November Recap

November was a fun month for our famil with even more Birthdays to celebrate, Addison's first preschool program, and all of the Thanksgiving festivities. Below was our cute little pilgrim:

We enjoyed some cool, crisp fall mornings, hiking at Radnor with our family.

Addison tried her first cheeseburger. She decided she was ready and "Mc-loved it."

Ansley is tolerating peanut butter--something I wondered if I would ever say about my allergy-plagued sweetie! Yay for another protein source. She loves eating "butter jellies" for lunch now.

Loving on my little turkeys here.

Savannah turned 5 this month. Can't believe how fast the time goes, but we went to the park on her actual birthday and then...

went to the ballet studio to celebrate her party. How cute are these cupcakes below? And how sweet is my sister for ordering them dairy and egg free. Ansley sure enjoyed hers. :)

I found Ansley like this one morning, and she said she was going to potty train all by herself. I was pretty wowed, but then it has come to a halt after she fell into the big potty a couple of weeks ago. She said, after that, that she was never going to potty train. Planning on trying for real after Christmas.

Sweet little church girls. This was on Ansley's first day of Bible Class. Now that she is 2, there are no more random sippy cups of milk in her classroom. I am helping to teach her class and am loving watching her soak it all up.

Addison had her first preschool program. Her (and my) class dressed as pilgrims and they sang some sweet Thanksgiving songs. The picture below is at the end where all of the classes sang together.

Most of my cute little pilgrims.

Our family of 4 after the Thanksgiving Feast.

Sweet cousin best friends. It has been so special for them to be at the same school this year, and they are about the cutest indian/pilgrim pair that I have ever seen!

My girls' preschool Thanksgiving art that made it to the fridge.

For Dad's birthday, we all participated in the Viva la Diva 5K. My favorite memory of this day is Addison's relfection on it.  She thought that the race itself was Bear's birthday, that the thousand or so participants in it were invited to his party, and that all the post race snacks were his refreshments. She even danced with the dancers and got a treat bag, and she says she wants a "race birthday party" next year. Love the way her mind processes things!

I hosted my Bunco group for November's party, and I was excited to set my table.

Our Thanksgiving recap: flying kites, making teepees and fun snacks, eating good food, and dancing gangham style.

Our family's thankful tree all full of blessings. This became our most special part of our day and our dinner conversations and we're trying to come up with a way to keep it going all year long.

The girls sporting their cool Auburn/Alabama football hats from Aunt Andrea gave them on Iron Bowl game day.

We celebrated Daddy turning 30, and we are so grateful to have such a loving, fun, hard-working leader of our family.

We also had a family photo shoot at Radnor Lake and captured the girls at 2 and 4. Aaron Yung truly captures my girls personalities, and we are thankful to be his friends and his clients.

We had a full and fun November, and I didn't want it to escape documentation. We are enjoying our advent season as well and hopefully there will be some more posts ahead to document that,

November was a fun month for our famil with even more Birthdays to celebrate, Addison's first preschool program, and all of the Thanksgiving festivities. Below was our cute little pilgrim:

We enjoyed some cool, crisp fall mornings, hiking at Radnor with our family.

Addison tried her first cheeseburger. She decided she was ready and "Mc-loved it."

Ansley is tolerating peanut butter--something I wondered if I would ever say about my allergy-plagued sweetie! Yay for another protein source. She loves eating "butter jellies" for lunch now.

Loving on my little turkeys here.

Savannah turned 5 this month. Can't believe how fast the time goes, but we went to the park on her actual birthday and then...

went to the ballet studio to celebrate her party. How cute are these cupcakes below? And how sweet is my sister for ordering them dairy and egg free. Ansley sure enjoyed hers. :)

I found Ansley like this one morning, and she said she was going to potty train all by herself. I was pretty wowed, but then it has come to a halt after she fell into the big potty a couple of weeks ago. She said, after that, that she was never going to potty train. Planning on trying for real after Christmas.

Sweet little church girls. This was on Ansley's first day of Bible Class. Now that she is 2, there are no more random sippy cups of milk in her classroom. I am helping to teach her class and am loving watching her soak it all up.

