Harper's First Haircut

Handley has had a lot of little trims in her life.  Her hair has always grown really unevenly.  The back grows faster and is longer while the sides are shorter and still playing catch-up with the rest of her hair.

Harper on the other hand has never had a haircut, until today.  Hers has always grown pretty evenly and because it is curly, any imperfections were easily hidden.  However, now that it's cooler and the air is drier her hair isn't curling as much as it usually does and the ends were looking really ragged and uneven to me. I decided it was time for her first little trim.  When I told her the news she was ecstatic!

I just took a little off the ends to help even it out and hopefully help it curl up better, too.
  

Before

After

Last Day in Charleston

Our last day in Charleston was a great one.  Saturday morning we went to Battery Park right on the water in downtown Charleston. I remember going there as a kid and my brothers and I climbing on the old cannons they have there.  What I remember about it now having visited as an adult are the big, beautiful oak trees that fill the entire park.  It was a gorgeous day and a great way to spend the morning.

Only a father would pretend to shoot their baby from a cannon! Hudson does love "flying" though so he was amused. 

The girls had so much fun checking out the water, climbing on the cannons, and running around playing green-light/red-light.  The other thing they loved seeing were the horse drawn carriages touring around downtown.

When I could get everyone herded in one location I had us all posing for a potential Christmas card photo.  Easier said than done, even with my candy bribes. :-) I think we got some good ones, but I'll save the winner for a little later.
 

After the park we went home to watch UGA beat GA TECH (How 'bout them Dawgs?!?!) and then got ready for the wedding and the real reason we were spending the week in Charleston.  My dad's best friend's daughter was the one getting married and they had such a neat wedding.  Their reception was laid back and casual which was fine by me, especially since we had all 3 kids in tow.  Handley found a flower earlier in the day that she held onto until she could give it to the bride.  She was very curious about the entire ceremony and loved watching it.  Perhaps the favorite part of the evening was the s'mores station they had set up by a big fire pit.  It was the neatest idea and so many people hung around the fire all night!

Before departing to get the kids to bed the girls graced the dance floor with my dad (who loves to dance) and had a ball.  They thought they were big stuff out there twirling around.

Now we are back home and trying to get things in order for Christmas!  Our elf showed up this morning, the kids have been wearing Christmas clothes and pj's since Monday, and we are constantly singing Christmas carols.  I just LOVE this time of year and the kids seem to be loving it too!

One quick update on Hudson with the cereal.  Although he seems to really love eating the cereal, it did not love him back.  He's always had issues with gas, but since starting the cereal it has been OUT OF CONTROL.  He was waking up to 5 times a night in pain because of the gas and couldn't nap well either.  I decided to hold off for a while and let his poor little digestive system have a break and then I might start back up with something other than cereal.  I've been doing a lot of reading that supports introducing certain fruits and veggies as a babies first food, so I'll probably try that instead in a few weeks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a relaxing Thanksgiving day and enjoying hanging out with the family.  Handley and Harper have been attached to Stefanie's hip since she arrived.  They want her to read their books, sit beside them at meals, and this morning she even tried to teach Handley how to crochet.  

We spent part of the morning at the beach letting the kids run around and collect shells.  It was much cooler today then when we went earlier this week though so we didn't last there very long.  This afternoon we had a little photo session outside so that we could get some pictures of the whole family and it had us all laughing.  Nothing like trying to pose 7 adults, 3 kids, and 3 dogs.

This evening we filled up on appetizers and followed that with the traditional turkey feast.  Safe to say we were all very full and very happy this evening.  Now, part of our gang is debating whether or not to brave the crowds at Wal-Mart for some good deals.  

I'm feeling very blessed and extremely thankful for all of my family and friends.  Now that Thanksgiving is over though, I am SO excited about the Christmas season and all the fun that it brings! 

Hudson's Pre-Thanksgiving Feast

We had a pretty low-key day around here.  Hudson and I spent part of the morning at an urgent care location getting his eyes checked out.  Yesterday I started having a suspicion that he had pink eye and when he woke up this morning I was certain of it.  He's now on an antibiotic eye ointment and his eyes are already clearing up.  

The rest of the day consisted of outdoor play time, celebrating Stefanie's birthday with cupcakes, and Robby's arrival.  The biggest event of the day was Hudson trying rice cereal for the first time.  I had all intentions of waiting just a little longer before trying it with him, but over the past week he's gone from sleeping all night to being up all night.  He's also seemed less satisfied during the day so I decided he would probably enjoy a pre-Thanksgiving Feast of his own.  

