a visit from Anna

Aunt Anna was just here for a quick visit. We packed in all the fun we could. 

Wednesday morning breakfast at Famous Toastery. After our huge and delicious breakfast, we headed to the beach house to show Anna around.

Thursday morning we headed to Kure Beach.  We played at the rocks, visited the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher, and then stopped by the Kure Beach Pier on our way home.

As always, we LOVE it when family comes to visit - especially Aunt Anna!

ELLA's horse riding lesson

This year for Christmas, Ella's main gift was one horse riding lesson. Man, was she excited and today was the lesson. It wasn't just a ride, she learned how to fetch, groom, saddle and ride the horse. She loved every minute of it. The horses name was SHADOW.

Christmas 2020

It was a Christmas much like many others in our home. The kids were up early and so excited for Christmas Day.

Reading Luke 2, our family tradition, followed by Day 25 of our Advent Blocks, which we really enjoyed! This is the first year for advent blocks and we are looking forward to carrying on this yearly tradition.

Once again - so excited for presents!

After ALL the gifts were open the kids started assembling and playing while I made breakfast. I'd like to say it was brunch, but let's be real, we were sitting down to eat by 8:15am. We had homemade cinnamon roll, eggs, sausage and fruit. 

We had a wonderful day with all the family time. We were able to video chat with our family in  MN, WI and IN. We did a lot of playing, reading and games. We had a later Christmas lunch which was flank steak, salmon, rice pilaf, asparagus and green beans. Stockings were opened after lunch. And then a few hours later we ate a lot of cookies!

a visit from the HIGHT's

We just had a really fun weekend with my sister, Emily and her husband, Jon and their two cute kids, Blake & Charlie.  Unfortunately, we haven't seen them since last Christmas at our Grandmother's funeral. This has been such a weird year for travel and seeing family. Needless to say, we were SO excited when they said they were coming to Wilmington for the weekend. What fun we had!  

Friday morning trip to see our beach house. 

And of course we went the two blocks East to see the beach.

Auntie Em brought kits for making a Gingerbread House & Train

Tickle time with Charlie

Saturday morning rocket launch

Sunday morning on our way in to church.

OUR fixer upper at the B E A C H

Yesterday, we closed on a fixer upper in Surf City, NC.  Did you see our Christmas card/announcement? Here is some of the background and details of this story. 

We have looked at waterfront property (river or ocean) off and on the past few years. We even offered on some riverfront land a few years ago. We love our current home and do not want to move, but we were looking for more of an investment property that can also be used for ministry. As many of you know, Jake & I have a heart for foster care. Our plan for this beach house it to renovate it, rent it out (probably via AirBnB) in the peak season to cover the mortgage, and then use the beach house as a ministry for Foster Parents and Social Workers to have a free getaway to refresh, relax and reset.

In mid September, Jake found this beauty on Zillow.  We went to Surf City to look at it back on September 15. We did not bring a ladder, and the home currently has no stairs. So... we pulled our van right up under the front door and then we leaped and climbed on in. We fell in love with this cute little home from 1958. It is around 680 square feet. The home was raised up on pylons in 2013 and has been vacant ever since.

The interior is gutted. No HVAC. No plumbing. No electrical.

The current front of the home faces west and looks out to the intercoastal waterway (sunset). Back side of the home looks out over the marsh and then out to the ocean (sunrise). The views are just beautiful.

Our beach home is circled in red. We are on an island (Topsail/Surf City) and on a separate island which means less traffic and more privacy. You can also walk straight up the street to the beach access; it's just a couple of blocks. I can already envision families filling a wagon and walking to the beach with their kids.

Around Thanksgiving, we started brainstorming, with the kids, for beach house names.

We were originally scheduled to close on December 10. On Tuesday, December 8, we picked up the kids from school and headed to the beach house.  We remembered a ladder this time! The big kids had not been up in to the house yet.

Jake & I measured it all out - the existing floor plan.

Exploring the land - we even saw a blue heron.

We're starting to work on the redesign. Here is a sneak peek that is subject to major and minor changes.

STAY TUNED for many more updates on our fixer upper at the BEACH.

 

Merry Christmas 2020

More detailed post HERE

SERENITY MAE, F I V E

Today we celebrated Wren turning FIVE. She has grown so much this year. She's tall. She talks all the time and we finally know what's been going on in that head of hers all these years. She is hilarious and makes us smile and laugh. She loves to read books, play games and have dance parties. Wren brings our family so much joy!

Birthday breakfast pick - acai bowls

After breakfast, Wren opened up her gifts and immediately started playing with them.

She did have to take a break from playing to help make her birthday cupcakes.  She picked yellow cake with chocolate frosting. And only on your birthday does Mom let you lick the beater before 9am!

Thanks to New Hanover County Foster Care, our family now has a year membership to the Fort Fisher Aquarium - so I had reserved tickets to go there today, on Wren's birthday, at 10:30am. We always LOVE the occasional trip to the aquarium. A few highlights were: the new otter exhibit is open and we got to see them playing, the albino alligator was out of the water and we could see him, and the injured bald eagle was close to the fence and running around.

Afterwards, I had packed a picnic lunch which we enjoyed at the rocks at Kure Beach - another favorite thing to do!

Once home from our morning adventures, the girls finished the cupcakes with icing and sprinkles. 

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY WREN!

Wren picked to have her birthday dinner at Panera, but Panera closed at 5pm tonight - who knew?! So she changed it up, with no tears, and we went to Islands.