Definitely not the Myrtle Beach of my youth!

We decided to brave the beach with the little ones this summer, but only because we had my two little sisters come to help. We couldn't have done it without them. Though our vacation was full of mishaps (Noah jumping in the big pool, me losing my anniversary ring, crazy elevators, Carter smacking some strange woman on the bum), we still had so much fun! The boys loved the ocean, especially when Dan took them boogie boarding. I joined them in the ocean but was always on the look-out for sharks. Darn that Discovery Channel shark week and Krista's paranoia. Even Carter told me on the oh so long drive to the beach that he didn't want to go in the water because a big shark would bite him ( a big thank you to the makers of the film "Earth".) Of course, he promptly forgot about it once we got there.

Carter was very into building castles (and Noah was very into knocking down castles). I thought Noah for sure would be loving on the smorgasbord of tan, smooth legs he ran into but I only saw him thinking about it once. I gave him a warning look and he stopped. Thank goodness.

And the baby just kind of hung out. She was a good sport and seemed to like the water on her toes.

I know it's a lot of pictures, but I hope you enjoy them!

Noah and Sam

Noah got to spend time with his cousin Sam over Christmas. Noah apparently thinks that Sam is a baby (he's about 18 months old) and decided Sam needed to picked up and held by him, one way or another. Sam had other ideas. It was hilarious to watch. Well, Mary might not agree.

Christmas morning

Carter really got into Christmas this year. He was so excited for Santa and presents. We tried to talk a lot about baby Jesus and play with our nativity scene. He'd just yell "No baby Jesus!" and throw poor little baby Jesus across the room. So much for the real reason for the season. And Noah just mimics everything Carter does. Noah also enjoyed opening presents early this year.

(Excuse the pictures! We got a new camera and I can't figure it out. There's something to be said for simple point and shoot cameras!)



Honestly, Noah's favorite present was his stocking. He carried that thing around with him all day. When else can he have candy at his disposal whenever he wants?


Yep, that's a shiner on Noah's cheek. He got that by running into the couch the day before.



The boys got electronic dinosaurs and love having them attack anything in their way.

If you can see in this picture, Noah is having the dino eat a car.







We had a great day! It's so much more fun to watch my kids open their presents than open my own!

Christmas Eve Party

On Christmas Eve, we headed for our family's traditional Christmas Eve party at the prison. (Ha ha - I know that sounds funny; it's actually the rec center at the prison where my uncle worked. It's really nice!) The kids played a lot of games and we ended the night singing what we have for decades -- Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer. It's nice that some things don't change.

Holiday card outtakes

Once again, I'm late posting holiday pictures but I talked to Carter's "S" and thought she and Noah's birthfamily would enjoy some pics.

Here are some outtakes from me trying to take pics for our Christmas cards. Just let me say I believe I will never ever try it again. They hated it and would complain and cry and for the most part, we were all miserable. So next year, everyone, just expect a card!