Goodbye, aughts!

Good bye 2010 and the first decade of the century!  It has been a fantastic 10 years: we became a family with our two beautiful kids and two sweet pups; we have our home in a neighborhood full of wonderful friends, and have wonderful friends in far away places who we miss dearly; & we both started new professional pursuits (his a lot earlier than mine!) While there is some debate on whether the new decade begins tonight (or began last year), who cares.  The sentiment is the same.  Bring on the Twenty Teens!

go big orange! Miles attends his first UT game.

go big orange!

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas, starting the celebration early with the kid's pageant and Mass on Christmas Eve.  Actually the party started around lunch when Mimi and PawPaw arrived and we were so glad to see them! The pageant was at 3:30 and Mass at 4, so we assumed we needed to be there soon after 3 to get a "good" seat.  Boy were we wrong!  While it ended up packed, we could have rolled in 15 minutes early and would have been fine.  Oh well.  The kiddos were generally good for the 2.5 hours we sat in the pew, especially Audrey who usually is in the nursery.

Not sure what this face is about.....

So then I asked her to smile....

Christmas morning was exciting!  Amazingly the kids stayed asleep (?) or at least quiet in their room until their awesome alarm clock turned green. They ran in to wake Mimi and PawPaw and we raced out to see what Santa brought.  They were very good this year!  Miles asked for lots of Lego and Star Wars stuff and he was not disappointed.

Audrey asked for five ponies, but got 2 and a doll house, among other things. She is pretty happy with her things as well.

Wayne and the kids gave me a Kindle, which I love and have already used to read many books.  It may sound lazy, but it's so nice not to hold a bulky book and turn pages. I mean really, who has the energy? Ha.  But seriously, just clicking that little button is so easy.  You can see what I read in the Goodreads sidebar of the blog or click here to get to my profile. 

We had a yummy lunch with honeybaked ham (thanks Mom & Don!), green beans, cranberry sauce, and Wayne's favorite, spicy broccoli casserole.  

And then we had birthday cake for baby Jesus!  Hope everyone had a lovely holiday.  Grrrrrr!

Quick Christmas Eve....

Whew... while Santa waits for the kiddos to fall asleep, I'll catch us up from the last week. We did get to play in that snow a little bit.

Monday I made these reindeer cupcakes for Audrey's class party.  When we showed her teacher I said, "Miles helped me make these!" Audrey piped up, "and I just help eat them."  At least she's honest!

That day we also had visits from YaYa & B and Beebe and PopPop to celebrate early Christmas.  We're so blessed to get to see all of our grandparents this week.

Hope everyone has a blessed and merry Christmas!

burning some energy at pump it up

The Christmas Program 2010

The kids' school postponed their Christmas program due to the icy weather last week.  They finally got to show their stuff on Monday night.

Here is Audrey's performance. She showed much improvement over last year! Watch at the end when she finally sees me sitting down on the floor in front.




And here is Miles's show. His class performed "The Littlest Christmas Tree" and he was the biggest tree.  It's long, but he gets chopped down first.  Enjoy!

SNOW DAY!!!!

After having some flurries for the last week, the snow finally committed and stuck around. It helps that the high today is 22 degrees, brrrrr! But it is definitely helping with the Christmas spirit, not that Christmas spirit needs much help around here!

We decorated our tree when we got back from our Thanksgiving travels.  Audrey and Miles have lots of their own ornaments and love looking at them, hearing about who gave them and moving them around the tree.  We're still using the "easy" pre-lit tree, but Miles & I had to replace several dozen bulbs this year, so it might be the last.  We'll see next year.  Oh, and we already have lots of presents under the tree, which, surprisingly, aren't too much of a temptation.

That might be because our elf, Broderick, has returned from the North Pole.  His grin is a bit disturbing disarming, but the kids love him.  Sometimes he forgets to find a new hiding place until the kids wake up, but so far he's always been found in a new spot. Here are some of his hiding places.  Yesterday he was dangling upside down from the fan chain.

We made it to see Santa last week.  Audrey was excited until we walked over to him.  She was pretty leery but was brave enough to tell Santa she wanted "five ponies."  My Little Ponies, not real ponies, yet. Miles had been telling us what he was going to ask for but then changed his mind at the last minute to the LEGO General  Grievous Starfighter. Hmmm.  I've told him that Santa might adjust his request to something a little more appropriate.  Like the LEGO Hoth Wampa Cave.  Yes, we are Star Wars and Lego obsessed around here.

Eating gingerbread cookies while watching other kids talk to Santa was lots more fun.

Last night while it snowed we tried hot cocoa for the first time.  It was a big hit!

In preparation for Christmas, we've tried some fun things.  First, Miles and Audrey each got a video from Santa himself.  If you want to see them, HERE is Miles' and HERE is Audrey's (click names to play).

We also became elves for a quick song and dance.  Enjoy!

not to be outdone

after-church goofiness

A {sort of} first!

Audrey finally had her first "real" haircut. While I did give the first trim back when she was sportin' a mullet at six months, we hadn't touched the tresses since. After Miles & I both went in to get ours cut, I decided it was high time we trimmed hers.  The ends were starting to get a little rough and it was still uneven.  Ashley barely took off an inch and it looks so nice now!  Even and bouncy.  Audrey loved the big chair and the BIG mirror.  And she even got her own product, which she proudly described to her teachers today. She said, "It's strawberry."  It's not, but who cares?

