holidays
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mrs. gayle’s gingerbread party: 2016.
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last week in photos (or: thanksgiving gratitude).
Hello friends! How was your Thanksgiving? Ours was full of people and lots of really yummy food. Here’s what we’ve been up to lately! Judah and Amelie had their first swim meet last weekend at USC. Judah has been swimming with Columbia Swimming for 15 months, and Amelie for nearly a year. We wanted them to have a good year under their belts before starting swim meets, and I feel like this is the perfect time. They swam Saturday and Sunday: I’d say the first day was super overwhelming and a bit traumatic and we definitely had some tears, but the second day went way better. Navigating the crowds, noise,…
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halloween 2016.
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labor day.
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4th of july.
David’s parents hosted our family 4th of July pot-luck celebration this year. We had some very tasty food and drinks and topped the evening off with fireworks. Steve and Linda’s backyard is a wonderland of fun, even in 98-degree heat, and Steve’s addition of a 30-foot tether-ball game was a big hit, no pun intended. A great time was had by all!
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easter 2016.
Happy Easter! He is Risen! This was our very last “first holiday” together as a family of six! And that made it extra special. We had a wonderful weekend with our church and family. My parents came over last week to do their tradition egg-dying with the kids. The boys loved it so much that Noah burst into loud tears when we told him it was time to clean up. Also by that point his hands were completely dyed blue. Our Easter Saturday tradition (since Sunday is a work day for David), is homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, followed by a scavenger hunt for the kids’ gift. I scored big…
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making room.
After a year and a half of working hard on our house and yard, we agreed to take 2015 off of major projects. And we did! Well, 2016 couldn’t even begin before David was back to work. Our tree guy and his crew drove a trailer into our yard at 8:30 New Year’s Eve morning, so we celebrated Noah’s third birthday to the tune of saws and crashes and lots of cigarette smoke. The boys were captivated. Then David and I may or may not have fled left town overnight for a wedding, while his parents stayed with our kids and oversaw the rest of the tree process. Thanks, Steve…
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a cozy afternoon.
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great wolf lodge.
This is our fourth year going to the Great Wolf Lodge. The first Christmas we came back from India, we were looking for some new family traditions, and decided to give it a try. We had so much fun that we went back the next year, and the next! We specifically love going in December because it’s fun to go swimming when it’s cold outside, and because the Great Wolf Lodge is over-the-top about Christmas. The whole place is decked out and there’s a special evening story time with a wintery surprise at the end. Because Charlotte is just an hour and a half away, we’re able to go for…
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december 2015.
Fall has lingered in South Carolina this year, coming late to us because of all the rain, so as I look outside this afternoon I still see colored leaves drifting lazily to the ground. The windows are open to the fresh 70-degree air, even as the lights twinkle on our Christmas tree across the room. What a lovely December. Last Christmas season, in the midst of baking and Advent hymns and whispered secrets about gifts, I carried an ache deep in my chest. We were waiting, waiting for Baby Gentino, and each day I begged myself not to live on pins and needles, straining my ears for a phone call…