Christmas Pajamas -- A Look Back

2009


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2011


2012


2013

Christmas Pajamas

We had fun taking our annual Christmas pajama pictures at our new house this year. We actually took these the night that we moved in, which was exactly one week before Christmas!  One of our favorite features of the new house is our fireplace on our back porch.  It was a last-minute addition, we added it during framing, and I'm SO glad we did.  We have enjoyed it so much.  As you can imagine, Graem was itching to build a fire in it, and since we didn't have a tree up we thought it would be a good backdrop for the boys in their Christmas pajamas.





This is Duncan's "Say Cheese" face :-)

Easter 2013

We put flowers on the cross at church on Sunday morning.  I love this tradition!





And tried to get family pictures...except that we were running late and no one was left in the breezeway to snap a picture of all of us so Graem and I had to trade off!



If you know my husband, you know he has ZERO patience for being late...one of the main sources of discord in our marriage since I'm forever late...therefore he snapped a picture as quickly as possible, resulting in this:



After church on Sunday we headed over to Graem's Aunt Linda's house for Easter lunch.  All of the ladies in Graem's family are amazing cooks, so we were well-fed to say the least!  Maybe it is because I have been dieting and took a break from my diet for Easter...but I think the food was especially good this year!  The good food must have put me in the mood for picture-taking because I took lots of pictures...for whatever reason I haven't been using my "real" camera much in recent months (possibly because I have become so fond of snapping pictures with my iPhone).  Looking back through these pictures I'm reminded that the iPhone and Nikon are NOT created equally.  :-) 

Again...impossible to get a good picture of all of us!!





Uncle John always has cool "toys" to climb on!



We were glad that my mom could come down to join us, even though my Dad had to tend to the chickens and couldn't get away from the farm!

















What happens when you get chocolate all over your Easter dress?  You hunt eggs in your bloomers!  :-)





Uncle Steve...the "real" Easter bunny!


We had a pre-Easter family get-together with the Ropers on Saturday and sadly I only have a couple of pictures!  Again, great food, diet detour.  :-) 









In case you haven't noticed...there is a common theme of Roper getting his picture made with pretty girls!  The child loves pretty girls!! 

I hope you all had a very happy Easter!  He is Risen!!

Christmas Pajamas

Can't stop now...

2009


2010


2011


2012

Lights at the Zoo

Last week my cousin Kate suggested that we take the boys to see the lights at the zoo...she is so sweet...how many college students choose to spend a Friday night with their little cousins?  Then she offered to watch them Saturday morning while I got some Christmas shopping done and Graem hunted.  Yeah, she is pretty great.  (Thanks, Kate!)


Two monkeys + a goat:






Happy stinker...






They had a snow machine at the zoo entrance...M&R were pretty fascinated with the snow...


Happiness:

Catching Up: Easter

I'm determined to catch up on the blog posts that I've had floating around in my head for the past few weeks! My Easter pictures are limited and really random...Duncan had just turned 3 weeks old at that point and the whole weekend is kind of a blur! Thursday we went to the zoo with friends...Friday we cooked out & hunted eggs with friends...Saturday we had our church egg hunt at the beautiful Saluda River Club outdoor center...and Sunday we celebrated the resurrection of our Savior with a beautiful church service followed by visiting family at the farm. Easter baskets were sort of an afterthought for us this year. The week before Easter I took M&R to get Easter shoes and Mason begged to try on these: Me: "We aren't here for tennis shoes, we are only getting Easter shoes." Mason (on the way out of the store): "That's okay, Mama. You don't have to buy those orange shoes for me. The Easter Bunny knows I want them and he'll bring them to me." Yeah. There could be worse things that a little boy wants from the Easter Bunny, right? At least shoes will be worn and they are definitely better for him than a bunch of candy! So, the Easter Bunny obliged Mason's #1 request and also brought some for Roper. (For some reason my iPhone photos turn out blurry when the flash is on) Please note the shoes and ignore the fact that my child brought a huge stick in the house. We made these "resurrection rolls" on Easter morning. They turned out just right and were really tasty!

Source: eatatallies.com via Brantley on Pinterest

All of the ingredients have a meaning...the dough represents the cloth that Christ was wrapped in; the marshmallow represents Jesus, all white and pure because he was without sin, etc. Hopefully we can make this a tradition! Here are Mason and Roper right before leaving for church: While we were at the farm Duncan got to meet Gigi. Here is Gi with her eighth great-granchild!