Addison had her first preschool program. Her (and my) class dressed as pilgrims and they sang some sweet Thanksgiving songs. The picture below is at the end where all of the classes sang together.

Most of my cute little pilgrims.

Our family of 4 after the Thanksgiving Feast.

Sweet cousin best friends. It has been so special for them to be at the same school this year, and they are about the cutest indian/pilgrim pair that I have ever seen!

My girls' preschool Thanksgiving art that made it to the fridge.

For Dad's birthday, we all participated in the Viva la Diva 5K. My favorite memory of this day is Addison's relfection on it.  She thought that the race itself was Bear's birthday, that the thousand or so participants in it were invited to his party, and that all the post race snacks were his refreshments. She even danced with the dancers and got a treat bag, and she says she wants a "race birthday party" next year. Love the way her mind processes things!

I hosted my Bunco group for November's party, and I was excited to set my table.

Our Thanksgiving recap: flying kites, making teepees and fun snacks, eating good food, and dancing gangham style.

Our family's thankful tree all full of blessings. This became our most special part of our day and our dinner conversations and we're trying to come up with a way to keep it going all year long.

The girls sporting their cool Auburn/Alabama football hats from Aunt Andrea gave them on Iron Bowl game day.

We celebrated Daddy turning 30, and we are so grateful to have such a loving, fun, hard-working leader of our family.

We also had a family photo shoot at Radnor Lake and captured the girls at 2 and 4. Aaron Yung truly captures my girls personalities, and we are thankful to be his friends and his clients.

We had a full and fun November, and I didn't want it to escape documentation. We are enjoying our advent season as well and hopefully there will be some more posts ahead to document that,

Thankful Hearts

I really enjoyed this Thanksgiving season. I usually am ready to push that turkey aside and hurl myself right into Christmas a few weeks too early, but this year, I wanted to give the turkey his due. I think I got into the spirit of the season when I made these turkey shirts for the girls. It was my first shot at an applique--I got the idea from Pinterest... where else?--so it was really messy and very imperfect, but I loved them anyway. I freehanded the design; my wonder-under fell apart, and then I just went for it with lots and lots of pinning and seam ripping. :) We still wore them every week. :)

Because all moms are partial to their children, I say with no reservations that I could just gobble them up...

We had April and the Stephens boys over one afternoon for some turkey fun. Addison and Carter decorated these cookies as turkeys and make some construction paper/toilet paper roll turkeys. April and I loved having an excuse to get together, and we also loved actually getting to do things that we had both "pinned." [Maybe even more than our little turkeys did...] Even though we just live across neighborhoods from each other, it is hard with little ones to make playdates happen as often as we'd like. We all sure do love it when they do. I am so thankful for such neat friends who have such neat kids to go through life with.

I was excited to get to participate in The Eagle's Nest Thanksgiving Feast with Addison and Ansley.

It made me even more thankful to have my girls just down the hall from me at school. Addison was so proud of her crafts and decorations and she loved showing off her friends.

Pictured below is one of her best buddies, Jack (she calls him her "school husband" and they have been sweet friends who take care of each other since they were itty bitty babies) with his sister Juli Claire (who is one of Ansley's best buds), and their mom Jen (who is one of my best buds and the only friend I've ever had who shared the same birthday as me... Plus, we show up to school dressed exactly alike too often for it to be coincidental...)

We enjoyed a nice week long break from school, and I was thankful to drink coffee in my real coffee cup while holding by babies and watching the TODAY show... During this week, we slept in, made Daddy a birthday present, painted, colored, went to the mall, decorated for Christmas, made thankful trees, caught "Bieber Fever," spent time with family, and traveled to Louisville to spend time with more family. I taught Addison how to sing "Over the river and through the woods..." and how to play "Jingle Bells" on her keyboard. We stopped and reflected on our blessings. One of my favorite memories of this Thanksgiving will be Ansley's version of Gobble-Gobble which sounded more like Boggle-Boggle. :) My other favorite part was listening to my 3-year-old who, unprompted, went around the Thanksgiving table and called everyone by name, and directly asked them what they were thankful for in her sweet little voice. She then repeated it the next night in Louisville. I almost did gobble her up right then and there.

