Fins and Feathers

In the same week we travelled to Raleigh again, this time to the Museum of Art to catch an Eric Carle museum exhibit before it moved on at the end of January. Works from familiar children's book illustrators included of course, Eric Carle, along with Arnold Lobel (Toad and Frog books) and Leo Lionni (Swimmy). There were a few others that were a little less familiar to us. Some of the illustrators artwork we had seen on the walls was in book form on a table in the room. We enjoyed reading some of the books from these authors and illustrators. I am hoping to continue with some art processes similar to those of the illustrators we saw. Some friends from playschool went with us and we had a good time. We checked out the museum and then headed to the airport observation park for a picnic lunch. That was the highlight for the kids but the mommies enjoyed the museum too.

Raleigh

Since Savanna is into dinosaurs lately we decided to take a family trip to the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. With her you never know how she will react, considering before we left she told me she doesn't like surprises that she has to wait for. In other words, she would rather just be there in 5 minutes. Unfortunately for her we don't live that close to many fun adventures.While riding the escalator was quite the hit with both girls, there were also other highlights of our visit. Savanna enjoyed the fossils and dinosaur information. Sadie loved watching the turtles. It was really cold out so we didn't linger at the State Capitol. We will save that for another trip.

Christmases Past

Before this year's Christmas pictures were uploaded I had started a post on Christmases past. I have such fond memories of Christmas growing up that I wanted to share that with all of you. Of course these are only of my digital memories which began in 2002. A lot of memories have been made in Decembers past. 32 years makes for a lot of Christmases but I LOVE IT! Christmas is my favorite holiday because it is so full of family and love. It fills my heart to be surrounded by such tradition! I hope that my children will feel this same sense of family and tradition as they grow up!

Our first Christmas tree in our new house 2002

The warmest tree hunt to date 2003 

Savanna loves her Uncle Forrest 2005

Tree hunting with the family  2006

Helping decorate Granny's tree 2007

Savanna and Santa were so busy chatting that Sadie almost fell  2008

                                 One of my favorites of all time at Nana and Poppy's house  2009

2004

The perfect Christmas tree

We enjoy our family tradition of finding a Christmas tree in the mountains and then heading to West Jefferson for lunch and shopping. Another stop along the way is the Ashe Cheese Factory. They always have yummy goodies for us to bring home. On this year's trip we were greeted by beautiful snow. As soon as we turned off of Hwy. 421 it began to flurry and then by the time we were less than a mile from the main highway it was really coming down. What a way to get in the Christmas spirit! It didn't take us long to find our trees and head into West Jefferson. That was a scary trip and in hindsight  we probably should have headed home instead but we do like tradition and we weren't finished with our adventure yet. We slid a couple of times, sideways, going down the mountain but luckily we weren't anywhere that there was much of a risk of us ending up down that mountain. The girls, of course, thought the sliding around was fun but Noah and I were a little on edge. I asked the girls to find a tree that was their height and they both came through. Savanna then found the one she wanted to take home. Unfortunately, it was as tall as our house so that wouldn't work. I would say that we found the perfect one for our new house!

Christmas Card Outtakes

Christmas of our Own

We may have finally found some traditions of our own to mix with the traditions of our childhoods. I am loving it! Our little family enjoys our time together and at church on Christmas Eve then on to Lexington on Christmas day. This year both of the girls wanted to be angels in the Spontaneous Christmas Pageant at church. Sadie is not afraid at all to be up there with the big kids. They were precious if I do say so myself. After church the plan was to come home and have dinner then presents. We ended up at the Mexican restaurant for margaritas and quesadillas for dinner then we did come home for presents. Here are the highlights of gift giving at our house. Savanna's artwork is on a sketchbook for Noah, there are silhouettes of both girls hanging in the living room and Super Sadie loved the new hair dryer and capes from mommy and daddy. Super Savanna also resides in our house and is available if you ever need a superhero.

Tanglewood

This trip was a surprise for the girls. We didn't tell them where we were going until we got there. They had been so excited to see Christmas lights this December that we wanted to show them the daddy of lights around. We had them convinced that the surprise was dinner at Chick-fil-a but then we kept driving. Of course we weren't going to drive an hour for Chick-fil-a! Savanna had fallen asleep in the car so she was full of energy for this excursion. We went on a Monday night so it wasn't crowded at all. The girls loved it! There were lights, lights, and more lights. And then we stopped to roast marshmallows.

Snow is falling

We have already had our first snow at the new house and it isn't even winter yet. This happened the first weekend in December. We returned from the mountains to find our front yard covered! The girls and their daddy had already begun snowball throwing in the mountains but when we got home that is all that Savanna wanted to do. On Sunday everyone headed outside to build a snowman. We weren't sure if it would work but he hung around for a week in our yard. Everything around him melted but he remained in tact for us to enjoy. Sadie insisted on checking on our snowman each time we left the house. His remnants still remain in the front yard almost 3 weeks later.

Where my hair go?

Well, the time came quite a while ago that Sadie needed a trim but I couldn't bring myself to cut her thin little head of hair. I was taking pictures of the girls one day and realized that it MUST be done! I couldn't see those sweet eyes. She was great and it only took a couple of minutes, literally.

Abby's Buffet

Today the girls decided to open a restaurant and they called it Abby's Buffet. They each put on their aprons and got started. Savanna was the waitress and Sadie did the cooking. I was the customer so I can honestly say that my pumpkin and strawberry soup was delicioso!

baby Jesus

Yesterday we read the story of Jesus' birth a million times in one of our Bible stories books. There are pictures of course for the little ones. On this particular page we were reading about Mary and Joseph asking the innkeeper for a place to sleep. The illustration shows a pregnant Mary and out of the blue Sadie asks, "Mary eat baby Jesus?". We have had a lot of "out of the mouths of babes" moments around here lately and we are loving it!

Turkey Day

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had! This year didn't feel like the whirlwind it usually does. It was so nice to get to visit with family, especially the ones that we only see at holidays! We made pilgrim hats for dessert and paper bag turkeys for decoration. Savanna wore her indian hat she made at school, "purple horse" was her name. Both girls love the attention they receive at Grammy and Pa's house and playing with their cousin John at Nana and Poppy's house. When we got to Grammy and Pa's Savanna asked me if they were going to be the only children there. I don't know who she was waiting for to show up. Sadie just follows her big sister around but has recently begun to have an opinion of her own. Savanna is having a hard time accepting that Sadie won't do what she says anymore. Our sweet girls are growing up too fast!