Shootin' Stuff

The boys (Morgan, Robert and Jeff) had enjoyed shootin' stuff earlier in our Christmas vacation and wanted April and I to join in the fun on New Year's Eve. April had shot some before with them but this was my first time.

First of all it was a FREEZING cold day. Not only was it cold but windy too! Since all my warm clothes were in WA, I had to rummage through my parents house in search of appropriate clothing. April, however, is the ultimate example of fashion. She looked so hip in her pea coat and sunglasses while I looked more like a country bumpkin. My main concern was staying warm in my Dad's old coat and Mom's hat -which Morgan made me take off because I looked so ridiculous in.

Doesn't April look more like an actress in a movie shooting? She's such a cute girl!

My turn....Morgan gave me some great coaching advice that eventually helped me hit one of the soda cans.
April showing off her shootin' skills.

Now it was time for Robert and Morgan to show off using the big guns. Jeff threw the discs while Robert and Morgan shot at them.

Jeff and Morgan loading the big gun.

Please take the time to see this clip. The gingerbread house became a target. Watch and see what becomes of it.

Mmmm Mmmm Goodness

After all the work it took to make the gingerbread house, the children were the only ones to enjoy it...at first (more to come on that note).

Occassionally I would find Luke picking the icing off the house and eating it.

Then I found him nibbling on the house! Kaitlyn soon joined in the fun whenever she was over at Maw Maw's. I would hear Luke and Kaitlyn playing and then hear Luke say: "Let's go eat some of the gingerbread house." Then they would go and literally take a bite out of the house!

Christmas Lunch

This was a special Christmas for the Lewis family. It was the first Christmas since 1998 that we were all together on Christmas Day. In years past, Morgan and I had flown out the day after Christmas to be with my parents so this was a rare treat to be with them on Christmas Day.

Paw Paw playing with Connor

The ever glamorous April and Robert

Paw Paw loved playing with his grandchildren! They all have softened him up! There's Kaitlyn, Madison, Miriam, Connor and Luke.
The Christmas feast is almost ready. Can you see my poor mother and grandma in the background slaving away? Thanks for making such a great meal!

My Grandma Aldridge...a very special and influential woman in my life. She never stops working and keeps going regardless of how she might be feeling. She has a strong testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and puts others needs above her own. I love you Grandma!

Brandi, Scott, Brian and Melanie all watching Connor practice his walking skills. He will really be taking off soon!

My mom had Luke and Kaitlyn reenact the Nativity story. Here they come into Bethlehem.

Mary and Joseph with the baby Jesus in the manger and the sheep Miriam watching nearby.

Merry Christmas

T'was the Night Before Christmas and all through the house...no one was stirring but Santa's little helpers. Look how nicely and well organized they laid out the children's presents on the fireplace!

Miriam checking out her pile of presents and deciding which one she should open first.
Luke didn't stop to decide which one to open. He just ran and got the first one he came too. From the first day that we arrived at Maw Maw's house, he would ask if it was time to open presents. Now that the time had arrived, he wasn't going to waste a second of it.


Luke and the Batman Helicopter.

Miriam trying out her new baby stroller from Grandma and Grandpa Fife.

Ooooo....pretty dress

Luke was more than willing to assist the Small One in opening her presents.

Luke opening his new tee-ball set from Maw Maw and Paw Paw.

Daddy and Luke trying out the ball and mitt set.

A new Nerf blaster for Luke!

Aha! Santa left a blaster for Daddy too!

Double Aha! Santa left a blaster for Mom too. Watch out boys! It's payback time! These Nerf guns quickly became a favorite for anyone at Maw Maw's. Nothing says loving like shooting each other with foam darts!

Opening presents makes me hungry! Maw Maw made us waffles and sausage for Christmas breakfast. So yummy!

Thank you everyone for the presents that you gave our family. We are so grateful to have each of you in our lives!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve our family went to see some Christmas lights somewhat nearby in Ruffin. A family decorates their yard, home and all their sheds for Christmas each year. It was pretty spectacular to see. The kids loved the lights and Miriam really loved the inflatable displays.

Paw Paw, Miriam and Maw Maw

The Fife family finally wearing winter coats!

Miriam checking out the displays

Fife, Lewis and Shumate Families (Miriam and I were taking the picture so just imagine us standing next to Morgan with freezing smiles on our faces!)

After seeing the lights, we headed home and quickly put the kids to bed so that Santa could make his way to us. The kids didn't seem to fight going to bed that night since they knew that they would be opening presents in the morning. If only it could be that easy every night.

Decorating a Gingerbread House

To help get more in the Christmas spirit, April and Robert bought a gingerbread house for everyone to decorate. The box made it look like so much fun and very simple too. Well it did end up being fun but simple it was not!

April is a very in charge kind of person and she spearheaded this project. 1st step: Icing.

2nd step: Get icing to keep the walls and the roof together.

Step 3: Decorate

Step 4: Keep decorating

Step 5: Let Morgan find a way to keep the tree together and work way too hard on it.

This gingerbread house played quite the role this Christmas. Check out its many different uses in future postings.

