Traveling with a Toddler

If anyone needs tips on how to travel over 700 miles in a car with a 2 year old puking most of the way, please let me know.

Christmas Wishes

Earlier today I asked Elise what she wanted for Christmas. Her reply was, "cheese." At least I won't have to do too much shopping.

Chasing Elise

Elise just figured out how to open doors. Needless to say, I am doing a little more running around these days. Fortunately, she has not figured out how to open a locked door yet. But, I'm sure that day is just around the corner which means I will once again find Elise in the garage running around the car.

Thanksgiving Weekend Extravaganza

What a wonderful Thanksgiving our family had this year! Two year ago, Jeremy and I decided that we were not going to travel home for Thankgivings since it was a long trip and we would be traveling soon after the holiday for Christmas. This has been very practical and a way for us to start developing our own family traditions, but I love Thanksgiving with a huge group of people, so it's been a little sad to not be around our big families. The first year we stayed here in Memphis Elise was only 2 weeks old so we spent a quiet (and very tired!) Thanksgiving Day at home just the 3 of us. Last year, we hosted friends from church (Joy, James, Wayne, Sandy, & Lindsay) who also had out of town family and were by themselves here in Memphis. And this year, we again hosted Joy and James along with BFWW and family. Dave, Jana, Nora, Ryann, and Georgia came down from the Chicago area to spend the entire Thanksgiving weekend with us. It was such a great weekend and I was very sad that they had to leave. So sad, in fact, that I have been moping around the house for the past week and haven't gotten anything done. Anyways, it was loads of fun and below are some random pictures of the weekend. Please visit BFWW's blog to read a very detailed day-by-day account of our time spent together. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, also!


Taking a walk along the Mississippi before dinner
The cooks hard at work

Nora with Yummy the Large (If you look closely, you can spy Jana making the gravy she described on her blog. She doesn't appear to be suffering too much...)
Making Christmas cookies on Friday

Anxiously waiting for the cookies to be done

Dave and Nora in front of Graceland

Nora, Dave, Ryann, and Elise taking a little rest