Happy Holidays!

So, it's almost Christmas time and we're still scrambling around, trying to send out cards and finish our shopping. If you haven't received your card yet, fear not- it should be coming. Unless you're a total stranger looking at my blog, and then, chances are that you won't be receiving a card from our family.

Sadie seems to be particularly enamored of our shoes, though she doesn't usually put them on her feet. Shortly after this video was taken, she marched into the bathroom and dunked these shoes in the toilet repeatedly. Mommy has taken up sprinting these days. You just never know what kind of madcap "adventures" one will have watching this energetic toddler. Grandma was going on about wanting Sadie to have a professional photography session, unaware that I was filming the entire time...



And here is a still of Sadie with Mommy's Crocs....


Sadie gives us a mischievous smirk... I'm sure she's formulating grand plans to drop various and sundry objects into the dog's water bowl. She is still obsessed with Obi's feeding station.


Who, me? I'm a little angel!


My military name is General Mayhem!


We tried to do a brief outdoor shoot, but it was late in the afternoon, so Daddy and Sadie appear a bit blurry. One day, I'll figure out how to change the settings on my camera...


Sadie rocks the rock star vest with Daddy....


Hopefully, we'll take plenty of pictures over the holidays.

Grandma and Sadie

Here are a few pics of Grandma and Sadie in front of our Christmas tree. Our tree this year has a new design aesthetic, mainly that of early American toddler. The tree is top heavy with ornaments, and basically naked on its bottom third. Sadie cannot seem to resist the call of the ornaments. "Break me... smash me..." they plead to her as she walks by.

We looked in this gargantuan baby name book last night, and found that there is actually a girl's name of Ikea listed. Hello? "This is my daughter Ikea and my son Volvo. We're expecting our third, Saab, any month now."

We're getting quite excited about Christmas now. We'll be heading to Norfolk on the 26th to see Dad, Debi, Robert and Marsha and the twins, and some friends, and then we'll be heading up to DC on the 28th to do some Smithsonian hopping. Wheeee!

We're back!

Wow! We've all finally recovered from the nastiest bug ever and I have a couple of pics to add today. We spent the weekend putting up Christmas and catching up on cleaning, so the pictures are a couple of weeks old, but they'll do for now, right?

First, here's Sadie drawing on a menu at Elmo's Diner. It's probably not the most earth shattering sight you've ever seen, but I think it's pretty cute! Elmo's is Carrboro's local "family friendly" diner. You can go to Elmo's without children, but they'll issue you a loaner child at the door.



And here's a still from the same dinner. Daddy is still harboring his inner child, as you can note by the "bunny ears" behind Sadie's head.


A couple of weeks ago, we got together with Brian, Missy and lovely Lila at our local CPK. CPK= California Pizza Kitchen. I'm not sure where the "California" part comes in, but it's basically another "family friendly" joint where everything, including the kitchen sink, is served on a pizza crust. Anyhoo, Lila is becoming quite the grown-up little baby, as you will see below.

Here is Brian, expressing surprise to find a baby upon his chest.


Missy somehow manages to be so lovely this soon after having a baby. There are the proud parents and the sleeping tyke. I vaguely remember what it was like to have dinner while Sadie slept. Now, I eat with one hand and attempt to stop a Belushian food flinging event with the other. FOOD FIGHT!


Lila finally awakes, looking a little dazed to be stalked by the paparazzi.


Now on to Thanksgiving day. Poor Redmond was already heavily afflicted by the Rotavirus and had to stay home. I was just well enough to make the trip out, but had soup for dinner. Sadie came down with the illness that evening. We went to our local Chammp's Restaurant for dinner, as none of us felt the least bit like cooking. Here are Grandma and Sadie posing in the parking lot. Lovely backdrop, isn't it?


Here is a mighty nauseous Mommy with Sadie, who is looking off in the distance at something more interesting than we, apparently.

Sadie at the table, with her beloved crayons.


Sadie looking somber and reflective. Actually, she's conserving energy for the food flinging to come.


Last weekend, we peered out the window to find two deer in our backyard. By the time I found my camera, the older one had moved on, but this one was having a standoff with our two kitties, Madison and Bridger. We couldn't find an angle inside to capture everyone, but the two cats had puffed themselves up to about three times their normal size and their little ears were completely flattened. The deer was within a few feet of the cats. They just all had a staredown until the deer finally turned and caught up with mama back in the woods. This is one of the perks of living in BFE.