best friends

Pink lovey is Eliza Kate's best friend. She has bonded to this soft bear and snuggles in close with her thumb sucking comfort grasp. My friend, Courtney from college monogrammed this as a baby shower gift. It's EK's absolute favorite friend. I've stressed out more than once when lovey could not be found. We've left it in several places, only to find it later. It has nine lives.Our whole house has been turned upside down looking for this beloved friend. Nothing can replace her lovey. Grandmama thinks we need two identical loveys just in case we run into another lost lovey crisis in the house. It surely does interupt her sleeping pattern when lovey isn't in the crib.

But,  real loveys can't be cloned. No substitutes allowed. They wear their owner's smell, feel a certain way, and EK knows the difference. Sometimes, I place her in the crib while I comb the house on the lovey search. She'll sweetly say, "oh lovey", "lovey", "oh lovey". When my search takes longer than a few moments, her sweetness turns into "LOVEY" with a mad tone as if to say...Are you still searching mom?

There's nothing like the joy of hugging your best friend.

preschool party

We've struggled through 5 days of the stomach bug at our house. I was beginning to worry that M man would have to be a "no show" for his fun preschool party. I think I would have been more disappointed because I love being able to volunteer in his classroom. Miller finally felt better today to rejoin his classroom for fun centers and our Holiday feast today. If he looks skinnier, and you notice dark circles..it's because for the first time this illness completely wiped him out....and his mommy.I will say that we did get lots of intentional family cuddle time and togetherness during this busy season. It allowed me to slow down and enjoy the magic with my two kiddos. Cabin fever for sure near the end. You can only take so many showing of Rudolf. That was the only way I got through the ickies with my two, focusing on the small glimmer of hope in this season of JOY.  When we celebrate Jesus, there is a true Joy in Christmas.We were more than ready to get back out and rejoin the festivities to make it a great Christmas afterall!

Miller so needed a fun morning to recover from his cabin fever woes at home. He seriously gets depressed without friend interaction for days on end. A party was just the ticket to get him smiling again. Miss Ambrea and I set up three crafty centers in PreK this morning. We chose a snowman theme for each center. There was ornament fingerprint decorating, a tootsie -roll snoman spoon craft, and dressing Mr. Snowman  with the story in felt. And, I know you're curious to know if Miller had a better morning with his mommy as a volunteer. I had to laugh when he announced to the class that he was going to share his mommy this morning in circle time. Good job, Miller! You did share your mommy well.

Grant was loving all the center fun. I tried to snap a few pictures with my messy glue hands during all of the center happenings. It was hard to take a moment in between directions. Miller made sure to give me the play by play as he moved from center to center announcing each crafty step across the room.

Everytime I get a glimpse into Miller's little educational world this year, I feel richly blessed. Ms. Cayla is just the answer to prayer for our Miller. I feel like he is getting such a great jump start into Kindergarten. It's like he'll be repeating K all over again next year. And, it's all because of Ms.Cayla's educational background. As we're nearing five, I am noticing such growth in Miller's ability to follow classroom routine and stay in his chair.WooHoo!

Miss L was my "Santa's helper" at the spoon craft table.

Miller loved dressing his snowman in winter attire. It was such a cute activity for following directions and sequencing.

His snowman had ear muffs!

As we packed up the room , the kiddos watched the interactive Polar Express book from Barnes & Noble on the big screen. We lined up and headed to the front room for the highly anticipated feast. Mom's of boys know, it's all about the food at these events.

Miller hopped in Grant's mommy and me photo:)

I grabbed my boy in line for a side by side. He's growing so much!

I'll leave you with Miller's frosted cookie creation. Miller was thrilled with the candy corn cob nose;) We're loving this festive season!

christmas packages 2011

 One of our favorite Christmas traditions each year is joining Grandmama and Poppy at their church for an afternoon of family fun. Christmas Packages is such a family friendly anticipated event in our house. Eliza Kate was in her stroller last year, so it was fun for her as a walking toddler to enjoy the activities this year.

 Miller loved manning the steering wheel in Santa's sleigh. There were live reindeer attached  to the sleigh behind a gate...if you can imagine that. I guess reindeer aren't exactly kid friendly petting type of animals with their antlers.

 The Little Red Barn traveling petting zoo made another appearance this year right in front of the manger.Eliza Kate loved brushing the animals with assistance from her dear Grandmama. If you'll notice in the picture below, she loves to grasp an index finger when she's exploring new places. As long as she's got your grasp, she has all the confidence in the world to venture out. As soon as EK spotted baby Jesus, she wanted to hold the baby:)

 Landon and I love going to chaotic places with a party of four adults. In the chaos, there is always someone  watching over our children. We feel  blessed to have special grandparents to participate in our children's lives.

