This week marked the first Thanksgiving in 3 years that we have traveled to Fayette, AL, and on to Columbus, MS, for Thanksgiving with Brian's extended family. We had the privilege of spending almost 3 days with Brian's Mamaw. The girls had a wonderful time. Ellie worries about Mamaw being all alone. Mollie had a blast exploring the house.

We all drove to Columbus late Thursday morning for Thanksgiving dinner with Brian's family. There were 26 adults and 8 kids. It was quite the adventure. After a little time to settle down, Ellie had a blast playing with her cousins. It was great for her to be able to play outside and run around with kids who were about her age.

Friday, the girls spent the day with Pawpaw and Daddy while I went to Tuscaloosa to shop with Brian's mom and grandmother. It was fun to get out. However, the crowds late in the day on Friday were a bit much even for me! I have to admit though that I really missed my early morning shopping adventures that my mama and I usually go on. Yes, we are typically some of those who are out at 4 or 5 in the morning. To me, this is hunting season. It's the hunt for the perfect bargain. It's the the fight to get the last one of the shelf. It's the victory that comes from SUCCESS and I love it! We did a trial run the weekend before Thanksgiving and were quite successful. Shopping should be considered a sport.

It was definitely an adventure this weekend. It's good to be back home in Little Rock and getting ready for Christmas.

I completely forgot to update everyone on Mollie's tooth! We went back to the dentist last Friday morning very much prepared for the tooth extraction. I was incredibly surprised and grateful when Dr. Friend told me that after examining Mollie's tooth it looks like it is stabilizing itself! Praise God! We go back in a month for Dr. Friend to double check it. However, he feels confident that we are good to go! I have to admit that I'm not sure who was more relieved, me or Dr. Friend. He told me it was going to break his heart to upset Mollie. It's so great to have a dentist who cares! Thanks to all of you for your prayers.

by the chimney with care, but how many times have I answered the question today...."Mama, why do we hang stockings here if Santa doesn't come to our house? Does he only come to Mom and Papa's house?"

It's been a day of 20 questions as the girls assisted me in my efforts to get all of the Christmas decorations set up. Yes, I know it's a little early. However, my goal was to get it all up before we head to Fayette, Alabama, to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with Brian's family. The "family" tree as Ellie termed it was up by Saturday night. Brian was sweet enough to take Ellie and brave Garden Ridge to buy a new tree for us. They did a great job picking it out. However, Ellie's first choice was a multi-color tree that was mainly pink. That's my girl!

Ellie's tree is now up. It's the mini-me to the family tree. Ellie is super proud of it, and quickly began taking ornaments off the family tree that she thought needed to be on her tree! Mollie's comment about the trees was simply, "that's pretty!" (By the way, she's said it several times. Remember that everything she says is said over and over) That was all Mollie could say as she looked at the lights and ornaments. It has been so much fun to watch her really discover and enjoy Christmas for the first time.

This afternoon I caught the girls playing with their stuffed puppy dogs under Ellie's tree. They had lined them up under the tree and were having a great time. I can already tell we are in for quite an adventure the next few weeks.

I'm not really good at getting photos where I want them on our blog, so I'm just going to put them in their own post.

Pics: Mollie post her pretend hair cut, Ellie's feast, Mollie's thankful feast and Ellie's school project.

Mrs. Laws, Ellie's K4 teacher, has been telling me that I should write a book of Ellie's sayings. My thought is that this is probably the best forum for this. So here it goes...

While on the way to the car line and bravely climbing the stairs with a sore knee, Mrs. Laws told the kids, "Oh, I think my knee feels better." Ellie's response, "Good! Now we don't have to pray for that!" Mrs. Laws said it was like she was checking prayer requests off her list and considered this one done!

On Wednesday this week, Ellie wore knee socks for the first time. During share time at school, Ellie told her class as she kicked her leg up behind her, "These are my new sock knees!"

On Thursday, Ellie told Mrs. Laws our plans for her birthday party...instead of cake we're having "snores" aka smores!

The past two weeks have been incredibly interesting ones for me. They have been quite the roller coaster and have left me wondering, "what next?" However, I have to admit that I'm terrified to ask! Let me begin at the beginning.....

I thought I'd share a couple of pictures that Alli Segars took of the kids while we were waiting for Blake's party to start at Jump Zone on Saturday morning. We had a great time. Ellie had tons of fun playing on all the inflatables and running and sliding. Brittney (aka boo boo) took Mollie down one of the slides. When they came down, Mollie said, "I don't wike it." We all laughed. Somehow Britt got Mollie to let her take her down one more time. Afterwards, Mollie went running to Alli (Britt's sister aka A-A) and said, "A-A, Boo Boo go there; I don't wike it." If she said it once, she said it a hundred times! It was great. Here are a couple of pictures of the birthday boy with the girls. We've had the privilege to spend time with Blake since he was a tiny baby. It's so hard to believe he is 4!

It seems that in our household these days, I am required more often to be creative in my punishments for Ellie. I have to admit that these punishments are generally few and far between. She has made incredible strides in the last several weeks and is maturing daily. She is an amazing kid. My dad refers to Ellie as being "scary smart." He is so right. She doesn't miss a beat. In fact, she tends to be a step ahead of me, anticipating what comes next. I've been impressed with her poise and her confidence. She demonstrated this today when she went to school. Her sweet teacher Mrs. Laws is out this week spending time with her daughter before her wedding on Saturday. Mrs. Cox has stepped in as the substitute. Ellie was so brave this morning and went off with her class very easily this morning. They all came out with smiles at the end of the day. My guess is that is a very good sign.

