The Big Hike

Avery, Chloe, and Anthony bringing up the rear of the big hike to the meadow. AJ and Avery amazed us this year making the big hike all by themselves. Chloe took the easy seat in the sling and loved every minute of it.

A view of the little stream as we hike up to The Meadow in Hermit Valley, CA. Uncle Chris and Uncle Doug did a little path clearing as a couple of big trees had fallen over the winter and made for a difficult crossing so close to the cliff's edge.

The Meadow

AJ and Ben setting up for some good fishing in the Meadow.

Avery and Mookie walk along the banks of the litte stream up in the Meadow of Hermit Valley looking for a perfect fishing nook.

A Perfect Spot

Avery and Mookie settle into a perfect spot for fishing.

A Big Catch

AJ catches his first brook trout of the year. Thanks for the help, Uncle Bean!!

Group shot of The Hewitt's after camping...Back row..Auntie Lisa, Uncle Bean, Grandpa Larry, Grandma Jane, and Anthony. Front row...Grandpa Bud, Chloe, Avery, Grandma Gay, AJ, and Shannon.

Chloe makes Grandpa Bud smile as she snuggles up to him:)

Chloe spends some time loving on Great-Grandma Gay.

No trip to California is complete without In-N-Out Burger!! Yes, our 2 yr old, Chloe ate the whole burger!!

AJ showing his smashed penny for our collection.

A visit to the Jelly Belly Factory...totally fun and amazing tour. The kids then filled bags with their favorite jelly bean flavors.

Family shot on the beach on Roanoke Island. We took a brief side adventure to explore the land where the Lost Colony had settled. We were just minutes from the start of the outdoor drama when we just had to get one more picture:) Just a short venture through some thick brush and a sneak peak backstage, and we were there for the start:) Whew! By the way, Chloe is at the beach house with Meemaw and Pap:) Thanks for the fun night out:)

Avery, AJ, Chloe, and Shannon ferrying to the Outter Banks. This August we rented a neat townhouse with Meemaw, Pap, Auntie A, Uncle Jerry, Auntie B, and John Boy. It was a great time hanging out with family as everyone enjoyed the kiddos. There is so much to do...beach, boat rides, outdoor dramas, museums, etc. We had a great time and wish we had stayed longer:) Thanks Auntie A, for putting it all together!!

Avery enjoying her favorite place...The Beach at Outter Banks, NC.

Chloe loves her tea...and takes a pause from all the fun and games in the Outter Banks, NC.

AJ found his love for water this summer, riding the ocean waves over and over and zooming down the water slides. The swim lessons have indeed paid off:)

Avery and AJ float down the Lazy River

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Meemaw and Pap came for a vist and spoiled the children with new bikes. Sounds fun, but the bad part is putting them together. After much sweat, no blood, and maybe just the verge of tears, the kids are ready to ride:) Thanks Meemaw and Pap!!

Avery on her pretty new bike. She's enjoyed riding it for a few weeks, but has just went back to the little bike and we've taken the training wheels off! I suspect she'll be riding well in just a couple more days and can switch back in a few weeks:) Go Avery!

AJ sporting the finished product. He's doing great riding his new big bike. We're trying to ride most every day, and it's been amazing to see his progress.

Pranksters!

A nicely deocrated Pineapple Man. He was quickly devoured shortly after this photo thanks to Auntie Lisa's awesome pineapple peeler:)

Naughty Jake

Jake tore holes in his bed, but the kids made the best of it by doing thier own William Wegman photo of "Jake in a Lady's Wig"!

Battle of Averasboro

Grandpa Lonnie, Chloe, Grandma Jeanie, Avery, and AJ enjoy a visit to the Civil War battle site of Averasboro, NC.

MOOO

Chloe in her cow costume:) It's getting a bit too small, but she still squeezes into it!

Must Have Cookies...
Avery and Chloe enjoy dessert. Neither can miss dessert nor a few minutes of "family movie night". In an effort not to miss a minute of the show, they moved thier little table to the middle of the kitchen so they could watch and eat:)

Swimming Fun!

Chloe and Avery enjoy some fun in the sun!

Creative Avery, transforms the shade canopy

into a floating aid to help keep her cast up out

of the water! At least we didn't get it wet!

Yes, now she's out of the cast and into her two

weeks of buddy taping and we should be good to

go. The x-rays revealed good healing, thanks for all

the prayers!

Hats off to all the working mom's!!!

I changed jobs two weeks ago, and while I'm used

to working, I'm not used to doing 40 hr weeks!

