Traditional Christmas Cards

My grand plan this year was to have "traditional


My plan this year was to have a "traditional" Christmas card with both kids sitting on Santa's lap. I didn't even care of they were smiling, just both on Santa's lap. Well that plan quickly went out the window as James would have NOTHING to do with Santa. Would not talk to him, would not get close, would not tell him what he wanted for Christmas. The previous post shows just how close we could get James to Santa - with Jim holding him next to Santa.

On to Plan B: the kids sitting together in a Christmasy setting, smiling sweetly. The first two photos show the attempt to catch that picture...

On to Plan C: Separate but cute pictures of the kids. That works - the two individual photos are the ones that made it on the Christmas card. Maybe when they are 12 and 10 they might actually both sit on Santa's lap and smile at the same time. Until 2019...

Resolutions?

So one of my resolutions for 2010 is to post to my blog more often. You see how well that is going so far...

What have we been up to? We are slowly but surely getting our house back to normal after Christmas. There are still toys EVERYWHERE. We need to have a toy purge. But James is still enjoying everything and playing trains upstairs, downstairs, in bed, etc.

We had a couple of inches of snow last week on Thursday night. Everything was cancelled on Friday including the kids' daycare. Of course Jim was needed at work and my courtrooms didn't cancel (why? oh why?) so James spent the day with Aunt Kelly and Spencer. Me and Mary Martin headed to work and yes she went to court with me, strapped in the Bjorn. She loved the attention!

Anyway here are a couple of shots from Christmas... Will try and post more often this year I promise!

Trick my Treat

Hello - so it's been quite a while since I posted. I returned to work three weeks ago and it has been an adjustment for everyone. Our computer was also on the fritz for a while... Anyway, I will try and do better.

Someone asked me the other day for a family picture and I realized that I don't have any pictures of the four of us. So we tried this weekend and it turned out okay. Our little owl Mary Martin wasn't looking but she made a mighty cute owl. James would have nothing to do his costume but thought it was fun to go door to door. He sometimes would just say "Candy?" And other times he said "Trick my treat!" It was pretty cute.

I'll try and post some pictures of our adventures the last few weeks. We are all adjusting to having mom go back to work. Mary Martin has been fine and I think she has enjoyed more simulation throughout the day and things to look at. She seems to really like mirrors. That's our little French princess for you. I am attaching a recent picture of MM as well. Enjoy!

Mary Martin is two months old

Mary Martin turned two months old today! I have attached a couple of recent pictures.

We get smiles often now and our little angel is developing a personality. She coos and says ahahh and still enjoys stretching out on her back. As I was typing this, Mary Martin had drifted off to sleep. Cooper barked and roused her, but she didn't wake fully. The next thing we heard was her laughing, in her sleep. And her laughing woke her up. It was the cutest thing!! Just like her dad - Jim will snore in the car when I drive and wake himself up. Little MM already taking after her dad...

We went to the doctor yesterday and she is 11 pounds 5 ounces (75%) and almost 24 inches long (90%). So she is very long! She is going to outgrow her outfits in length before anywhere else. She is also 75% for her head, which is just like James was and still is. The doctor was pleased and said she looked great. Mary Martin got two shots and an oral vaccine. She turns the darkest read when she gets shots. It is amazing how quickly she turns red!

We travel to Gulfport next week to see all the Calverts and Pelas... Stay tuned for updates from Gulfport.

Things I am thankful for

Last Saturday night we were able to visit with some good friends and their two beautiful daughters. Once Dianne and Darrell arrived home, we had five kids under five and one baby. The kids had a ball chasing each other and enjoying the wonderful weather we had that night. At one point I looked around and realized this was a night to count your blessings. So here is my list of things I am thankful for that I thought of that night:

1. A meal made by someone else.

2. Stuffed panda bears.

3. Slice and bake cookies.

4. The sweet silence that follows when you give five kids slice and bake cookies right out of the oven.

5. Pacemakers that work for 15 years.

6. Linley's curly hair.

7. Cool weather in August - amazing!

8. Jackson's rules for freeze tag.

9. Pipe cleaners!

10. Family and good friends.

Trip to Memphis Part II

Our fun in Memphis continues. Yesterday we met cousins Leighton and Lilly Ryan at the Memphis Botanical Gardens. They have a new exhibit there for kids called My Big Backyard. Anyone with children in Memphis must see this. It was the neatest thing. There was a house made of all natural materials (for example, flower beds: beds made entirely of flowers), a pond for the kids to explore and climb rocks over, a "birdhouse" for the kids to play in, water fun, a House of "Rock" with recycled musical instruments, and dozens of tunnels and arbors to crawl through and around. There was something in every corner to explore and play with.

Today we went to the Children's Museum which was also a hit. James liked exploring the grocery store and the river where he caught fish and boats. Also fun was the tooth puzzle and the cop car and fire engine he could crawl through. Mary Martin was a little freaked out by the disco room - too many flashing lights.

I realized all the pictures from our trip are of James so I am attaching one picture of Mary Martin. It is her sucking her thumb which is quite cute.

We return to Atlanta tomorrow. Here is hoping our stock of DVDs will get us through the long drive... Thank you to Gee and Grandaddy for letting us come play!!

Trip to Memphis!

We are having a blast here in Memphis. Here is the run down of our trip so far:

Sunday we made cupcakes and James helped. He especially loved putting sprinkles on the cupcakes. Master sprinkler for hire!

Monday we visited the Memphis zoo and saw pandas, elephants, lots of monkeys and all the big cats. The sea lions were very fun and one even touched the glass as if to kiss James' hand. He loved it. We of course rode the train and the carousel and chased Gee around the zoo like crazy. We also got to run through the sprinkler in the backyard.

Today we watched the ducks at the "Poo-body," visited grandaddy's office and visited Me-Maw (great-grandma). The ducks walking from the elevator was not that exciting but watching them play in the fountain and shake their tail feathers was great fun. I think James managed to even touch one. He did shake his little bootie, imitating the ducks.

Mary Martin has handled all this with ease. She is still sleeping great through the night and charmed everyone at grandaddy's office.

Still to come this week: the Children's Museum and the Botanical Gardens with cousins Layton and Lilly Ryan.