still working on it...

...getting dug out from under the blog avalanche that is....we were completely snowed out of school last week (with the 4 inches that we got and all....apparently southerners don't handle snow well) and so while some progress was made, the kids all underfoot halted other progress. A fun weekend trip to raleigh, and now we're back into our groove again. Feels good. Started the new semester of biblestudy today and oh man! am I excited about it. Leading Beth Moore's Believing God - a lifechanging study that everyone should do every few years. I need to look at my old book to see when I did it last - but I think it was before Callie was born, so at least 4 years ago. I'm so excited about it!

One little thing I don't want to forget - yesterday as we were driving home from Publix, I was telling Callie that she wasn't going to watch any more shows for the day - she had already seen enough for the day. Her reply was "Please, please your majesty! Please let me watch another one!" I couldn't help it - totally burst out laughing. That girl cracks me up. So much for the boys turning her into a total tomboy. Don't get me wrong - she is a tough one, but she is all girl - through and through - and totally in princess land these days! :)

Okay, back to updating the blog. I think I'm on November 20 now...

Dollhouse, Tickets, and THE Golden Corral

Callie had a LOT of fun playing with Addison's new dollhouse that she got for Christmas. (which is good because we have a dollhouse in the attic we've been saving to give to Callie for her birthday!)

Even when going outside, these two girls were never far apart from each other!

Later that morning, Anthony got the mail from yesterday and MUCH to his dismay, there was a ticket in there from a red light camera! Beth had run a red light one afternoon and they got it on camera and sent her a ticket! Well, a few hours later, TODAY's mail came and there was ANOTHER ticket in there - this time from ANTHONY running the same red light!! They were not very happy campers!!!

We topped our visit off with a visit to THE Golden Corral in Raleigh. It's the Williams' favorite place to go, and we've been harassing them about it for years! :) We'd never been, but they finally convinced us to give it a shot after telling us about their brand new one that was just built. Raleigh is the HQ for Golden Corral, so they built the mac daddy of all GC's there - and it was amazing!!! A salad bar with probably 100 choices, any kind of southern, comfort food you could want (the BEST fried chicken), a made-to-order seafood skillet station, a mexican bar, an italian pasta bar, pizza station, pot roast, beef slicing station, a chinese bar - seriously EVERYTHING you could want!!! It was pretty amazing!

The big boys got to sit at their own table and they stuffed themselves silly!

Jacob enjoyed the finger jello - and can you see his ice cream sundae? I think there's ice cream in that bowl somewhere - underneath the gummy bears and other candy.

Yep, definitely a sugar coma coming over Jackson

Caleb thought it was fantastic. I could have used a hose to clean him off!

The dessert bar even had a cotton candy machine!!!

Caleb liked it :)

Callie liked it :)

Trying to convince Addison to try it...

And she tried it and liked it! :)

here's a picture of the sign over the dessert bar - ice creams, cakes, cupcakes, brownies,

Had to take a picture of this - I've never actually seen one, but it makes total sense! Rather than wrapping your freshly washed hands around a grimy door handle (or trying to use your elbow to open the door), use the sanitary door opener! :)

Yes, they even had a chocolate fountain! I'm telling you - it was incredible!

One last picture before we had to hit the road and head back home. (Of course we had a kid wrapped around our legs - always!). We had a great time - they are such precious friends and we ALWAYS love getting together with them. Thanks for letting us spend some of our snow vacation with you!!!

More Afternoon Fun

After our fun morning at Marbles, we went home for lunch and naps. Addison likes to take her naps in her pajamas, and so Callie was quick to agree and join her!

We had a little marshmallow roasting fun that afternoon

I'm not sure how many circles these girls ran around the house, but it was QUITE a few! :)

Marbles Fun!

Anthony even took the day off on Friday so we were ALL on vacation!! We decided to head to Marbles, the children's museum in downtown Raleigh, for our adventure that morning! We've been there before (it was a few years ago - I had less children...) but it's always SO much fun and there's all kinds of fun for everyone!

Probably the perfect way to start the morning for these boys! (And yes, they have the same robe...and they both LOVE their robes!) After a good breakfast, we were off!

I can't believe that after having 4 kids, we still don't have a train table! Just a big basket that all the train stuff stays in and we pull it out to set up on the carpet. These train tables are always a HUGE hit for my kids because of that!

This was Callie's favorite section. They had a little pet shop and a spot where you could take your dog for a walk - she and Caleb loved it!!!

Josiah and Harrison's pizzaria :)

This is how daddies "watch" children...sitting at a table....talking...hmmm....good thing Beth & I weren't far away!

We headed over to another section to work on a huge LEGO tower...

Callie enjoyed cutting some wood in half

Josiah headed to the art project table to see what he could design

David and Anthony got so focused on building the tower that I think they lost track of the fact that none of the KIDS were there anymore!! :)

They had a little racetrack where you could build your own car out of Kid K'nex (love those things!) and then race them down a track. Caleb stood at the end and clapped and cheered for all the cars! :)

A little painting (Caleb's first time - I don't get paint out very often at home! :) )

Oh dear - Callie found the dance stage! Daddy was showing her how to do a cheer...

He's pretty good isn't he? I guess all the dancing from his Brother's Keeper days was coming right back to him!

Surf's up dude!

Climbing Mt. Everest

Jacob will always find a ball - here's the soccer "field"

I told her that Uncle Scott would be proud! :)

Hang ten!

They even had a little hockey rink that kids could do in their sock feet!!

We had a BLAST - the kids were exhausted and had SO much fun! I don't know why I don't have a single picture of Jackson - except that the kids were running from station to station so fast that I'm amazed I have any pictures at all! We LOVE that place - and even better to do it with friends!

Off to Raleigh!

Long ago, we had made plans to take advantage of the Friday holiday and go see the our friends, Anthony & Beth, in Raleigh for the weekend. Friday holidays are very rare, and since that's David's day off, it makes for a great way to get a weekend visit in that doesn't require us to miss a Sunday! Then we had all this snow and school was cancelled for the week anyways - but the roads were clear enough for us to head out of town! We couldn't wait! :)

To say that Addison & Callie were glad to see each other is an understatement! These girls are two of a kind. Both have survived having 2 older brothers (and are pretty tough as a result) but they are also ALL GIRL - so they are quickly becoming BFFs! :)

They're about a year apart, so in the past there was definitely a gap between the two - but now they are both at a great age and played awesome together. Just give them a few babies and some dress up clothes and they were SET! :)

Look at that hair - getting a wee bit out of control. Doesn't take him long to find a microphone anywhere he goes though! :)

My boys were very impressed with Mrs. Beth's new phone. Harrison was showing them how he can play "Angry Birds" on it - they loved it!

Happy friends together again!

More happy friends together again! :)

(Beth surprised me with another matchy matchy sweatshirt from our alma mater! They should put us on a commercial don't you think? Love it!)