Gobble gobble!

Last Thursday was the girls' last day of school and also their Thanksgiving program. Caroline's class was turkeys and Aly's was pilgrims! They sang a couple of cute songs and then we had a 'feast'!

We are ecstatic over at our house today: Daddy coached his last game before Thanksgiving last night so he is finished for a few days, holidays are in the air, and best of all: Nana and Papa are coming to visit tomorrow!! We knew they couldn't stay away until the baby comes in February! Thank goodness, because we need to see them! They should be leaving NY about an hour ago, and pulling into our driveway about dinnertime tomorrow night!

Happy Thanksgiving to every one!!

Our little Turkey

Best Friends, Aly and Lizzy

Daddy and his girls

Caroline's favorite part: the feast!

Sunday Matinee at the Warner Theatre

The girls are part-ballerina, part-concierge.

Lost in Translation

The Good News: Aly likes singing praise and worship music.

The Bad News: Her theology seems a little off! :-)

This was what she was singing throughout the house tonight:
Jesus, land of Gog. Woog-y is His name.

(Translation: Jesus, Lamb of God. Worthy is his name.)

Baby steps, right?!

Visit from Papa!

The girls' Nana and Papa live in New York. Stinks. But Papa has meetings in Birmingham this next week, so he flew in early to get some special time with the Warner family! The girls had been counting down the days until his arrival as if it were Christmas; on Friday morning when Caroline woke up, she asked, "Today Papa Day?!" Once he got here, they wouldn't allow him to be in a room by himself (I found Caroline laying face down on the floor outside his bedroom this morning while he dressed!) They followed him around like puppies and were giddy at his tickling hands coming to get them throughout the visit! While he was here, he witnessed two basketball games, lots of dances, Aly's tendency towards moodiness, Caroline's frequency towards being oblivious to rules, but also lots of laughter, cuddling, and playing. We are so thankful that he made the trip, and can't wait until February when he comes back and brings Nana with him!

Papa and his shadow

Just can't get enough!

"Syrup Sunday" with Papa

The Boys are Back!!

The season is officially here! It has been disguising itself as "Conditioning" since August and "Practice" since September, but last night the boys took the court for the first real game. Chad does a tremendous job of compartmentalizing: work at work, home at home. But I've been able to tell that the season has been creeping up on him as each day there has been more and more of that blank stare where, though I know we may be talking about one thing, his mind is racing with drills, plays, and statistics of some upcoming opponent!

We won our opener last night; for as much as I wish the season could end now with a 100% winning percentage, we have another tonight and again Monday. Well, here we go! Go Hawks!!

If you're interested in reading up on the team, you can browse through the media guide here and then click "complete version".

Our Coach

The Final Score

Autumn Activities

Is fall not the best time of year?! As if the weather and beautiful leaves were not refreshing enough, it seems like there is always something to look forward to in this new world of 'life with kids'.

I remember that before kids, I would carve a pumpkin each year and literally spend 30 minutes getting it cleaned out completely before spending another hour and a half or more carving an artistic face into it. Now it's a race to keep attention (and to keep orange pulp from traveling around the house!) This year, I had to laugh out loud as the girls' differences showed themselves so clearly. After the top was cut off, I tried to get the girls to pull the pulp out. Aly touched it with the tips of about two fingers and then sat back and said, "I'll just sit here until we make the face. I don't want to get messy." Caroline, on the other hand, had her entire arm to her shoulder in the pumpkin (I had already stripped her down...I know my daughter!) As I was picking seeds out of the pulp, I heard a muffled little voice and looked over to find her head in the pumpkin, singing a little song! I looked over at Aly who just smiled and said, "Caroline's crazy."-- a typical response to her little sister!

The girls' school had "Farm Day" last Friday. The kids were encouraged to dress up as cowboys/girls or farmers. Aly and Caroline got in the car the day before and announced that they were going to be a kitty and a duckie. This actually worked out well for me, as we don't own boots, overalls, hats, or anything so "un-princess-like". This is what we came up with:

The Kitty and the Duckie

Shakin' those little tail-feathers

A group of friends and I have been scheduling a visit to a great pumpkin patch/ corn maze farm just outside of town for almost a month. It seems that our plan has been deterred each Friday with rain. We finally made it last week, just in the knick of Halloween-time! It was cold, crowded, and REALLY windy, but the kids all had a blast! And once I was home with 2 napping girls and a hot cup of tea, I could admit that I had a great time too!

Hayride

The wind-blown kids

And finally Halloween. This is definitely the year that the girls "get" what was going on, and they
had one of the longest days having to wait. I woke up with a case of pink-eye: my eye was so crusted-over and swollen that I fit the day well as a ghoul! Aly wanted to be a ballerina, an outfit she's worn 4 days a week for almost a year. So to make her "costume" a little more special, we bought the glitter make-up she's been eyeing on the Halloween aisle of Wal-mart for a month now. They were definitely more excited about wearing the make-up than any other part of the Halloween festivities!

Patiently waiting for the big moment

Fairy-Princess-Ballerina and Princess Pumpkin

"Let's GO!!"

Happy Halloween to all, and to all a good night!!