankful for a child who holds great conversations and ask us "How was your day mom/dad?"

 

 

We are thankful for quality time alone from the hecticness of our daily life

 

We are thankful for being able to show our kids the beautiul wonders of the mountains

 

We are thankful for time to rest with Pop

 

We are thankful for 5 month old love

 

Sydney is thankful for the sunshine

Giving Thanks: Day One

We are thankful for a safe trip

Sunday playtime

Quinn Boy

Catch Up

Last Saturday

We woke up early and went to cheer Misty on as she ran her first half marathon! Way to go! I think after I finish this Insanity business, I'm going to get back in running shape and since I vividly remember after marathon #3 telling everyone around me, "If I ever mention signing up for another one, tell me NO!" , I think I'll just sign up for the half in March. 

After the half marathon we headed to the beach for the kite festival.....

"Mom, what are you doing?"

"OK, this is just weird, am I supposed to smile or what?"

Annnnd that's our family for ya!

Friday

We slept over Mom and Dad's because we had a party for Dad's 55th and Greg's 29th birthdays. Aim and I created a game called JeoparDad to play, every time Dad got a question right he got a gummy bear but if he got it wrong, we all got to eat one. Anna of course loved it when Pop got it wrong. 

Saturday

It was such a beautiful day on Saturday - gotta love NC in November, 70 and perfect, we went for a family walk down by the beach  - this is how the Law family rolls, forget paying $500+ for a double BOB stroller, we just shoved Quinny's car seat in and strapped a bungee cord around, perfect!   

Sunday

It was Greg's birthday! We dropped the kids off at Mom & Dad's for the day, took some b-day cash and went on a day road trip. We traveled up Emerald Island  over into Morehead City and Beaufort, ate lunch on Harkers Island,  continued up to the Cedar Island Ferry (a LONG ride). On the way back down we stopped on the waterfront in Beaufort and had some appetizers and beers, then grabbed some dessert from a nearby bakery and headed back to Wilmington. An absolutely perfect day with the hubby.

The view of Cape Lookout Lighthouse from Harkers Island 

Lunch on Harkers Island 

Still driving....

You guessed it....still driving 

yup....

Hooray! We made it the end of Cedar Island,, nothing to see except this boat and water

Sunset in Beaufort 

This is life! 

Time for some bakery treats 

Monday

And to top it all off, we still had Monday to spend as a family. Anna was very busy Monday morning setting up her festival

And playing with her brother 

And reading her fairy book

Here's our yearly couple photo

And of course, the man of the hour, Quinny! (right before it came out both ends! ha!)

So, I've always been against this whole Elf of a Shelf business because I don't want Anna to think that someone is always watching her in December so she just has to be good so she gets presents from Santa. I want her to learn the story of Christmas and just be good always because it's the right thing to do. But I do think she'd enjoy the whole experience of finding the elf each night so I'm going to get out all her Christmas books from her bookshelf, re-wrap them all and I'm going to have the elf bring her a book each night in December for us to read before bedtime. That way we can still look for the elf and do all the cute things that I see on Pinterest, keep on reading, but not get caught up in all the "Santa's watching you business".  Now.....where to buy this thing?