The Circus

Our lives could definitely be defined as a circus right now. By the time we juggle sick children, jobs, and faulty plumbing, we find ourselves walking tightropes and jumping through hoops to get everything accomplished.

Corinne's class at school held their annual Circus last week even though a nasty fever and virus seemed to keep many students out of school off and on all week including our own. Corinne was out Tuesday and Wednesday before the Circus on Thursday. While at the performance, we had to take Sam out for a high temperature, too. Ah! Thankfully, it seems to only be a low grade fever and the sniffles.

So, maybe it was her mood that kept her from performing Thursday. Corinne was the only one who contracted stage fright and refused to come out with the others. I managed to grab a few photos of her, though, backstage. Side note, gj made the clown costume over 30 years ago! I think Derek may have worn it also.

Lady and the Tramp

Have a great week.

Let it snow, let it snow!

It doesn't happen very often. Snow in the South. Friday evening, Feb. 12, Charleston was blanketed with roughly 2-3" of snow. The town shut down Friday afternoon. I almost woke Corinne up to have her watch it. Looking back, I wish I had. But she got to enjoy it! Yes, the picture here is dark because it's morning at our house.

Roman let me sleep in Saturday morning until 7am. When I came out for a cup of Joe, this image greeted me.

Now, I know that Charleston winters aren't arctic by any stretch, but we've really had a cold winter here. The weatherman spouted trivia that from January 1st to Feb. 16th last year, Charleston had about 11 days around 70 degrees. The year before it was 6 days. This year: none. The thin-bloods down here have really been whining. I have to say that I love it. I love the cool to balance the sultry summers that usually cling to the fall and winter months.

Lame excuse for a snowman, but I wanted to hurry up and sit inside enjoying the snow while sipping my coffee.
Brrrrrrr!

First Steps

He did it. Sam is now taking first steps on his own. I love the pride in his face when he realizes what he's done. Don't you know that babies must just love it when they can finally do what the big folks are doing everyday?!

Sam is in his own little world right now. I call him my little Cave Man because he's favorite form of communication is loud grunts and growls. Luckily, he's becoming adept at sign language, so there's hope for a gentleman someday. :-)

Here he is in action.

Old friend, new friend

After the birthday bash, we were excited to get out of town for the MLK weekend in the mountains. Mike and Jane Ann are proud parents of little Emma Rose who's close to 5 months now. What a darling little girl! She watched the craziness with good humor.


Our friends Carla and Preston brought their new bundle of joy, Reece, over for dinner. It was so good to see them. Reece is a few months younger than Sam.

Couldn't you get lost in those eyes?

Boys and their blocks.

"You be the whale, and I'll be the boat."

Thanks for a great time!

The Magic continues...

Sheeeee's 3! This year Corinne wanted a Halloween party for her birthday. I finally figured out that she wanted to dress up for her big day, so we planned a Tinkerbell/Peter Pan party with fairies and pirates. Sadly, it was a high of 40, so our day at the park turned into many fairies and mates running around our house on a chilly afternoon. Luckily we had the foresight to plan some outdoor activities and arranged for a fire pit outside. Oozy, gooey marsh mellows hanging off sticks over a fire was the perfect kid magnet.

She has begun the art of negotiation. My favorite is instead of a "5 minutes!" countdown, she says, "How 'bout 2 minutes, Mama?!" No problem. We'll take your suggestion. She started in the next class at daycare, the '3's. So far, so good. Corinne takes change in stride. For the first week she really hung back and watched how the clock works. Once she figures that out, she runs the clock. Or tries to.

We were so busy parenting and playing host and hostess that we didn't take any still photos. I did manage a clip of the birthday moment.

The Magic of the Season

A little late on the holiday post. So sorry. We got caught up in the relaxation of playing with the kids and holing up inside during the cold weather. It was so nice not to have to play Beat the Clock every morning and evening in preparation for the school/work day.

Pappy and gj came to celebrate Christmas with us. We enjoyed much of the usual holiday activities including a train ride at the Festival of Lights, walks around the neighborhood admiring the lights, and the baking!

You know the reindeers. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, and Corinne.

Baking is always on the Christmas agenda. We started with pecan pie. Ta-da!

Sugar cookies for Santa.

Playful elf.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Two Turkeys

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break. Ours turned out great. The kids were into a good groove over the long weekend--playing and generally going along with whatever outing we planned. We also got the chance to break out of our home routine again to visit with friends in for the holiday break.

For the turkey dinner we ventured over the bridges again to Joel and Suzy's. Every year their neighbor, Christopher, takes Corinne under his wing. They only see each other once a year really, but you would think no time had passed. This year he helped Corinne find new uses for a half-pipe.

Hail Hitler!




Sam continues to grow leaps and bounds. He crawls to his destinations either army style or on all fours then pulls up on anything he can reach. He's even attempted to transfer between furniture. The world is his oyster right now.













Sam is getting the pincer grasp down, too. I don't know who enjoys the Cheerios more, Sam or Corinne. She gets the biggest kick out of feeding them to him (and helping herself to a handful, too). Then, of course, the sisterly love has to withhold the Cheerios while brother screams because he knows she has them. To Sam's delight she obviously went a little overboard here.

One of my favorite pictures when I was Corinne's age is one where I dressed Derek up in dress-up clothes. I guess the eldest child sees the younger as their play toy. Well, I've been trying to be creative with Corinne's hair lately, and she seemed all about the headband idea. Putting two and two together....

This is one for his high school yearbook.

Have a great week!