Christmas in Durham 2017

Because we travel at Christmas, we try to squeeze in a few Christmas-y things at our home in Durham before we hit the road. Since we get to see both sides of our family each Christmas, we get to keep our respective childhood Christmas traditions and rituals in tact, which is so fun and homey. And, since we've been doing our own Christmas in Durham for the last few years, we've developed a few fun traditions of our own that we've come to love. 

This year, because Claire is in preschool, we got to experience our first year of school Christmas-ing:

That's Claire in the foreground (red sweater, Santa hat).

Lily enjoyed getting to participate in Claire's party! This was the only moment I wasn't pulling her off of something.

We had a teensy bit of a snow fall, and the girls took advantage of it!

They refused to take off their snowsuits for half an hour when they came in.

Our first (or maybe second...can't quite remember) year in Durham, we took Claire to the Santa Train experience at the museum. It was kind of expensive, and she only sort of liked it, so we decided not to do it the next year. Instead, we just went to the museum during the day (the official Santa train activities are at night), paid less for all of us than it cost for one of us to do the actual Santa train, and she had an absolute blast. This was our third year to do that, and it's still working like a charm.

Posing while we wait.

Whole train to ourselves!

It was so cold. It was probably 20 degrees before the train started chugging, so the girls were super bundled.

After we did the Santa train (all of the decorations that are used for the actual Santa train are still up during the day; they're just not lit/moving/etc.), we did the Dino Walk. Obviously.

If you don't pose with the dinosaur replicas on your family Christmas outing, are you really doing it right?

Visiting the bunnies. Bunnies are Lily's favorites.

She also really enjoyed the alpacas. She cried when we walked away, and we consoled her by stopping to see the pygmy goats (not pictured, sadly).

We love getting Christmas cards, and usually, I hang them from the garland that I wrap around our banister, but the garland didn't happen this year, so taped-to-the-mantle it is! 

P.S. If you send us a Christmas card, we keep it all year in a stack on our dining room table and pray through them at meal times.

Because of all the traveling, we open our family gifts on a special "Christmas Day" that we appoint before we leave town. We do a festive "Christmas Eve" of fancy appetizer foods + a movie before bed and then get up and do presents, special breakfast, and lounging/playing for the day, as if it was actually Christmas morning. I've come to love this tradition so so much.

Opening her stocking. Note: when Brad and I got married, I made our stockings. Then, when Claire was born, I made hers. Then I made Lily's. I'm realizing the flaw in my plan as I'm continuing to add "make stocking" to my to-do list. Bless it.

Out of curiosity, what do y'all put in stockings? We do toothbrush/toothpaste, small snacks they don't normally get, and a few treats. This year, Claire got a mini slinky and a Thomas the Train t-shirt that I found on clearance for $2 at Target. Lily got snacks, tooth stuff (you know, for her five teeth), bubbles, and new sippy cups.

Here's a action shot of Claire's Thomas shirt. It's from the boys' section but whatever.

We got the girls one joint gift (a Thomas the Train pop-up tent) and one individual gift each. Claire got a set of 2 remote control cars (she wanted a remote control robot that would clean up her toys, but she was pretty happy with this option), and Lily got two sets of the Color Wonder markers + coloring books. GUYS. This was magic. She literally colored in them for an hour and a half straight (I timed it). I'm always keeping some on hand from now on. She can't be trusted with regular markers or crayons, but these markers will only color on special paper, so it removes most of my stress (she did bite off the tip of one of the markers, so it's not an entirely stress-free process).

Coloring with new sippies in the foreground.

"Robot" cars

Thomas!

Sharing. We have one lefty and one righty.

This is where Lily "hides" when she doesn't want to do something. This time, she took her new coloring supplies with her.

We had a great time celebrating Christmas (and Advent, although that's not pictured here) this year. Looking forward to more years of small family Christmases before the big family celebrations on the road!

Around here lately: December 2017 edition

December was a doozy. The things said were funny and there were lots of them. Enjoy!

At her dental appointment when asked if she flosses:
My daddy is going to be a doctor of floss-ophy.

Claire is scratching in side her ear.
Claire: What is this that came out of my ear?
Erin: Earwax.
Claire: Should I put it back?

Finds a St. Patrick's Day ring and asks if St. Patrick is still alive. When told that he has already died:
Mommy, can I see St. Patrick when I get to heaven with Jesus?

Can we watch something that is available on Netflix?

How can we make this more sparkly?

As she finished getting dressed for school:
Ok, Daddy. You ready to roll?

I didn't mind the spicy in my drink. spicy = fizz/carbonation

Daddy, I've already watched the episode with the tortoise and the bunny.

