The start of family traditions!

I could not be any more excited about the Christmas season! It's a hostesses dream come true. Reasons to host tea parties, be crafty, and bake abound. I have more fun projects going on right now than ever before (that might have something to do with the fact that I'm not working too). But this year, I am having the most fun exposing Gillian to everything fun about the holiday season. We have already spent time baking together, our playgroup tomorrow is all about Christmas crafts, and I have planned several other holiday adventures, but none more exciting than picking out our first Christmas tree! We didn't get one last year with the chaos of being fairly new parents with both of us working, so this year I couldn't wait. We went to the Christmas tree lot and picked out the perfect tree. (Never mind the fact that G had more fun playing in the mud than looking at trees.)

Decorating the tree came next of course, and this might be my favorite Christmas tradition of all. Nothing was more important about decorating the tree growing up than putting on the angel, and it was a big deal - worth fighting about - who put the angel on top of the tree. So this year it was special. Not only do I now have the perfect angel tree topper thanks to my own crafty mother, but I got to put the angel on top of the tree with my daughter. So awesome!

While Gillian had fun putting on ornaments, I mean eating ornaments - I think I probably had the most fun of all - and what's wrong with that. Someone has to love traditions to keep them alive.

Thanksgiving 2011

We spent a great Thanksgiving holiday in Charlotte with the Eriksen clan. We had tons of fun being together, so
here are some of the highlights, mixed in with things I am thankful for.

Gillian had her first chance to make a gingerbread house. Her dad was the engineer, a master at frosting, Gillian was supposed to be the decorator...

Needless to say, she ate more of the decorations then she actually put on her house. I think as a result she enjoyed the whole process from the first marshmallow to the last jellybean. Which leads into one of the things I am most thankful for: Gillian's cousins. She has two amazing cousins who love her, play with her, and teach her all things kid. I loved growing up with cousins, and I am truly thankful that G has cousins to travel through life with as well. They had a great time making gingerbread houses too (in tutus no less!).

We also celebrated Christmas while we were in Charlotte since we won't all be together this year. The girls yelped with delight at their gifts. There were toy kitchens, toy farms, dolls, scooters, and even chairs. But this was my favorite moment...

Which brings me to something else I am incredibly thankful for, being a Mom and an Aunt. What an amazing gift to have these sweet girls in my life. They bring such joy and passion to everything, I am honored to be a part of their lives.

Family is the best.

Family Photos

Several weeks ago we had the opportunity to cash in our Christmas present from the Treeces and MD Eriksens from last year - family pictures. Betsy has a great friend, Veronique, who is a photographer and she took our pictures at the Arboretum in Raleigh. Here are some of the highlights.

I am so happy with how all of the photos turned out. It's pretty fun to capture this special time on film!

Duke Gardens

Today Gillian and I visited Duke Gardens (I know, I know enemy territory) with our playgroup. It was another beautiful fall day and with my new found nature lover, I am trying to expose her to the great outdoors as much as possible. We got to see ducks and geese, a Japanese teahouse, and an English garden. The most fun for Gillian, however, was collecting rocks. I brought along some paper bags for the kids to collect things - thinking it would result in a diverse group of sticks, leaves, and flowers to potentially use in some future crafts. Gillian had her own ideas however - she wanted rocks. And only rocks. When I put a stick in her bag she reached in and pulled it out. When I handed her a flower, she threw it on the ground. She found brown rocks and grey rocks, small and big, but rest assured everything that went in her bag was a rock.

The other thing you may notice in these photos is that Gillian is only wearing one shoe. Somehow between the house and the park we lost a shoe - I searched the car, the bag, and the house when we got home - it's gone. Literally, the shoe has vanished. Oh well, what's a little dirt on a pink sock.

We had a great time and will return to enemy territory again soon.

A Perfect Fall Day

I have made it a point this year to be available to watch friends children when they need help because I know from last year how stressful it can be to find backup childcare. Anna, the daughter of Lisa (whom I worked with last year), is in kindergarden, so she came to play with us on the recent teacher work day. It was a beautiful fall day, so Anna came up with the idea of raking up all the leaves in the front yard so we could jump in them. I promise - it was her idea to rake the yard - I was not employing child labor strategically.

Not only did we rake up all the leaves and jump in them, Gillian and Anna had so much fun, we spread them all out to repeat the process.

We raked up those leaves and threw them around three times.

Other than getting to spend some great time outside in the beautiful weather, I learned some things about Gillian: she LOVES other kids & she loves nature. Not that I hadn't seen her play with other kids before, but these last few weeks such joy comes for her getting to be with kids of all ages. It's a good thing we have playgroup! On the topic of nature - she loves it. She wasn't bothered with leaves in her hair or down her pants, she embraced it all with a smile!