New Skates

Carver's been quite a trooper with his new skates. He's certainly taken his share of tumbles, but he keeps on going. He so badly wants to go fast. I am sure that day is not too far away. Roller skating was my favorite activity as a child and it's really sweet for me to watch him share in that enjoyment. Here's to keeping all his bones intact in 08!

Christmas Morning 2007

Christmas morning... Here are a few of our favorite shots from the day. Springer loves her shiny new tricycle. It's been pretty cold and rainy here, but it hasn't slowed her down a bit. She does every thing on her new 'bike'-eating, watching her new Peter Pan video, reading....
I had to make Carver take off his new Panther's jersey so that it would be clean for the weekend. He LOVES it. Same goes for the roller skates (which are not off his feet often), the air hockey table and the Disney edition of the game Sorry. Numerous games have already been played....and I am sure tomorrow brings many more.

Springer received doll house furniture to go in her new doll house from Kane and Tutu. She's so cute playing in it and arranging things just so (wonder where that came from?). She's not too keen on any one moving things, though, even when the advice comes from her

interior designer mother!

Carver's big gift-his air hockey/ping-pong/pool table. G put ping-pong balls and air hockey pucks in his stocking (which he opened last). Of course they made no sense to him until G sent him off to look in the family room. You can imagine his delight!

A dry spell-time to take the new wheels for a spin.

G's family will certainly recognize this face! He does the same thing when concentrating.

She is certainly her daddy's girl.

Merry Christmas to all!

Ring Bells... a-ring-a-ling-a-ling

Carver is part of the Cherub Choir at their preschool. He took part in singing for the children's morning Christmas Eve service. Excuse the quick ending-my battery ran out a few notes to short. It was a precious service and a wonderful way to begin the celebration of Jesus' birth.

Christmas Eve

For the past several years we've celebrated Christmas Eve with our dear friends the Sellners. The Speakmans were also able to join the celebration again this year and with 6 kids under 5 the excitement in the air was palpable. We enjoyed a delicious dinner, the kids played dress up and every other game they could come up with and we all headed home with full bellies and hearts full of anticipation. G said he woke up every hour on Christmas Eve-he couldn't wait to get the big day started! They each were allowed to open one present before heading over to the Sellner's. Carver chose to open their gifts from Uncle Terry and Aunt Pam. Carver loved his lego set and Springer has already served many cups of tea from her beautiful tin tea set.

Funny girls-full of one too many cookies!
Carver (AKA Superman), Mary Gray and Jack (AKA Panther's player).

Sweet Samuel-you could eat him with a spoon!

The kids were in the process of recreating the nativity.

I believe Mary Gray was the director; she had her work cut out!

while vision of sugar plums danced in their heads....

Twas the weekend before Christmas...

The first part of our weekend was spent baking spice cakes. Springer loves to help cook (& taste -each licked was deemed 'de-wi-cious'!) and as soon as I fired up the oven she was there to help. As an aside our baking festivities kicked off before 8:00 AM-hence the pajama

wear (or her 'fluffy' pajamas as she prefers to call them).

On Sunday we came home from church to drizzly rain and lots of puddles. Carver received a new pair of rain boots from Kane and Tutu and was just itching to try them out. Springer loves her pink rain boots (thanks to Aunt Lizzie) and is never far behind in doing what Carver does anyway. Despite the cold, we bundled up and took a few jumps in the driveway.

A very fun way to celebrate Christmas Eve eve!

Mele Kalikimaka

We recently spent a wonderful few days with Kane and Tutu (G's dad and his dad's wife, Lola) here visiting from Hawaii. This was the first time our kids have spent the Christmas season with their grandparents and to say they (and we) had a ball is a vast understatement. It was truly a perfect way to spend the season. Kane and Tutu win the award for most children's games played-despite their jet lag they were such troopers. Tutu easily played dozens of hands of Uno with Carver and Kane spent many a (very long) game of Chutes and Ladders as well. Not one to be left out Springer even enticed him to an impromptu game of 'stack the stamps'. Marshmallow roasting (Springer's first), a visit to a nearby town completely decked out in lights, basketball playing, football watching, shopping, carol singing, present opening...and a nap or two worked in for good measure. We were all thoroughly spoiled and loved on...each of us continues to talk about it almost a week later. We love y'all and miss you dearly!

Putting together Springer's big gift-her first doll house.

Boy, has it been a hit!

Carver is all ready for the big game on January 1.

