Sarah's Birthday

We had our first birthday of 2010 this past week. Sarah is one year older--and wiser too!! :-)

We celebrated her birthday at our monthly family dinner. I LOVE those dinners!! I love that I get see all my children so often--but I especially love having everyone all together!! After some homemade pizza (by me), a yummy spinach salad (by Jamie) and some delicious cheesy bread (by Jenna), Sarah got to open presents (with Delainey's help of course!!).

In December all the girls went to the Cheesecake Factory and Sarah talked me into splitting their strawberry shortcake with her. It was amazing!! I tried to replicate that last night for dessert and I wasn't quite there, but somewhat close... If anyone has an amazing shortcake recipe to pass along, I want to try again. The flavor of the shortcake I made last night was wonderful but I want one that is a little "softer".Devin and Sarah have been married for 5 years so this was the 5th birthday that we were able to celebrate with Sarah. What a delight she is! She's added so much to our family. She's kind, loving, cheerful, spiritual, a wonderful mother, a great wife, a fabulous daughter-in-law, and a great "sister" to Darin, Jenna and Jamie. I really could go on and on. We wouldn't trade her for the world!! :-)

Christmas Day

Christmas morning started off bright and early. We were up a little after 6am to open presents.

The snuggie wasn't a Christmas present--but it came in handy to keep Jamie warm...

Darin got tickets to a UNC game...

After we finished opening our presents, we headed to Devin and Sarah's to open more presents with them and to have breakfast. Donald and I got Delainey a wagon which we thought she would love....

but she didn't....

She would much rather walk around--especially if it's in someone else's shoes...

Christmas Day afternoon we headed over to Donald's sister, Kelly's house. I am so mad that I forgot my camera. It was the first time in several years that all the "Gilreath" cousins were together. We had a great time: laughed, ate, talked, caught up and loved every minute of it!!

Christmas Eve

We have a favorite Christmas Eve activity that involves the Clawson family(the family of Bronwen from the post before). For several years, they have invited us over to spend the evening with them and we get to take part in the traditional reading and acting out of Luke 2. Since we don't have young children, this has been so fun for us. Whomever is home at our house on Christmas Eve heads over to the Clawsons after dinner and the fun begins.

Donald was the donkey that carried Mary this year...

Jenna was Mary and Darin was Joseph...

Jamie was the angel....

("and they were sore afraid....")

Erik was a wise man (but I don't have a picture of him separately because I was trying to film at that point).

Here's a picture of the entire crew after the production.....

Thank you, Clawsons, for allowing us to join you once again!!

Bronwen

Bronwen is a darling little girl that is the youngest daughter of some friends of ours. Our family adores her (and the rest of her family) and she will often come home from church with us for a few hours. Yesterday she helped me cook dinner and as we cooked, she kept singing "Angels We Have Heard on High". It was delightful to have Christmas music sung by a 5-year-old in the house. She put us all in the Christmas mood. Here's a little video of the chorus. (Sorry I didn't get the beginning...)





Merry Christmas!!

Thanksigiving

Thanksgiving day started out the way it usually does--with Darin and Donald heading out to the Turkey Bowl. Darin came home ready to eat and move on to other things; Donald came home wondering if he'd be able to move in a few hours. :-) (He was fine--nothing a few Motrin couldn't fix!)

Early afternoon we headed over to our wonderful friends, the Whitts, for appetizers and then the whole group headed to a school down the street for a 13 year tradition called "stinkpot". Vaughn and Meg Peterson taught us this game 13 years ago and although they have moved away, we play it every Thanksgiving. The game is a mix of tag, red rover, and I-don't-know-what. But it's fun and the kids (and adults that play) really enjoy it. I've found that I'm just too slow to keep up with the kids, but I do enjoy sitting on a blanket, enjoying the sun and the game and chatting away with the other ladies. :-)

After stinkpot, it was back to our house where we had Thanksgiving dinner with just our family and Jamie's friend, Will. Jenna and Erik were at the Alvarez home. We had a delightful meal, watched some football and then had some delicious desserts. By 8:30 I was sound asleep on the couch while others watched Elf. A great way to end a busy day!!

And what would Thanksgiving be without a little Rock Band? Jenna decided to reprise her role from last Christmas and sang "Roxanne" for us again. Enjoy!! :-)

Thanksgiving with family

The Sunday before Thanksgiving we got together with Kelly's family and Ann's family to have our pre-Thanksgiving feast. This has been a tradition for many years and one that we all enjoy. The food was plentiful and delicious and it's always fun to catch up. I forgot my camera so I don't have pictures, but maybe one day Ann will send me some pictures that I'll add. Kelly brought Delainey a little headband with antlers on it. She actually wore it for a while and it was SO cute!

It's wonderful to have such a great extended family!!

UNC vs. Belmont Abbey

On Friday, November 6, UNC had an exhibition game at home against Belmont Abbey. Donald got the whole family tickets and we were all excited to go. This game was "general admission" so everyone just got to sit wherever. (There were, of course, reserved seats, but the majority of the Smith Center was open.) Donald ended up being sick and unable to go, but Jenna, Darin and I headed over to Chapel Hill to be there when the doors opened and to save seats for the rest of the gang. We ended up sitting on the 2nd and 3rd rows near the basket.

We were there 3 1/2 hours before the game, but we were entertained by watching the Lady Tarheels take on Virginia in volleyball.

Then the real fun started with warm-ups. It was great to be SO close.

Delainey wasn't so sure about being so close....

Once the game started, the action was too fast for my s-l-o-w camera. I missed numerous dunks and blocks which were RIGHT in front of us!! I did, however, get a free throw shot!

Here's a picture of the group taken at half-time. I don't know how to crop pictures for the blog so you have to find us in the sea of blue...

front row (left to right): Will Lewis, Jamie, Jenna, Erik
second row (left to right): Jan, Darin, Devin, Sarah and Delainey, Ginger (Sarah's Mom)