Christmas Fun

Christmas morning..... Just a little excited!
Time to open!

Love this face

Doesn't every 8 year old girl want this hat for Christmas?

They loved their gifts from Austin and Campbell...thanks you guys!!

Sarah and Felicity

Gotta love the wide array of tastes....coon hat and AG doll!

Love you, Sarah Anne:)

Jesus' Birthday cake.....needed more icing, but it still worked:)

Christmas Dinner.....chicken chili and homemade cornbread

Georgia with her momma, Lucy. Dropped her off Christmas night at the Hollifields. Needless to say, I don't think she missed us too much!

The 3 amigos enjoying the sledding

adventure in the woods the day after Christmas Snowed in.....our white day-after Christmas

Love this picture of the creek behind our house

Georgia Love

One exhausted puppy after a gazillion attempts at a Christmas picture

A favorite spot in front of the fridge

Georgia's first Christmas:)

Resting on her favorite blanket in the family room

Luke won't be able to pick her up in a few weeks!

She was "missing" one day and we found her in our shoe cubby
(one of her favorite places!)

We decided to name our newest addition to the family "Georgia." Of course, her middle name is Tech. We don't won't people questioning where our loyalty lies:) She has been growing like a weed:) Here are a few pictures from December. We are all enjoying her despite her occasional accidents, chewing episodes and being awakened at 4:00 in the morning to do her business outside. It definitely feels like we have a newborn in some ways, but the kids are absolutely in love with her. We love her too, it just takes us parents a little longer to warm up......hey....more rest will definitely do the trick! Welcome to the Shaw family, Georgia!

Our Special Delivery

Yesterday we surprised the kids with a very special delivery......a new puppy! She arrived on the doorstep (via Daddy) and when the kids answered the door she was already popping out of the box. The kids were very surprised and Sarah kept saying she felt like she was dreaming. Luke was the first one up this morning to go and see her. She is an adorable blue wiemaraner puppy with a sweet disposition so far. She loves the kids and always wants to follow them around the house.

We will keep you updated on a name....still working on that one!

The Birthday Boys

The October boys

Andrew and Emmaline are inseparable The big kids eating on the porch

The little ones playing a game of Hiss

Elijah opens his gift from us

Gift time is always a favorite

Andrew and Elijah recieved matching "coon" hats from the Burkes

Little Daniel Boone's in the making:)

(Notice that Emmaline is at his side.....so cute!)

On Sunday we had a joint celebration of the October birthdays in the family. The October boys are Andrew (age 4) and Elijah (age 6). It was a warm fall day here in NC and we had a wonderful time cooking out together, playing freeze tag, and of course, eating lots of ice cream cake! Happy Birthday to two very special little boys!!

Fun in Science

My little scientists eagerly anticipating the eruption:)

Step 1: Take water bottle and newspaper and build volcano mountain with glue
Step 2: Paint


Step 3: Make a model village with clay at base of mountain. Mix baking soda and vinegar with a little red food coloring. Voila! A volcano of your very own!
Science is definitely one of their favorite subjects and mine too:)

The Burkes arrive in Wake Forest!

The Burke children and the Shaw children (minus Gideon)
The Burkes arrive at our house in their RV

Getting a big hug from Aunt Kim


Jenny Grace teaching Sarah how to crochet

Emmaline and Andrew playing in the sandox
(AKA Partners in Crime)

The girls hanging out together (Maggie-16, Sarah-8, Jenny Grace-7)

The front of their beautiful home in WF

Gazing at the stars through the Burke's telescope

Emma getting a lift from Samuel to look

Hanging outside together on a beautiful night

Luke playing cards with Gabriel in the family room

Our family is beyond thrilled to have the Burke family as our neighbors here in Wake Forest! They moved into a home 14 minutes from us across town in September. We are so blessed to finally have "family" living nearby:) Kim is David's first cousin and she and her husband have 9 children with one on the way! Needless to say, our children LOVE hanging out with them. Never a dull moment. Literally, the moment we arrive I do not see my children sometimes for hours! They are a precious family and we know that we can look forward to seeing Aunt Jenny and Uncle Dwayne several times a year as well. If only we could get the rest of our family from GA/MO/TN/FL to join us here!! Hint, hint:)

Jamestown: Here we come! (Part 1)

Statue of Pocahontas

(We had been reading several books about her that week)

John Rolfe (Pocahontas' husband)

He was great! He interacted with the kids and really made history come alive.

Archeological digging still in process......really cool to see!

Statue of Captain John Smith overlooking the James River

Model of first Jamestown fort

Glass building in background is where the first statehouse was built

Now the location of artifacts found from archeological dig

Plaque below the wooden cross.....To the Glory of God!


Kids standing where the first permanent English settlement began

Outside the church in the Jamestown settlement

(5th church built on site.....fires destroyed most of the others)

Inside the church

Last weekend, David woke me up on Saturday morning around 9:00 and said, "Let's do it.....let's go to Jamestown today." We had been studying it in school that week, but I did not think we could actually go there and visit....wasn't it a long way? Little did I know that it was only a 2 1/2 hour drive from our house! David had been doing some research that morning on the computer and found a great deal on priceline for a hotel room nearby in Williamsburg for the night. So we literally threw some clothes together and by the afternoon we were walking on the same ground that the early settlers discovered 400 years earlier. How many times do you get to study something and actually go and see it the next day? We all had a lot of fun exploring the area and learning a lot. I wonder where we will be headed this weekend? Maybe we need to study the Caribbean Islands next week?