Wordless Wednesday - First Visit To The Dentist

Wordless Wednesday - Snowball Fight

Christmas Memories 2010 and Happy New Year 2011

Happy 2011!!  Christmas came fast and furious this year.  I guess technically that would be last year at this point, anyway...  It's hard to believe it's all over with already.  Our house was a flurry of activity with choir productions, school parties, trips to see family, and company for the holidays.  To make things even more exciting, it seems we passed some sort of virus back and forth between the four of us for the past six weeks or more.  I'm exhausted to say the least!  To start my review of the past month, here are some of my favorite chotchkies from the holiday.

I've been Room Mom for Madeline since she started school and every year I make an ornament for all the kids, plus teachers, in her class of whatever the classroom theme for the year is.  This year her homeroom is all about monkeys.  I added the year, the grade, the school, and the teacher's name to the back of each ornament and put them in a cute gift bag.  I'm pleased with the way they turned out.  The other ornament I loved this year is a life-sized Kenan handprint made by his preschool teacher out of some sort of foam material, very cool.  I found a neat way of displaying some small ornaments and finally got to use the nativity set I found in Ecuador this past summer.  I wish this stuff could stay up all year but then it wouldn't be as special to look at so back in the box it will go until later this year next year. 

This just cracks me up, it's Kenan's version of the Christmas story.  In his little world of course cows and camels could sit on the roof of the stable with the angel.  We may need to review the story a few more times...

Something new we did this year was visit the Speed*way's light display.  They had set the lights to music you could tune into on your car radio.  (Someone in our neighborhood had done the same thing with their yard.  All I could think about was what the people living near them thought with all the cars that kept going up and down their street and stopping in front of their house.)  When you left you had the choice of taking the inside track - flat and boring - or outside track - steep and adventurous.  Well, we had to try the outside of course and it about scared the begeebies out of me!  I just knew we were going to tip over in our mini suv.  Ahh, love makin' those memories!

Next, it was off to visit family at the coast where my two munchkins received some surprises and enjoyed feasting on giant marshmallows to boot.  The day after we returned home was Christmas Eve and we prepared for our guests and attended our church's first ever Christmas Eve Service.  4,000 people showed up!  How lovely it was when the entire sanctuary was filled with candlelight.  Sure wish I had been feeling better.

When we came back home after church we ate one of my favorite meals, Carra*ba's Lentil & Sausage soup, homemade of course.  oh.my.word.  The kids were chomping at the bit to open some presents so we let them tear into a few.  I asked my parents if I drove them crazy on Christmas Eve the same way our little elves were driving us mad and they just looked at each other, smiled, and said, "Yes."  What goes around comes around I guess.  Madeline got a Le*go Bat*Man game she wanted...

...and K-Man was very happy with his new set of trucks. 

  We baked a few cookies for Santa, gave baths and went to bed.  Morning came quickly and we headed back downstairs to see what goodies were brought.

This year it was scooters all around plus a Buzz*light*year and Darth*Vader Le*go set.

Twin Lions - Go Hickory Grove!

They got some new clothes, books, and toys.  Madeline could hardly wait to put her Le*gos together and spent the next few hours in her Star*Wars world.

She amazes me with how fast and perfectly she can get those sets together.  I don't know many girls who love it like she does.  They enjoyed finding more treats in their stockings and for dinner that night we had "Happy Birthday Jesus" lasagna complete with the song and candles.  Then it started to snow!  Technically we did have a white Christmas since it happened before midnight so that counts, right?  All I know is that it added to the excitement of the day and will make this Christmas one we won't forget. 

The next morning was Sunday and I had been asked to sing for church but the early services were cancelled which allowed for a short trip out into our winter wonderland before going to the late service.  Once we came home we spent the afternoon eating, throwing, and doing all things snow!

Views of our backyard including the river and a bird's nest.  So peaceful... then you're brought back to reality when you hear screaming as the two eskimos come racing down the hill on their sled.  I digress... 

Due to the weather we spent the next couple of days playing in the snow and doing inside activities like making a gingerbread house and drinking lots of hot chocolate in front of the fire.  The kids rode their scooters inside, have mercy, and we continue to share the germs that have found a permanent residence within our walls.  Happy New Year!  May it be peaceful and blessed.

 

Christmas Card Carousel

I'm a little tardy for the party, I know.  I couldn't miss out on all the fun so better late than never!

