Keep on, keep on!

Our girls are focused on loads of new skills it seems as we approach the new year.
Sullivan is working on riding her bike (with training wheels) as well as learning to tie her shoelaces.
I am humbled by how challenging it is to tie laces! Gosh! Have you tried to teach this to a child lately? Wow.
Sawyer is busy trying to count up to 20, sing her ABCs, ride her tricycle and master potty-training. Whew! They have both been surprisingly resilient after completely and painfully "biting the dust" in a whole host of settings, whether on the bike or in the bathroom. I commend them for just keeping on! They are not discouraged! They are so much heartier than I ever was. And these are no small tasks! We have big hopes for 2013 and we hope that it is great year for you and yours as well!
Happy New Year!

Christmas 2012

 Momma love!

 Preparing reindeer food.

 Opening Sullivan's stocking.

   New Radio Flyer for Sawyer! She loves hats and is really into this helmet.

 Adorable ruffle coats from Honey.

 Bros.

Sawyer asked specifically to have her picture taken with this plush Santa.

A great shot of the Grandmothers! Too bad the girls were not feeling it.

New baby doll and grocery cart! We heart domesticity. :) Below, Sawyer with Murph at the Polar Express.

We have had a memorable time here with family in Montgomery this year. We enjoyed almost a week at my parents' house and are still here visiting with my in-laws. We have accomplished much by way of kindergarten preparations and are beginning our house hunt for our move to Montgomery in late July/early August. It has been such fun to spend lots of time with my sister and her family as well as see the girls fall in love all over again with their "Tio Tyler", Lee's younger brother. 

Christmas highlights/lowlights/hilarity include:
Discovering the magic of Snow White the movie.
Christmas Eve mass, just me and Lee.
Colleen's fabulous okra gumbo.
Christmas Eve party at the Murphys.
Bikes, an art table, ponies, baby dolls and toys galore!
"The Classic" meal made by Mom on Christmas day.
A Tornado and bad storms also on Christmas Day.
Sawyer learning the word "stupid" and being in time-out more times than I remember.
The girls singing "Happy Birthday Jesus" on several ocassions.

Merry Christmas and here's to a wonderful 2013!

Dear Santa

Dictated by Sullivan on Christmas Eve while putting out
reindeer food and looking for Santa in the sky:

Dear Santa,
Hey! I want you to eat our cookies.
Please bring me a princess pony.
I want you to pick out what
you want me to have.
Dear Santa.

Love, Sullivan

The Polar Express

Last night we drove to Calera, AL, to board the gorgeous, vintage train to visit the North Pole. The girls, my parents, Lee's parents and myself were lucky enough that Lee's mom, Colleen, purchased these covetted tickets in early August. The girls were enchanted (but Sullivan smirked and frowned the whole time!?) and although we probably took only a 5 mile train ride, we made it to the North Pole, visited with elves, conductors and Santa and Mrs. Claus as well. We also received delicious muffins, gifts and a take home mug of Hot chocolate. It was a wonderful Christmas thing to do and we will have to do it again with Lee one year when he can join us.  Merry Christmas!

A Christmas performance

We have been so pleased and thankful for our pre-school here in Jackson, Saint Luke's Early Childhood Learning Center. They delivered again with a very memorable Christmas performance for Sullivan's 4k class in the church Sanctuary this past Friday morning. I knew it was to be something special with all of her talk of bells, signs, Santa, robes and costumes and Sullivan was so proud to be up on the risers and see me and Sawyer in the crowd. She even called out to me who each child was as they did their special role during the performance, which was hilarious.  Sullivan did a great job holding the "T" in the Santa song (to the tune of Bingo) and also playing the hand bell at another point in the show.  It was a great morning.  And the last picture is of the girls riding the train at a local park during a Christmas event, another December thrill for us.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

At a high school basketball game of mine...

Dancing with me at my wedding.

 

Holding Sawyer at the lake and snuggling with Mom and Sullivan, below.

Today marks the birthday of my father, Duncan Burwell McRae, Jr.
We love you and celebrate this day, Dad!
How can I ever tell you how much I care, respect, admire and need you? I stay on the quest...
Thank you for always pausing to listen to me.
You have always made me feel so important and treasured. Happy birthday!

December Thrills

The girls have taken to playing together in Sullivan's room lately. Favored activities are "Cat in the Hat" or movie trailers on the ipad and Leggos.

 Playing hide and seek in the laundry baskets...

 Gingerbread house!

 A favorite activity from our childhood: Chocolate Advent Calendars! (Found at Fresh Market)

 Making salt ornaments for the tree.

 Sullivan really got into this...she loved rolling the dough and could press the cookie cutters well. Sawyer preferred to paint. Sullivan's work turned out (below) to be great additions to our humble tree.

We have been in full Christmas mode around here since just after Thanksgiving and as the girls are both (for the first time) aware and excited about it this year, it has felt extra special. And the season is just beginning! Here are a few things that we have been up to lately...Merry Christmas!

Potty time!

