Good and Faithful Servant

My sweet Aunt Lois went to be with the Lord last night. "Well done my good and faithful servant." What a blessing she was in all of our lives.

Gingerbread

 I found a great recipe for homemade gingerbread play dough that is a cinch to make. The girls loved digging into it. Of course, Kathryn found it difficult to not eat it all, but we managed to redirect her most of the time.

Audrey loved creating pancakes and snakes. The girl's imagination is alive!

Thanksgiving Adventures, Part 3

 Our gathering on Friday was at Aunt Lois' retirement community, in their community room. Aunt Lois isn't really up to traveling anymore, so I was thankful that we could come to her. On this particular day, she wasn't particularly able to speak much so I figured the best thing is just to sing. Audrey was happy to perform some songs for the lady that she prays for nightly, so we sang our best versions of "Deep and Wide", "This Little Light of Mine" and "Jingle Bells".

 Aunt Lois has always had a heart for children, and though she never had any biological children, there are many that see her as a mother. In fact, I'm pretty sure that she probably taught a lot of other children these familiar songs.

 Though she couldn't speak much that day, I hope that she knows how much she is loved. Some of my best childhood memories were at her house: cooking fried chicken for lunch (always with biscuits AND cornbread) in a silver bowl, shopping at Belk's, eating salt-covered watermelon under the big tree out back, and feeding the cats under the shed. She hosted a huge family Christmas gathering for years, and I remember loving all of the stories that were told in that house.
I think it's important for children to know that they are part of a larger story in this world, that they have family that have gone before them and prepared a way for them. I am thankful for Aunt Lois and the beautiful example of godly mothering that she represents to all of us.

Carole, Betty, Mimi (Kathy), and Martha

time for games

Daddy and Audrey

It was a year to be thankful for family.

Thanksgiving Adventures, Part 2

 On Wednesday, we continued onto SC to visit my family. This is our biggest holiday with extended family, as everyone travels back to eat some turkey together.

 Audrey was thrilled to find a playground right outside of the fellowship hall.

We took the opportunity to take some family pics. This is Uncle Gary's family: Wallace, Betty, Cindy, Gary, Linda, Jennifer, Jeff, and Marilyn.

Aunt Carole's family: Gary, Carole, Thad, Elise, Matt

the Carters: Sharon, Craig, Michaela, Caitlin, Chloe

some of the cousins

the fab five: Kathy (my mom), Carole, Craig, Cindy, Martha

the best I could get of my girls together...sigh...

Jenny, Lee, Martha

baby girl

our crew: David, Kathryn, Mimi, Audrey, Pops, me

the Lanes: Marilyn, Jeff, Jennifer

Mimi and Pops

Audrey modeling her tiara and princess shoes with Cindy and Gary

Michaela, Chloe, and Thad on the "Titanic"

Fabulous food was had by all and lots of fun and games and gift swaps! Happy Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving Adventures 2012

 We had quite the adventure this year traveling home for Thanksgiving. This was our first time traveling to both AL and SC with both of the girls from Memphis, and it was a journey. Our first stop was to Grandmother and Granddaddy's house in AL. Audrey was extremely excited and we experienced the question, "Are we there yet?" quite a few times, even as we were only five minutes away from our house stopping to get gas. We had a wonderful turkey dinner and on our return trip from SC, Audrey even got to experience some sugar cookie making. That girl loves the sprinkles!

One happy granddaughter

K at 15 months

Sweet baby turned 15 months on Thanksgiving. We have discovered that she does not enjoy her carseat, especially napping in it. Thanksgiving has been quite a journey, traveling to AL and then SC, but we are on the return home and we are bringing her back with us, so we still love her.

In other updates, what is she up to? She is very chatty and can say daddy, momma, Audrey, moo, Mimi, Pops, ball, milk, cup and thank you. Still not walking yet, but she is very speedy with her crawl, loves to pull up on everything and try to climb on it. She is also starting to stand on her own, so I'm predicting walking by Christmas.
And, now we are in AL and she is awake and crying again. Oh well...
We love our sweet girl.

Writing

Audrey is continuing to love her time at Wonder School on Mondays. This week, they were studying names and letters. The teachers wrote their first and middle names on mini chalkboards, and Audrey loved tracing over it with a Q-tip and water. Karyn, the teacher, mentioned that she really stuck with it and seemed to enjoy it. I love getting all these ideas from other moms, plus, it helps me know what to reinforce and practice at home. I am sometimes unsure about how much to teach her, but as my mom says, "If they are ready, go for it!" We came home and she immediately wrote "A" all over her Magna Doodle, so apparently, she is ready!

T-H-E

This little girl has always been a book lover. From the time she was only six or seven months old, she would sit for long periods of time in my lap listening to me read books and beg me for more. In fact, she really preferred that to any of her toys. While we were reading before bed a few nights ago, I decided to try pointing out a word to her and seeing if she could start to remember it by sight. Let's start with the basics..."T-H-E spells the." I remember Ms. Carolyn repeating that phrase over and over to me in daycare when I was little as we walked down the halls. Sure enough, over the past few nights since, I have pointed out the word to her again, and she remembered "the!" Can we count that as her first reading word?? It's so exciting to see her grow and love reading as much as we do. Love our sweet, smart girl!