After this good day, I was pleased to see that Ellie came home with an awesome attitude. We spent a couple of hours at mama and dad's visiting and eating lunch. While we were there, it started sprinkling. When we came out of the house to get back in the car, Ellie thought it would be a good idea to lick her fingers and smear the rain drops and then smear her spit fingers across the inside of the window. As fate would have it, Ellie looked at me and said, "I guess I probably shouldn't have done that. Maybe I should clean the windows like I cleaned the mirrors?" I told her that yes after nap time she would clean the windows in my van since she made them nasty. I was honestly trying not to laugh. So after we ran our errands after nap, Ellie took the paper towels and window cleaner out to the van and by herself (much to her disappointment) cleaned the windows in the van.

I just love Ellie. However, I must ask: What is it with kids and windows/mirrors?

As is our custom each night before plopping Mollie into the bathtub, I sit her on the potty with the hopes that one day she will make the connection that it is very important that we potty BEFORE we get into the tub and not while we are in the tub. I know Ellie would very much appreciate that this be the order in which things happen. Anyway, last night when we followed our routine, Mollie pottied in the potty! We were all very surprised. However, I think Mollie was the most surprised. Ellie, being the doting big sister, cheered her on. Then, this afternoon she asked to please go "pot pot." Nothing happened, but at least she is interested. I think that this is a good thing. However, I'll have to let you know.

This afternoon when Mollie woke up from her nap, she sat quietly in her bed. I could faintly hear her little voice, so I left her in her bed for a bit. When Ellie and I walked in to get her, Mollie was sitting up in the bed. Her tiny little voice was saying, "Rock, rock, rock, rock" as she sweetly rocked her baby doll. It's always special to find one of the angels being such a sweetheart.

As we all know, Thanksgiving is quickly approaching. Ellie's class has been spending the last week discussing the Mayflower and the Pilgrims. These lessons have been incredibly exciting for E. It's been fun to listen to her recount what life on the Mayflower was like and that the Pilgrims left England because their king wouldn't let the people go to the church they wanted to go to because "he wanted them to go to his church." I about lost it today when I picked E up from school. She came out of the building wearing her pilgrim hat with "Mistress Ellie" written across the top. It was the cutest thing ever! They've also started working on their Indian costumes to wear to their Thankful Feast. According to E, this has been the most fun! We are all anxiously anticipating what Ellie's Indian name will be. Mrs. Laws will give each of the kids a special name. Stay tuned to find out what E's name will be.

Quick update on Brian's adventures at work. The FCC approved the Verizon purchase of Alltel. From what we have heard the speed of the acquisition will begin to pick up greatly over the next few weeks. The deal is on track to be completed by mid-December. His group enjoyed a team-building exercise today: pizza, guitar hero and my chocolate chip cookies all without leaving the conference room. :)

My little world continues to move at the speed of light as I watch the kids and Brian go about their business. Work has slowed down a bit in some ways. However, I have to admit that I am so very ready for the Christmas break and time at home. I was thrilled today to have time to clean out Ellie's room without any helpers. The goal is to prep the room for E's birthday and Christmas. The day was made perfect by getting to spend some time with the girls tonight at Holiday House - the annual shopping event sponosored by the Little Rock Junior League. I always love all the interesting and special finds that are there. It was so fun to enjoy some girl time. While I was playing, the girls spent some time with daddy. I think they had a good time.

Until next time...

When asked what her name is, Mollie typically just smiles. If you ask if she is Mollie, she'll point to herself and say "My." As I played with Mollie just before nap on Monday, I asked if she was Joe, Bob, Frank or George. The two names she could say were Joe and Bob. When I would ask if she was Joe, her response was "I Joe." She did the same when asked if she was Bob. So now, if you ask Mollie who she is, don't be surprised when she says, "I BobJoe." She knows she'll get a laugh.

I'd like to say that we live a relatively calm, serene life. ha! We do have a very happy life with two healthy girls. We have been blessed with a beautiful home and an incredible family. However, there exists among us those nasty little things in life that bother one of us but not all of us. I've dedicated the last few weeks to convincing the girls that picking your nose is one of the grossest things that you can do. Apparently, my repeated reminders have fallen on deaf ears.

This morning while attempting to fix the angels' hair, I noticed a gross object on the bathroom mirror. Much to my horror, I discovered that it was a booger wiped there by Ellie. Nasty!! I was speechless. Ellie quickly confessed to this indiscretion and admitted to wiping snot in other places the day before. Fortunately, the Lord gave me the quickness of mind to tell Ellie that her punishment was to clean all of the mirrors in the house when she got home from school.

She quickly protested my reprimand by telling me that her daddy taught her to pick her nose and that he had told her to wipe her findings wherever she was. Brian was getting ready for work and overheard the conversation. He was yelling, "I did not; I don't do that!"

I finally convinced Ellie that this was totally unacceptable behavior and was able to compose myself long enough to fix the girls' hair. After I finished, I put my head down on the counter and fell out laughing. Ellie asked if I was crying, I told her that I was just so upset. Oh, well. A lesson learned!

Apparently, when Ellie got to school today, she walked up to Mrs. Laws (hands on her hips) and relayed the entire story. Fortunately, Mrs. Laws found the entire thing to be terribly funny. Oh, well. Once again, out of the mouth of babes!!