Here was my Thanksgiving project--I Christmas-treed up a dress for Addison. Sewing ribbon onto an already made dress was more difficult than it looks. I'm choosing to embrace my crooked little tree on this dress. :)

I really enjoyed this Thanksgiving season. I usually am ready to push that turkey aside and hurl myself right into Christmas a few weeks too early, but this year, I wanted to give the turkey his due. I think I got into the spirit of the season when I made these turkey shirts for the girls. It was my first shot at an applique--I got the idea from Pinterest... where else?--so it was really messy and very imperfect, but I loved them anyway. I freehanded the design; my wonder-under fell apart, and then I just went for it with lots and lots of pinning and seam ripping. :) We still wore them every week. :)

Because all moms are partial to their children, I say with no reservations that I could just gobble them up...

We had April and the Stephens boys over one afternoon for some turkey fun. Addison and Carter decorated these cookies as turkeys and make some construction paper/toilet paper roll turkeys. April and I loved having an excuse to get together, and we also loved actually getting to do things that we had both "pinned." [Maybe even more than our little turkeys did...] Even though we just live across neighborhoods from each other, it is hard with little ones to make playdates happen as often as we'd like. We all sure do love it when they do. I am so thankful for such neat friends who have such neat kids to go through life with.

I was excited to get to participate in The Eagle's Nest Thanksgiving Feast with Addison and Ansley.

It made me even more thankful to have my girls just down the hall from me at school. Addison was so proud of her crafts and decorations and she loved showing off her friends.

Pictured below is one of her best buddies, Jack (she calls him her "school husband" and they have been sweet friends who take care of each other since they were itty bitty babies) with his sister Juli Claire (who is one of Ansley's best buds), and their mom Jen (who is one of my best buds and the only friend I've ever had who shared the same birthday as me... Plus, we show up to school dressed exactly alike too often for it to be coincidental...)

We enjoyed a nice week long break from school, and I was thankful to drink coffee in my real coffee cup while holding by babies and watching the TODAY show... During this week, we slept in, made Daddy a birthday present, painted, colored, went to the mall, decorated for Christmas, made thankful trees, caught "Bieber Fever," spent time with family, and traveled to Louisville to spend time with more family. I taught Addison how to sing "Over the river and through the woods..." and how to play "Jingle Bells" on her keyboard. We stopped and reflected on our blessings. One of my favorite memories of this Thanksgiving will be Ansley's version of Gobble-Gobble which sounded more like Boggle-Boggle. :) My other favorite part was listening to my 3-year-old who, unprompted, went around the Thanksgiving table and called everyone by name, and directly asked them what they were thankful for in her sweet little voice. She then repeated it the next night in Louisville. I almost did gobble her up right then and there.

Here was my Thanksgiving project--I Christmas-treed up a dress for Addison. Sewing ribbon onto an already made dress was more difficult than it looks. I'm choosing to embrace my crooked little tree on this dress. :)

Day of Thanksgiving

I just posted some new pictures to Facebook, but I couldn't resist posting a few on here too. We celebrated this Thanksgiving holiday enjoying a restful day of good food, good conversation, and good entertainment from our two youngest family members. We shared at dinner all that we are thankful for. 2009 has been a year I will not soon forget, although I'll not be sad to leave it behind, but God has blessed me and my family. He is good.Just minutes after we took our family picture, we found out that Addison was/is running a high fever. Little girl didn't even let us know. The momma in me is trying not to worry, but if you would, please pray for her to get better quickly!