I made a last minute trip to Target to get all the essentials and Handley was just beside herself.  She's been waiting 4 months to help feed Hudson baby food.  In fact, we were all pretty excited and took turns spooning it in.  He did great, kept opening up for more and really seemed to enjoy it so I'm thinking he was definitely ready.  

Bar Soap

The girls have been absolutely fascinated by the bar soap at each sink here at the rental house.   Yesterday when Handley was trying to wash her hands she asked me where the soap was and I pointed out the bar soap to her and told her this was the soap people used before there was soap in bottles.  This morning as the girls were washing their hands together I overheard her telling Harper in a very matter-of-fact way, "This is the kind of soap people used long, long ago before there were even bottles...but we don't know anyone who lived that long ago."

She made another comment today worth noting.  We were riding in the car and I had changed the radio station.  She wasn't happy because apparently she liked the song we were listening too.  She told me, "Mommy, one day when I can drive and I pick you up in my car, you are going to just listen to the songs that I like."  I didn't appreciate her sassiness quite as much as my mom who was cracking up at her comment.

We had a fantastic day.  My friend and neighbor, Carrie, had told me about the children's museum in Charleston so I wanted to make a point to take the kids there.  We went downtown to check it out this morning and it was AMAZING!!!

The girls had so much fun.  There were 5 separate rooms with a different theme in each room.  We started off in the art room where the girls did some painting and made a basket weave place mat.

Next up was the castle room with a medieval theme and a water-play room.  Neither of them wanted to stop playing, but I had to convince them to keep moving to check out the other exhibits.

Their favorite room by far was the "shopping" room.  They both tore through the market as if they were on Supermarket Sweep (remember that game show?!?) and filled their carts before making their way to the life-like checkout complete with a real scanner, computer, play money and real receipt for each shopper.  They had every detail of a real grocery story and it was just about the cutest thing I ever saw.  Harper was so sad when I told her it was time to leave and she just kept telling me she wanted to do more shopping.

After a quick lunch at Chick-fil-a and a rest at home, we made the one block walk to the beach.  The girls had so much fun and kept asking me why I didn't pack their bathing suits.  Although it was unseasonably warm here today, the ocean water was still FREEZING.  That didn't stop them from wading in and getting pretty soaked by the time we walked back to the house though.

Blogging from Charleston!

Today the kids and I made the drive to Charleston to meet up with my parents and my brother, Cameron.  A family friend is getting married here this weekend so we're spending the week at a beach house and celebrating Thanksgiving here.  The rest of the family will join us in a few days and I am so looking forward to a big family Thanksgiving together.

The drive was surprisingly quick and easy with all three kids.  Hudson slept most of the way and besides being asked every 10 minutes how much longer, the girls stayed entertained with games and movies.

They were SO excited when we arrived.  The house we're renting is just perfect.  There is a huge backyard complete with a slide and a giant sandbox.  We spent the rest of the afternoon outside enjoying the great weather and all the fun.  The girls also had a blast helping Cameron walk his dog and soaking up all the Mimi and Dadaw time.

Also had to post about Hudson's first time in the exersauser this past weekend.  He seemed a little overwhelmed by all of the toys at first, but then warmed up to the idea and had fun standing in it.

The girls were excited to see him trying it out and Handley exclaimed, "I have to go get my camera and take a picture of this for Facebook."  HA! It cracked me up because I never say that and although I do enjoy Facebook, I rarely post pictures on there.  I do, however, say that I need to take a picture for the blog.  Just funny the technology age our kids are growing up in.

Pre-School Thanksgiving Program

This morning we had the pleasure of attending the pre-school Thanksgiving program.  First up was a visit to Harper's classroom.  When we arrived they were all set and ready to sing.  Harper had been trying to sing her songs for me at home earlier this week, but could never remember the words or how to get started.  That all changed today when she was with her class though because she sang loudly and with a big smile on her face.

Next we made our way to the chapel to watch the 4 year old classes perform their Thanksgiving play complete with props, a backdrop, and costumes. The kids were dressed up as Pilgrims and Indians and sang 5 or 6 songs.  They all did a great job and looked really cute too.

After the performances were complete, everyone enjoyed a Thanksgiving Feast with turkey and all the trimmings.  It was such a fun morning and I loved seeing the girls so proud of themselves.  Gigi was able to attend with me and as a surprise, Robby was able to join us for a little while too.

Hudson hung out in the stroller during the entire program and ended up falling asleep half-way through.  Not to worry though, he still got in on the Thanksgiving fun.  When we got home I ran upstairs to throw some laundry in the dryer and when I came back down I found him dressed up in Handley's Indian costume.  Ha!