Ramblings from Alabama

Last weekend, the local Lifeway store celebrated its grand opening, and Bob and Larry from Veggietales made a special appearance.  We were going to make it a total surprise for Mary and Elise, but then we reconsidered and thought it best to prepare them a little.  Bob and Larry are their favorite characters, but they had never before seen them so up-close-and-personal and so BIG!  So we prepped them, asking if they’d like to see a “Big Bob” and a “Big Larry.”  Well, of course!  There was much excitement and joy and eager anticipation to go to the store and see Big Bob and Big Larry.  Then the big day arrived.

Mary is thrilled to see her hero, Big Bob.  She wouldn’t hug him or touch him right away, but she stood there and stared at him with a big smile on her face.

Elise, on the other hand, got a mild case of the freak-outs.  Apparently, we should have prepped her that not only were Bob and Larry BIG, but they also moved and would reach out to her.  We neglected to mention that small detail.  Daddy took Elise a safe distance to watch her hero Larry interact with all of the other children, and eventually he turned to Elise with his big cucumber-y grin and gained her trust.

So it turned out to be a great trip, despite Elise’s initial reservations and Mary getting socked by Bob (when she sidled up to him, unbeknownst to him).  They still talk about Big Bob and Big Larry and going to the store to see them.  We have convinced them for now that Big Bob and Big Larry went back home to take a nap.  A really long nap, I guess.

Our mantel and all our Santas and stocking, three of which are new this year and need names…

Mary and Elise’s own little tree in their room, which they decorated themselves (except for the lights and beads)…

Decorating the big tree…

The finished product (minus the star)…

The best place to hang ornaments is obviously at the bottom…

Making salt dough ornaments with our friends…

Nora has been sitting up by herself now for a while.  It’s amazing how babies can only sit about 5 seconds on their own one day, and then they can just stay up forever the next day.  That’s basically what happened.  One day, I sat her up, expecting her to fall right over, and she didn’t.  And that was that!

The Boppy pillow is for my own peace of mind, so that I can walk out of the room and not worry so much about her falling over.  But more often than not, she gets herself out of it anyway!

Now that it is almost Christmas, here are our Thanksgiving pictures, finally!  We spent the day in town with our friends Matt and Ashley, their parents, and more friends Eric and Whitney.  We feasted, of course, and then spent much of the beautiful afternoon outside playing and enjoying one another’s company.  It was a good day.

Mary helping herself to the appetizers…

A piano quartet…

Cutest baby in the world getting a little snuggle time with Matt…

Brooke joined us in our attempt to get a Christmas card photo…

Caleb bravely fighting the tree…

Nora missed her nap but enjoyed the swing…

But it didn’t take long before she was going, going…

…gone.

Really gone!

Whitney and Nolan…

Caleb giving Elise a ride in his jeep…

We are truly thankful for our family and friends and are grateful for such a special day with them!

I just thought everyone would like to know that Elise’s baby is currently at the table eating green grapes and purple butter.  The purple butter tastes like bananas, and the green grapes taste like oranges.

Naturally.

Meanwhile, Mary is walking around with a handful of ladybugs clenched tight in her little fist.  Every now and then I can convince her that they would like to breathe a bit, and she lets them run around in one of their “houses,” a little box or an old plastic bowl.  But when they start getting a little unruly (in other words, when the ladybugs wise up and try to start to escape), she gathers them up again.

Crazy kids.

We discovered a few days ago that there were lots and lots of ladybugs on the front porch…WAY more than we ever can find in Nora’s room, which is the best spot in the house for ladybug hunting.  So yesterday we ventured out with ladybug houses in hand to catch all the ladybugs we could.  Mary especially was in ladybug heaven.  That girl is serious about her ladybugs.

Elise inspecting her catch…

Mary spots the perfect ladybug…

The result of about five minutes of hunting…

Doesn’t that just look nice and sanitary?!  I am pretty certain that both girls have eaten more ladybug juice than I care to think about.  They do still suck their fingers, after all.  Blech.

And for the record, the latest ladybug names are still Jag White and Jag Wipes, but now we’ve added Jag Diapers, Jag Piglet, and Jag Eeyore.

Well it looks like Nora’s teeth are coming in the same order that Mary’s did…bottom middle two first (of course) but then instead of the top middle ones, she’s getting the ones next to those.  I love it.  It gives her a cute little “fang-y” smile, which I find simply adorable.

Look closely.  Thery’re there!

And what better use for all her new teeth than eating everything she can get her hands on?  Let’s see, we’ve had all the usual pureed fruits and veggies, and we’ve also moved on to puffs, cheerios, tons of Ritz, graham crackers, apples, mangoes, avocado, mushrooms, bread, cheese shreds, tons of marshmallows (learned this one from my brilliant sister-in-law June), vegetable soup, chocolate cake, etc. etc.  The chocolate cake just happened today, so clearly the foods are getting more and more fun for her!

Here is Nora using her new chompers to eat some grapes.

A pretty smile before dominating the grape…

“Grape, you are all mine!”  And check out those chins, by the way…

Almost there…

Yummy!

I just wanted everyone to know what Mary and Elise named their ladybugs. Are you ready for this?

There names are Jag White and Jag Wipes.  I can’t even type this without laughing.  I have asked them again and again all day long to tell me the names, just to make sure that (1) I understand what they are saying and (2) they hadn’t changed their minds.  So those are the names, and they have been all day.  I have NO IDEA where this came from.  All I know is that these kids are crazy.

Daddy’s creativity leads to a brilliant idea and a potential bedtime disaster is successfully averted…