A Christmas to remember

We spent Christmas in Charlottesville and oh, so many wonderful memories were made ... here goes!

Emery idolizes Tucker and ran after him like a little puppy dog the whole week. Fortunately, he couldn't be kinder to her and even teared up when he realized he would be in Disney World the last day of our stay and would miss seeing Emery! Melt. my. heart.

Anna Kimball was happy just to be held by anyone with a lap and a smile, so she spent much of her Christmast week snuggling. And smiling bright.

Tearing into the stocking ...

Anna Kimball got the hang of it, too.

This was Emery's "big" gift from us - a broom set! Doesn't take much to make a 2-year-old happy.

Henny and Papa gave Anna Kimball Raggedy Ann and Andy and it was love at first sight.

Anna Kimball also found some time to break some of her picky eating habits and devoured anything that was in sight all week long. I think it all started with the beef bourguignon ... thank you, Henny!

Lots of time for snuggles with Henny ...

and with Daddy ...

And even some time to do a little light reading in Emery's bed ...

It snowed enough to make a slushy, small snowman.

And of course there were tea parties with Emery's new tea set ...

More snuggles, now with Uncle Austin ...

The trip wouldn't be complete without some frozen yogurt, even if temps were in the 30's.

Bananas in the morning on Henny's bedroom floor - a sweet start to the day.

Though the girls were ALL STARS in the car there and back, this still became necessary.

Upon our return, Emery went directly to our neighbor's house and promptly fell asleep in her arms ...

... while Anna Kimball decided to get some exercise and find her way into my belt bag!

Let it snow!

Our neighborhood has a tradition during the holiday season in which every house lights luminaries for two nights in a row. The streets are then lined with candlelight and it's a pretty magical sight. It would also be pretty magical if it happened to snow here this winter and Emery's shirt has us hoping for just that ... though if you're wearing Crocs without socks in the middle of December, we'll definitely need a Christmas miracle to get some snow in these parts.

On why Thankful Tuesday won't work ... and catching up

Thankful Tuesdays won't work, not because I can't get my act together to write a Thankful Tuesday blog post each week, but because it dawned on me that that's about all I can post each week. And I don't want to look back at this blog in a few years and only see Thankful Tuesday titles on all of my posts ...

So, I will still aim for posting what I'm grateful for, but probably not in that format all of the time.

In other news, we've been busy with the usual things, plus Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving recovery, and gearing up for Christmas. Here's what all of that has looked like:

Anna Kimball donned Emery's "pilgrim" dress that she wore on her first Thanksgiving. In this picture she is holding the thyme that I forgot to add to the turkey, an omission I still count as a small victory because it's just about the only thing I think I forgot to take care of for the meal!

Anna Kimball has turned very picky when it comes to food, but since nearly everything on the Thanksgiving table was laden with butter, she had no difficulty cleaning her tray.

Love this shot of the girls watching something on the computer as the adults finished up dinner. They really seem like peers and sisters here!

A rare family shot that would be "perfect" if Emery hadn't plastered her face with stickers. But then it wouldn't be real, would it? 

Somebody wanted more dessert of course ...

As promised, as soon as Thanksgiving day had passed, Emery was granted allowance to wear her Christmas clothes, accessorized by her fairy costume and shades of course.

Anna Kimball was baptized last Sunday and Grammie and Grandpa were here to watch, which made us all very happy! Anna Kimball tends to be pretty frightened by men she doesn't know, so she didn't warm up to the pastor who baptized her, but again, a small victory that she didn't wail or really even shed a tear. And Emery played the part of the precocious 2-year-old sister who stated twice during the baptism "Anna Kimball wants to be baptized."

This was another first for Anna Kimball - riding in the "driver" with Emery. Love how this shot totally personifies their temperaments. Anna Kimball = ecstatic and showing it. Emery = ecstatic but you would never know by looking at her.

Decking the house for Christmas!

This is why you should always check on your child before turning in for the night - not really to see if they're doing ok, but because you never know what hilarious sight you might encounter. (yes, there is a head under that book)

Thankful Tuesday

Silliness, silliness, silliness ... that's on the top of my mind today as I think about what I'm thankful for. So thankful that the girls' antics (and especially Emery's) can bring levity to days that feel long and tiresome at times. Here's what else is making me smile this week:

• Warm, sunny afternoons even as Christmas decorations begin to surface everywhere 
• Not having to travel anywhere but to the grocery store (a couple dozen times, but only because I cannot make a good list or keep track of said list to save my life) for Thanksgiving.
• Elevator rides in the curtains ... Emery wrapped herself in the drapes the other day and said she was going on the "edebator" to Henny's craft room.
• Another kind neighbor who brought the girls back goodies, including some darling purses that will be much loved, from his recent trip to Vietman and Cambodia. Seriously, do we live in the best neighborhood ever? YES!
• A recipe for cabbage that's worth repeating. I'm not a big cabbage fan, but when the occasional recipe does call for it, I'm all kinds of frustrated at what to do with the remaining half a head of cabbage sitting in my fridge. Coleslaw is not always the right answer. This though, is. 

Thankful Tuesday

In an attempt to blog more regularly, I'm going to try to institute Thankful Tuesdays. Note I said, try. I'll be thankful if I remember to do this two weeks in a row.

