Christmas in Savannah

We have been back a few days from our trip to Savannah for Christmas. I'm a little behind on getting pictures up because having the laptop out just reminds me of work and I am enjoying every minute of being off. In fact my new year's resolution is to receive and relax more! Hopefully I'll blog a little more about that in the days to come. In the mean time, here is a, "blog collage" of our trip. I don't know if that is a real word or not, but it is a few of my favorite pictures without taking the time to put them into separate posts.

Our trip was great and of course Nana and Big Daddy took excellent care of us. I think we ate from the time our plane landed until we got back on the plane a week later. We especially enjoyed some great seafood and of course "real" sweet tea. The girls had a blast just being at Nana and Big Daddy's house and being spoiled for a few days. Gabe and I enjoyed some time to relax and sleep in. We also enjoyed seeing how much fun the girls were having. Here are a few pictures from my new camera from my wonderful husband.

Sadie ready for Christmas dinner.

Gabe and his dad deep frying the turkey. It was yummy!!!!

Claire hanging out on the kitchen floor. One of her favorite places to be. We "hung out" in the kitchen a lot while Nana cooked. There were also 3 puppies that Claire loved to play with and follow around on the floor.

One of the highlights of the trip. Making cookies with Nana. Nana had to cut the recipe for rice crispy cookies back because the girls sneaked too many marshmallows. Surprise, surprise!

Sadie opening one of her presents. A princess game from Nana and Big Daddy.

One of my favorites. The girls playing around and laughing before bed. They stayed with Nana and Big Daddy most nights on the floor in their room. Nana said that they all laughed and laughed before they went to sleep. Great memories!

Gabe's sister Brianna and her husband Josh were also there with us. Here is big daddy with their boys, Carsyn and Jordyn.

Here is Claire with their favorite puppy, Sadie puppy. Sadie tells everyone that she loves Sadie puppy because she doesn't have any teeth and she can't bite. This is true as Gabe's parents rescued her. Sadie loves her because she is usually scared of dogs, but she knows this dog can't bite. (We really don't want them to be afraid of dogs so we are contemplating what to do. A dog may be in our future. :/

Here is Claire opening one of her presents. It's hard to see, but it is a little Elmo that Gabe wrapped with just the eyes poking out. Claire picked it up and said, "Elmo, Elmo!"

Gabe with Carsyn. (I think that's Carsyn. If I'm wrong I'm really sorry Brianna.) Claire is already asleep so I can't ask her. It was crazy how Claire could tell them apart. She would just point to them and say their name. She was always right.

Another favorite thing to do... walk the dogs.

Claire helping to make a cake.

Walking the dogs again.

...And Sadie with her mouth open. I don't think it was closed the whole trip except for when she was asleep which was not very much. When we got home, both girls slept in until 8:30 the next morning. Unheard of at our house!

Claire is 2! (going on 5)

Claire will be turning 2 tomorrow! Whenever we ask her how old she is going to be, she says "two" and then holds up all five fingers and says, "Five! Five!" We celebrated Friday night with an Elmo party. She was so excited about her party and everyday would say, "Elmo party?" I think she is a lot like her mama at social occasions. She likes to sit back and watch more than be the center of attention. We had a lot of fun and Claire warmed up after a while.

Claire has brought so much joy to our family. She has a spunk in her personality that is hard to explain, but everyone sees. She can also be very determined at times. (notice the scratches on her face in the pictures. She was scratched at daycare by a little boy. Something about a toy, but she held her own!) Since she was born, people have said that she always seems to be thinking and that there is a lot going on in her little head. We would agree. She is so sweet with her sister as long as they both don't want the same toy. I love to watch them play together. I love to hear her say, "Duv you, Sadie." I also love that although she may get upset about some things, she gets over it quickly and seems to forgive easily. She loves to play with her Daddy and her laugh is contagious, but I have to admit that one of my favorite things about Claire are the times when she decides that only Mamma will do and says, "I neeeeed Mama. I neeeeeed Mama."

We love you Claire! Happy Birthday!

Enjoying some pizza!

Sadie enjoying the party! She had a great time. She came up to me and said, "Mamma, thank you for inviting my friends to Claire's party."

It was a great group of kids. Here's Jenny helping get Claire settled.

And here is where Claire ended up. She loves Les. She ate a couple bites at her chair and then was off to Les.

Claire didn't know quite what to do when everyone started singing.

Finally got a quick smile!

She did enjoy opening some presents. She would open one and then take it to show to everyone.

Thanks to all of our friends for making it such a great night to celebrate Claire!

Ballerina Debut

Sadie has had a great time the last few weeks with her recitals. She has enjoyed being involved in some activities and especially loves the dressing up and being on stage part. She had been asking about taking ballet during the summer and if I am being honest, I was not looking forward to another night of being busy during the week. We were so excited when a paper came home from school that said they were going to be offering ballet once a week. It is through the Stretch n Grow program (which we also love) and the teachers come to the daycare and teach the class. They are great with the kids and Sadie loves it. Claire is still a little too young, but it won't be long. Sadie is already teaching her the songs and steps.

