Bobby Goes to Birmingham!!

Please note below as Claire and Bobby strike their very best Vulcan pose. For those of you who do not know, Vulcan is the world's largest cast iron statue.

Old Town Helena waterfall. . .Hotel waterfall. . .Great excitement for a 4 year old.Claire and Bobby were a little unsure about our hotel's indoor pool at first. Unfortunately, Emma was not. That girl was ready to jump in the pool at any given moment as if she had the ability to walk on water.Bobby just had to try one of our favorite Savage's cookies. . .Ready for bed. The girls love being with their daddy!
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This past weekend, I took the girls over to Birmingham to visit Jeremy. As many of you know, Jeremy has started a new job, and we will be moving back to Birmingham sometime in the near future. We are very excited about going back to a town we love, and even more excited about being closer to some great friends. Hopefully, our current house will sell soon, and we can all officially settle in Birmingham together.
Some of you may remember Bobby the Butterfly from earlier in the year. He is the mascot of Claire's Butterfly class at school, and the lucky "Butterfly of the Week" gets to take him home for the weekend. Of all weekends for Bobby to come visit Claire, he picked an exciting one! Claire had a great time introducing Bobby to her friends, and showing him around the city where she was born.

Sweet Friends

Claire with Maggie and Isabelle
Pictured above, this weekend. Pictured below, Spring 2006.
They are growing so fast!

Doing their "A Tooty Ta" song and dance. . .We meet at last! Emma and Laurel are 2 weeks apart and have never met. As usual, Emma performed what I refer to as her "hair test". Laurel passed with flying colors!Sweet Allen wasn't so sure about cuddling up to these strange new girls. . .Claire offered/gave cuddles anyway. . .Flash forward to a little later in the evening, and you can see they had warmed up to each other quite nicely. These two had so much silly fun!Claire ended the evening with one of her many shows. . .

While we were in Birmingham, we got to catch up with a few of our friends. What I find most interesting these days, is that you will never see pictures of the original friends anymore. All of the pictures now are of their children. I guess they make a cuter bunch, so it easy to focus the camera on them. The only little one that I missed getting a picture of was Maggie and Isabelle's cutie of a little brother, Joseph. I will have to get him next time! That being said, we had a great time visiting with everyone. We can't wait to get back to Birmingham, so that we can get together more often.

Happy Valentine's Day!

There's nothing like a chocolate (or two) for breakfast on Valentine's morning. The special Krispy Kreme doughnuts that Jeremy secretly went out to get us weren't so bad either. We love our sweet treats! :)

Finally!!

Day 1

As you can see in the pictures above and below, Emma was in a state of shock. Jeremy said that when he picked her up, she was stiff as a board. This may have something to do with the fact that I woke her up from nap, bundled her up, and tossed her out into a peculiar winter wonderland.Day 2
We have to get creative when it comes to sledding around these parts. Out come the pool toys and trash can lids!Making angels in the snow. . .

I realize that, at this point, many of our friends and family in the D.C. area would hardly use the word "finally" to describe the arrival of a snow day. However, we here in the south live in great anticipation of such days. They are very rare, and so much fun!! We have enjoyed playing out in the snow with our neighbors for the past two days now. However, as we near the second half of day two, the snow is all but melted. Disappointing for the kids, but it works alright for me!

Owen Love

This past week, the girls and I drove up to Atlanta one afternoon for a little family visit. My mom was down from Virginia babysitting Owen for my sister's first week back at school, and we were all excited for a mini reunion. It was a fun day of cookie decorating with Nanny, and snuggles with Owen. Claire and Emma loved hugging on Owen, and taking care of him in their own special ways. When Stacey and Chris got home from work, we ended the day with a pizza dinner and cupcakes to celebrate Owen's 12 weeks of life! A fun day for all!

Dancing Cinderellas

Claire and Emma in their magical fantasy land.

January Happenings

Pictured below are some photographic moments from January.

Claire putting on one of her many shows. . .

This is what happens when Claire gets to Emma waking from a nap before I do. . .a crib full of stuffed animals!

Each of my girls has their own personal obsession right now. For Claire, it is "cooking" and creating things in the kitchen. She received a Paula Deen (one of her favorite chefs) cookbook for Christmas, and she uses it as her recipe guide. Unfortunately, she is doing this while I am attempting to cook dinner, and without the reading assistance of an adult, her creations are less than appetizing. Don't tell her that though!

For Emma, the obsession is Cinderella. Other than her recent favorite saying of "Ohhh, man.", all we hear throughout the day is "Lella, Lella, Lella". She got a princess nightgown for Christmas (which she often wears all day, and screams bloody murder when you try to take it off), and has been hooked ever since. Interestingly enough, it has nothing to do with the movie. She just loves the character. Below, she is in her own world reading a "Lella" book.

Mardi Gras Ball

The next day. . .

Next year, Jeremy's parents will be the Etruscans "Emblem Couple". Claire was checking herself out in the mirror as she tried on the hat Jeremy's mom will wear.

A couple of weekends ago, we made a trip down to south Alabama. It happened to be the weekend of Jeremy's parent's annual Mardi Gras Ball. Each year, before the actual Ball begins, all of the members get together in costume to do a skit show and present the king and queen. This year, the theme was Disney, so I took Claire to see the tableau (what they call the "skit show"). I think more than anything, Claire was super excited to be at a Ball. As the king and queen did their first dance, Claire decided to do her own dance up in the bleachers. She was also excited to see Aunt Kristi and Uncle Andy all dressed-up before the Ball. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of Jeremy's parents and brother and sister-in-law in their costumes. They were part of The Little Mermaid skit.
After the tableau was over, I took Claire home to bed. Several hours later she came running into our room in the middle of the night as a sick little girl. The poor thing had a stomach bug (which Claire has since debated as to whether it was a wasp or a fly), and was laid out on the couch with nothing to eat for an entire day. Although it was a quick 24 hour bug, it unfortunately and quickly spread throughout the family. Somehow, I was spared, but it was hard to watch the domino effect. However, I am happy to report that all are once again well.

The Children's Museum

Owen enjoying the Curious George exhibit in his slumber. . .Emma after her wall painting. . .Oops!

George!

Claire reaching for a coke outside of the World of Coca Cola Museum. . .
Notice the line of people behind her. That was just the beginning of a very long line of people waiting to get into the museum. Thankfully, it was not on our agenda for the day.

Back at the beginning of January (when Claire was still out of school for the holidays and I was searching for ways to fill our wide open days), we decided (along with every other family in the Atlanta area) to make a last minute trip to the Children's Museum. They were having a Curious George exhibit that I thought the girls would enjoy. We even brought Aunt Stacey and Owen along with us! Crowds aside, we all had a great time.

Oh, Happy Day!!

Emma in her own baby doll heaven. . .

She has arrived! Finally, after a long, dedicated search process by Jeremy, and a gracious donation by my PaPa, Emma has a doll just like Claire. Santa must have really brought a one-of-a-kind on Christmas because we ended up having to go through ebay for this doll. All of that aside, the girls are both thrilled. Now, Claire can play with hers in peace, and Emma can have all of the hair her little heart desires. Hallelujah!

Happy New Year!

Emma is ec'static' about 2010!!!

(Please note the hair stuck to the couch.)