Right now, I'm thankful for:

• An unexpected deluge of well-cared-for secondhand toys from a neighbor
• Matt's birthday tomorrow. Who doesn't love birthdays? It might be tricky convincing Emery that it's not her birthday, though.
• The new iPad we won at the health fair Matt's work sponsored. He should be thanking me for dragging us all there every year in order to get free flu shots, because look what that netted us this year! And he is.
• Play dates with friends 
• Little Green Pouches - Anna Kimball has recently made the 10-month turn toward ridiculously picky eating habits, but she hyperventilates with excitement over eating out of a pouch, so slowly but surely I'm sneaking in a wide array of foods to supplement her diet of waffles, rice and cheerios.
• Reading books with Emery and her rapt attention to them all
• Not really having to be anywhere in the morning, or afternoon for that matter, and the chance to enjoy this season of freedom with the girls.

200, 212 questions a minute

Emery: "Mommy, where's Anna Kimball?"

Me: "In bed, napping."

Emery: "Mommy, where's Anna Kimball?"

Me: "In  bed, napping."

Emery: "Mommy, where's Anna Kimball?"

Me: "Anna Kimball IS IN BED. NAPPING."

Emery: "Mommy, where's Anna Kimball?"

Me: "I just told you! What did I just tell you when you asked me a second ago?"

A pause ...

Emery: "What's Mommy doing with the spoon?"

I don't think I need to go on any further to make my point. Emery asks me an innocent question, then persists in asking it over and over again until I truly cannot think straight anymore.

I'm trying to get better about only answering her question once and then ignoring the subsequent inquiries, though that doesn't do much to suppress her wonderings. Turning the question back at her also helps.

I know, I know, I know this is just part of toddlerhood, endearing and annoying all at once, and I am grateful for her superior attention to detail and her growing curiosity about, well, everything.

Just remind me that there will come a day when I'll miss hearing 200,212 questions a minute? Or will I not?

A happy Halloween

This was the first year we anticipated Emery would really "get" Halloween and, happily, the day did not disappoint.

On Halloween morning Emery found the snowsuit she wore when she was not even 1 year old and for a moment. Later in the day she tried it on again and I feared she would prefer to be a purple snow bunny rather than a pink fairy ... and then how would I explain it all to Henny, who bought her the fairy costume?

That afternoon we headed up to the attic for a little costume fun with Anna Kimball, who's been fighting a cold and fiercely fighting her naps. She was due for a 5pm meltdown and a 5:30pm bedtime, so she had her Halloween fun VERY early.

Fortunately our pink fairy decided to make an appearance, despite the fact that by then she had officially acquired Anna Kimball's cold and was a bit droopy by the end of the day.

 I don't know what melts my heart more ... this picture or,

this picture. AHH!!

According to Matt, Emery didn't really get into the whole affair and wanted to come home after one house. He managed to cajole her into visiting several more houses before returning to the homefront to hand out candy to quite literally hundreds of trick or treaters. Actually, 104 to be exact. And I ran out of candy after just one hour.

Here Emery is with our dear neighbors. Sadly, not too many children recognize Lucille Ball these days.

Considering Emery only visited about six houses, I didn't have a huge dilemma on my hands when it came to determining how much to let her indulge in her loot and how much to reign her in. This morning, she wanted to look at her candy right away and was particularly intrigued by the Ring Pop she snagged from a neighbor who had a basket of "special" candy for the trick-or-treaters she liked most.

Well, this neighbor sure knows the way to Emery's sweet heart. She licked away on her cherry diamon for a few hours this morning and then we had to put it away for a bit. After nap it immediately returned to her finger, where it remained until bathtime this evening. And there is still a sliver of ring left to be licked clean away in the morning!

I feel like I can be a little too strict at times when it comes to things like treats and candy, so I give myself kudos for letting her dig in at 7am this morning. Maybe tomorrow she'll get Skittles with her cereal instead of raisins ... or maybe not. I'm not that laidback.

This one and that one

This one,

Wears lipstick like war paint.

Will pose (kind of) with pumpkins,

And is still rarely without her shades. 

Emery is now 2 1/2 and we are definitely hitting a turning point in her development. She's still pretty agreeable and easygoing, but on the other hand, will not hesitate to kick and wail "I can't want ME!!!" if she sees I'm about to pick her up to drag her to bed, bath, out of the car, you name it. Though this sentence structure doesn't make a whole lot of sense, she is becoming more and more articulate and will carry on imaginary phone conversations that include her favorite nursery rhymes and just today told me that "Mommy don't swing. Mommy's too old."

I think she likes her sister, though sometimes will protest "She can't like ME!!!" (Yes, Emery, she can.)

Her new favorite activity is puzzles - puzzles that are a little too hard to do by herself. It's pretty fun to see her frustrated and then very quickly elated when she gets a piece in place.

That one,

Is following in her sister's footsteps by showing no signs of crawling any time soon,

And is still too big for her britches (but that won't stop me from putting her in leggings almost everyday). From the looks of her reading material and "this one's" progress with the potty, I have a feeling Anna Kimball might be in panties before Emery, sigh.

Anna Kimball, who frequently goes by just Kimball these days, continues to be a happy baby, except when I leave the room, and delighted by her sister's antics, except when they involve stealing her toys.

 Her smiles are contagious and I can't get enough of her chubby legs and jelly belly. Thankfully she's an extremely cooperative cuddler.

Though "this one" and "that one" are quite a bit of work these days, I wake up everyday truly excited to see their smiling faces. This was all the more true today, when I actually got to sleep in until ... 6:50!