Christmas 2009

Abbie is delighted that she got 2 new babies-one even has a paci!

Sophie loves her new doll house that Santa brought her!

most of our crew on Christmas morning

Sophie with her cousins, Layton and Luke

On Christmas morning, the girls were up by 6:30! So much for sleeping in at all. We stalled them until 7:00 giving us time to wake up a little, get cameras ready, and call my parents to tell them to head over soon. At 7:00, we headed downstairs and the girls got to see all of the surprises that Santa brought. Then, Paula's parents, sister, Martha, her fiance (Matt R.) and brother, Phil all arrived shortly thereafter till the living room was almost full of gifts to open. The girls opened their gifts from us and we traded gifts with each other. After that, we enjoyed a nice breakfast together with a lot of good food. Then, shortly after, we headed over to Paula's aunt and uncle's house nearby where we had lunch and spent the afternoon with family. Paula's cousin, Amy, was such a good sport because she let Sophie "paint" her nails, etc with her new play make-up kit. Sophie was somehow using the curling iron to fix her nails too. =) Abbie got a nap while we were there so that was great! It was very cold outside with a few snow flurries but none of it stayed around. We all had a great Christmas!

Abbie got a couple of baby dolls, a play stroller and vacuum, the Mickey Mouse clubhouse and some other things. Sophie got the big dollhouse (shown above), a Barbie doctor set with twin babies (perfect for her), a Leapster like she wanted, Legos and more. Matt got me a Wii for Christmas but wasn't able to surprise me. I sort of found about it. I think he got it as much for himself as for me but that's OK. We've both had some fun with it. I also got the Wii Fit for Christmas. Since I knew about the Wii, Matt also got some Wii games and accessories for Christmas alongwith some other things. We were very blessed this Christmas!

On the day after Christmas, Matt's cousin, Mark, his wife, Ashley and their boys (Luke and Layton) came over for a visit since they were in town anyway. Their boys are close in age to our girls so it was great to be able to get together!

Christmas Eve

Paula, Summer, and Abbie

Paula and Abbie

All of the grandkids and great-grandkids

Matt #1, #2, #3 with their women

If you know the story, it's just been too funny how I married a "Matt", then my cousin, Keri, married a "Matt" this past summer and now my sister, Martha, is planning to marry Matt Riley in June 2010. I suggested we get a picture with all of the "Matt's". I also have a more distant cousin named Matt who wasn't there. He was the "original Matt". =)

This year for Christmas, we stayed in town and celebrated with Paula's family. We spent Christmas Eve at Nana and Paw-paw's house (Paula's parents) with her dad's side of the family. We had a lot of fun as always eating, visiting, singing (especially 12 days of Christmas) and exchanging gifts. As you can see, Abbie was having a great time! She and Sophie both enjoyed handing out the gifts and especially opening them. =)

More to come on Christmas Day very soon...

Cookies for Santa

Jessie, Sophie, and Carley are ready to cut out the cookies!

Abbie's not so interested in baking but she's definitely interested in eating! I had to give her some sprinkles to eat so she wouldn't eat out of the other containers that we were using to decorate. (she didn't want to go and play with other toys while we decorated. She wanted to be right there with the big girls!)

On Dec 23rd, me and the girls headed over to the Gray's home to bake and decorate some cookies and gingerbread houses for Santa. The girls all had a great time and made a big mess in Miss Jill's kitchen! We found out that their attention spans for cutting out cookies and decorating didn't last too long when they were together since they could go and play. Abbie liked to sample everything. Jessie was the most generous with her sprinkles-she used tons of them. The girls were all fun to watch! We had fun and Sophie was so excited to take home some of the cookies to eat and a few to save for Santa! Thanks for having us over, Jill!

Christmas Festivities

Sophie enjoys the yummy food at the Christmas party.

Doughnuts!

