there isn't much new news since the last time i posted, but i thought i would give a quick update of our weekend and what not...

on saturday we set up mary claire's new 'big girl bed', however it is in the guest room for now. we are going to wait another month or so before we make the switch. we have also purchased a dresser and night stand for her new room. the main item missing now is a book shelf and of course all the little things like bedding, curtains, wall decor, etc. the new baby, lilly jane, will be taking all of mary claire's old furniture.

saturday night dusty and leah came over and dan grilled kebobs for dinner. then we spent the rest of the night playing the best game ever...bananagrams!

now that it is back to being shorts and t-shirt weather we have been able to spend our days playing outside. this afternoon we rode our bikes just up the street and spent a couple of hours at the park. there were a set of twin girls that looked to be about six or so that pretty much took mc under their wing for a while. they helped her climb up the slide stairs, they pushed her in the swings, and basically helped her navigate the whole park. it was really cute.

here's a little video i took this weekend of mary claire singing her abc's. she is usually a little better at it, but she always gets a little silly when i get out the camera.

christmas and the like.

once again, i have been experiencing some computer problems that have kept me from posting for a while. hopefully now that the mac store has basically built me a brand new computer, that won't be happening again for a while. anyway, although it is a little late, i wanted to write about our christmas/new years.....

this year for christmas, we were fortunate enough to have dan's parents, nana and doc, drive down to orlando to join us. while they were here we didn't actually do too much, but it was nice to just relax and enjoy the holiday. on christmas eve, mary claire helped doc make cinnamon rolls to have for breakfast the next morning. that evening, we took a walk around the neighborhood to look at christmas lights. once we got home everyone got to open one gift, which has always been a tradition with my family. also a tradition from my family, the girls and the boys each wore matching pajamas. before putting mary claire to bed, we had doc tell the christmas story.

christmas day ,of course, was filled with opening stockings and gifts, playing with all the new toys, and eating way too much. mary claire really enjoyed the first half of the morning, but by the time nap time rolled around she was more than ready for a break. i think it was a little too much excitement for her, not to mention the enormous amount of candy and goodies she consumed. i won't bore you with listing every christmas gift that was given/received, but i will name a few. Mary Claire got an easel with a chalkboard on one side and dry erase on the other, a rocking horse, a chair, a step stool, a piano, blocks, a back pack, and several other things. dan and i got a surround sound system, a record player, a new and larger hard drive for my macbook, a serving platter, etc. (thanks everyone for all the gifts! we have really enjoyed each and everyone one of them!)

for dinner that evening we had a pork roast, roasted new potatoes, asparagus, baked pears, stuffing, rolls, and apple turnovers for dessert. we haven't really established a traditional christmas dinner menu yet, but the meal was definitely delicious if i do say so myself. overall, we had a wonderful christmas. we are truly blessed.

for new years, our friends austin, tawnie, and skyler came down from alabama to celebrate. (if you guys read this, we really appreciated you coming to visit. feel free to come back anytime!) they along with dusty, leah, carissa, brian, and brian's brother mike brought in the new year at our house. everyone brought appetizers in lieu of having dinner, which actually resulted in me eating way more than i should have. (i guess i'm excused because i am eating for two!) we also shot off fireworks, most of which the boys aimed at our neighbors down the street who were also shooting fireworks. by the end of the night/early morning all the boys were playing poker, while all the girls were falling asleep in the den.

in other news, i don't think i have mentioned on here that the new baby is definitely going to be a girl! her name will be lilly jane after my dad's mother. poor dan is going to be outnumbered even more, but i think it suits him well. the pregnancy couldn't be better. in the last few weeks i have started being able to feel the baby kick quite a bit. we are currently working on getting the nursery set up and updating mary claire's room. in the next month or so we are going to move mc to a 'big girl' bed, which i am a little nervous about. she is also potty training right now, so she is going to be going through quite a few big changes between now and the arrival of the new baby.

in other mary claire news, she has quite a few phrases she loves to use right now that i think are really cute. for instance, when something is hot she says it is 'hot cocoa' (she actually came up with that all on her own). when she does something wrong she says 'i'm so sorry momma' and then gives me kisses. and my favorite is that she will say 'love you moon back', which is her version of love you to the moon and back from one of her books. she is also becoming pretty good at singing a few more songs. her favorite right now is the abc song. she can also identify quite a few letters and she gets really excited about pointing out signs and such that have letters.

i guess that is it for now, but this time it shouldn't be too long before i post again.