Double Whew!

Okay, now that I ordered the Christmas greetings AND I have finished all work for my class, I can finally share our awesomely awesome fun trip over Thanksgiving week.

We started off with a few nights with YaYa and B, and some visits with the cousins. Always a fun time!
Miles & Evan had a blast with light sabers and trains.  Evan is tutoring Miles in all things Star Wars, the latest craze to take over our house.  Combine it with Legos and all bets are off.

Kate and Audrey are starting a band.

On our way to Memphis we stopped in Jackson to visit GG. She was visiting my Aunt Harriet and we also got to see my cousin Criss and her daughter Danielle, whom I had never met!  It was a fun though brief reunion.

In Memphis, we trekked downtown with Beebe and PopPop to see the March of the Ducks at the Peabody Hotel.  We were able to sit on the edge of the red carpet and the kids loved it when the elevator doors opened and those ducks just ran right in front of them.  Literally, it was run, run, run, splash! Audrey could have stood at the fountain and watched them all day.  But we had things to do...

We walked around downtown and ended up at Blues City Cafe for lunch, where Aunt Megan met us.

Then we rode the Riverfront Trolley which goes all the way down Main Street and returns along the Mississippi Riverfront.  It was a gorgeous day and we all had fun seeing the sites.  Miles kept Aunt Megan on her toes, always on the lookout for the next tickle attack.

Thanksgiving day was wonderful, playing and watching some new holiday movies at Mimi and PawPaw's house. We unearthed Uncle Kyle's Legos and watched him play.  He even let Miles build with some of them.

They had fun visiting with GG Mama (who is turning 95 Friday!!). 

She was impressed by Miles' drawing skills. He drew this after our Peabody trip. See the duck, duckmaster, fountain and even the red carpet!

Friday we hung out at Uncle Kyle & Aunt Megan's house for lunch and the Auburn vs Alabama game. The kids loved playing with one of their dogs, Molly (seen here with Audrey). Their other dog, Mattie, is not so friendly with strangers, so they didn't get to play with him and all day long called him "the bad, bad dog."  Poor misunderstood Mattie.

Again, Aunt Megan was a champ, keeping up with Miles.  She even pulled out Twister! 

Such a great trip over the river and through the woods. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!

October fun

{apparently I started this in October & never posted it.  Whoops!}

And a monthly catch-up post. What? my text-pictures from the field weren't enough?

Miss A. is getting big and is as spunky as ever. She loves to gallop. Everywhere.  Gallop gallop gallop, with those curls bouncing all around her head.  She's a nut.


Funny story... Audrey and were at the mall when a security guard on a segway passed us.  He did a little wheelie around us and she giggled.  I asked her if she wanted one and she didn't miss a beat: "A pink one," she said.



Miles is a giant, so tall and lanky. 

I always knew his little brain was a sponge, but now that he is conversant I'm learning all sorts of things.   Tonight I heard him answering lyrics to a song on the iPod. ( example: "Do you want to find alligator cowboy boots they just put on sale?" he said no.)  And Wayne said he totally called us out on our Chick-fil-a habit, as in "every time one of you has to do something, we get Chick-fil-a."  This was in response to me doing Race for the Cure, but he cited them dropping me off at the UT game as proof. And whenever Wayne goes to Chattanooga for the day we always go to CFA for dinner.  Insightful, he is.

Whew!

Just ordered my Christmas cards, calendars for the family (um, spoiler alert. but you expect them now, right?), and even made this birthday card for my Grandma's 95th birthday. Woo hoo! So now I can blog, but probably tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Damask Birthday 5x7 folded card

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PS. Shutterfly's Cyber Week specials run through Dec. 1!

big Memphis tourist day...Peabody Ducks, Blues City Cafe & a trolley ride!

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Friday Fun

So I should be finishing up the last of my homework for the semester (yay!) but I'm in a blog groove, apparently, so I"m going with it. Miles and I had a fun day today. Our plan was to run a couple of errands and end up at the University Center at UT to eat - what else - Chick Fil A (which we did NOT have when I was there!) and go bowling at the lanes in the basement. Unfortunately there was a bowling class going on so we redirected to the Center for Children's and Young Adult Literature. My program runs the Center, so I'd heard about it but never visited.  It was amazing!  Miles was impressed too.  Basically they receive a copy of any youth book as it is published and it is displayed for 18 months.  The Center is open to the public, so you can come in and read all these great books hot off the presses.  The only hitch is you can't take any with you.  I did see a pile marked "Book Sale" so maybe they have one when things rotate out.  I'll have to keep my eyes out for that.  Miles is pointing to one of his favorites, Dodsworth in London, and we also read Shrek!, Even Monsters Need Haircuts, and Superhero School.  They had the brand new Magic Tree House and several others I wanted to grab and read.  May have to spend a day there without the kiddo!

After that we swung by my friend Emily's office and she needed some photos of Ayres Hall, so off we went.  Miles loved running around the lawn on the beautiful afternoon.  We'll have this kids fully indoctrinated to the Vol life before he hits middle school.

And not to leave out the princess, here's her happy smiley face.   Have a great weekend everybody!