Miss Sandra's class

This past week, we've been busy with some Christmas festivities. Last weekend, it was Breakfast with Santa at church followed by a Christmas party that night with our Sunday school class. The next night after church, we had fun surprising our friend, Ben, with a big birthday party. Then, this past Monday, we had Sophie's Christmas party at school. The kids enjoyed giving out things that they had made to the parents and exchanging gifts. They were all very excited about their gifts!!! What a fun age to be with at Christmastime! It was their last day of school before Christmas. A few weeks ago Sophie told me that she thought that she was starting kindergarten after Christmas because I had told her next year. =)

On Thursday night, we had Sophie's Christmas program at school. Each group sang several Christmas songs and recited a couple of Christmas poems. Nana, Paw-paw, Uncle Phil, Aunt Martha, and our immediate family were able to be there. Alongwith all of these festivities, we also had a couple of doctor visits but hopefully everyone can stay well for a little bit. Abbie had her second ear infection (in two weeks) and both girls had forms of pink eye. Abbie's case of pink eye was actually more serious because it got into the tissue in her face but she's doing much better after all the antibiotics. Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Crafts

Anna Kate, Mia, and Sophie are excited about making gingerbread houses.

Sophie with her finished product (before we took it apart and ate it later that night)!

Here's our sugar cookies before they were placed in the oven.

Here's Sophie putting the finishing touches on the cookies-Sprinkles!

Yesterday, we had a fun and very creative kind of day. My friend, Lauren, invited us over to make gingerbread houses. Sophie's never done that before but I knew that she would love it. We knew that Abbie and Will would have fun while the older girls made their gingerbread houses whatever they ended up playing. Wouldn't you know that Will and Abbie wanted to sit at the table with the big girls and just eat graham crackers and the other candy decorations? Too funny! Sophie, Anna Kate, and Mia needed a lot of help to stop eating the icing and do some decorating but they had fun.

That afternoon, I had told Sophie that we could cut out sugar cookies and then bake and decorate them. So after lunch with the McDonald's we came home and had rest time. Then, we got to work on the sugar cookies. Sophie and I had a lot of fun! Maybe we'll let Abbie in on more of the baking fun next year!! =)

Ballet Class

Sophie and Abbie had fun dancing together part of the time.

Matt shakes his pom-poms along to the beat of Jingle Bells as we sang and danced. We got a workout by the end of the hour.

Sophie and the girls in their dance class with their teacher, Miss Jeanie.

On a side note, Sophie and I were able to go to the mini-Nutcracker this year that is put on at Harpeth Hall each year. We both enjoyed it overall and it was just long enough for us!

Budding Artist or Future Cheerleader?

Abbie was so proud that she was painting with water!

Abbie and Sophie with their pom-poms when we "took dance" with Sophie

Sophie shakes her pom poms to the rhythm as we sang "Jingle Bells"

This past week has been a lot of fun but it's also been busy. On Monday, Abbie and I did some shopping at Target. The whole time, I promised her that if she'd be good we would get a popcorn snack. Well, it worked really well but if you know Abbie, she also really likes whatever carbonated beverage you're drinking instead of watered down juice. So, I ordered a diet Coke and she drank a lot of it. I know it's terrible but at the same time, I didn't really want a huge tantrum in the middle of Target. While we were there, we also bought Abbie a paint with water coloring book. She really loved trying it after we got home! Sophie is really into arts and crafts so I think Abbie felt special to get her own little book.

Then, on Tuesday, parents were invited to attend ballet class with their child. We all went with Sophie and it was a lot of fun! Abbie and Sophie were both excited. I got a couple of pictures of Matt with his pom-poms. He was a good sport too!

Thanksgiving

Princess Sunshine

Our cool girl

Sophie shows off some little turkeys that she helped me make. They were very yummy and she was proud of them!

Matt got some Grippo's potato chips while we were in KY so he was happy!

For Thanksgiving this year we did something a little different. We met Matt's parents and sister, Leia, in eastern KY where Matt's grandparents and almost all of his aunts and uncles live. That way, we got to see lots of family, we didn't have to drive as far as we would have to drive to VA where Matt's parents live and it just worked out for the best. Sadly though, I took the camera but then misplaced it after the first day. (I did find it before we left to come home.) I didn't get hardly any pictures while in KY. Matt's grandparents are both getting older so it was good that we could work it out to go. Sophie loved meeting some new cousins and playing with them. (A couple of them she'd met but just didn't remember.) Matt's mom's family is also very large though. One of Sophie's cousins, the son of Matt's first cousin, actually asked Sophie to marry him! That was a first! It was really funny and cute but we explained that you can't marry your cousins. She enjoyed being there for his birthday (Drew's) which was at Gattiland where there was plenty of pizza and games.

We celebrated an early Thanksgiving with my family before we left town. That was really fun too! Sophie and I made the little turkeys for that.

