Winter wonderland

Yesterday we drove to North Carolina with Jody's parents and we were delighted to see snow for the first time in 4 years!

Our past 3 Christmas seasons we have had really hot, sticky summer weather in Asia, so this was a treat!

We visited the Grove Park Inn

They were having a Gingerbread House contest and these were some of the entries:

Everything was edible...amazing craftsmanship!



The Grove Park Inn

Cadence loves her bath time...she is all smiles!

I celebrated my birthday with the Blantons at Maccoroni Grill...what a treat!

Cadence's first Christmas (of 3 this year)

What a wonderful thing to spend Christmas with our families for the first time in 4 years! For the past few years, we have gone to the beach for Christmas because it was too hot to stay inside. This year we are holding our breath and hoping for snow. Cadence is even practicing making snow angels!

She has all kinds of winter hats.

This past weekend we went to Athens, GA to spend Christmas with Jody's family. Cadence helped Jody pack...

until his bag got too heavy!

She had fun looking at all the lights with her Mae-Mae,

And her Grampuh.

I made my favorite Christmas treat...Chex mix! We cannot get these ingredients overseas so we made enough to share with friends.

Cadence helped open her gifts.

What a sweet memory of everyone together!

Mommy's Lil' Helper

Thanksgiving

We are so thankful for our families and the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with them for the first time in 4 years. We enjoyed it all: food, decorations, cold weather and fellowship.

Cadence has found her feet. Unfortunately, she has lost her teething ring in the process!

We had a wonderful time last week in the mountains of east Tennessee at a Bed and Breakfast.

This was the view from our bedroom.

What a wonderful time of R & R after so much travel.

This is the first time we have seen fall in 4 years! How creative is our God?

Cadence is a great traveler. Just put her in the baby seat and we are off...across the country to visit family and friends.

It was a privilege to introduce our little girl to Jordan's 90 year old Grandma Betty (mother's mom).

Happy Fall Y'all!

"Peter Piper Pumpkin Eater had a wife but couldn't keep her...



So he put her in a pumpkin shell and there he kept her very well!"

On the road again

This past week we have traveled from South Carolina to Georgia to Mississippi. Cadence is sitting pretty these days in her Bumbo seat. She loves being on the counter or table where she can see eye to eye with whoever is around and talk to them. We haven't found the volume button on her yet so she screeches and coos at a high enough decibel to shatter glass!

Cadence had so much fun cooking with her great Granny,

And goofing around.

Granny dressed Cadence in the baby outfit that her mother made and that she wore as a baby in 1920.

Isn't she a doll?

New 'Do's

We've made some pretty drastic style changes lately:

10 inches cut off!

Before:

This reminded me of hazing!

His "achy-breaky mistakey"!

The "Faux-hawk"

Camping

We've spent most of the past month with Jody's family in South Carolina. Cadence has fallen asleep in a lot of arms!