Erin: Do you have your shoes and socks on yet?
Claire: No, my toes were just talking to the others.

Playing with a stuffed cow:
Cow, did you know I miss my Nana? What do you miss about your family?

Claire: What can I do?
Erin: You have a lot of toys to play with.
Claire: Well, all of my toys feel bad today.

After I sent her to time out, this is how she "retaliated:"
Mommy, I will NEVER stop growing up.

The chicken and the duck are giving love because they're friends.

Lily runs from every diaper change and "hides" against the front door.
(Claire shakes head knowingly) She does that every time.

Lily stands/climbs on something she shouldn't. Claire pulls the Santa hat she's wearing down over her (Claire's) eyes:
Oh, I can't look!

I want to be helpful and do love.

We were driving back from a family trip to Costco one evening, and I was feeling extremely sick.
Try not to throw up until we get home, Mommy. Then you can spit it in the trash can or potty.

Referring to Lily:
Isn't she the cutest?

Lily's a troublemaker. I'm not. Lies.

One of the gifts Claire's preschool class gave their teachers was a picture collage of each of the kids holding a sign of the gift they hoped their teachers would find under their Christmas trees. This was Claire's.

Greece-er, Greece-man = a native of Greece (when your daddy spends the majority of his time translating Greek, you think about Greece more than the average bear)

I texted and called Mr. Cow, but he didn't answer.

When discussing the tooth fairy:
I need a lot of money. Not 100 two thousand money. But five.

Erin: Could you stop growing up? Your pants are getting too short.
Claire: I must keep growing. That's what kids do. I can get bigger pants. Like Daddy.

Merry Advent Christmas!

I can't wait until morning day!

Lily, what do you think about your family while you're asleep?

Nap is hard. Again. Lies.

Erin: You can keep your water bottle by your bed during nap since you have a cough.
Claire: Well, if my bottle sleeps in my bed, it might distract me.

Sometimes, when I miss Nana and Poppy, I think about how much I love them and I hug my stuffed animals like I'm hugging them.

Can I try that sewing machine when I'm older? Lily 10 or 9?

Bye, Bo! I'll see you the second day! (in 2 days)

Rapunzel is brave. And I'm brave, too!

Claire: What about a rooster pig?
Erin: What's a rooster pig?
Claire: A rooster with wings!

Oh look! The Holy Family! (nativity)

Erin: Stop arguing with me.
Claire: I'm not arguing.
Erin: Yes, you are.
Claire: No, I'm not.

Puglix = Publix

While watching White Christmas, Rosemary Clooney is wearing a strapless dress and is sitting at a piano, which is obscuring her dress:
Why is she not wearing any clothes?

I'll take Lily to play with me. The rest of you look for my brush.

While watching a Superbook about Moses:
I will never take my shoes off outside. If it was holy ground I would, though.

Referring to the periscope that she got for Christmas:
I'm going to spy on people everyday!

I can reach ____ (I can't remember the object) because I'm older, smarter, and faster.

The early baby catches the tree! I have no idea.

Your shoes are very rainbow-y!

Bo, would you scratch Elphie's (Amiee's cat) ears while I'm gone?

Maybe I can do it when I'm six or ten or five.

4+5 is 9. 5+5 is 10. 3 plus more more is 100. I'm pretty good at numbers.

Feel this! (soft thing) You won't believe your fingers!

Jesus is one of our Christmas gifts!

Claire: Uncle Tim, did you know I go to school?
Tim: No, I didn't.
Claire: Well, now you do.

Did you know there is black sand in New Zealand? That's crazy, right?

Overhearing a conversation about a Dirty Santa game:
But Santa is clean, Mommy.

Referring to her remote control cars that her father and uncle were racing/running into each other:
The cars are friends!

Wiggle that booty!

I never stop talking!

You did it, you Genius Mommy!

Thanksgiving 2017

Still playing catch-up. Almost there!

We spent Thanksgiving 2017 in Tennessee with our Boswell family. 

Here are some highlights:
1. Fun time with family!
2. (mostly) Nice weather!
3. Auburn WINNING the Iron Bowl!

The not-so-highlights:
STOMACH VIRUS. Guys. Claire had her first ever vomit virus a couple days before Thanksgiving. She's never vomited before (I don't count baby spit-up/vomit situations), so it was a little shocking for everyone. It was kind of weird, though, because she didn't act nauseated/miserable/lethargic. She just went from totally fine to projectile vomiting out of nowhere. She did it 3 times and was done. 

And we were all waiting to see who would be the next to fall victim. (Spoiler: it was me.)

