Christmas Fun!

We have had a lot of fun getting ready for Christmas and have done some pretty fun stuff!  We are so busy during the week that we have really gotten to where we protect our weekends for some good family time.  Now we have 2 weeks off and are excited to be together.  A couple of weeks ago, we went to a shopping center that was giving carriage rides with miniature horses.  The girls had a great time and loved seeing the horses.  After the carriage ride, we ate dinner at Pei Wei which is one of our favorites.  Then, we ended the night with a dessert at the Pie Bar.  All in the same shopping center and so much fun!  

 

 

 

 Gabe and Sadie on the carriage. 

 Claire and Me.   

 

 And the Pie Bar.  It is seriously sooooo good. 

 

 

We also attempted Gingerbread houses for the first time. We are not exactly the most patient people when it comes to art projects and we are definitely not engineers or architects so the Gingerbread houses were done...um...Gillespie style. We did get them together and the girls did get candy decorations on them, but they sure didn't last long. Luckily when they fell down, Gabe just said, "You get to eat the candy now!" That quickly took care of any sadness because they fell down and all was well. We're making some Christmas memories!

 

 

 Sadie decorating.

 

 Claire decorating.

 

The final product. 



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!

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!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning at the Gillespie house started very early. Sadie was ready to go at 5AM, but Nana and Big Daddy held her off until 6:30 when Josh and Brianna got there. She was super excited to see what Santa had brought her. It was a great day with family and a blessing to be together.

Sadie in front of her Christmas tree.

Playing with Uncle Josh.

A picture I was thankful to snap while they were both looking in the general direction of the camera. :) Not exactly the most lady like picture, but I think it's cute anyway.

Sadie writing her letter to Santa on Christmas Eve.

Sadie with her Rapunzel purse and headband.

And her Tangled doll.

Big Daddy helping Claire open her present.

A tickle me Elmo. Claire loves to hug her Elmo and really loves to chew on his nose :)

Christmas week at Nana and Big Daddy's house

We have just gotten back from a great week at Nana and Big Daddy's house in Savannah. Sadie has been excited for weeks and the trip did not disappoint. We had such a great time with family and enjoyed relaxing for a few days. Nana took such great care of us. The girls love them so much. Claire would reach and fuss whenever she saw either one of them until they would hold her. Sadie was so excited when we got there that she did not go to sleep the first night until 3:30AM. She then was awake again at 6. I had her laying with me and she leaned over and whispered at about 6:15, "Mama, I need to see Nana, Big Daddy and the puppies." How can you argue with that? Every morning after that Nana would go get her when she woke up and take her in to see Big Daddy. Needless to say she kept waking up earlier and earlier the longer we were there. The last morning...4:30AM!

The girls loved having puppies for a week. They have to enjoy it there because I am not a pet person so puppies are not in our future. (At this point anyway. The girls aren't quite old enough to ask so we'll see...) Claire has had a little bit of trouble adjusting to not having puppies at home. She loved to drop her food for them at Nana and Big Daddy's house so since we've been home she has continued to drop food from her tray and then will lean over the side looking for the puppies. It's pretty cute. Anyway, here are a few picures from the trip. I haven't posted Christmas morning yet, my plan is to make that a seperate post. 4 more days before we go back to school, but I will get it done!

Thanks for a great week Nana, Big Daddy, Aunt Bri and Uncle Josh. We are so thankful that we were all able to be together!





One day we went to downtown Savannah and rode a ferry to a hotel to see some Gingerbread houses. The girls loved the boat ride.

Checking out the Gingerbread.

Claire on the boat.

So sweet.

A picture of Riverstreet from acroos the river at the hotel.

Making cookies with Nana.

Decorating the Christmas Tree Nana had just for the girls. Sadie loved it.

Hanging out before bed time with Daddy.

Helping Nana make rice krispy treats. Sadie is sporting her 3D glasses she got when Aunt Bri and Uncle Josh took her to see Yogi Bear.

Christmas Day!

Merry Christmas from the Gillespie's. We are not going to be getting out Christmas or New Year's cards this year so we hope that everyone has had a great Christmas and will have a blessed year in 2010. We feel so blessed to have Claire here and healthy and to be able to start the new year with a family of 4. It's a little scary, but everything seems to be working pretty good so far.

We had a great Christmas this year and just wanted to share some of the pictures. We went to the Brooks for lunch and hung out for the afternoon. Everyone got to love on Sadie and Claire and we ate a great meal. This year, we taught Sadie a little about celebrating Jesus' birthday on Christmas. We can ask her, "Who was born on Christmas" and she puts on finger up in the air and yells, "Jesus!" It is really cute.

Here we are. Our family of 4.
This picture just shows the reality of our Christmas morning. Sadie "helping" change Claire's diaper while saying she needed to go potty at the same time and her pajama pants falling off because they are a little big. She also found her hat that she thought she had to have on. I just had to laugh!

I thought I had rotated this picture, but I guess not. Oh, well, here is Claire all dressed up for Christmas. She got bottles from Santa. That's about all she is interested in right now.

Sadie got 2 goldfish from Santa. She was pretty excited. She probably would have liked a puppy more, but we are nowhere ready for that.

Here she is with her other presents.

Christmas 2009

So I'm going to start with Christmas Eve and hopefully be able to blog about Christmas Day soon. We had a very relaxing Christmas this year, or as relaxed as you can be with a newborn at home. Anyway, Claire slept through just about everything and Sadie seemed to have a great time. I was determined to do some kind of Christmas cookies so we ended up making slice and bake snowman cookies about 10 minutes before her bedtime. I don't think she really understood leaving cookies for Santa. It really upset her that she had to leave the cookies (even though we let her eat one).

Here is Claire. Sleeping away her first Christmas Eve.

Sadie got some new pajamas that she opened Christmas Eve. They are Minnie Mouse. Big surprise!


This is quite possibly my favorite picture from Christmas. Sadie with her cookie.

Nothing like a cookie straight out of the oven right before bedtime.

Making cookies really fast with the help of Nana. We wouldn't have gotten it all done without her!