Thanks Faith!



Merry Christmas 2010

It is with thankful hearts we are able to share that this year our trust and faithfulness were rewarded. One year to the day Rex found out about his layoff, he began a new job. After being ordained as a deacon, and having an emergency appendectomy the following day, he started working for TIAA-CREF as a Business Metrics Manager in February. He spent some of his vacation time in June on a mission trip speaking with business leaders in Santiago, Chile. We know that everything he went through was for a greater purpose and he’s using his experience to encourage others.

Madeline, our 9 year old fourth grader, went to sleep away camp for the first time this summer.

 She is very busy with school, has become a huge Lego fan, and is developing her

softball talent by playing as often as she can.

Kenan, our charming 3 year old, is all boy and started the year with three stitches on the top of his head.

He loves to be outside, is exceptionally good at video games, and is very attached to his sock monkey.

Traci still spends most of her time singing with her women’s ensemble and volunteering as Room Mom at school. She had the privilege of going on a mission trip to Quito, Ecuador in

August to conduct VBS for soup kitchens in the area.

What a busy and blessed year this has been!

Love – Rex, Traci, Madeline, and Kenan

http://www.thepresent-backesfamily.blogspot.com/

Christmas Home Tour

'Tis the Season for busy-ness.  I haven't been on here recently due to lack of time and energy but I thought I'd at least repost our candlelight home tour from last year since things look pretty much the same.  So, if you've got a minute go check it out.  I'll be updating after the holidays.  Have a very Merry CHRISTmas ya'll!

http://thepresent-backesfamily.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-home-tour-by-candlelight.html

Happy Thanksgiving

This Little Pilgrim and his family

 want to wish you all

a very Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for!

Day Trip to the Mountains

Last week our school had teacher workdays and I'd been itchin' to go see some pretty fall leaves, so we decided to take a day trip up the road a couple hours to the beautiful NC mountains.  I've lived my entire life in this state but had never visited one of it's most popular sites, Grand*father Moun*tain.  We took the scenic route, The*Blue*Ridge*Parkway, and even though it was a cloudy day, we still had some magnificant views.  I love how you can see the clouds between the mountain ranges.

Being a weekday, there was still a line of traffic we had to wait through.  I guess we weren't the only ones with this great idea so we just enjoyed the scenery along the way.

Shortly after we entered we saw some amazing natural formations.

The Sphinx Rock...

...and Split Rock.



As we ventured towards the top, we stopped at a museum and animal habitat.  The otters were resting, you could hardly see the cougar and deer, but one of the bears put on a show.

Madeline was very impressed at the size of her birthstone, amethyst.  It helps that purple is her favorite color.

My little bear cubs.

This is a wooly worm.  See how long the brown stripe is?  From what I was told, it's going to be a long winter.  We'll see...

We made it up the hairpin road to the top.  Did you know that part of that road is in the movie For*est Gu*mp?  When he's running across America there's a scene on one of those hairpin turns.  How cool is that?!  It was fun to drive too!  There we found a one mile above sea level swinging bridge which took a little convincing on our parts to get Kenan to cross.  It doesn't really swing, at least not anymore, since it was rebuilt using metal.  Now it sings when the wind blows and it was showing off that day because it was soooo windy!

Views in both directions.

The right...

...and left.

Even though we had missed the peak time for the leaves, there were still enough left for me to get my fix and stand in awe of creation. 



After our morning adventure, we drove over to Va*lle Cru*cis and the original Ma*st General*Store.  We went to the annex building which has a candy barrell and every kind of candy you could think of and some I didn't even know they made. 

We let our two loose and they were like...

...well, kids in a candy store!

I saw this sign and it got me tickled.

We had waited to eat lunch because we knew where we were headed next.  We piled back into the car for the short drive over to Boo*ne and The Dan*iel Boo*ne Inn.  Talk about a feast!  Just look at all the food!  We had fried chicken, ham biscuits, country style steak, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, salad, cole slaw, stewed apples, biscuits with butter and blueberry jelly, chocolate cake, and banana pudding.  It was so good, I would have much rather been rolled out of there instead of having to walk!  We didn't need to eat for days after that!  It was hard staying awake on the drive home, let me tell ya.

 What a lovely day we had spending time as a family and visiting what was in our "backyard".  The weather was perfect, the sights were breathtaking, and the food was delish.  I can't think of a better 'day'cation!