Surprisingly, though, no one saw any symptoms for 4 days. We thought we were in the clear. (We weren't.) Brad and I went out for a dinner date on Saturday night, and about an hour after we got home, I was oh-so-much sicker than Claire. And I was feeeeeeeling it. None of this bouncing around with occasional moments of illness like she had done. I'll spare you any extra details, but suffice it to say that I felt like I was on Death's actual Door for the next 40ish hours. I literally lost weight over Thanksgiving. It was miserable. I missed every single second of the Iron Bowl and couldn't even care until a few days later. How sad is that??

Gran and Grandpa offered to keep the girls for an extra week, which turned out to be extra helpful, thanks to Brad getting sick as soon as we got home. It was really helpful to have several days to recover without having the littles to care for while we just tried to survive. WE ARE SO GRATEFUL, GRAN AND GRANDPA.

Outside of that terrible, horrible, no good virus, we did have some great memory-making moments:

Visits with Papaw!

And Mamaw! Note: Barbara texted me during the girls' Bonus Week to tell me that Lily got ahold of Papaw's lift chair remote at one point and had Papaw going all over the place. Priceless. (No Papaws were hurt in the making of this story.)

Aunt Sue made the most adorable cookies decorated with candy turkeys. Obviously, Lily enjoyed the experience.

The girls had a blast playing bubbles with Ray Ray.

Claire was super focused on perfecting her own skills, and Lily was all for catching Ray Ray's handiwork.

Lily REALLY enjoys meal times.

Ray Ray needed to study over the break. And so did Lily, it seems.

Barbara and I particularly like to do a big puzzle over holiday visits. Brad and Rachael usually jump in and help, as well. This was a really fun one of bestselling book covers.

Lily's really into hats. Sometimes hers...sometimes not.

Helping Grandpa with leaves.

So good at helping.

Barbara got this precious picture of Claire that I love.

Quick Lily story: Barbara and I were getting the girls dressed one morning, and Lily was just not into any of the clothing options Barbara was offering her. She wanted very much to wear something that she spotted in Claire's bag (which is size 4T...Lily is mostly in 2T). Barbara pulled out a cute top + tutu combo, and it pushed Lily to her breaking point: she covered her eyes with her hand and turn her head away, a la Scarlett O'Hara. THE DRAMA IS STRONG WITH THIS ONE. We finally got clothes on her by offering her a too-big-for-her flouncy Auburn tutu dress. Please note that it was dayssss before the Iron Bowl. But at that point, we were just grateful to have her clothed.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! (and that you did not get any stomach viruses)

And WAR EAGLE.

Around here lately: November 2017 edition

Happy New Year, friends! I hope you all had a wonderful time ringing in 2018. We partied it up by chatting around a fire until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore (hi, 10:30 pm!), which is basically how we've spent every new year since we've been married. Good thing we like it that way, right? So, to kick off the new year, I thought I'd throw it back to November and keep plugging away at catching up on our life. Enjoy!

November was a good one for quotes, guys. It was not, however, a good month for me to remember to grab snapshots (pregnant...sick...etc), apparently. I can find two. TWO. I'm not entirely sure how this happened. It could just be me forgetting where the pictures are saved. I do have some from Thanksgiving, though, which will be forthcoming.

I'm ready for a weekend adventure!

Claire: My guns are strong enough to blow bigger balloons.
Nana: Your lungs?
Claire: No, my GUNS!

Me: It's taking Superbook a long time to load.
Claire: That's because you have to wait patiently.

The nap wrinkled up my hair.

I'm happy I'm the boss.

I'm fogging off the window so we can see better.

Charlie bus = trains in Boston where you can pay with a Charlie card

referring to a game that was played
Erin: Claire, you didn't win. It's time to talk about Nana because she won.
Claire: But...let's talk about me.

I couldn't solve the problem by myself, so I called for help. Like Daddy. referring to Lily spitting everywhere

Daddy, you're so FUN!

Erin: Ok, sound the alarm if you see Lily doing something dangerous while we're cleaning.
Erin goes upstairs and gets to work.
Claire: sees something dangerous WOOOoooOOOooo WOOOoooOOOooo
sounds *actual* alarm

Also while watching Lily, makes up a song about herself:
CLAIRE to the rescue! CLAIRE to the rescue!

When Daddy's done at Duke, I'm going to be sad because I'll miss my house. Maybe when it's time to move, we can move into the house next door so we can still see our house.

David died Goliath. David fighted Goliath and made hole in him and he was dead.

You ok back there, Ray Ray? referring to Rachael sitting in the back row of the van

Claire: Rapunzel is slamming doors.
Erin: Does Rapunzel slam doors?
Claire: This Rapunzel does.