I just posted some new pictures to Facebook, but I couldn't resist posting a few on here too. We celebrated this Thanksgiving holiday enjoying a restful day of good food, good conversation, and good entertainment from our two youngest family members. We shared at dinner all that we are thankful for. 2009 has been a year I will not soon forget, although I'll not be sad to leave it behind, but God has blessed me and my family. He is good.Just minutes after we took our family picture, we found out that Addison was/is running a high fever. Little girl didn't even let us know. The momma in me is trying not to worry, but if you would, please pray for her to get better quickly!

whirlwind

Well, our whirlwind of Thanksgiving festivities is over, and I'm thankful for time spent with family, but I'm also thankful for some quiet days to recoup before I go back to work on Wednesday. I have all sorts of mixed emotions about that, but it will be good to resume life and get on a more routine schedule with my new family. {Plus I'll be supervising a student teacher next semester, so while she teaches my classes, I plan to stop by the Eagle's Nest to check in on my little Addypillar.} Addison turned 2 months old on Thanksgiving Day, and we found out at her appointment that she weighs 10 pounds, 14 ounces which puts her into the 50th percentile for weight, and she is 24.5 inches long which puts her into the 97th percentile for height. She is LONG!

Anyway, we spent Thanksgiving Day at my parents', and with my mom's help, I was able to prepare "dairy free" dressing and sweet potato casserole, giving me my annual feast fix. It was pretty tasty too, and dairy free living is still working out for me and Addison. We enjoyed a day spent with both sets of grandparents and watching the little girls discover each other. Savannah was walking all day, and she LOVED sweet potatoes, emphasized by her pointing and saying "peese" {please} repeatedly. Adorable.

Friday we enjoyed spending the day with P's family in Decatur. There, Addison discovered her cousins Hanna Claire and Haley Beth, but pretty much slept off and on all day being held in everyone's arms.

Saturday we watched the Iron Bowl...

Last night, we closed out our holiday by going to a Jason Mraz show with L and D at the old Ryman Auditorium downtown. He seriously is an incredible performer and entertainer. It was amazing! It was good for Patrick and me to get out and feel "young." :) {I'm closing in on the big 3-0 in a couple of weeks afterall...} Jaydee and Bear kept the girls, and we returned to find them in matching "Life is Good" Love bug pajamas. I'll post that picture soon.

Wednesday it's back to the grind! Be praying for all of us as we adjust...

I'll close with one of my favorite quotes that my friend Micah recently reminded me of:

“ And by the way, everything in life is worth writing about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ” - Sylvia Plath

Well, our whirlwind of Thanksgiving festivities is over, and I'm thankful for time spent with family, but I'm also thankful for some quiet days to recoup before I go back to work on Wednesday. I have all sorts of mixed emotions about that, but it will be good to resume life and get on a more routine schedule with my new family. {Plus I'll be supervising a student teacher next semester, so while she teaches my classes, I plan to stop by the Eagle's Nest to check in on my little Addypillar.} Addison turned 2 months old on Thanksgiving Day, and we found out at her appointment that she weighs 10 pounds, 14 ounces which puts her into the 50th percentile for weight, and she is 24.5 inches long which puts her into the 97th percentile for height. She is LONG!

Anyway, we spent Thanksgiving Day at my parents', and with my mom's help, I was able to prepare "dairy free" dressing and sweet potato casserole, giving me my annual feast fix. It was pretty tasty too, and dairy free living is still working out for me and Addison. We enjoyed a day spent with both sets of grandparents and watching the little girls discover each other. Savannah was walking all day, and she LOVED sweet potatoes, emphasized by her pointing and saying "peese" {please} repeatedly. Adorable.

Friday we enjoyed spending the day with P's family in Decatur. There, Addison discovered her cousins Hanna Claire and Haley Beth, but pretty much slept off and on all day being held in everyone's arms.

Saturday we watched the Iron Bowl...

Last night, we closed out our holiday by going to a Jason Mraz show with L and D at the old Ryman Auditorium downtown. He seriously is an incredible performer and entertainer. It was amazing! It was good for Patrick and me to get out and feel "young." :) {I'm closing in on the big 3-0 in a couple of weeks afterall...} Jaydee and Bear kept the girls, and we returned to find them in matching "Life is Good" Love bug pajamas. I'll post that picture soon.

Wednesday it's back to the grind! Be praying for all of us as we adjust...

I'll close with one of my favorite quotes that my friend Micah recently reminded me of:

“ And by the way, everything in life is worth writing about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ” - Sylvia Plath