Merry Christmas From The Four Moores!

Miss Minnie's Party

We celebrated Izzie's birthday 2 weeks ago for basically a whole weekend.  It started on Thursday morning 12/6, which is her actual birthday.  Daddy worked the night before and brought flowers for her when he came home that morning.  Her first flowers from Daddy (the first of many I am sure).  We let her go ahead and open some presents from us that morning before school because Ceddy had to work again that night.  She got Minnie tennis shoes for our Disney trip, and a Minnie Mouse Christmas snap doll set.  She headed to school where they had mini-cupcakes to celebrate at lunch.  That night, Gaby, Izzie, and me had dinner with Papaw and Grammy, then celebrated with a small cake.  She loved having us sing to her and even blew out her candles (with a little help from Gabriel).  She got an awesome owl over-night bag with her name embroidered on it, it is so pretty and I have a purse that matches it.   Friday night, the Smith family (Travis, Laura, Tyson and Juel)came into town!  We had pizza for dinner then Laura and I got to work cooking, decorating, and drinking a little wine too (ok a lot of wine).  We got everything that we could get done for the party completed, including hanging an impromptu banner in the garage which made the whole table!  It was a little crooked (dad was quick to point this out first thing) but you couldn't really tell it...I think it turned out awesome when you consider the quantity of wine that we had consumed before hanging it!  Saturday was party day!  We sent Ceddy, Travis, and the kiddos to pick up the cupcakes and balloons, while we finished the cooking and cleaning of the house.  This was the first time many of our family would be at the house and of course I wanted it to look good!  The party was so much fun.  We had TONS of food (cupcakes, Minnie cookies, pigs in a blanket, Oreo balls, pasta salad, pickles, chips/dip, chocolate covered pretzels and peanuts, and meatballs) but most of it was wiped out!  Lots of family from my mom and dad's side and Ceddy's siblings from Kings Mountain were there.  Also some friends from the kiddos school.  We had the food set up in the garage and the weather could not have been more perfect.  It was HOT and I ended up in shorts for the party!  The kids had a blast playing outside, riding on toys, and playing at Papaw's fort.  Izzie got all kinds of great presents, including a Minnie bike, animal print coat that I want!, lots of good Minnie toys, clothes, and an adorable Columbia jacket!  Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with us!  The kiddos all had a blast and ended up playing in the driveway, loading gravel in and out of Gabriel's wheelbarrow.  Anytime Tyson is around, you can bet that there will be yardwork involved! After the party broke up, we hung out inside for the rest of the night. Our friend Dustin was up from Raleigh and he came up to see us.  Laura and I crafted more of course!  I taught her how to make the pinwheels bows that I make.  It felt good to teach her something, she and Ms. Rhonda are usually the ones teaching me some sort of craft or another.  We were all WORN OUT at the end of the night!!!  So much fun!!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Biz!

Happy 2nd Birthday to our sweet baby girl Elizabeth!!!!!!!  I cannot believe that you are already two years old, the time has FLOWN!  You have so much spunk and personality for such a little girl, you act like you are 2 going on 20!  I love your independance, your sweet little laugh, your curly wild hair, your willingness to try anything and everything that your older brother does, and the fact that you love to wear a hairbow and a cute outfit at the same time that you play in the dirt and rocks!  You are going to be my shopping buddy and my partner in crime in all the crafting that I do.  I have a feeling you are going to be like your mommy and love having a good time (UNC/Franklin Street-look out!). I look forward to becoming your friend in addition to your mommy.  Right now you love Minnie Mouse, poptarts for breakfast, mac-mac, tartar sauce from the Fish Camp (you ate it last night out of the container with a fork!), scooby-doos (fruit snacks), popsicles from Papaw and Grammy's house (you have to hold it yourself of course), riding your pink motorcycle, stickers/band-aids (you love them all over your body and want to leave them on for DAYS at a time), temporary tattoos, Rocky (you are his biggest fan), your mah-mah-mah (pacifier), bank-bank (Strawberry Shortcake blanket from MeMe), and bun-bun (your bunny from your 1st Easter).  You say you want Barbies and a bee-bee gun for Christmas!  I love you so much baby girl.  Happy Birthday and thank you for all the joy that you bring into all of our lives!



Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.  I hope you all enjoy this time with family and friends.  Thanksgiving has become one of my most favorite holidays.  I love having the time off to relax a little, it seems that is hard to do at Christmas.  Yesterday we slept in, did a little decorating outside, watched "Christmas Vacation" with dad, and even sat outside by a fire.  I was in my sleep clothes for most of the day and finally took a shower around 7:00.  Cedric had to work last night so I watched a little of the UNC basketball game then Gabriel and I watched the Peanuts Thanksgiving together.  Very fun and super relaxing! Today we will do lunch at Grandma Dots and dinner at Aunt Janies.  We usually make the trip to Kings Mountain to see the Moore family but Cedric worked last night and has to work again tonight--so he will be sleeping through most of the Thanksgiving festivities this year and is even going to miss Black Friday shopping with mom and me.  We are sad about this, he is a very good shopper and so helpful to us.  We have so much to be thankful for this year.  To much to even list but I will try anyways:

-Our kiddos- I can't imagine life without them.  They make me smile and laugh everyday.  I never know what they will say next. I am a mini-van mom and I love it. 

-Our jobs- Cedric graduated from nursing school in May, passed his boards and has been working full time for several months.  I am grateful I have a job.  Yes, I need a raise and don't know when I will ever get one (working for a broke state sucks) but at least I have a job that I love most of the time. 

- Our new home- We moved into our new place on July 7th and I have loved every second of living here.  It is so cozy and warm (if you were at the old place in the winter you know this is a big change!).  We have multiple bathrooms and sometimes when I am in our master bath I feel like I am at a spa.  I just love it.  I love having a pretty yard to plant stuff in (so far we have done rosebushes, a fig tree, and yesterday a Japanese maple) and a pretty porch to decorate.  So so thankful for our new home.  Also thankful for all the hard work my daddy and Zach put into building it.

- Our health. With so many around us who are currently fighting cancer (Cole, Aunt Linda) or have fought cancer and other illnesses (Uncle Gary, Miss Rhonda, Tommy R., and so many more...) I am so very thankful for our health.  I am also thankful for those that work in medicine to provide treatment to those fighting horrible disease.

-My hubby-I am so thankful for Cedric.  He is my rock.  Sometimes it drives me crazy that he is so laid-back (which is the total opposite of me) but in the end I think it is a good thing because it helps balance me out.  I love how he was out planting a tree and putting up lights on the porch yesterday when he should have been sleeping.  He did this because he knew it would make me happy.  He is a wonderful daddy and I love watching him play with the kiddos.  I am proud that he is a nurse and I can tell that he is a good one. 

-My daddy and mama.  I am so lucky to have both of them in our lives.  Many of my friends have already lost one or both of their parents.  I feel so lucky to have both of mine and even better, they are right next door to us.  My kids are crazy about them and I think they honestly believe that they live at both places. Gabriel goes up whenever he feels like it and gets treated like a king!  I am so happy that my kids get to see them almost every day.  I am thankful for the values they instilled in me and I hope I am passing those values along to my munchkins. 

-Family and friends- I have some of the best family and friends a girl could ever ask for.  I only wish that we were all closer together so we could see each other more often.

-Most of all I am thankful for God-without Him, I would have nothing.

Happy Thanksgiving guys!  I love you all and hope you enjoy this holiday season!!!

Fall Pics

Halloween 2012-Year of the Vampires

We had a very Happy Halloween! I took off the afternoon so that we could get dressed up and get an early start. We had "mummy hotdogs" for a late lunch, took a small nap, then got up and ready. The kiddos loved being vampires, Izzie was hilarious all night making scary noises! We started at mom and dad's house at about 4:30 and finally made it home somewhere around 10:00. Then we washed our faces, brushed our teeth, put on PJs, and fell asleep to "The Great Pumpkin"-thanks to Aunt Carol and Uncle Mike for giving us a copy, they had 2 and found out we only have it on VHS. A big thank you to everyone for all the candy, goodies, and most of all the LOVE that you give us and our kids everyday! We love you all very much!

Gabriel as Count Dracula

Iz decided she wanted to be a "pire" too!  She has been Minnie Mouse at all the other events we have been too but started saying she wanted to be a "pire".  I found her this little vampire costume for $5 at Walgreens and could not resist it!  She made the cutest little vampiress ever!

Gaby and Me

The Four Moores as the Vampire Family

With Papaw

At Nonnie and Dwight's

With her new Minnie Mouse from Nonnie

My baby girl

At Bock-Bock and Susan's

Me and Ceddy

We ran into Jackson and Wyatt!

Cutest raccoon ever!

At Sue-Sue's

Gaby got "thirsty"

My baby girl

My handsome boys

Sharing a little candy with Uncle Mike

Halloween Past

2011-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

2011-Strawberry Fairy

2010-Cowboy

2010-Gaby with Grandma Dot

2010-MeMe the Ghostbuster

2010-Stay Puff Marshmallow with Grandma Dot (Izzie in the tummy!)

2009-Pirates

2009-The Pirate Family

2008-Banana, Monkey, and MeMe

2008-Gaby at daycare-Little Pumpkin!  This is probably my most favorite Gaby pic of all time!!!!