 Miller man  gave special attention to the yak. He kept calling it the "Mommy Yak" from our fall music class CD. Ever since we googled just what a mommy yak looks like, he's been intrigued. He took his sweet time brushing her hair. It's looong and shaggy you know. He really needed a rake to get through those tangles.

 S'mores by the campfire kept us begging for "some-more". I couldn't resist with that one! Poppy schooled Miller on the art of roasting marshmallows 101. Of course, Miller wanted nothing to do with a charred mallow after the roasting. He was content with his chocolate squares and graham cracker treat.

 The tractor ride around the parking lot was a jolly good time!

 We warmed up on hot chocolate after our breezy ride outside. All of this holiday hoopla gets me in the spirit of Christmas. We're loving the season with the magic & wonder of Christmas through our children's eyes.

I love this "outtake"  picture as Landon and I are bright & merry and the kids are.so.over.pictures:) I had to include their sweet "over it" faces as a  final farewell:)

18 months

A few weeks a month ago back,  Eliza Kate turned the one year and a half milestone. She's mostly standing in the toddler world these days with her pinky toe still crossing the line back into babyhood. I see glimpses of that sweet  little baby when she's sucking her thumb holding lovey close to her cheek.Taking a sneak peek here and there in her crib and watching her sleep also reminds me of the babyhood stage. Although, her toddler independence reminds me daily that we're sailing towards the terrific twos at a lightning speed. To combat the "losing my baby woes"  each day, I take a mental snapshot of the little joys of 18 months. She.is.a.delight. A true gift of a lovely little girl with a bow on top sent down from the Lord to our house. There is no denying the blessing and privilege the last 18 months have held with our little girl.

What she's saying...

Eliza Kate is now putting two and three word phrases together.

"Here go" - for here you go

"Thank you" followed by "come" for your welcome

"I see you" when she's peeking through the wooden spindles on our stairs

"Hey Mommy"...a true southern girl at it's best with the twang in haaaaay

"Bye Mommy/Daddy/Mawny"

"Night night, See you" while waving to everyone goodnight

"love you"- precious!

Favorite new words:

Oh Awesome- when something wow's her:))

cumber- for cucumber

color- for crayon

Up

Down

diaper

stinky

"Mornin"- when I go into her room first thing

Her personality:

Not quite as relaxed as she was at the baby stage. Eliza Kate knows what she wants these days. Her sweetness is now balanced with a pinch of sass. That smile of hers melts my heart. She likes to show her gums and make a sniffing sound with a scrunched up nose. Sometimes, she'll just smile with her eyes for a unique effect. And, her infectious laugh warms our whole house over. She's content, independent, happy, and sometimes cautious of new environments & people. She likes to stick close to her momma. Her calmness in social situations has taken awhile to adjust to after being a "boy mom" for soo long.

She sits in chairs for more than 5 minutes...it's amazing! Eliza Kate loves for me to entertain her during the day. She wants to grab my hand and lead me places around the house that she's interested in.

Eliza Kate's interests:

Elmo is still a passion. She begs to watch Elmo on youtube daily..shouting Elmo with great inflection like she's seeing an old friend. She loves to play chef  at the kitchen table stirring Lima beans with a wooden spoon. Eliza Kate loves sticker art and wearing stickers on her shirt. She moves and grooves to music. Most of all she loves her brother and joins in with whatever activity he's doing at the moment. They love to run around the room chasing each other and giggling. Eliza Kate loves to color in coloring books and drawing paper. She love "tickers" -stickers. I think she'll be into arts in crafts a little more than Miller.

More Favorites:

Sleeping-she still takes her morning nap

Lovey- she totes it around like a best friend around the house

shishies-goldfish crackers

books

dancing-swishing her tushy

daddy

Bragging on our Girl:

We're so proud of Eliza Kate for mastering her "ABC's" song including the "Now I know my ABC's and it's time to tickle me". Repetition is the key with our girl. And, we play this song a million times a day. She also sings an adorable rendition of Happy "Barthday" to you".  We have a down the stairs climber on our hands. She loves when we cheer for her when she reaches the bottom. Each step is so intentional and she holds the railing. Eliza Kate claps for herself and says "yay!" when she is on solid ground. Then Miller shows us his rendition of stair climbing for attention...of course we clap away;)
Size and Stats:
Eliza Kate is wearing 24 month sized clothes and some 2Ts. She weighs around...

photos courtesy of http://www.andrea-wood.com/

donut run

 Nothing like a donut run when Krispy Kreme snowmen donuts are in season. Miller loves getting up on Saturdays and having an agenda. He likes to know what fun activity we have planned..ha! You can only imagine the sheer joy he felt when we surprised him with an early donut run breakfast. His Sunday School teachers have spoiled him this year as they bring in Krispy Kreame on their way into church for his class. We quickly figured out why he had an extra pep in his step on Sunday mornings.

