The family portrait

Taking EB to see Santa was similar to my first roller coaster experience. My dad took me to Six Flags and talked a big game about the “Scream Machine.” I was so excited because I was rather adventurous and maybe slightly on the tomboy side. However, when I got in line and saw “the hill” I remember having a mild panic attack………Fast forward 20+ years later with me standing in line with my child after building Santa up for a good several days and she was FIRED UP!

UNTIL…..
…He emerged from some random door. I thought I would be “wise” and walk her around to where she could watch the scene and be familiar wit hit. All in hopes that she would sashay her little self up there, tell the man she wanted Thomas (OF COURSE), get an adorable picture, she could ride the carousel for being good and we’d be done with the mall for the rest of the month.

FALSE! FALSE! FALSE! SISTER GIRL clung to her dad as if Santa would soon feed her to the reindeer. AND....There was me, “Jason! Just put her down. She’ll be fine. PUT HER DOWN AND LET’S GET THIS PICTURE.” I never said I was SUPER sensitive.
Fast forward again…….. Here is her our Santa 2010 picture…. AN ENTIRE FAMILY PORTRAIT WITH SANTA! This is what I get……Good thing I was dressed and not in my typical weekend way. Wouldn’t you know, after the fact, the little one got brave and wanted to go back and tell him one more thing……. So, I’m sorry to the family who had a two year old dart into their family moment with Santa to tell him “one more thing.”

Overtime

I’d like to know who thought of the elf phenomenon. Also, I’d like to know why they thought that was a good idea. I bet it was a grandparent…Aha!! As an attempt to spoil that precious grandchild just a TAD more and make momma lose her last bit of Christmas spirit, a grandmother, nonetheless, came up with the elf. That grandma is probably sitting fat and happy in front of her fireplace because those things may be more popular than the fat ol’ jolly guy himself.

Last year our elf appeared on our doorstep after Christmas. She got there by the help of our dear neighbors. Do not misunderstand, for that I’m grateful, it’s just the phenomenon as a whole that baffles me. Since she arrived post-Christmas, I tucked her away (both mentally and physically). She jumped out at me this year as I unpacked a box. Thusly, the conversation began with JB Clark regarding our own “family elf.” Within reason (quite frankly there is a fine line between celebrating these secular things and that of the REAL, true reason we celebrate Christmas and every other day of the year), we introduced our new family elf to EB. It took her several days to pin down a name. I called her “elf” and EB had a hard time understanding why her name couldn’t just be that, “ELF!” Anyway, she’s an endearing creature with her orange hair, so we went with “Wooocy.” In adult terms, that would be “Lucy.” So, there began the adventures of “Lucy the Elf.”

SIGH.

Lucy is still an elf in training, or so I tell myself. She is simply around to watch and listen and report Evie’s behavior to Santa. She appears in the darndest places and watches Evie from her perch…whatever and wherever that perch may be. With that said, Lucy has been working overtime this year….just in time for the “terrific” twos. These speak quite plainly for themselves, but I'm sure my opinion will be thrown in...

Evie feeds Gus as her "chore." Woocy is a friendly reminder that GB's belly is likely as empty as his bowl.

Stage fright? It's ok, Woocy doesn't care about adults tee teeing, just EB.

I'm not one of my favorite things, but I liked this picture of us.

There ya have it. Our little Christmas elf who has had to work EXTRA hard this year.

Tis the season to be thankful

It seems like a year ago, but we gave thanks and enjoyed it. Evidently I had some pre-season eggnog (or something) and thought it would be a good idea to not only do Thanksgiving at my house, but to also cook the dressing. GET BACK! No one got food poisoning, to my knowledge, and it turned out well.
The HasenBlackSanderson 2010 Thanksgiving in pictures:

And then the tryptophan kicked in.... and our brains made our bodies do weird things...

Like play weird games...GUESS WHO?

His hair is longer, wavier (?) and much fuller than mine. I was slightly jealous and not thankful.

Jason is jealous as well....he longs for long, wavy locks...or just locks period.

The tryptophan didn't do its tricks with this little lady...

She learned very lady-like gestures instead...