Sitting on Santa's Lap

Luke and Miriam did a fantastic job of sitting on Santa's lap this year. The first year ever! Luke told Santa all the things that he wanted and Miriam even gibbered about something. I was so proud of them. I was quite hesitant when Luke said that he wanted to sit on Santa's lap...especially when I saw how long the line was. After 30 minutes, their courage had not failed and our time spent in line had not been in vain. They each got coloring books and had to color in them as soon as we got back to Maw Maw's.

Our 7th Wedding Anniversary

On Monday, December 22, 2008 we celebrated our 7th anniversary. My parents agreed to watch the little ones overnight while we stayed at The Burke Manor Inn- a bed and breakfast inn in Gibsonville.
Our room was the Naomi room and perfectly restored to reflect early 1900 Southern charm.

We had dinner at Red Lobster in Greensboro and then went to a nearby theater to see the new James Bond movie. The theater's heater was not working yet they were still selling tickets for showings. Crazy and stupid, I know. Anyway, Morgan tapped into his Bond driving skills and got us to another movie theater in Burlington in record time. (For those of you not familiar with NC geography, Burlington is normally a good 25 minute drive from Greensboro. Morgan made the trip in about 18 minutes.) It was a good action movie and who could not love Daniel Craig as James Bond?

We loved having an evening to ourselves and not having to have our super listening ears on just in case the kids woke up in the middle of the night. Thanks Mama and Daddy for taking such good care of our kids while we were away!

Our Flight Home

Our day began at 4:00 AM when Theo picked us up to take us to the airport. We made it to the airport without too much vomit (Miriam puked a little bit and it all made it into the baggie). I was so relieved once we finally made it to the Melville Hall airport because I knew that it would be the last time that we ever had to make that nauseating journey. Yippee!

Amazingly enough, our Liat flight left on time and we didn't have any airline troubles like we did last Christmas. Our flight from San Juan into Charlotte was quite turbulent and as we landed, Miriam raised both hands in the air and said: "Hooray." However she then proceeded to vomit all over me and herself. The flight attendants kept telling Morgan to sit down while the plane was taxiing, but quickly realized why he couldn't when they saw the mess. The flight attendants were then very helpful in getting paper towels for us.

After leaving the plane, Miriam and I headed to the restroom to clean up. She had her pajamas to put on, but I was not as fortunate. My jeans were so soaked with vomit and I didn't have any extra clothes. I tried to find pants in the shops but I just couldn't bring myself to paying $30 for a pair of Wal-mart brand sweat pants. I did the best I could and then just wore the wet jeans home. Lesson learned. Always pack an extra set of clothes for me too when traveling with the small one aka Miriam.

Both my Mama and Daddy met us at the Raleigh airport. I started to worry that our family of 4 and my 2 parents would not all fit in the Jeep Cherokee but Mama said that she would lay down in the back. Hmmm...that doesn't sound legal but I was too happy to be on the ground to really worry about this. My Daddy surprised us all though. In the parking lot he pointed out the Suburban they had just bought. Yeah! It was great having such a large vehicle to chauffeur us all around in.

We pulled up to my parents place a little after midnight. It was a very long day but when I went to bed that night, I was so grateful that I was finally home. I was in the land of plenty again and never going to fly again! (Or at least not for a while).

Fort Shirley & Cabrits- our last day in Dominca

On our last day in Dominica, we went to Fort Shirley and Cabrits along with our good friend Adrian. These pictures are in reverse order of what we saw that day, so maybe start at the bottom and work your way to the top.

The Fife Family ending the hike with a beautiful look-out onto Douglas Bay.

Just a little lizard that we saw along the hike. We also saw a snake. It was the firs snake I had seen in Dominica as well as the last. Thank goodness. I am not a snake fan.

2 silly boys!

Me and my little ones exploring the remains.

We discovered several trees there that had these spikes growing out of their bark. Does anyone know why this happens? We were very perplexed about this defect or defense mechanism in nature.

This is not a real crab...we found this crab's shell along the hike and Morgan thought that a kiss would bring it back to life. Just kidding. Morgan was just being silly after suffering through all his tests. It was so great to have a Morgan again that was less stressed.

It was such a clear and moderately warm day. The perfect end to our time in Dominica.

Miriam in the cannon ball storage room. She was a little disappointed that all the balls were locked up and that she couldn't get one.

Morgan scoping out the Commandant's Quarters. These ruins were so fascinating to go through. We didn't see these last year on our trip to the Fort. We found little grape shots all over at the Quarters. The kids wanted to take the little "balls" home but believe me, our luggage was at the maximum weight already!

There were many hermit crabs on the hike. Adrian caught this tiny one and thought that the kids would like to hold it. They didn't at all. When he handed it to Luke, Luke just about climbed over Morgan to get away from it. Adrian then thought that if I held the crab that the kids would see that it was OK. I don't think so. I am not into creepy things crawling on me. The kids definitely get their squeamishness from me.

Along our hike, Adrian saw a hole in one of the old buildings and had to further investigate.

A cannon in just Luke's size.

Miriam posing with the Lewis squint.

Luke and Miriam had a blast climbing on the cannons. Every cannon they saw, they had to climb on it.

I was kind of sad when I saw this mango tree because I knew that I would miss mango season this year in Dominica. Sometimes we would get the best mangoes! Don't worry...I have since recovered from the sadness and am enjoying all the produce at the grocery store in the place of the mangoes. ;)

Who knew that cannons were great jungle gyms?