For my record, Sawyer is making lots of progress on the potty this week! Go Sawyer!

Well-loved

 

This is Sullivan's Little Giraffe "pink blankie" that she received at birth. To the right is what it once looked like. She began to have a special affinity to it around the age of 18/20 months. As you can see, she has loved it to shreds, literally. My mom, Lee's mom and myself have sewn and repaired it many times, never to much avail. We have replaced it with two other Little Giraffe blankies, but she still clings to this original. She does allow me to wash it, thank goodness, as I find it crinkled into a ball deep under her pillow in her tiny little toddler bed.  Very sweet, sweet dreams...

Sawyer-ese

 Stealing Mommy's Diet Coke...a favorite pastime.




I think it is pretty neat how often times mothers (or other primary care-givers) are the only ones who can decipher their toddler's speech. It is a magical thing to watch a child come alive in language and literally burst with new words each day. Right now we are in such a phase with Sawyer and I am the privileged one who gets to decode her utterances. I want to document these adorable phrases of hers that she will too-soon lose. I wish I could capture the sound of her "Fossy" (for "Frosty the Snowman") or her "Bah ticka ticka" (for "Bubble Guppies") with more dimension than words on a page, but for now it will do.  I love her requests for her "nuck" (what she calls her milk),  "Ee ay Ee ay" (Old McDonald had a Farm) or "Tinkle Tinkle"  (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) as well as her little words for "hem me" (help me) or "bati Oh" (batido {smoothie}) or "Key Aht" (kitty cat), "Ahhpplejuice" (for either juice or her "autobus" toy schoolbus) or "Bah Bah" for her lamb lovie.  Perhaps our favorite is her "Dah eee" for her Daddy or her "I owe you" for "I love you".  I also like "gahtackle" which can either be for "popsicle" or "bicycle". You can't write this stuff!?

Don't grow up, Sawyer! You are so precious to us.

Christmas wish

Sullivan has asked Santa for a Pony this year.
Yikes.

Thanksgiving and Lee's Bday

We have had a great week at home this week.
It started slowly with me working at home with the girls on Monday as they are off from school all week.  I had to do handfuls of oral interviews over the phone with my Spanish 101 students from around 9a-11:30a...Thankfully, the girls watched a Christmas movie and then played together relatively quietly in Sullivan's room for the duration. I was elated to be done with the interviews (and so proud of the girls for being so quiet!) and ready to begin some real "staycation" fun. Right after I finished with the phone work, we shot over to Target to have a "picnic" lunch in the cart and just cruise and shop at leisure. As Sullivan is now in school 5 days a week, we hardly ever get to "not-shop" and just browse for fun, so it was a blast.

On Tuesday, we went to the mall with friends and played indoors. Wednesday we went to the park for a picnic and played outside at home. Lee was off early on Wednesday afternoon and I got to go shopping that evening by myself for a bit, which was great for me. 

On Thursday, the Murphys drove in from AL, arriving at noon, and we played and played until we ate our big meal around 5:15p. This was my first time to host my in-laws and cook a full-scale meal for them on a holiday...we have always been in Montgomery and I have just never made it until now!? Well, thanks to my sweet Mom and her example and recipes, I was really pleased with the results and I think everyone (except the girls) enjoyed their turkey, rice and gravy, cornbread dressing, sweet potatoe casserole, green beans, butter beans, rolls, tea and pumpkin pie. 

On Friday, Lee turned 32! The girls have now sung him "Happy Birthday" at least a dozen times and hopefully, he feels quite loved and celebrated. His parents gave him a gorgeous and gigantic new TV, dress shirts, cologne, pjs, and we gave him stationary, khakis, t shirts and socks. The Murphys also brought in for him darling Turkey cupcakes and cake from Edgar's bakery in Birmingham, AL...Yum.  And of course, dear Colleen brought in precious clothing for the girls, as you can see below in their new "zebra" get-ups. 

Thank you for coming, Randy and Colleen! It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!

And then, today, we put up the Christmas decorations!
 Whew! What a week!
 It has felt like a true "staycation"...a slow, forced (but welcome) pause without school, work or normal activities. We have spent lots of time at home and just "being". We have sat in our yard and just petted the neighbor's cats and dog. We have kicked balls around and taken nature walks.
I hope to always take time to pause, reflect and be gracious, grateful and humbled.
With all this goodness, I feel like Christmas has already come! And yet it awaits us still.

I hope that your Thanksgiving was a grand one.

 The family resemblance really strikes me here.

 The girls with watercolors in front of our fun blow-up Turkey.

 Sullivan tackles opening Lee's big TV present from his parents.

 A glimpse of our spread on Thanksgiving...

 The girls at their table, not really eating at all.

 A few key southern staples: turkey pan-made gravy in a gorgeous gravy boat and sweet tea with homegrown citrus from a friend of the Murphys. So good.

 The turkey cupcakes from Edgar's of Birmingham.

 Turkey!

 Putting up our faux-tree...Hated to not get a living beauty, but we will be away from home too long this year to care for a real one.