End of summer 2012....

......summer welcomed a  new and exciting addition to our lives.  Daddy built this awesome swing set!!  Complete with a rock stage for our budding performers.  This yard gets more and more fun each season.

7 Kids using every inch of the backyard all day everyday.  If you have never experienced joy then just listen in for a bit.

This summer Addy graduated to the next class up.  Not only does she jump off the diving board ( something she said she refused to EVER try) she goes in alone and can go under for a little swim with the fish!  Warms our hearts to see her confidence building each day. 

 Water everyday...and in its many forms.  The boys love the sprinkler which is so nice considering Addy at this age was pretty weary of it. 

Squishy Baff.  Such an interesting experience.  Of course the adults around here haven't quite reached the maturity level of most.  I think our kids will be better for it though.

 The convenience of eating outside and its many benefits did not get lost on us. 

We had tons of fun swinging the warm evenings away.

 Not many pictures on hand here on the computer here but this is one of the Gregg men taken at a local Farm.  We bought 10 passes to enjoy this place and this particular night was the boys first experience here.  I highly recommend this place, Friendly Farm.  We left pretty covered in animal waste but TOTALLY worth ever dirty shoe.

The garden girls.  Most of the afternoons were spent elbow deep in dirt.  Fresh food everyday.  Sure is fun and such a cool time teaching the little ones about where our food comes from.  The boys used the pea rows to run and hide.  Next year we will have a decoy garden to keep the boy critters out of our space :)

 In late summer  my mother and I took Addy to go visit her great grandpa.  He is getting up their in years and thinks little girls are the cutest.  We stopped here to eat at Aunt Pappys ice cream spot.This was her bench.

 Still has it after all these years.  It pains my heart to see the proof of time passage. As far as being the granddaughters I should be, I'm failing quite a bit. Fully really. I don't go down often at all.  Truth is that it frightens me a bit.  Every drive down to Concord rushes back floods of memories of growing up.  Great memories but with it comes a lot of sadness.  My goal this summer is to make right with this.

Addy calls him little old Papa.  She always gets a little quiet there but when we leave she always talks for days after about how cute that little old guy is .

.....in rolls Fall 2012.

And its begun.  Addy is part of the school system.  The big Kindergartner .  She was so excited and really only nervous that I was going to embarrass her.  Papa and Grammy had come over the night before with that adorable dress she is wearing .  Papa had picked it out himself!!  We ordered that cool tie dye backpack on line and she picked out her own 31 ( company name) thermal lunch tote with her name on it.  She was feeling mighty special.  Mom and Dad were feeling a bit overwhelmed with how much its all speeding along.

 Kindergarten school picture.  Mrs. Caravellas class.  There is a teachers asst in the class that she really digs named Mrs Jewell.   Its very comforting to know she is somewhere that she feels happy and safe.

 Giant Pterodactyl's!!!!!Soccer , Soccer, Soccer!!!!  This was a great year for soccer.  She is a little natural.  Never a side comment or moan about going.  Its becoming more enjoyable to watch too for us!  She loved all the family spectators cheering her on on the weekends too .

 Annual trip to Windy Hill Farms.

 Enjoying some time in the orchard.

 Two pumpkins.

Bo using their own legs and letting Mom and Dad and enjoy themselves...mostly.

 Halloweens in Townsend at Nana and grampas.  A family of super hero's.

 Two tired hero's

Best Folks EVERRR. Until they are about 8.

 Who says only boys can save the day???

Most fun time of year.

Uncle Mark and Elisabeth got married and look who was the flower girl.  Stunning.

 Not one family picture but what can you do.

 So handsome.

Who could be cuter?

 Daddy turned  old...haha and this is a gift from Mom to him.  Best gift ever.

Birthday Cupcake fun with the Gregg girls.

.....and last but not least, Mommy's least favorite season, Winter.

 First real winter to semi enjoy the snow for the little guys.  Addy and her friends are pros now out there.  Can't get them in unless you bribe them with marshmallows and hot chocolate.

 Merry Christmas!!!  Kids in matching outfits shipped to us from Mimi.

Then end of 2012 ended with Papa and Grammy heading to Columbia to visit family.  We had Lola and Bird here for a few weeks.  Look whose in love and guess which family is liking having a furry friend???

Okay, so this post has not blown your mind with  excitement, this I know....its a catch and I will attempt to make this loss of time up to you in the near future.  Some way, some how.

Ive missed a ton and Ive added some pretty awful pictures.  If I didn't add anything I couldn't move forward...lol!!  I missed a lot of exciting things I'm sure like the addition of a fish tank to our home and the loss of Addy's first tooth.  In the future I will try to not spare any boring detail...lol.

This is the okay to move on to 2013.  I hope that since our last visit that your lives have been richly blessed and that this new year has found you and those you love in perfect health.  May this year be a giant blessing to you.

No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven. (NLT) Philippians 3:13-14

How beautiful to be a new creation in Him.