Bear Bryant

On Game Days, Bear wears her Bama PJs to cheer for her Tide with her Daddy. She likes to eat pancakes and watch ESPN Game Day. She also likes to drool and blow bubbles and follow her sister around. I like to kiss on her and stare adoringly at her and become entranced with what I think is a dimple on her right chubby cheek. Her Daddy is the pancake football expert extraordinaire. Elsie likes to list her ever-evolving and growing Christmas list which now includes requests for make up, bunk beds, a motorcycle, two Judy dolls, and whatever is on TV in or in the print ad she is currently looking at. Her Daddy has requested she add a national championship to her list. We'll visit Ho Ho and make these requests at Hilton Head this Friday.

Hi Mr. Turkey!

Nonie, Kit, and I were so excited to attend Elsie's Thanksgiving program, and we got to surprise our big girl with Daddy--home from work early--who came, too. Check out her reaction in the first shot. Here you'll also see Elsie in her circle time, her best buddy Camille with mommy Ginger, along with some shots of our little lady in her big girl panties. We got to see Elsie sing Johnny Appleseed, Albuquerque Turkey, and our favorite, Mr. Turkey, with accompanying wobble gobble "tricks and moves."

Cruel and Unusual

Speaking of breakfast, we have come to view our weekend morning routine a bit like a hazing in its initial hour. While we are thrilled to have the girls awaking 7am and after instead of something even more uncivilized, we do miss sleeping in a little after a late night out or a long week of early mornings. (D gets up at 4:55am every morning for work!) Now, we were never late sleepers ever--just too much fun to be had, and, as working parents, are grateful for this time with our girls, but we also wouldn't mind sleeping to say, 7:30 or 8am. That would be simply luxurious! When we had just one, we would alternate Saturdays and Sundays. We would both get to decadently slumber until 8am one morning a week! It was something to anticipate with great pleasure. Once Kit was born, D took the early mornings with E, and as the nursing mom, those sleeping minutes until 8am were mine for catching up.

Nowadays, Elsie is ready for us to fetch her at 7 and one of us fetches Kit at 7:15 or 7:30. But the cruel and unusual part is the game Elsie always wants us to rush and play at 7am. It goes like this: Elsie tells us to lay in our beds or get in her bed and go to sleep. She reads to us, sings to us, and then turns her sound machine on. We are so grateful and hungry to sneak a few minutes of shut eye and we do.... Mere moments later, though, she bangs around yelling at us to wake up. And the game starts over. She teases us and taunts us with the idea of sleep and then yanks it away just as we taste it...

Elsie's syntax and vocabulary is truly impressive--however, she doesn't understand "irony" like we do quite yet.

A Nutella Novice

This one goes out to Suzie and Donna--Elsie has been introduced to Nutella on nutty bread as a breakfast treat. I think she got the hang of this new taste sensation just fine!

Our Big Girl

We are so proud of our Elsie girl. She is growing so big and tall. She is so smart and good with her letters. She loves to write her name, as she did here, and she is very good at holding her markers and chalk and coloring pictures. Everywhere we go, she points out the letters she recognized, and thanks to some tips from Kirby, we started a letter book for Elsie.

She is also so helpful with her baby sister. The other night I had a party for my dear friend Amanda in honor of her new book, Love Stories in this Town. When Daddy couldn't make it home in time, Elsie helped feed her sister and set up for the party! She was a great helper.

And we are so pleased to see how independent and confident Elsie is. She is so good at playing with big kids like Wyatt and the Belzer girls. She loved having kids over for the party and ran all over playing with them--jumping on the trampoline and shrieking down the halls. She even has done a couple of playdates on her own, going to Lily Roberts' house three doors down to play. What a smart, strong big girl we have!

Running Errands

The Sweaty Monkey and the Big Man in the Sorta Yellow Hat





So Halloween was idyllic in many ways: adorable kiddos, cocktails with good friends, delicious fall sweet potato squash soup and mushroom/swiss/thyme quesadillas prepared by same good friends, and extravagant trick or treating on Bluff Drive with these Martin friends of ours for the third year running. The only thing not idyllic was the weather: over 80 degrees. We had one sweaty monkey on our hands--a good little monkey who was always very curious...

Bear was to bed, but we'll get some shots of her in her recycled zebra suit. I tried to find a baby houndstooth hat so she could be Bear Bryant in her Alabama PJs handed down from Elsie and originally from Jim and Suzanne--but no luck. We'll post her in them anyway rolling with the Tide as always!

Halloween Happenings






We do have a second daughter, but as oldest children ourselves, we can't possibly love a non-eldest just as much so we don't take her picture. Actually, she was probably already to bed when caramel apples were being consumed and just out of range with pumpkin picking. Kit is as adorable as ever and most of the time on the move and always drooling and almost always delightful. We cannot say the same for our eldest in the latter case who, as a three year old, is many many things but not always delightful.

She does, however, constantly surprise us. On Friday, Elsie's two year old teacher Ms. Charles was wearing a platinum blonde wig at school--it surprised us when I dropped Elsie off and we heard from Ginger later that Elsie was scared of Ms. Charles and the wig. When David picked E up from school, he inquired about her day and while she reported on the pumpkin patch, party, and pizza, she didn't mention the platinum wig or Ms. Charles. David asked her about it and if she was "scared" of it. She stated matter-of-factly: "I wasn't scared, Daddy, it just made me feel a little nervous [pronounced nerbous]." Of course, not scared, just nerbous. She is never at a loss for words, that Elsie... Her parents are, more often than not, speechless.

Working Girl

Elsie was telling me that she was a mommy going to work when she was dressed up like this. While the shoes look familiar, I don't think I usually leave the house dressed quite like this. Elsie loves to "pretend" when she plays--pretending to go to work, go the grocery, go to Target, and go to bed are some favorite role plays--how quotidian and amazingly familiar. And while some "games" involve more imagination, these are the favorites.

Last night, I left our dinner festivities to go home and put Kit down and let her sleep at home with a sitter there. I met up with Elsie and the gang at the trick or treating site, Bluff Drive. On the way to meet me, David told me that Elsie said she was "so excited to see Mommy." David, making conversation, asked her what she loved about Mommy and her reply was "because she comes home." I'm not sure what I make of that?