May 15th

We get to officially meet this little guy (give or take a few days).  Isn't he sweet? 

Florida or Bust

Last week our family drove down to Florida for some sweet family time.  We started with a visit to Sebring Florida to visit our dear friends, the Parshals.  The hospitality and fellowship was top notch. They housed our crazy family in there quiet retirement community and we think that they are quite brave.  Never have I seen so many orange trees in bloom and spotted such massive loads of produce being transported in such large quantities as I saw during this trip.  It was January people!  Made for a fun sightseeing drive.  And I must also add that for being in the car 9 plus hours (both ways) our little people did amazingly well.  After our time with the P's we headed to Orlando for some quality time with Mickey and friends.  We joined the grandparents, whom were also enjoying some R&R, for a memorable trip.  Here are some pics of our time. 

 Maggie and Henry in Hollywood Studios, our first day at Disney.

Met Woody and Buzz there too!

 And Haven enjoyed some sweet nap time in her chariot.

 Day 2 was spent at Epcot.

 So thankful for grandparents!

 We loved all the "dress up" shops.

Our third day at Disney was spent entirely at Magic Kingdom.  I must admit this was my favorite park.

We met tons and tons of characters during our stay from the Disney jr. stars to the Princesses to the classics (think Mary Poppins and Pooh).  This is Haven's first reaction to these big old whimsical creatures.

 And after we had met more than a dozen; this became her reaction.  She lovingly embraces Eeyore above or as Henry calls him "Ee-Ore."

 See how our little princess loved to nap as the rest of us enjoyed tour of the world in Epcot.

 Meeting Mickey not once but twice was also a highlight.  After our first encounter the kids were more prepared the second time around and made requests for both a magic trick and a sword fighting session, both of which Mickey happily complied.

 The whole crew.

 See how Haven is warming up? 

Hope this video works.  If so here is a little piece of our family fun.  We really did have a blast and I am so thankful for this precious family God has given us.  They are great and I am thankful to be their Mom/Wife/Daughter.

Christmas 2012

 As promised here are a few pics from Christmas.  We had a really nice casual Christmas Eve and Christmas morning here in Charlotte with my folks.  We ate our traditional Chinese take out after the Christmas Eve service, followed by Santa letter writing and cookie staging.  It is a fine process.  Maggie is now the elected secretary for the Dirks kids and she excels at her task by leaving words of encouragement and thanks to the jolly fellow.  Henry has become an expert cookie plate arranger.

Who needs portraits with Santa when you have your very own
Christmas Poppa?

 After we opened gifts, ate a delicious brunch and had a great birthday party celebration (for Jesus of course)  we jumped in the car and moved the party to Columbia to meet up with the Zaepfel side of the family. 

 First things first...we had a light saber fight.

 Maggie and her new doll, Rebecca.

 And here's Haven...haven' a very merry Christmas (in Grandma's arms)!

 This year Maggie enjoyed having her Aunts and Grandma to herself for a little tea party in the play house.  Being one of two girls in a group of boy cousins certainly has it's perks.  The boys tried their best to barge in, but Maggie handled herself quite like a lady.

 There were lots of gifts to be unwrapped and toys to be played with!

 This guy makes my Christmas very Merry!

And of course playing with cousins at Grandma and Poppas is always a great way to celebrate.  I just love the Christmas season and the fun of getting together with family and friends.  I love that we have a reason to celebrate in Jesus!  He is our hope and  ultimate gift and reason for every season.

2012 wrap up

 Well I haven't been the best blogger as of late.  But, I wanted to wrap the happenings of 2012, since we came back from Ireland.  This post is by no means exhaustive but here are a few snapshots of the rest of our year.  2012 was a very special year for us.  We gained a new nephew and a new niece.  They are absolutely precious and we are very thankful to have them in the family.  To the right is my very first niece, Julia!  And down below we have my 5th nephew Mr. John Lucas. 

 Once we settled back in the States we headed to the beach for a little R&R before the semester started back up at JWU.  We started our vacay run off with a trip to the grocery store.
There just aren't carts like this in any other country I've visited.  Yet another reason to love the USA.

 We hit up Myrtle Beach with Grandma and Poppa by our side.  Lots of castle making and swimming.  We also went on a pirate voyage and enjoyed yummy sea food.

 For Thanksgiving it was off to Kansas for us.  We shared the holiday with our dear Dirks Fam in Garden City.  The weather was great, the food amazing and the kids (and us) absolutely loved our time with Grams, Dog, Roomie, Julia and Uncle Abe.  We even got to spend some time with the Greats!

 We visited Tyler's alma mater, though the location has changed.  Grams is an administrative assistant here so we got a grand tour of the new high school.

 We even got to check out the stage and for these little performers that was a major plus.

 We really loved getting to see our Great Grandpa.

 And our Great Grandma too.

 We are big fans of Cooper as well.

 We hit the pool!

 Read and played with our awesome Grams!

 Loved on our D.O.G.

 Played pretend. (spiderman in the pic)

 Checked on Julia and loved on her every chance we got.

 And even got to check out the farm that D.O.G works at; rode tractors even!

I will post Christmas soon!