Quotables

Meredith, upon arriving at our East Memphis destination, and after asking "how much longer?" approximately 67 times: "Mom. Is this South America?"

Madeline, after I said, "Let's go kiddos": "WE'RE NOT KIDDOS. WE'RE LAREAUS."

Saturday with the Spickler Boys

Speed racers. Approximately 200 laps of the kitchen/living/hall/guest bedroom were made.


Sharing a snack of crackers cheese. As we say.

Advent: Expectation, Anticipation, Preparation

This year, we celebrated Thanksgiving at home. Because of that, we were able to start Christmas earlier than ever. Our Christmas tree came home from Easy Way on November 27. Pandora was set to the the "Frank Sinatra Holiday" station, and good times were had. It should be noted that Madeline pretty much potty trained herself over Thanksgiving, and her method of potty training involves wearing only a pull-up when at home.

Concentrating.

Just right.

You've got an ornament on your face, Meredith.

We even made it to the Peabody this year--our first time to see the tons (almost literally?) of gingerbread and the wall of a Christmas tree. It's been a beautiful Advent season, and we're grateful to God for the way he's blessed us with time and space and peace to enjoy it all this year.

Doesn't Take Naps Anymore

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Mommy, Daddy, and Mer at Nut Remix

Chris was just about to smile...And mommy was just about to get in trouble for using her cell phone...


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What Happened in November

WARNING: If you aren't ready for some SERIOUS Lareau blogging, then click away now. This may be my longest post ever.

It's been a long time since we really documented anything, and there's lots of growing going on here. I'd better get busy. November was crazy because Meredith got sick for 10 days, we all helped do a big fundraiser at Mer's school, and then I got sick for 7 days. Oy vey. So here are some pictures to trigger my memory. Because despite nagging fevers, it really was a great month.

We'll cheat a little. Cause it's not just November we missed. Here's Mer dressed up as a "Regular" Fairy (this will make sense in a minute) and Madi dressed up as a tiny dancer.




And here's Mer dressed up as Superhero Tooth Fairy for a Halloween party. (She's over there on the right, looking more princess bride-y than anything, but she never hesitated to describe herself as Superhero Tooth Fairy). I don't think I need to mention that this was her idea. Lesson learned (not that it's not perfectly okay to be the Superhero Tooth Fairy): don't allow children to nap until it's time for a Halloween party. They will absolutely wake up with insane costume requests, and you will not be able to rise to the occasion. This is experience from 2 years and 4 Halloween parties, so take notes, folks.




Kayle and Rick came for Thanksgiving. It was so wonderful to have them here. Kayle and Mer made the pumpkin pie, which started out as "aw, this will give them bonding time," and then I went to bed with a fever. It ended up as "girls, yall better make the pumpkin pie, or there won't be any dessert." They rose to the challenge and it was perfect.


The girls had lots of good play time outside because...


we smoked the turkey. Credit where it's due: Chris smoked the turkey. And he did an amazing job. It was INCREDIBLE.


However, it started out purple. You don't see this in the food magazines, folks. This is what cranberry brine does to the turkey. But it was all good. Trust me.


See? Oh yeah, babe.


We're thankful for aunts and cousins, cause otherwise, Meredith would soooo rarely have her hair dreams come true.


So Mer's hair looked amazing, and so did the table. All thanks to Kayle. Thank you God for our family!

You know what? I'm stopping there. I'm not sure yall can handle all this. I'll be back with more, soon.