And...before this day was over, this pair earned a new nickname: Claysus and his disciple. It fits. This Thanksgiving EB was thankful for cornbread (her favorite) and her "Unc Cay."

And.....this fellow was UNIMPRESSED by the day overall. So much so that he did not even lick the crumbs that are beside him on the floor (MY OCD IS NOW KICKING INTO HIGH GEAR).

Dec. 1

So far behind….so little time……HELLO! We have lots to catch up on, friends. We celebrated Thanksgiving, got in the Christmas spirit and, speaking of spirited, my sassy spirited, but sweet, girl TURNED TWO! Where to go first..??..?? We’ll just go backwards. That sweet little Evie Black turned two on Dec. 1. I was so proud of myself for being strong… until I woke her up and she flashed a sleepy smile and said, “I two today.” Yes, yes you are! You know I like to live in the past and have this love/hate relationship with time because it just goes way too quickly. However, this fall EB has really grown so much developmentally. Her comprehension, vocabulary, knowledge, retention, etc. has just really flourished. She is hilarious to us in that we are now at the point that 1. There is NO telling what will come out of her mouth 2. She is ALWAYS listening, soaking in words and VERY likely to repeat them at a later time. 3. In her sponge-like state, she repeats most things..GOOD AND BAD. 4. Lastly, her reactions and facial expressions are PRICELESS. She is a good mix of a two year old little girl often times with the reaction of an 80 year old lady. Hilarious. A wonderful, fresh, exciting reminder of just how intricate and fascinating our Creator is…..also, such a great time of year to focus on that, I’d say.

We had doughnuts at school.....

...with our teachers and everyone wore hats.

So, my little girly tomboy turned two. We had our family over for cake and ice cream. Evie is obsessed with two things right now in her life- Barney and Thomas the Train. Barney was not a cake option, so the gal got Thomas. Don’t laugh, although it’s tempting. The ONLY thing that allowed me to carry through was the joy on her face when she saw Thomas on her VERY.OWN.CAKE. So, it was a done deal. Thomas it was. Ohhhhh the excitement……Ohhhhhh the thrill when we picked that cake up. The other “theme” (oh how I HATE “themes”) of her second birthday seemed to be “bouncy.” She walked away with a little toddler trampoline and “jump house,” as she describes it, from her Grands. So, all things dear to her were obtained by simply turning two….

Evie really only cared that two poeple came over to see her.....

This took an act of congress.....

AND this was a NO GO! I'm not strangling, clawing or choking her, just laughing hard and trying not to drop her. Never mind the death grip.....

Laissez les Bon Temps Roulez…

And we did! JB and I headed to Cajun country two weekends ago to witness the nuptials of the sweet Mula/Lewis family. We left EB in the care of her grands and we headed west. Um….NOLA is a long way away. That’s what I deducted from the drive. I really miss EB when the attachment has been cut from my hip, but it was so nice to sleep in. Our schedules have been INSANE since September, so we got to sleep, take life at a different pace for less than 48 hours and how sweet it was to do so! I also deducted that I could be Cajun. I love a lot of the same things as those Cajun folk:

Like...COLOR!

SAINTS! I think I sang the loudest at the piano bar when they sang "When the Saints come marching in."

Balconies!

Jambalaya. I ordered it for EVERY meal.

DOORS!

This door has a round opening just big enough for my face to see who's there and say, "Go away!"

Ok, so maybe not this. No matter how many years of
"experience." It was just a pretty COLORful sign.

He liked me too. He tried to smile despite his blinders.

We meant to buy this for Evie because it perfectly describes her.

And…. Remember, we were really there for a wedding…..

Is this not fabulous? Oh my!

We were excited to see each other.

We may or may not have totally stolen her from her guests. We love this gal dearly. She is a huge part of our lives. What an honor to share this special day with her.

This puts "something blue" on a WHOLE new level.

Bliss! I love them and we could NOT be happier for these newlyweds.

See! Proof that I was in NOLA. (I pretty much saw this and stopped traffic...all for the sake of the blog)

AND..... This one...didn't miss a beat. I think she wishes I would leave her every weekend. She came home FULL of personality.