It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We've had a busy December, which is nothing out of the ordinary since December is always a busy month! Josh completed his third semester and we are all looking forward to having a few weeks off now!

Cutest Santa around :) He was in mid-snatching-off of the hat when I caught this picture...

Kate's pink Christmas tree, courtesy of Mimi :) She LOVES it and has had the most fun arranging and rearranging all her ornaments.

Kate's school put on a Christmas program and she got to be Mary! In the picture below she's in the blue on the left. But the real reason I picked this picture to post on here is because the kid on the far right makes me laugh. Not sure what's going on with him, but he's either really excited about singing, or mad about something :)

Kate's class has memorized Psalm 100 and recited it at the end of the Christmas program. From l. to r. her class is Benjamin (Joseph), Kate (Mary), Caden (donkey) and Kayla (star). Such a sweet group of kids!

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Stephanie's mom was in town last week and had bought Anna Kate and Abby tickets to Disney on Ice. Abby was sick and couldn't go, so Anna Kate invited Kate to come with them. Kate had the best time!! Here's a fun shot Stephanie got mid-show of the girls with her mom...

And as soon as she set foot in the door from the show, the princess gear was out and on :)

Our sweet new friends Paul and Miranda invited us to come over for dinner one night with our friends the Henkels. After dinner, all the kids made gingerbread houses! So fun! Here they are, hard at work. Hudson was helping out too...by eating candy...maybe not helping exactly, but participating :)

Intent on finding JUST the right place to put that candy cane

So proud of their work!!

Our 'new' Christmas tree. We got rid of our old tree because it was way too big for our house, and found this one on Craig's List! It's perfect...just what we needed for the space we have.

We are leaving to go down to Georgia a few days before Christmas and wanted to do our family Christmas before we left Wake Forest. Usually we give them new Christmas pajamas to wear Christmas morning, but changed it up a little and gave them to them a few days early to wear in the afternoon while we did our Christmas here.

Time for presents!!

Now Hudson and Carter both have ride-on fire trucks!

Josh giving a tutorial on how to work Carter's new airplane. He drew a crowd :)

Kate got her first Prince doll...to go with her new Snow White! She was happy, if you can't tell...And the funniest thing about it is Carter is convinced she got a Superman doll! He keeps asking her where her princess's Superman is.

Hudson on his tricycle from Mimi. He's making his car noise...vroom, vroom...

Merry Christmas!!

Thankful

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. I love everything about it, being with family, the food, the very premise of setting aside a day to thank God for His abundant provision and blessing...so much to be thankful for this year, and every year!!

Josh's brother Kevin and his family came up from Dawsonville, GA to spend Thanksgiving with us at our house. It was such a joy to have them here! We had a blast...like a 4-day long pajama party :)

Teri Lynn and I cooked it up Thanksgiving morning. Here's the finished product :)

Cousins!! Most of them anyway...Hudson was already camped out in his chair waiting to eat and didn't want to get out just to have his picture taken. That boy is serious about his food :)

Fixing plates

Working off the meal with a little Wii dancing...

Seriously. Just like one big slumber party. LOVE IT!!

Bailey and her new friend Carly :) Awww...Dogs are the best.

Go-karts!! Who knew places like that participated in Black Friday sales?! The local place by us was having a sale where you could ride and play all you wanted for $10! So Josh and Kevin took Cullen, Campbell and Kate down for the afternoon while Teri Lynn and I took the littles shopping :)

Kevin and Campbell are in the bottom right corner in car #27, and Josh and Kate are right behind them.

Followed up go-karts with a little putt-putt. Kate thought she was SO BIG getting to go with the older boys!!

Being silly with Daddy

Kate and Carly. She loved the fact that she could carry her around like one of her baby dolls :) I'm surprised Carly didn't wind up with a dress on at some point!

Brothers :)

Cousins :) (Only missing Kecia's two and it would be a complete picture of all of them!)

We had such a great time visiting with the Dawsonville crew...Kate went to bed tonight asking if they could come back tomorrow :) Thankfully, we'll be heading home to GA in less than a month to try and soak up as much of our family time as we can!! So thankful!!

Jumpin' Beans

Carter had his first ever birthday party this week at Jumpin' Beans!! Having to delay the party actually worked out really well because we were able to have it in the morning and Carter's cousins were in town visiting for Thanksgiving! Look how excited my boy was!! Love seeing that joy on his face :)

Speaking of joy, Kate absolutely LOVES to jump!! Having a blast. I love it!! Only wish I had some of that energy for myself :)

Hudson got in on the jumping too! Taking a little break with Daddy...

Campbell

Cullen, Caden, Josh and Carter. Too bad they're not having any fun at all.

Love my Josh!! This picture made me laugh though, because it looks like I've got a weird headband on, or something is growing out of my head...it's really just the handle of my friend's baby carrier :)

What a blessing to be surrounded by such sweet friends to celebrate three years with our sweet Carter-bug...

Getting serious about his cupcake.

Baby brother is just as serious about his, too. A little messier though.

Happy Birthday Carter!! Love you!!

Mimi and Auntie Daria

Mom and Daria came up last week for Carter's birthday and to celebrate an early Thanksgiving. Carter spiked a high fever the 2nd day they were here :( He was so pitiful, but so cute with his little mask on in the dr's office that I couldn't resist taking his picture...The fever stayed for 3 days but never progressed into anything else, praise the Lord! We did have to delay his birthday party a few days since he woke up with a fever on his birthday, but as you can see from the earlier post, it didn't keep him from having a happy birthday!

Getting some sympathy love from big sis

Hudson and his roomie, Auntie Daria. Carter gives up his bed and Daria sleeps in the boys' room with Hudson when she comes to visit us. So cute this time because Hudson started saying her name!! It's so exciting when they are first starting to try and communicate!!

We celebrated Thanksgiving with them a week early since we didn't go back to GA this year. My second time to host (1st was when Carter was 3 days old...thankfully Mom and Daria did all the cooking that year which allowed me to go from the couch to the table straight back to the couch! Love family!!) We had quite a spread this year, and enjoyed every bite. One of my favorite meals of the whole year!! So thankful for each one around this table. Blessed beyond measure...

My little stairsteps. Wouldn't want it any other way!

The Wilks girls :)

Mom gave Carter a Spiderman bike for his birthday! He was super excited and wanted to ride it immediately! So we took a quick spin down to the Robinson's and back. Carter thought he was SO BIG that he could ride just like Kate...

Look at him go!!

Here is our Japanese maple in the front yard. It was stunning this year, and I'm so glad I got this picture because two days later, the weather turned yucky and all the leaves fell off. But wasn't it GORGEOUS?!