Merry Christmas 2018!

A little while after midnight on Christmas Day, I wrapped the last gift for Christmas morning and Brent and I headed to bed. The girls made it till 8:30 am Christmas morning and then came racing to wake us up!  We read the Christmas Story from Luke 2 and then Bethany had to check the manger for Baby Jesus.

Merry Christmas morning!

After breakfast, it was time for gifts. As the girls are getting older, they like watching each other open gifts more, especially to see if their sister likes what they picked out for her.

They enjoyed their new books

and helping their Daddy open the gifts they got him.

Rachel gave him some of her favorite geodes

and I got a beautiful solar system painting!

Then it was time for their surprise gifts from Mommy and Daddy.

Bikes, art set and a new trike

Somehow, Daddy Claus managed to only have 1 gift to put together for the entire Christmas season!

Thankfully, it was sunny on Christmas afternoon because, of course, we had to get outside and try out the new gear!

We made some Christmas cookies, had our McGuirt Family Christmas lasagna supper, and had birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas evening.

Now these girls are all ready to roll into 2019 with all the blessings, opportunities, and Brother it brings!
Happy Birthday Jesus and Merry Christmas 2018!

O Christmas Tree 2018

 We finally got a Christmas tree in mid December this year. I had been pretty sick with Little Buddy's coming and though we normally go to the NC mountains to choose and cut a live NC Frasier Fir, Brent decided with me not feeling well this past weeks that we wouldn't this year. We talked some about an artificial tree but honestly, that idea made me a little sad. We have had a live tree every year since we got married. We even had one the year Rachel was due less than a month after Christmas when we decided to buy a live tree with a root ball and plant our own, but that's a whole different hilarious story. So finally after much looking, I found a Christmas tree farm about 30 minutes away that grew local cypress trees. We were going to cut and try this new to us variety of tree. When we arrived at the farm, we learned that the hurricane back in September had affected a lot of the trees and so we decided to let that tree grow this year. They actually had some Frasier firs from Maine that had been personally driven down by one of the gentleman there just a few days before! So we finally had our tree!

 They also had tons of fun inflatables around the farm and so the girls loved checking those out while their Daddy was getting to tree loaded.

 It was baled, tied on and ready to go

 We got one family picture outside their Christmas store and we were on the road.

Normally, because we travel to the mountains to get our tree we decorate it a couple says later. This year because we were so close by, we were able to decorate it that same day.

 We got it in and unbaled and the decorating began!

 We had some who had fun decorating themselves and the tree

These girls has lots of fun figuring out exactly where they wanted to place each ornament on the tree this year!

 Allie made sure the manager was ready and in good shape

 and even added a few ornaments this year!

 All ready for our Christmas morning celebrations and the celebration of Jesus's birth!

Tryon Palace Christmas

We enjoyed going to Tryon Palace in New Bern, NC for their Christmas Candlelight Celebration two weeks before Christmas. We started this tradition in 2017 for the first time and all really enjoyed it. I had been pretty sick with Little Buddy on the way but thankfully was up to doing this again this year. One of the highlights is a tour of Tryon Palace by candlelight with all its beautiful Christmas decorations. While they don't allow pictures inside the home itself, the decorations are beautiful to see. This was just after we finished our house tour .

 We then headed to the stable to see the Tryon Palace horse. Of course, this was a favorite spot of all the girls.

They have several of historic homes open that night and you can meet Santa, sing Christmas carols and make cards for the area police, firefighters and EMS.

No tears and almost all smiles (only one serious face) with seeing Santa Claus this year.

 One of the staff was even taking family pictures too.

They end the evening with beautiful fireworks behind Tryon Palace, which are especially fun to see in December! Allie took a few minutes to decide if she liked them but then decided they were fun too.

We enjoyed our yearly tradition of  Candlelight Christmas at Tryon Palace and all the fun Christmas festivities there!

Welcome, Little Pumpkin

 The very last day of September, I woke up feeling sick. That continued for most of the day and by the evening, Brent asked if I thought I could be expecting. Immediately, I said nope, no way and the day went on. After a few more days of feeling yuck, we found out indeed I was pregnant! We were very shocked! Jesus had other plans for our family of six, that He was now making a family of seven! On the last week of October, we got to see this little person for the first time.  Every one of our babies has a nickname until they arrive because we dont tell his or her name until their birth, and since we found out in the late fall, Little Pumpkin became this new baby's nickname!

 About 2 weeks later, the doctors wanted to check on baby again, so we got to see how much he or she had grown in a couple of weeks. I love this picture of Allie. She's trying really hard to figure out what is in these pictures!
The doctors also did some checking and said we could hear from any tests in a couple of weeks because of Thanksgiving and we could find out then if I was carrying a boy or girl. So we waited patiently for the first 2 weeks and a little more (im)patiently for the next week as they got all the results back. Suddenly, on Tuesday morning December 4th, I got a call that all so far looked good with baby and that we were going to have a baby BOY!! The big sisters were ecstatic! They had been team boy all along this time. I called Brent who was traveling for work and I am certain he didn't think he had heard me right at first. I think he is still trying to take the news in now! So this is what we sent out to the family that day.

 About 2 weeks later, we made our Christmas announcement.  We thank Jesus for this surprise and exciting blessing to our family! Little Brother is so loved by his sisters already and prayed for and looked forward to by Mommy and Daddy. So now we wait and prepare and anticipate meeting him to June!

An Apple A Day~Fall 2018

Since 2012, it has been tradition for us to go to Carter Mountain Orchard to pick apples in the fall. On the way to one of our photography events this past fall, we were able to swing by for an hour or so and pick our apples this year.

 Of course, you have to get your picture in the apple and see how many apples tall you are before you can pick apples.

 There were lots of pretty apples to pick this year! I love the look of concentration on Allie's face as she watches her Daddy reach the apples up high.

 Rachel reached up almost to the top branches of the Granny Smith trees to get her favorite apples with a lift from her Daddy.

 Bethany was very excited about her apple!

 Allie loved holding her own apple!

The big girls did a great job helping pick all the apples this year.

 This little lady finally got to try her first apple cider doughnut! She seemed to think they were pretty yummy.

 These two tried out apple pie from the orchard this year and loved it

 and a little apple cider while rocking on the porch.

 We were thankful to enjoy our apple picking tradition again this year and enjoyed all those tasty apples!

McGuirt Girls~Fall 2018