Abbie on the playground

Abbie loves to climb. Recently, she learned how to climb up the ladder on the playset and go down the slide all by herself. She is a little daredevil.

Guess what Abbie's been doing?

Well, I'm sorry that I don't have a picture to go along with this post (although you are probably not). Abbie is 22 months old now. In the last several days she has been going to the potty successfully about once a day and this is with very little pushing from me. I wasn't really trying to potty train her or anything. It started over a couple of days when my mom was keeping her during naptime. My mom just sat her on the potty after her naptime or when she thought that Abbie might need to go. We do not have success every time but I'm not solely focused on potty training or anything right now. Abbie isn't always easy to understand when she's communicating so I think before she's totally potty trained, people are going to have to know what she's saying (at church, school, etc). Even though I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, I am still excited about it. Abbie is thrilled about it too, so, why not? I guess it helps that she has a big sister to serve as her model and show her the correct thing to do. I am all for having a child who is easy to potty train because I was totally frustrated with potty training Sophie.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I'll try to post pictures sometime after Thankgiving!

Funny Quote

Last week as Sophie was coming out of her bedroom, she was carrying about four of her baby dolls. She said, "I'm octomom!" with a big smile on her face. It was so hilarious! She's heard us talk about octomom before. I just wish I could remember all of the funny things that kids say.

Catching Up

Matt Riley (Martha's fiance) & Martha

Sophie on the slide

The weather has been beautiful lately and I just haven't taken the time to slow down and blog. So, I'll try to catch you up. We've been getting outside a lot lately and soaking up the sunshine. Yesterday, we tried out a new playground right outside of our neighborhood and it was great! Saturday, my sister's dream came true because her "military man" and fiance, Matt Riley, came home from Japan. Several family members met him at the airport and it was exciting because Martha had won a contest with a photographer for a free photo session. Jonathon Campbell, a photographer, nearby came and took lots of pictures of their big reunion! His blog will have lots of pictures of their reunion sometime later this week. I just wish that we had dressed up a little more for the occasion. Matt Riley will have a little vacation and then he will be stationed at Paris Island, SC. Martha and Matt R. are planning to get married in June. Can you tell it's going to be confusing having all these "Matt's" in the family? One of my first cousins just married a Matt as well. =)

This past Thursday, Sophie and her friend, Anna Kate, went to an art class at Precious Prints. They had a great time making gingerbread cookie plates. Sophie loves making crafts so I knew that this would be a fun class for her. While they were in the class, Abbie and Will, her younger brother, played on the playground at Chick-Fil-A.

As far as Abbie goes, she started doing somersaults independently. At the airport, she really started showing off her brand-new skill. We were all clapping for her and she was so proud of herself! Maybe we can post a video soon but I'll have to have Matt's help.

More Halloween

Emerson & Sophie

Superman (Brown) and Sophie

Miss Abbie

Here's a couple of shots of Sophie with some friends. The first little girl is one of our neighbors. Emerson and Sophie are the same age. We walked down to Publix with them and did some treat or treating on Halloween night. The girls had fun hanging out. We did a little trick or treating in our neighborhood as well but Abbie was getting tired so my sister, Martha, and I decided to take Abbie back to the house. The plan was for Sophie and Matt to finish trick or treating in our neighborhood. Well, Matt and Sophie were back just a couple of minutes after us. It turned out that Sophie spotted kids headed towards our house and she wanted to pass out the candy. It was really cute because she just wanted to stand on the porch with our bowl of candy and wait for the kids to come. However, her "Mean old Mama"-just kidding (she didn't say that either), kept asking her to come inside when there weren't any kids because it was pretty cold.
Sophie and Brown (Superman) are friends from church and from preschool. Maybe next year I'll do better at getting more pictures. Kids are always on the move so it's hard sometimes. Hope you had a great Halloween! Ours was fun!

