Turkey day family pics

Our families followed thru on emailing us some pics from our fun & yummy time together!

Here's the Jones side---Abby was napping and Amos couldn't come this year.



Here's the Davison side---Abby was not excited to sit still



4 generations together---Grandmom came down this year.



Sisterly love! I love Nana!

Big shoes to fill...

I love this picture! It reminds me of how little she is and how big my feet are!! So precious how they are on the wrong feet.



We've started putting her up to the table with us now instead of using her highchair tray. I thought she'd try to get out, but she actually enjoys the new seating arrangement. She is growing up fast! Before long she'll actually fit in my shoes....I need to really savor these young days with her as she soaks up all that life has to offer. Okay enough sappy stuff!!

Thanksgiving leftovers...

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. As the dust settles at our house from a fun few days with both sides of our family, we realize how very thankful we are for all of them. And I am thankful in advance for all the pictures they will email me of our fun family time!!!. The one time I got the camera out I only took one picture before the battery died. This is our nephew Grant with his creative additions to plain old pumpkin pie...a few m&ms and mini hershey bars make everything taste better!!



Glorious leftovers in a full fridge mean that I won't be cooking for a few days!!



Once everyone headed home today, Stephen brought the backpack blower out of its summer hibernation to tackle our leaves....which will be a neverending battle for the next few months.

Playgroup Friends

Here's Abby in the dress she was going to wear apple picking, but we never went this year after hearing there were no apples!! We'll start the tradition back up next fall! Isn't she cute?!!!



I am truly thankful for our playgroup. The other 3 moms friendships and encouragement mean so much as we learn the art of parenting alongside one another. Here are our cuties from playgroup today!! We need a picture of the moms together!

Unexpected "wild"life

Uummmm...some friends asked me to make sure I posted this picture. I took this one because I was excited the male and female lions were near each other and I could get a good picture. Most of you with digital cameras that are not the fancy, super expensive kind know that there is usually a delay involved between when you push the button and when the actual picture is snapped. So what I aimed at originally was going to be a great picture, but this is what I captured instead.....and let's just say we are glad the delay wasn't any longer!! We got our fill of "wild"life in the first 10 minutes we were at the zoo!

Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC + Family time = Wonderful Day!!

On Stephen's recent day off, we met his sister Jennifer and her children, Grant & Blythe, at the zoo. It was really a great zoo and lots of fun to see Abby's face when she saw many animals for the first time.



The giraffe exhibit was pretty impressive. We were able to feed them and pet them....talk about up close and personal!



Some personal favorites of mine were the koalas and the aquarium. You may not know that I used to want to be a marine biologist....I am just fascinated by sea life...seriously. The penguins were neat to watch. Abby was not enthralled by them and kept saying "no pingins" when we got her close to the glass.

Prayer Requests

Please join us in lifting up our friends in prayer.....Over the past few weeks we've had 3 friends experience the loss of a baby due to miscarriages. And another couple from our church just found out some devastating news about their baby boy due in March having a rare fatal condition that will end his life within hours of his birth. Needless to say our hearts are heavy with such news and such loss. However, God is good and He is sovereign. We trust him for healing for our friends experiencing loss. And we're praying for a miracle for the little boy with the fatal condition....all according to God's will. It's difficult to have friends experiencing this when we also hope to have another child sometime soon. We appreciate your prayers on behalf of these 4 families. What a blessing every little child is!!! We thank God for Abby!

Tree today, gone tomorrow...

One of our four big oak trees died this summer. Not sure if it was the drought or a tree disease....and no one who came to give us costly estimates on taking it down seemed to know either? We finally had it removed this week. Sad to see it go because it was a really big, nice tree. It changes the landscape a great deal and actually opens up the front of the house a lot. On the positive side, we'll enjoy less raking and less bird poop on our cars!! Abby enjoys climbing on top of the new stump...she seems to think she has really conquered something big when standing on top!

Jones Family Reunion "Portrait"

Big Daddy, Special K, The Nicholson Family, The Disasa Family, and us of course!!!! Could this be the Christmas card??

Jones Family Reunion

We spent a beautiful, family filled weekend in Black Mountain, NC. The Jones Family Reunion takes place every other year...it's Stephen's dad's cousins...something like that. They drew a family tree this year which was helpful. We had fun walking around Montreat, enjoying the fall leaves, playing games, and being with the extended family. Abby was a big hit as usual. Here are a few pics. I'm waiting on some nice group shots from some family members who actually remembered to take there camera out before the last day!

Montreat's Lake Susan


The lonely swan of Lake Susan


Abby on a stroll...note the pretty leaves!


Abby enjoyed Special K's attention and hugs


Bonding moments with cousin Blythe

The Alphapillar invades our home...

Meet Alphapillar...


...the newest addition to our home....courtesy of Big Daddy and Special K


Very cute toy, very educational toy, very large, long toy!!


And don't worry about him being lonely because we have his friend Count-a-pillar as well!!

They really are cute Big Daddy & Special K....we LOVE them!!! :)

Happy Halloween!

For trunk or treat our small group from church did the Scooby Doo theme, complete with the Mystery Machine van which I don't have a picture of yet. Anyway, I was Velma...and Abby was a hula girl. Afterwards, we took her around to 3 houses nearby just for fun, not for candy. We figure it's the last year we can get away with that! At one house she proceeded to build a tower with all the nerds in the candy bowl while we chatted with our neighbor. We think she's a pretty cute hula girl...the jury's still out on me as Velma??!!



Smelling the flowers like a true hula girl!



Maybe next year she should be a wizard or the fairy godmother?



Out on the town with Dada

So far, so good...

Being 30 isn't too bad so far. I've been 30 for almost 4 days now. Really I just wanted to share a few more pics.