Missing Our Sadie

This week has been tough without our Sadie Girl. I've come to loathe that cycle of temporarily forgetting, only to remember all over again that she's gone.

Justin and I got Sadie for our first Valentine's Day as a married couple--she was our first "baby." She would have turned 7 this Christmas Eve. Justin and I were talking about our memories of her, and while there are many special ones, we remember most fondly how good she was with Trevor and Aila. When Trevor was a newborn and was in a bassinet, Sadie used to put her chin on the edge of the bassinet and rock Trevor when he cried.

Goodbye, Sweet Sadie

We are heartbroken to say that our sweet Sadie Dog passed away today.

Not really up for saying more than that right now, but at some point we'll post with pictures and videos to honor the seven years we had with our Sadie Girl.

Santa Baby, Rudolph, and More

Here are some pictures of the kids during this Christmas season. Enjoy!

Visiting Santa at the Bank

With our Santa test-run under our belts (see next post) we headed to the bank to see another Santa at the bank. What a difference a day (and a real Santa beard) makes. Trevor wasn't nervous, and went right up and sat on Santa's lap. He told Santa, "I want a green garbage truck and a trash can with lots of garbage in it, please." Bet Santa hasn't heard that one before! And since I know Trevor won't be browsing this blog, I can tell you that Pop & Essie got him the Tonka Titans Recycling Truck that comes with a recycling bin and trash can. So it looks like the Little Man will get his trash can for Christmas. God bless us, everyone!!!

Visiting Santa at Starbucks

On Friday night I took the kids to see Santa at Starbucks. Trevor was trembling, clinging to me, and having zero interest in getting anywhere near the jolly old guy. So Aila went first. We put her on Santa's lap, and at first she was completely at ease (typical Aila)...


...and then she turned around and looked at him.

Over the next 30 seconds, her bottom lip began to turn down at the corners more and more. Then there were tears.


Trevor was up next. He wanted to keep his distance, so he stayed way back and tried to yell his Christmas present requests to Santa. This picture cracks me up since Trevor is soooo far away from Santa!

Eventually he inched closer and closer until he was finally willing to stand next to Santa. But at no point was he willing to sit on his lap. Could it have been the obviously faux beard?

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

I recently introduced Trevor to the movie "ELF"--his favorite part is when everyone sings "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and there's finally enough Christmas spirit for Santa's sleigh to fly. He was so excited to hear this song in the movie, since I've been singing it to him for a few weeks now. He likes to sing along.

My camera battery died in the middle of this second video, but Trevor was saying something about how he had enough Christmas spirit to go to the donut shop. I bet! :)

Back to the Polls...Weren't We Just Here?

Today was the runoff election for the GA senate race between Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin, so back to the polls we went.

I was telling Trevor about the two candidates this morning--then later as we were leaving the polls, Trevor asked, "Mommy, did you vote for Sexy Chandles?" :)

We saw Trevor's little buddy Liam at the polls for the presidential election, so I asked him, "Do you remember who we saw last time we went to vote?" He thought about it a moment and said, "John McCain?"

Brother and Sister

Trevor -- December 2008

This year it's been really fun getting ready for Christmas. Trevor's totally into it. Thanks to the lyrics of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," he's been one good little boy! He's really excited about going out to California for Christmas this year. We'll be there in 16 days!! * Before we went out to take pictures, Trevor asked if I would put some "Jello" in his hair to make it look nice. :)

Aila -- December 2008

Little Aila Grace. We're getting ready to celebrate Aila's first Christmas--was she really not here yet last Christmas??? In some ways it feels like we've had her forever, but in some ways it seems like the 10 months with her have really flown by. She took a couple of steps today. :)

Aila vs. The Medicine

Aila is not a fan of her orange-flavored antibiotics. As a result, it's been pretty not fun trying to give it to her. 'Nuff said.