A Show at the Beach: February 2022

 Brent had a work conference at the beach one  February weekend and we were able to go along for the trip. This year was the first time the conference had been held since February 2020, just 3.5 weeks before Covid closed everything.

We stopped by a new favorite beach spot on our trip down. The winter waves and storms had brought up some fantastic shells and the first starfish we had ever found on a beach!!

We arrived and got settled in our hotel for our first hotel stay since February of 2020 as well.

Dad had work meetings

We had a little pool time

We were even able to go to the social and dance held Saturday evening.  This was the girls' favorite part!

They danced, ate and had a fun time!

May 6, 2020- Happy 1st Birthday, Joshua!

 May 6, 2020

We now officially have a ONE year old! It is so hard to believe that a year has flown by already!

It is absolutely amazing how far the Lord has brought this little miracle in one year! He is growing by leaps and bounds, has been incredibly healthy in spite of being born almost 6 weeks early and is meeting all his developmental milestones right on target!

We had his party with just our family of 7 with the pandemic ongoing. We decided it was "whale-y" fun being ONE! He had a whale themed party and cake.

 

 His ( and our) favorite part was enjoying the smash cake on his birthday! Joshua had blue icing up to his elbows and was eating cake by the fistful!!

It's so hard to believe that our baby is one already! He is a blessing to us every day and we are so thankful that God gave him to our family!

Happy First Birthday, Joshua! We Love You!

January 2022: A Snowy Surprise

 With living not too far from the coast comes the understanding that very, very rarely will we ever see snow and we definitely miss the snow! Mid January the weather forecast began hinting at a lot of snow for our snow (not a lot anywhere else but for here quite a bit.) As the days drew closer, the snow forecast was a little less each time. Thankfully, the cold air and the precipitation arrived at just the right time for us to get 3 full inches! It was a perfect amount for some snow fun after no snow since February 2020!

It was the best snow for making snowballs! Bethany shows us one of her best!

It was so fun to watch these two enjoy the snow together! The last time we had snow Joshua was not 1 yet and wasn't even walking then and Allie was not quite 3. 

There was even enough snow to build a snowman!

This little guy had fun hauling the sled

She was preparing snow balls for a snowball fight with her Daddy!

Let the snowball fight begin!

He's so big now!

January 2022

I love comparison pictures. Just under 2 years  

 (just over 23 months) between these two pictures. Look how they have all grown!

Its so rare and so fun- we were thankful for our snowy surprise here this year!

Rachel's Birthday Trip

 Since it was a milestone birthday, her Dad and I planned to take her on a day out just the three of us. Her siblings stayed with family for the day and we headed toward Raleigh. Rachel loves all things dinosaurs and is fascinated with fossils. Her hope one day is to be a paleontologist. She picked a day trip that was both fun and educational. Our first stop was the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

We started outside by the world globe and then headed inside to explore the museum. It had been just over 3 years since any of us had been the museum. 

Her favorite place in the entire museum- the paleontology lab!

We found a piece of the moon that was brought back to NC from the first men landing on the moon.

Of course, we had the get a picture with the Acrocanthosaurus!

We had to stop by Brent's favorite- the megalodon teeth!

After the museum, because it was a milestone birthday, we had one more surprise for her. There is a very special occasion steak house in North Raleigh called the Angus Barn. We planned to eat there just the 3 of us as a special meal for her birthday. We barely got reservations but when they heard it was a special birthday, they were able to find me a table for 3. As a bonus, because Rachel's birthday is so close to Christmas, the entire restaurant and grounds were decorated with fantastic and  beautiful Christmas decorations!

Our dinner reservations were for just after 5 so we finished up at the museum and headed over

to the Angus Barn.

The decorations were gorgeous and added so much to the restaurant experience.

Rachel was thoroughly impressed and I think this might be one of her favorite restaurants ever.

They even brought Rachel her own special birthday cake!

Our baby girl is growing up. Times flies! We thoroughly enjoyed our birthday day with her!