Some Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas from the Shafers!  ...or otherwise know as Mary, Joseph and the Angel. :)

We have been busy around here!  Look who came to visit...here's Isaac with Grandma June.

There's Grandpa Norm with the rest of the gang!  We sure had a great time with them.

Thank you for making the long trek!!

Our goal for 2016 is to get a few more posts up. :)
Happy New Year!!

Florida Beach Trip 2015

In October our school had a 2 week fall break so we took a week of it and went to the beach in Florida.  We found a great  deal on a timeshare though a military site so we had a great place to stay all week. Here are the kids ready to hit the pool on the 1st day.

The day after we got there we found out that the nearby beach town was having a pirate festival.  Guess who was excited!?

Here is one of the pirate ships involved in the festival and we ended up going on an evening pirate cruise a few days later on this boat.

The festival had lots of fun things to do....we had a pirate scavenger hunt that the kids were enjoying.

They even had a pirate battle and it was LOUD!

After the festival we spent some time on the beach.  It was AWESOME!

This little guy is getting to be not so little anymore!

Ava was enjoying beach time too!

Isabella sporting the goggles and floaty.

Over the next couple of days we checked out different beaches and this place was a favorite.  It was Captivia Island and we had the best meal to live music.  It was a perfect afternoon!

Another highlight was the pirate ship cruise. They had face painting and fun games.  It was perfect because we were out at sunset and it was beautiful!

By far one of the best surprises of the trip was this. We didn't tell the kids where we going and just showed up one morning here. It was soooo fun. The kids were incredibly excited and it was a really fun time.

Another surprise was we met up with some friends from Pinehurst. It was a fun treat and the girls loved playing with Mia (in the back).

The girls really like the "friend" lego sets and they had a really fun performance with the characters.

Isaac loved everything and HAD to get a picture with his matching Darth Vadar shirt. These lego statues are pretty amazing!

We spent 2 days at Lego Land and it was a great way to complete out trip. Isaac really loved the hotel and this is the picture outside of it...we even ate there after the park closed on our last day. Isaac really wants to go back there and stay....he now has a dream of owning a Lego Land hotel at the beach. He said we can come stay anytime we want. :)
Such a great Florida vacation!!

Western Day & Bowling

We know there has been some radio silence in these here parts.  We have been busy playing. The kids and I had the 1st two weeks of October off for Fall Break and we were too busy having a blast.  Our next blog post will be on our Florida trip and how we surprised the kids with LegoLand! 

Right before Fall Break our school had Western Day.  Here is Isaac at his desk at school.  The hat was a little small but looks even more so in this picture.  No worries though, he loved it!!  This "not so little guy" loves to dress up and he was sooooooo excited to be a cowboy!

The girls were equally excited to be cowgirls and LOVED the hats I found for them.  They take after their Mommy and love a good boot!  You never need a reason for cute boots!!  This is them in their classroom.

Did you hear about Hurricane Joaquin a few weeks ago that flooded South Carolina?  This was the night it poured soooo hard and we got some of it in North Carolina.  We decided to beat the rain and go bowling.  The kiddos were so excited!  They still wanted to wear their outfits. :)

Ava is a fan of bowling!

We were trying to get a picture of us all and this is the best we got.  Isaac didn't make it in but look at those sweet faces!

A cowboy with shorts on...why not!?

Y'all come back ya hear!!

The Big Race!

The kids just participated today in a big school fundraiser.  Our school teamed up with a fundraising company to do this "big world recess" run.  The kids could either get sponsored per lap or a one time donation.  It was a really well done event and everyday for the last week the kids have been learning about a different value (like confidence) and they have also been receiving prizes based off how much they have raised!  Our family is awesome and were the big donors for our kids!  Thanks family!! :)

All the kids are really into competion and couldn't wait to try to "win."  It was not that type of race but it still didn't hurt their excitement! (p.s. we thought that Isaac had to wear his school shorts for the run...hence the belt...didn't really slow him down too much!)

Ava taking a quick picture pause.

See Isabella in the back?  That girl makes me laugh.  She took it all very seriously.  She has a future in running!!  She was focused and stayed the course the entire run!

Look at that focus!

Isaac is still smiles getting to the end of the run!

Isabella standing proud after the run!

They marked the laps as the child went by.

Did I mention it was a HOT and muggy day!  Boy, summer is still in full force here.  Everyone was soooo hot and sweaty after the race.

Here are our champions!  We are proud of these three!  They all completed all the laps and had a great time doing it!  Isabella even asked if she could go running with me sometime soon! :)

Thank you for your support!!

AND THEN HE WAS 7.....

Here are a few pics from Isaac's birthday party.  We had it at the lake and it was an awesome time!  

Happy 7th birthday Isaac!!!

  We love you!!!!

AND THEN THEY WERE 5....

We can't believe that our little girlies are 5!!  Where has the time gone!?  There is a saying (that especially applies during the very early newborn/toddler years) that the days are long but the years are short!  It is so true!  Especially with having twins there are some days that have been just plain long...diapers, feeding, sleeping x 2 and then doing it all again.  The years go fast though...these 5 years have flown by!!

Back to the birthday celebration...we stuck with tradition and woke the girls up with balloons...each got 5 this year!  They were very excited!!

Isabella continues to be our pink girl.  All 5 balloons had some pink on them.  Ava loves purple but turquoise is a close 2nd.

What made this birthday extra special was having these cuties with us!  My sister and her boys, Josiah and Cash came and spent a week with us.  We had the best time with them!  It was a little cozy in our new house but it was like a slumper party all week long! :) Brenda, we owe you a real mattress next time :) !!!

We came downstairs and the girls got to open 1 present at breakfast!  The bag happened to have some of their favorite things in it...Ava is holding up the gum...

...and Isabella is holding a cup.  These girls are cup oppsesssed!  They really, really love snack containers and cups and will often get them in lieu of a toy if they have a choice.

Somehow I missed a large chunk of the day because I forgot my camera but we went to the children's museum for the their b-day.  They each got to invite 2 friends and it worked out perfect.  Isaac had Josiah and Cash to play with at the museum, so fun times were had by all!

After we got back home and Daddy got home from work it was present time!  They were digging it!!

After walking to our local pizza place for dinner we came back and did a piñata in our backyard!  It was soooo much fun!  

These kiddos have a blast together!  Josiah is 6 months younger than Isaac and 18 months older than the girls, so they all have a great time together!

My sister and I enjoying the gluten free cookie cake I made for the girls...the blue frosting was a MESS...look at our teeth!

We ended the night with sparklers and it was a GREAT day!!  The girls were sooooo excited about their birthday...they had been asking for months "how many days till our birthday?" and were thrilled that it was finally THEIR day!  In typical Ava form she started asking the very next day when she was going to be 6! :)