December

As you can see by the date, I am really late with December.  I thought I'd try to get some pictures posted before I forgot.  We spent Christmas in Nebraska this year.  We loved seeing all of our family again!

In case you missed our Christmas card, here is the picture we sent out.

We spent the weekend before Christmas with Brad's family in Ord.  One of the favorite activies for the kids is, of course, playing video games. 

Our kids were really excited to see snow while we were in Ord!  We haven't had snow here in Chapel Hill for 3 years, so they couldn't wait to get out and play in it. 

We spent Christmas day with Shelley's family in Lincoln.  Making Christmas cookies with Grammy is a favorite tradition. 

We loved spending time with Uncle Vino and Auntie Erin(pictured with Emma).  They will be moving to Spain soon. 

Julia and Emma look festive in their red Christmas dresses.

November

I was a little late getting these pictures in.  These are the kids in their Halloween costumes.  I'm not sure what Emma was supposed to be- I guess a doll.  This was an old dress that I (Shelley) wore as a baby and I thought it was cute.  Evan is, of course, a dalmation and Julia is a pioneer girl (also a dress of mine - I wore it to school for bicentennial.  I even rode a horse to school that day).  Isaac was determined not to wear a costume this year.  I guess he thinks he's too old.  He changed his mind and grabbed this hat - still, not much of a costume. 

 We spent Thanksgiving with Brad's cousin, Kim Spencer in Williamsburg, VA.  She has four beautiful children (pictured here with our four).  We've been spending Thanksgiving with them since we moved here to NC.  They thought it would be funny to put Emma on the Turkey platter.

It has become a tradition for the kids to put together a Gingerbread house after Thanksgiving.  It usually doesn't last very long. 

As of January 1st Brad will be starting a new position as an associate Pastor at Grace Church, here in Chapel Hill, after working for seven years with Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship.  He's lookin' mighty pastoral in this photo (officiated a wedding that day).

Of course Shelley's job won't change - staying home to take care of these cuties.

 Couldn't resist posting this one. 

October

We recently took a trip to the North Carolina Zoo with our friends, Brad and Amy Argue and their kids.  This picture was taken after a long day of walking so not everyone looks thrilled to be there.  At this spot, we were able to see some buffalo grazing in a prairie setting which reminded us of home (the prairie, not the buffalo).

Best Friends... Evan and Bennet Argue enjoying the day together at the zoo.

Just another photo of Emma and her chubby cheeks.

Julia turned eight years old on October 7th.  She also just lost a tooth, which you can see if you look real close.

Julia had a birthday party with a few friends.  She is crazy about dogs and wanted a "dog" themed birthday so they got to adopt stuffed animal dogs and eat cake out of dog bowls.

September

The four Novosad kids: Julia, Emma, Isaac and Evan.

Isaac is in 4th grade this year and just celebrated his 10th birthday with a "treasure hunt" party. 

Julia is in 2nd grade and will be turning 8 in October. 

Emma is 3 months old already.  She's very good natured and loves her older siblings.

Emma has found her thumb. 

and she'll sleep anywhere.

Evan has taken a break from drawing to watch TV.  He decided to put the pencil behind his ear like Dad does. 

Julia is a great older sister.  She has her own school for Evan when she is done with her homework in the afternoons and is very serious about it.  This was "class picture day".  She dressed him up, fixed his hair and took pictures of him.  She also has "Mittens Math Time" and "Sophia's Story Time" (named after the puppets she uses to teach with).  I'm not sure if he is actually learning anything, but he has fun. 

Summer is almost over

This summer has gone by so fast.  Isaac and Julia will be going back to school this Friday.  Evan will miss them, but Mom (Shelley) is kind of looking forward to it.

Our little Emma is growing so fast!  She is such a sweet little girl and a good baby.

As you can see, she is a typical Novosad baby - chubby with fat cheeks. 

The three Novosad girls