MERRY CHRISTMAS

Finally. Christmas. For Emma (and Denise) the day could not come soon enough. Emma swore that she heard Santa during the middle of the night, but she made sure that she remained in bed so that he would not be aware that she was awake. We made Emma wait for Maddie to awake before she could go see if Santa came. It was pure torture. Finally, the moment arrived. They sprinted to the tree and discovered that Santa came. Emma received an American Girl doll named Mia, and Maddie received her first doll and a doll house. All the excitement awoke the rest of the house and they joined in the fun. For the next hour, we exchanged gifts and plenty of laughs. In the end, a Merry Christmas was had by all.

CHRISTMAS EVE

Christmas Eve is finally here, and the girls are anticipating Santa's arrival. After attending the Christmas Eve service, we rushed home so that the girls could prepare for Santa's arrival. On the drive home, Santa actually called to talk with Emma to see if she and Maddie were heading to bed. Her reassured her that he would be able to find them even though they were not at home this Christmas. Emma was relieved. Once at home, they placed cookies and milk by the fireplace. Maddie decided that she was not in the sharing mood and promptly snagged one of the cookies. I think Santa will understand. Emma even sprinkled "glittering" reindeer food onto the lawn for Santa's reindeer. See covered all her bases. Eventually, we corralled them to bed and both were asleep within seconds of their heads hitting their pillows. I'm sure visions of sugar plumbs are dancing in their heads.

Heading North

Early Sunday Morning, we loaded up the car and headed north to spend Christmas with Larry's family. We hadn't even left Alabama and soon realized that this was not going to be an ordinary trip. The temperatures had already dropped and the winds were buffeting the car with gust in excess of 30 mph. Nine hours and 20 minutes later (were we flying of what?), we arrived in Indianapolis and were greeted with temperatures of 2 degrees with wind chills around -25. What a way to start our vacation. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Now let's pray for some snow!!

Delayed Blogging Pt IV ....

Not sure when this took place but I think it was a few weeks prior to Maddie walking. Here is the scoop: Maddie likes to climb. On the furniture. And she's somewhat wild as Denise would say. Even Emma takes part in the fun. This one is better with sound, take a look.


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Delayed Blogging Pt III ....

This little clip occurred in early fall when Maddie was on the verge of walking. A few notables: Maddie could stand; she crab-walked rather than walk; and finally, if she knew you were on the other side of the door, she would lay on her tummy and look under the door. I guess she figured she might see you that way. Too cute.



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THE TOOTH FAIRY COMETH

Delayed Blogging - INTERRUPTION !!

We interrupt this segment of Delayed Blogging to bring you this important announcement: Emma reached a milestone today! At approximately 6:40 pm CST, Emma lost her first tooth. For weeks now she said that her tooth was getting loose, but I never thought that she would lose it this soon. As it happened, we were sitting at the dinner table and she said that her tooth was "really" loose. She disappeared into the bathroom , and I told Denise that we had nothing to worry about; she'd shy away from the pain and probably faint at the sight of blood. The next thing we knew, she came running out with a tooth in her hand, blood in the mouth, and a huge grin on her face. Amazing!

Delayed Blogging Pt II - Maddie's Birthday

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Grandma hosted Maddie's first birthday over the Labor Day weekend. We had only a few family and friends join us; we wanted an intimate gathering. Maddie ate and ate, and as you can see below, she was drunk on cake by the end.

Delayed Blogging

Okay, we've been negligent about blogging over the past few months. A lot has happened since: Emma started school (kindergarten), Maddie celebrated her first birthday, Emma played soccer, Maddie took her first steps and began walking, Denise walked in the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk, Halloween, Thanksgiving,....needless to say, we need to catch up. With that we'll do some catch-up blogging in no particular order. We will begin with Emma's first day of school.



She was so excited that she could hardly contain herself. She awoke early, ate breakfast, dressed herself, and waited for Mom & Dad to escort her to school. We walked her into the school and took her to her classroom where her teacher awaited. From there, we received hugs & kisses, and she began her first day. Unfortunately, but due to the excitement we didn't get many pictures. Oh well.