Pitiful Snowfall!

We got almost no snow this year. However, the kids made the most of what we got - except for Matthew. By the time he finally got out of bed, the whole event was over!

Natural Science Center

We love going to museums and science centers. So, we headed off to the Natural Science Center in Raleigh and had a great time. We went with our great friends Elyse and Kaity!

Trip to the Science Museum

As part of our homeschool, we were studying the human body. We went to Winston Salem to Sci-Works and spent a lot of time in the BodyWorks section. It was a lot of fun, especially for the younger two.

Acting Class

Rebekah took an acting class at Temple Theater and had a great time. They performed one act of the Lemon Sisters. It was really funny. Rebekah's best line was, "I look stupid with NO bosoms!" You'll have to ask her about it!

Kimberly and Kaity Scrapbooking

Kimberly wanted scrapbooking materials for Christmas and got a boatload full. She headed on over to her friend Kaity's house and they spent a fun afternoon scrapbooking away!

Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed the giving of the season. Fleece was the "in" thing this year - all the kids got fleece blankets and pillows (made by one another!!). Now, if I can just get them to make Mommy and Keith one! If you'd like to see all the photos leading up to Christmas as well as Christmas morning, click here.

Hejny's Visit

It was so wonderful to be able to spend a day with Elyse, Kaity, and Mike. Poor John had a horrible headache and was dearly missed! However, there is always next year! All the kids exchanged presents, and Elyse gave Keith and I a beautiful wharf addition to our Christmas village!

Are you wondering about the photo of Matthew? We are, too!! LOL He is pretending to be Rebekah. I am looking forward to blackmailing him with this one!

Kyle, Faith, Gena, and Jaxson!!

We were very happy to have Kyle and his family over for a nice visit the Saturday before Christmas. Both Gena and Jaxson are growing up so quickly! We received a great kitchen knife from Kyle and Faith and it has certainly made chopping and slicing a breeze. I don't know how I cooked without it!

Grammy's Visit

The children were excited to see their Grammy and were glad that she was able to stay and watch them open their gifts. Everyone was quite excited with their presents and were especially happy to spend some time with Grammy.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Popcorn stringing, decorating, tree chopping, garland winding, and parties parties parties were all part of the Christmas celebration this year. Teri and the girls went to Doby Christmas tree farm and picked out the most beautiful, perfectly shaped tree EVER!! It was then decorated with about 30 feet of home strung popcorn, as well as lights, candy garland, and ornaments galore. Teri had her village out - pretty much grown into a town this year, needing the original table plus 2 more to hold it all! The newest addition to the decorations was a beautiful tree given to the family by Georgia Cloutier. Her amazing designer trees, those that look like they stepped out of a Macy's catalog, have always been admired. Since she and her husband Dave are downsizing, we "adopted" one of her trees. And we showed off everything we had done during a lovely Christmas open house on December 22nd.

Kyle and Faith's house - Almost done!

They are really looking forward to moving in ASAP! Doesn't it look great?

Rebekah's Final 2006 Performance

Rebekah has been busy since July - either rehearsing or performing for 4 different musicals and plays. The final one ended today - The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. As part of the play's PR efforts, the cast sang at the Southern Pines Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony and sang for a small spot on the local TV station. Rebekah was thrilled to be on TV!

Although there will be no auditions available to her until May, Rebekah will not stop learning. She plans to start singing lessons as soon as the holidays are over!

Keith Starts New Job

Keith is now the Management Liaison for the Sheriff's Office in Lee County. He has been very very busy and will stay that way for several months until things settle in for the new sheriff, Sheriff Tracy Carter. So far, Keith likes his new job, although he does find it to be hectic!

One of his main jobs is to do the PR needed for the office. Check out the website for the office here.

Our Candidate Won!!!

Tracy Carter is the new sheriff of Lee County! We were very impressed with Tracy from the beginning and Keith is very happy that he was able to be part of the team that got him elected. Tracy will take office on December 4th and we are all looking forward to a safer county!!

If you'd like to see the blog we created for his campaign, just click here. If you look to the right hand side, there are all kinds of links. The positions were part of a Sanford Herald series and Keith helped Tracy write those (based on Tracy's words, of course!). You can also see the different ads in the paper, as well as his endorsements.

Sound of Music is Over

Rebekah did an awesome job as Marta. There is now an entire blog with photos from the performance as well as the cast party. Once there, you can click on the three links to the right to see some short video clips. We are very proud of her!

Halloween Fun

Matthew went to a Halloween party and was a tourist. Rebekah had rehearsals that night, but was able to go to a Sanford Ward Trunk or Treat from 5 to 6:30 as a basket of dirty laundry. Kimberly and Katherine went with their dad to the Trunk or Treat at the Pinehurst Ward. Kimberly passed out candy as a girl from the 80's and Katherine went as someone taking a shower! They all had a great time.