I think I'll be cheering my 'Dawgs' on all alone!

Carver's Class Field Trip

Today I joined Carver's class on a field trip to a museum uptown and then to our second viewing of The Singing Bears. At the museum the children created their own wrapping paper-stamps made of potatoes, apples, string, corks...and then lots of stickers and coloring as well. The paper turned out so well that Carver decided to use it as art instead of the intended wrapping paper.

Carver & Dylan

The Dragon

Carver pulled out his 'mask' book the another night and picked out a dragon for us to make. We made a few minor adjustments and this is what we created. Pretty cute, don't you think?

An Uptown Christmas

At least once during the Christmas season we make the short drive Uptown to enjoy the city's decorations. A highlight is the Singing Bears...this year did not disappoint. The city was festively decorated and the bears were in good spirits neither growling nor biting as Springer predicted!

The Singing Bears

Carver tried his hand at 'feeding' the reindeer

The Terrifically Funny Two's

To be honest the title of this post should be "The Terrifically Funny-and at moments Terrible-Two's! This expression is often seen around here these days, but in the next moment a huge kiss and a delightful smile will follow. Oh, the roller coaster of this age. Recently in a moment of sweetness I looked at her precious little face and had the following, albeit brief, conversation.

Me: Springer, I love you so much.

Springer: Um, I love Daddy. Mommy's scary.

WHAT?! Where did this come from? I laughed so hard that she knew she had said something funny and now chooses to say it often.

People are going to start wondering what I've done to her!

Since We Last Spoke...

When I ran into my sweet friend Jill at Marshall's today she said, "You really need to update your blog" and I swore I would-tonight. So here's to you, Jilly. It is impossible to upload the entire past month. To say it's been crazy busy would be a vast understatement...so instead let me give you bits of where we've been since the last post.

• Pre-company cleaning and cooking
• Five days with G's sister, brother in law and the kid's four cousins here-a great time!
• Parks, museums and lots of outside time with all the cousins
• Ten days with Nona (G's mom) here
• A wonderful night away at the Duke Mansion with G
• Four days to prepare for our church's annual Christmas Open House-that we host
• The Davidson-Duke basketball game; Carver's first! It was so close...
• One Christmas tree, 25 yards of garland, a couple of wreaths, multiple nativity sets, Christmas hand towels and voila!
• 130 people here for a wonderful celebration of the season on Sunday evening
• Christmas shopping
• lots of design work for me
• A 2 year old who insists on regularly hitting her brother
• A 5 year old who screams like a howler monkey when hit
• time outs for everyone
• a 2 year old who thinks time-outs are funny
• more Christmas shopping
• addressing Christmas cards
• more parties and celebrations to come
  
  As I write this it doesn't seem quite as crazy as it's felt; perhaps I should have written in larger font! Although it has been a bit chaotic I have desperately tried to slow down and live in the moment. I hate flying through my favorite month of the year and missing the things-and people-I love most. So in the midst of things I've enjoyed some wonderful afternoon cuddles in the sun room with Carver, lots of reading with Springer, evenings of laughter with my precious husband, and some good regular runs for my own sanity. So, here's to the rest of this fabulous month-and to more frequent postings as well!

Maggie, Molly and Carver

The 'big kids': Jack, Maggie, Carver, Molly and Josh

Nona's wake up call!

Hiding Spot

"If I can't see you, then surely you can't see me!"

Happy Halloween!

What a wonderful day-as I put Carver to bed tonight he said, "This was the best night ever! Haven't you been excited for this night for soooo long?" Our day began with the wicked witch cupcakes that we made for his class lunch and ended with as much candy as any two kiddos could want. This was the first year that Springer really understood the plan. About three houses into the trick or treating she was running up sidewalks and ringing doorbells with the best of them. She rarely gets candy and as soon as she realized that was what was being put into her bag she ran back to her wagon and stuck a piece in her mouth. She kept one lollipop going throughout the whole ride! They were both pretty jazzed and a bit sticky at bedtime but all's quiet now....candy coated dreams to each of you. Our bewitching cupcakes Carver helped make for his class

Halloween dinner...monster eyeballs, slimy goo, and monster teeth
with a big glass of blue milk!

Tinkerbell and Spiderman get ready to hit the sidewalks

She was so very excited to be all dressed up...

she barely sat still once her 'pretty' dress went on

Doing the Tinkerbelle spin...

and waiting for mama to say 'let's go trick or treating!'

We're off!