Halloween Fun

Sophie as Cinderella

Sophie's preschool class with Grumpy

our family before we went out trick or treating

Last week, we were busy with several events centered around Halloween. First, on Tuesday, Sophie wore her costume for ballet class. At the end of the class, all of the parents were invited to watch the children participate in a costume parade and then sing and dance along with a couple of Halloween songs. (I would like to try to post a video from that.) Then, on Wednesday night, we went to Trunk or Treat at church. Both of the girls had fun but they were so busy and there were so many people that I only took a couple of pictures. They got lots of candy! Abbie dressed up as Abby Cadabby that night. On Friday, it was time to celebrate Halloween with Sophie's preschool class. It was a lot of fun! They had pizza and exchanged treat bags. Also, the kids did a little bit of trick or treating right around the church. So, by Saturday night, we already had a good bit of candy but since the weather cooperated, we took the girls to do a little bit of trick or treating on Halloween night. Abbie dressed up as Snow White that night. Nana, Paw-paw, and Aunt Martha came over and had dinner with us so they were able to see the girls dressed up. They also helped pass out our candy while we took the girls trick or treating which was nice.

Walden Farm

Abbie loved playing in the corn crib

our family (not a bad picture for us-no my hair's not that wild-it's the corn growing behind me!)

Abbie and Uncle Phil looking at the pigs

Abbie LOVED the slide

This past Thursday, we had a very busy but fun day. In the morning, we met some friends at the zoo and had a great time overall! Then, we got home around 1 PM. Abbie fell asleep on the way home but she woke up when I tried to move her to the bed. Both girls took a little rest but no naps. Matt had just gotten back from a trip and he suggested that we all go and visit Walden Farm since we hadn't had a chance to visit a pumpkin farm this year. My brother, Phil, decided to meet us there. Both of our girls had a great time there but again, it was really neat to see how much more Abbie could do this year. She really loved the corn crib and the little kids haybale maze but especially loved the slide. She went down the slide over and over again (probably at least 30-40 times). It was really funny because she'd go down the slide and then go right back to wait behind a couple of kids to go down again. The girls got to see the animals and do the corn maze. They also played in the kids area and Sophie wanted to do the hayride. Sophie and Matt went on the hayride while Phil & I watched Abbie on the slide. Then, we ended our night by eating at Martin's BBQ. Yummy! I was exhausted when we got home!

Getting Ready for Halloween

Here's Sophie while we were making sugar cookies for Halloween!

Sophie & Matt with our Diva pumpkin (as I was posting this I noticed there's a knife really close to Sophie's hand-Whoops!)

Abbie gets in on some of the action and helps Daddy with the pirate pumpkin

Both girls are intently watching their Daddy. =)

Last Monday, Sophie was out of school for fall break. We didn't really make any special plans but I decided to go and buy some pumpkins so that we could decorate. We also bought some sugar cookie dough so we could roll it out and decorate cookies for Halloween. Sophie had a blast helping me with that and got to wear her cutie patootie apron. The only bad thing was (at least that I can remember now-other than the mess it made) was that I accidentally burned Sophie just beside one of her eyes. After I pulled a batch of cookies from the oven, Sophie wanted a better look at them. I tilted the pan so that she could see them and moved closer to her but didn't judge the distance well. I didn't even realize anything happened at first because she was so brave. I felt terrible!

That afternoon, we enlisted Matt's help for our annual tradition of decorating the pumpkins. So far, we usually just use the Potato Head decorating kits. For some reason I didn't get a good picture of both girls with the pumpkins. Maybe another time! Abbie's so much bigger this year so she was interested in everything that was going on.

Animal Kingdom

Matt and the girls playing the drums

Tom, Teresa, Abbie, Phil, me, Sophie & Matt at Animal Kingdom

a giraffe we saw right next to us on our safari ride

While we were at Disney, we visited each of the four main parks for at least one day each. I loved Magic Kingdom with the kids and I also really enjoyed Animal Kingdom. On Wednesday, when we went to Animal Kingdom it became extremely hot and stayed that way for the rest of our trip. My parents and my sister, Martha, headed back to TN on Wednesday while the rest of us stayed in Orlando. Matt and I and the girls as well as my brother, Phil, moved over to the timeshare where Matt's family was staying because there was plenty of room there. We ended up splitting Animal Kingdom up over two days. I really loved the Finding Nemo show there and the Lion King show was good too. I also loved the Mt. Everest ride there and the safari thing was cool too. While we were in Orlando, they were experiencing record highs for October (in the mid-90's). We weren't really counting on it to be that hot but at least you can go into some indoor rides and shows and cool off. Plus, the girls went back each day for a nap so some of us could usually get a break from the heat. All of the parks had some fun things to do. All in all, it was a wonderful trip! I look forward to going back in a couple of years when Abbie can enjoy it more.