Happy 90th, Gran!

 Three generations of Carlisle-Murphy women!

This past Monday, on MLK day, our beloved Gran, Lee's maternal grandmother, celebrated her 90th birthday! We are so thankful to have Mrs. Marie Carlisle in our lives and she has blessed us with her love, wisdom and creative arts for years. We (and our friends!) have benefitted from her constant generosity and creativity by way of handmade cloth crayon roll-ups, hair bows, sleeping bags, snuggies, totes and storage bags...her abilities are truly limitless. What will she do next?

Here's to you, Gran! Happy birthday! We love you so much! You inspire us!

Blankie

For my record, Sawyer's lovie-of-choice, is a tattered hand-me-down from Sullivan:  a white Little Giraffe blanket with silky edges that no longer has the original silk polka dot layer on top.  I purchased probably about five different new blankies for Sawyer since her birth and we received another handful of new lovies from friends and family...but they do not do for her. This worn-in, over-sized, loved-on, nubby and not very soft white one is her choice. And it does seem to fit her ways just right.

Snow in the Delta

Friends here tell us that last year, they barely needed a winter coat. It looks like we may have a brought a touch of the Carolinas with us this go around and it is making me miss Greenville even more today. Happy winter!

Wishing Well

We went to get some bread at a local bakery yesterday. The bakery is within a larger shopping center, where they have fountains and you can toss pennies and make a wish. Sullivan confidently took her penny, threw it in the water and stated, "I wish to be human!".

Well, that certainly clears up a lot.

Good, clean fun

Lee has been home with us in the late afternoons recently, which has been a welcome change and introduced us anew to his take on a good time, which include hoisting around sticks, debri and fallen bamboo in our yard, picking berries from the bushes (and throwing them at one another) and making fires. We are so glad that the girls love to be outside. 

What you're into...

Sullivan, at age 4yrs 9 mos, you love to read the Storybook Bible, Rimas in Spanish, Amelia Bedelia and Franklin books. You like to watch Dexter's Laboratory, My Little Ponies, Winnie the Pooh, Aladin and the new Dora and love to play on the computer or ipad.  You draw, color and paint well and take pride in your work. You like to organize. You can dress yourself, dance and jump (your are working on a cartwheel!) and ride your bike with training wheels. You also count to 30 and are interested in math. You enjoy writing your name and love to fill your bed with stuffed animals and pink blankie. As our Dadddy says, "Sullivan will not be last in line!"; you are a driven, spirited go-getter!

Sawyer, at age 2yrs 4mos, you love to read "Mama Loves You", Elmo books, Jesus Loves Me, and Goodnight Moon. You enjoy watching Bubble Guppies, Little Einsteins and Dora. You are becoming interested in art and like to paint and color with crayons. You feed yourself well and are starting to put your clothes on and take them off. Your speech and vocabulary are expanding rapidly and you delight us with your constant questions of "How doin?" or "What doin?". You just learned to jump and hop and you do so all day long, smiling ear to ear. You are working on pedaling your tricycle. You are happy and gentle. You are a peacemaker. 

We love you so much, chicas, and are so proud of you!

Daddy

Lee is half-way done with his fellowship and life has taken a big upswing for all of us. He has finished covering all of those football games, physicals, Saturday morning clinics and college games and that is reason to celebrate! Woohoo! We are so proud of him and love him so much.  His day-to-day is much more manageable and now the biggest hurdle ahead is one more 6wk stint in New Orleans. In the meantime, we have gotten some great family time in during the holidays and all are loving a few new toys of his: a new remote-controlled helicopter that wows the girls and a new Red Toyota Tacoma Truck.  He turned in the ole Four-Runner for a new set of wheels and could not be happier.