 Our fun soda jerk hats made the experience even more adorable. Eliza Kate had to adjust to the feeling on her head. And, don't judge. Yes, that is a car themed sippy. Hopefully, Santa will bring some girly sippy cups in his sleigh. Notice Miller's pensive face trying to select his favorites from the menu.

 Miller made the 1/2 dozen donut selection for the family. The sprinkled variety were calling his name. As you can see, even his eyes were excited at the prospect of a snowman donut! While we were waiting for our "hot and ready" donuts to arrive, the donut production conveyer belt was highly entertaining to watch. It sucked us all in. The one lonely donut that didn't make it and was bobbing in the icing. Miller found this endlessly hilarious.

 Aren't the snowmen adorable?

 Eliza Kate wasted no time. At one point she had donuts in two hands.

 I know people must think I'm crazy toting my camera here and there to everyday places. Snowman donuts ARE a big deal ya know...to the preschool crowd at least. In all honesty the hats make it picture worthy. Melt my heart Miller man.

Washing it down with a swig of water is just what this frosted face needed to finish her breakfast. I see another donut run in our near future!

the arrival of Christmas

December 2nd brought about a fun new tradition in our house. Meet Mario our newest member of the family. We've been slow to jump on the Elf bandwagon. While shopping at Apple Annie's craft fair with my mom, I just couldn't resist a signed copy of Elf on the Shelf. Miller's at the age where he started asking just why his elf didn't suddenly appear yet. The pressure was on! This is my favorite elf position so far.I added a straw up to his mouth with a little water at the bottom like he drank from my glass overnight. Elves get thirsty you know.  I'm going to have to creative with this little fella.  Eliza Kate calls him "funny baby". I guess he does look kind of funny!

I'm enjoying my cozy mornings with this sugarplum. She jumps up and runs to the door each time our UPS Santa rings the doorbell. What I didn't plan for this year, was having the packages sent to another house. The large color photographs on boxes ruins all the fun of Christmas morning.

We've been enjoying our decorations. We decked our halls before our Knoxville trip. I like hanging our stockings from the banister up front. It adds a fun touch in the entry way. Eliza Kate likes to peek out in between the spindles and says, "See you mommy" like she's playing hide and seek. I'm going to miss this one day.

We've been making our lists and checking them twice. Mario's checking who's naughty or nice.

Miller has a few toy ideas. Of course when the Toys R Us catalogue comes in the mail , he changes his mind 1,000 times over. He's still at the age of no expectations and needs a lot of guidance with toy selections. I do want him to have a surprise though.

Ok, so he's really practicing his C's and U's. You have to start somewhere to be able to write to Santa, ya know. Notice how we're practicing his grip. He needs his tall man to use its side;)

I noticed later that my attic should have been on a different line...eek! Anyways, Miller commented that he wanted to draw a boat up in the attic like we were in a flood. That's what he's attempting to do here. We hope you're enjoying the season so far with your family. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

hello kitty

 And, hello puppy! We had a terrific time at Alexandra's third Hello Kitty bash. The boys were puppy dogs with floppy ears and the girls wore hello kitty headbands. As you can imagine, the dogs chased the pretty kitties all over the party.

 Miss Cristina painted the cutest little noses & cheeks on our little puppies and kitty cats. Miller proudly sported his puppy nose. Hello Kitty is such a fun blast from the past for me. My parents use to take me and a friend to the Hello Kitty store on Friday nights to pick out stickers, little toys and pencils. These character favorites always come full circle. I love reliving the nostalgia the second time around.

 Miller and "Jacky-boy" as he's affectionately called at our house wasted no time finding the bin of trucks. Now that the Micca's have a little boy, their collection is growing:)

 The birthday girl was so cute in her party outfit! Pink parties are so much fun!

 Eliza Kate was content with her popcorn cone. She loved holding it and munching. Miller at this age would have used it to toss the popcorn high in the air. Their differences still amaze me.

 I love how she is drawn to the craft table. She loves getting involved in little crafty projects. My dreams of having someone to paint with are coming true;)

 This picture just cracks me up. A puppy playing the saxophone and his sister playing house.

Before we left we made sure to clean up our cupcake crumbs. Little mommy did some quick vacuuming to make everything perfect. Happy Birthday Alexandra!