Thankfully orientation is almost over and I can get back

into my one shift a week:) It will make for a

happier mommy, and thus a happier family!

Thank-you, Britnay for filling in for me, you've done an excellent job and the kids have loved it!!

We enjoyed some fun times with friends over the 4th. Here Conner and Aj enjoy a water fight with the Daddies. While the little ones ended up the wettest, I don't think they considered themselves defeated:)

Avery's Morning Harvest....

Our favorite part of the day, the morning garden harvest. Today Avery picked our squash twins, lettuce, broccoli, and a small mix of fresh berries.

Got Wall-E??

After seeing Wall-E, the kids went crazy trying to find anything Wall-E. Avery finally just created her own, including a pull string for Chloe to pull him around the house!

Noah's Ark!

Lego hound, AJ created Noah's ark, complete with a bearded Noah and a pair of crocodiles! Nice job, AJ!!

A Princess

Chloe dressed herself for Church...she wanted to be a princess. What a cutie she makes!

Group shot:)

Yes, it takes being confined to Chloe's crib to get a nice picture of all three! They're crazy!

Twins!!

While gardening is new to us, we were shocked to find these siamese twin squash! One shared stem, two separate flower buds at the bottom...one tasty dinner:)

Poor little Averina!

Our little Avery has broken her little baby finger:( As she was reaching across the table for the strawberries, she reached too far and fell off the chair, landing on her pinkie! The break put the little finger making a V with the one next to it. So, this is a picture of her after the urgent care visit. We had to go the next day to see the pediatric orthopedic doctor. This was crazy! The popping, the grinding, the pain! Poor little girl. She did so well! She's now in a similar splint to her elbow for two weeks, then they'll do a new, slightly shorter one for two more weeks, and hopefully she'll be good as new. Even though the growth plate is involved, they don't think it shall cause any problems. Please pray for our little Avery:)

ps...what's with the broken bones this year??? This makes 4 of our friends just in the last month!

Beautiful Chloe!

Chloe is finally growing hair. She loves to put lotions and gels in her hair so that the curls are more visable. It's too cute!

Anthony built this trellis for the grape vines a few weeks back. Now that the vines have something to cling to, they've grown like wild! We even have a few grape clusters!!

Aj gets a much needed haircut. Our friend Abigail told AJ back in November that he looks good with curls. He hasn't cut his hair since. With all the wild curls and the 100 degree weather, he has finally caved. This is a shot midway, in honor of Uncle Bean!

Black Widow!!

We found this amazing beauty right in our own backyard! We were a bit overdue with the weed whacking, as I blew our old one up back in May. Anyway, here's proof that you don't want to let the weeds grow up around the fences here in the south! For all concerned about the saftey of the kids, our neighbors rushed over with their killer spray before we had a chance to decide what to do about it:)

Nope, that Jack Daniels is not for drinking...we're making vanilla extract! We got some Madagascar vanilla beans from a friend, who explained the process, so we're hoping for the best:) If all goes well, after several months, I'll share:)

Mystery Solved! Two days in a row, my coffee mysteriously disappeared...empty cup left only with a straw...

Turns out, Chloe loves coffee!

Avery's lost her two front teeth!

She lost them both on the same day. I can't get over how cute she looks, I just keep asking her to show me her smile:)

Avery holding her mini jam:) We ended up with three jars and a wee bit left over for Avery's baby jar:)

With the one basket of strawberries, the other was eaten within 24hrs, we made some strawberry jam:) Avery takes a turn stirring the berries!

AJ, Avery, and Chloe take a pause for a picture:) We enjoyed a fun adventure out picking strawberries. I was scared that they would eat as many as they could pick, so I was very happy when we ended up with two big baskets. Fun times!

Avery holds a basket of our hand picked berries!

A Day on the Farm

We had a wonderful afternoon visiting Keith and Kim's farm. We all enjoyed seeing the baby animals and playing with our friends. We even stocked up on manure for our garden. Thanks guys!!! We'll be sure to share some of our veggies as they grow:)

Chloe, Abigail, Taylor, Avery, and AJ all take a quick pause for a picture:)

Avery finds a frog:) This little fella sparked the creation of a frog habitat back by our compost bin. Anthony and the kids dug a big hole for a bucket, filled it with water, added a couple of rocks, then finished it off with a lilly pad. Let's hope the frog stays and it doesn't become a breeding ground for mosquitoes!

None of the kids could get enough of riding with Kim in the dune buggy!