time to decorate!!!

i love (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!) christmas time!! as soon as we arrived home from thanksgiving at the Renfrows (yesterday early evening), we loaded back into matt's work truck to go and pick out our christmas tree!! yay! it was so fun to do with the kids, they loved running around between the trees! last night i worked on decorating some of the house and then today the kids and i have been working on decorating the tree!

"hum, where should i put this one?"

wyatt took this picture!

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving was so fun at the Renfrows. As always the food was so yummy, and if it weren't for this sweet babe sitting on my stomach, i would have eaten way too much. i felt super full, but i didn't (couldn't!!) eat as much as i normally do!

the only evidence that we were there is this picture of the kids watching a veggie tale with nana! oh well, one day, ONE day, i will be better about taking pictures...i hope!!

Camp-In: Treasure Hunt

This weekend was our annual camping trip with the Eakrights and Gwinns! as you will notice from the pictures, we didn't actually go camping this year, but we had a "camp-in" as i like to call it! years that there is a little one too young for the cold nights outside, we still get together and do some camping things (cook outside a little, roast marshmallows, etc.), but we stay in a house!

this year we stayed at Vati and Mutti's house and had a great time! Even though we were inside, we still wanted to do plenty of outdoor activities, especially since we knew the kids would love it. Jason and Andrea planned an awesome treasure hunt that took us all through the woods at vati and mutti's house. The kiddos had soooo much fun!

here wyatt and claire are looking at the treasure map and listening to Auntie Ree (that's what they call my sis) read the first clue.

the first clue sent everyone outside! they had to find a certain number of stars, which were on the cars (jason and andrea are always rhyming in our birthday cards and the treasure hunt was no different, it was full of catchy phrases!)

from the cars we went to the wood stove, i think they were looking for circles this time. claire found the next clue!

next we were off to the garden (which is surrounded by tons of wood piles!), here the kids not only found the next clue, but also found personalized hiking sticks! (auntie ree and uncle j are so creative!)

following the clue from the garden with their hiking sticks, we headed through the woods. When we came to this bridge we uncovered a snack...and maybe another clue, but i can't remember for sure?

wyatt: treasure hunter! :)

we eventually ended up at the pond where the kids found some bread had been left for them to feed the fish.

and then.... X marks the spot!!

grandpa holding emmett and his loot!

claire and wyatt excited about their treasures!

all 4 cuties sitting on the bench with their goodies!
(eli, emmett, claire and wyatt)

Camp-In: Hike

Later that day, after the treasure hunt, we went to Eno River State Park (the part of the park where Jason used to work) for a hike!

claire and eli checking out the river on the hike.

this may be hard to see, but i liked my prego shadow on the water below the swinging bridge
...i think that's the shadow of mutti and claire behind me!

claire taking a ride on daddy's shoulders!

and that is where my picture taking stopped for this weekend!! we also cooked hotdogs over a campfire for supper, then later that night roasted marshmallows, made smores and pudgie pies! then today we went to a park! it was a really fun weekend! :) looking forward to next year!