Sadie was so excited to get her hair fixed in a "ballerina bun." She also kept telling me all afternoon, "ballerina's are sweet," and when Claire tried to hit her "bun" she said, "Mama, ballerinas do not hit. Claire can not be a ballerina."

Here are a few pictures and a video of one of the dances. I just love how I can see her little... or should I say big, personality coming through. They were all so cute!

Hello Mr. Turkey, how are you?

That's the song we heard many times during our Thanksgiving trip to San Antonio from Sadie. She learned it at school, and loves to sing us all of her songs.

I'm a little late getting our Thanksgiving pictures posted, but some snowy weather and a delayed start tomorrow made me believe somehow that I have some extra time to blog. I should probably be doing lesson plans, grading papers, and looking over tomorrow's lessons, but I really want to get these pictures up so the blog is winning tonight.

This Thanksgiving we decided to take the girls to Sea World one more time since we had the season passes and we knew we wouldn't get back before the end of the year. Les, Jenny, and Sarah went with us. It was so nice to relax and enjoy hanging out.

One of my favorite pictures from the weekend. We went to La Madeline for Thanksgiving lunch. It was very yummy. Claire really enjoyed the butter. She had to wear her Elmo shirt so she would be ready to see Elmo at Sea World. Of course, she clings to me and says , "No , No!" when we get close, but she's all about the shirt and loves saying, "My Elmo shirt, My Elmo shirt."

Here's Sarah and Sadie on the carousel at Sea World. Sarah was so great to hang with us in the little kid area and let the girls ride some rides.

Gabe and the girls hanging out at the hotel.

Sadie and Claire enjoyed their first round of miniature golf. Here's Les, helping out Sadie.

And Gabe...helping Claire (who thinks she is big enough to do anything anyone else is doing.)

That's the cutest obstacle on a golf course I've ever seen. Aren't they posing perfectly??

Here's Sadie hanging out at the top waiting for everyone to finish. She didn't quite make it 18 holes. We went inside about half way through to cash in her tickets on junk. (I mean prizes)

And another one of my favorites from the weekend of Sadie. She LOVED hanging out at the hotel.

Sadie's First Violin Recital

Sadie had her first violin recital this afternoon. We were super proud of her. It's funny how Gabe and I both said we were nervous, but she just walked right up there, played her song, and walked back. She loved it and probably would have gone back up there several more times if she had been given the chance. Before the recital started, I took her to the bathroom. I was telling her to remember to make her C and what string she was going to start on. She said, "I know how to play Mama, you don't need to tell me." I admire her confidence already and pray that it continues to grow. You are going to do great things, sweet girl! Hopefully, this is the first of many recitals. Thanks Les, Jenny, and Sarah for coming to see her.

Princess for the Day!!!!

What a fun day we had today! Sadie went to her first birthday party at Sweet N Sassy. It was a princess party and she had a great time. It was a birthday party for her friend from school, Preston. Sadie has been talking about it all week and it was even better than she could have imagined!

First, all the girls were able to pick out a dress they wanted to wear. Then they went out into the store and had their hair and makeup done. They also had their nails painted. This is a picture of the fun!

Sadie and Preston dancing on the stage.

Sadie getting her nails painted. She chose purple. Her favorite color this week.

Sadie and her friends chose the same dress to wear. Aren't they too cute all dancing together. The girls that worked there would do dances and the girls would try to follow them.

After the dancing, they had a coronation ceremony where each girl was crowned a princess and had princess dust sprinkled over their head. I think Sadie could hardly believe what was happening. She would just look over at me with this face like, "Is this really happening Mama?" It was so sweet.

Here she is with her crown and certificate. They asked the girls a few questions as they came in that they read about them while they walked on stage. Sadie said she wanted to live in the Kingdom of the Princess Store and if she had one rule it would be that everyone had to wear a crown.

Here's Sadie with her friend Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn, Sadie, and Preston dancing as princesses.

Pumpkins into Jack-O-Lanterns

Last weekend, Sadie asked Gabe if we could, "turn a pumpkin into a Jack-o-lantern?" Of course he couldn't resist and said, "Sure!" After naps, Gabe decided to make it happen. He followed all of the steps that Sadie said we needed to do including cooking the pumpkin seeds so she could eat them. (They were quite tasty too!) Ms. Georgia at her school had carved a pumpkin for them earlier in the week and she loved it. The girls were really cute trying to help Daddy. I just stood in the background and took a few pictures.

Sitting at the table drawing the face on the pumpkin while drinking hot chocolate.

Helping Daddy.

Claire "helped" too by adding in super sound effects.

Gabe and Sadie finishing up the pumpkin and putting the candle inside.

Our finished pumpkin.

Sadie and Claire with the finished pumpkin. (I love that Claire has put on Gabe's shoes to take the pumpkin outside.)