Ellie

Ellie is hands-down the happiest child I have ever (EVER) met...so this is just another ordinary day of happiness for her! I have no words that are strong enough to describe the joy that she brings our family every single day. It is hard to believe that she has only been a part of this family for nine months....it's hard to remember what life was like before Ellie.

Bringing our sled---okay, a trashcan lid---out of the basement to take a ride. Note: Our new dog-door is in the background...that story is in another post.

Ready?

You betcha!

Total happiness.

Quincy

Radiant in getting to play in the snow again! This is Quincy's fourth big snowfall, but I am not sure if she remembers the others. Like Ellie, Quincy is an absolute joy...her giggles sound like an Elf (other people's words, but it is true)...and when she does laugh, it makes others laugh along with her! Three years ago I never would have imagined that life could ever be this perfect...and I am not just saying that for the purpose of a post...it really is true! Getting ready to sled down the hill in our backyard...

The end of the sled ride, at the bottom of the hill...

Quincy and Ellie doing what they do best....being sisters (yes, those are Ellie's feet sticking out from under Quincy).

Snow!

Otis, being Otis....

Cosmo, being Cosmo...

Our front yard the night it snowed (with our great snowman in the background).

Our backyard...it was soooo pretty!

Otis...one handsome dog.

Our first Snowman in the New House

Ohhhhh...Ellie got to see her first real snow! And it was PERFECT snow...super light and fluffy---just right for building a snowman!

Ballet and Puzzles

Quincy has the flexibility of a rubber band. Seriously, she just bends and stretches all over the place, pirouetting and dancing like the characters in the books she reads. This summer we are finally beginning ballet lessons for her...I can NOT wait to see her in her little outfit...

Ellie, on the other hand, has the flexibility of her mother, which is not great anymore now that I am 44 (!) years old. But she is great at a lot of other things, soccer and jig-saw puzzles among them. Give Ellie a puzzle and she will work on it for hours until it is finished. That girl has great concentration skills!

TBS Movie and a Makeover Shoot

A lonnngggg story, but we were contacted by WTBS to see if our family wanted to participate in a dog-themed Movie-and-a-Makeover. We didn't know anything about this program, so we went to their website and did some research. The MMO show airs Saturdays at 11 am and shows a room make-over in conjunction with a movie. The makeovers that we saw online were awesome so we jumped at the chance to participate. Wellllll..fast forward to the present day: Since the downturn in the economy, their makeovers have turned into product-placement makeovers. Fourteen people descended on our house for close to 12 hours last week to film commercials for dog-related products, anywhere from Purina food products to a dog door. Our make-over? A dog door. Yep....a dog door. Even though we didn't get a 10K makeover, we had a GREAT time and I got to pick the designer's brain about paint colors for our walls (which saved me having to hire---and pay--- a designer to come out to the house this summer to pick colors).

This was the scene while they were trying to shoot a commercial for the dog-food. Turner people flew in from NEW YORK for this shoot...it was surreal. Forteen people to film a dog food commercial?!?

One of the TBS people arranging the dog-food just-so for the shoot. This took about an hour. I am not kidding. An HOUR.

Ellie reading to the on-camera designer, Brian. Brian and his partner want kids in the near future super-bad so Brian couldn't get enough of ours. Ellie has a grape in her mouth...hence the bulge in her cheek.

Cosmo enjoying some of the perks given to us by TBS....

Christmas Break Project 3: Quincy's Room

I took an art class last semester and painted the large (flower) picture above for Quincy. She didn't like it at first, but now she says she does. Huh, that's a three-year-old for you.

Quincy's new fabric headboard. It is really, really pretty in person....waayyy prettier than the photo is making it appear. And it only took a couple of 2x4's, a staple gun, a sewing maching, and a glue gun. Martha would be proud.

A close-up shot of the fabric. It is a heavy pink and white-ish upholstery fabric.

The headboard fabric complements the chair I sewed a slip-cover for a couple of years ago (for Quincy's room in our old house).

Christmas Break Project 2: Ellie's Room

Ellie, being the older child, was given the larger of the two Jack-and-Jill bedrooms (it has a walk-in closet) when we figured out that she and Quincy needed to be separated at night (all they did was play...they never slept!). This is the room that Quincy had last year.

I inherited a beautiful chair (now in the spare bedroom) and settee set from my grandparents but could never decide what I wanted to do with them. Then I stumbled across this GREAT pink, cotton, shaggy fabric. Above is what came of my vision. Ellie LOVES it and both she and Quincy sit on it daily reading their little Bob Books to each other. It is too, too cute!

A close-up of the fabric.

Christmas Break Project 1: The Spare Bedroom

Last summer Quincy and I were laying on the spare bedroom bed after her nap time chatting about 3 year-old stuff when Quincy stated, "This room is ugly." She was right...it was all brown and boring and totally ugly. I just hadn't gotten around to doing anything with it up to then as I was busy with other rooms and our growing family. Well, a coat of paint later and I was on my way to creativity. Last month, I found some beautiful chartreuse raised velvet fabric and reupholstered a chair that I inherited from my grandparents. The chair makes the room. The next step is to find some fabric to make a headboard similiar to the one I made for Quincy's room.

A close-up of the fabric (with my head-shadow in the photo).

Opening Presents

They opened all their presents as a team....they really are that close now (which is a big, wonderful change from six moths ago).

Thank you sweet Lucy and Aunt B for our great t-shirts!

Christmas Morning

Has Santa arrived?

Yes! And Quincy runs to see what he left her...

Ellie, on the other hand, still has fresh memories of her traumatic visit with Santa the week before in her head (shouldn't their be sugar plum fairies in there instead?)....she isn't so sure about everything.

But she finally decides that Santa isn't actually in our house anymore so she makes it over to the tree and they both discover that Santa loved the cookies and milk they left for him. End note: Mommy will be hitting the gym extra hard this week.

Christmas Eve

I just realized the humor of the above photo: Santa had already arrived but his cookies hadn't been eaten...I corrected it by the next morning.