Merry Chocolate

We're really working on teaching the true meaning of Christmas to the girls over here. To Kate - she gets that it's Jesus' birthday. To Anneliese . . . she gets that there's lots of chocolate. So - from Anneliese to you, Merry Chocolate Every One!

p.s. I've also been trying to upload a super cute video of the girls dancing together to Christmas music - but it's so stinkin' big that I can't get it to upload. Anyone know how to make that thing smaller?

Happy Birthday Kate!

Giddyup!

We decided to do our first big "not in our house" birthday party this year at Cash Lovell Stables here in Winston and boy, was it a hit! We had it in November and made it a joint party for Kate and Anneliese. There was horse brushing, horse feeding, horse crafting, horse face painting and LOTS of horse riding. Yee Haw!

More Disney Pictures

Another batch of Disney pictures featuring Sniffle Sniffle. You may be saying to yourself (as all the princesses said to Kate) - "That looks an awful lot like a baby Simba doll." Well, you would be wrong. It's Sniffle Sniffle - don't ask, we have no idea.

There's just one problem

Today we had lunch with Omi and Papa (my parents) at Costco. (Yeah - I said Costco. It's good and it's cheap - a point not lost on Kate as you'll see below.) The purpose of the lunch was for Kate to tell Omi and Papa about Disney World. Papa suggested that maybe next time, they could go with us - and this was Kate's response. "Well . . . there's just one problem about that. It's really expensive." Gee, think Blake's rubbed off on her? Oh, my future penny pincher. And here are some of our favorite pictures from the trip. (If you click on the slide show it will open up the web album with all the pictures from the trip. I think.)

Kate's Disney Favorites

Kate loves anything scary and "smooky" (spooky). As we found out in Disney World, the smookier the better. Here are her favorites from the trip - getting fancy at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, Snow White's Scary Adventure, the Haunted Mansion and the baby Simba that she named Sniffle Sniffle (yeah - we have no idea where that came from). And don't worry, the 5,000 additional pictures will make their appearance over the next few days.

No Anneliese Allowed

So Kate is really into anything that's not allowed. Specifically the signs that have a circle with a line through it - like, no U-turn or no smoking signs. She's taken this a step further and decided that a "no Anneliese allowed" sign would be a perfect way to communicate to her little sister that she is not to "mess with her stuff." In this case, her chalking of the DogCatHorse Unicorn. Obviously.

Halloween Fun

Dogoween. It's our new Halloween tradition. There's a radio station here in town that hosts Dogoween every year and I've always wanted to go, so the girls and I decided to head out early Friday morning to see all the dogs dressed up for Halloween trying to win the $1,000 prize. (with that much money on the line, you know some time went into the costumes.) Really - it was just an easy way to pet a LOT of dogs, which is the most fun for Kate and Anneliese. And that night we got all dressed up (mean lion and fancy ballerina) to score some candy. yum.

Sorry May (and sometimes Fletch)

Poor, poor Maybelle. While she has cost us a (not so) small fortune in medical bills - she has more than paid us back in patience with the girls. Here are some of her finest moments. (and if you're tempted to call animal control on us - I can assure you that she was rescued mere moments after each of these pictures were taken.)
p.s. Kate just said, "Anneliese just freaks me out!" Yes, Kate - sometimes she freaks me out, too.

Just waiting on her Oscar

Kate was born to direct. At first I thought she might be an author or storyteller because of her complete love of and devotion to books. Now I realize those were just screenplays. Here's how 101 Dalmations (+ 1 more - which was Kate) played out over a couple of hours last Friday: Kate as director (mostly in character as "1 more" barking her commands at me (the crew). Occasionally she would throw me a line if she needed me to fill in for one of the characters - but my main duty was to arrange the 101 dalmations into scenes for her to play out. Aaaaaaaannnnnnnnd ACTION:

This is Perdita birthing all 99 puppies (+ 1 more, Kate) Poor Perdita! (Oh, and yes, Kate did pick out her jammies - why do you ask?)

This is all 99 puppies "drinking milk from her boobs" (-Kate) with the loving support of Pongo. Really poor, poor Perdita!

All 99 puppies watching TV at their home. (Notice that Pongo and Perdita are in the picture this time. You'll need this information later.)

Shhhhh! The puppies are sleeping.

Oh no! The puppies have been stolen and taken to Cruella DeVil's mansion!

At least they can watch TV at the mansion! I had originally put Pongo and Perdita in this scene - like the previous TV scene. Sadly, Kate had to come out of character to reprimand me for not remembering that Pongo and Perdita never made it to the mansion. I hate disappointing the boss. (notice that all the very small puppies have been confined to the lunchbox for ease of location change. that was the crew's idea)

Quick puppies! Follow Sgt. Tibbs out of the mansion!

Whew! The puppies have excaped. For now.......

Finally - the end of those stinkin' beach pictures

Since we're too poor to afford real portraits this year - I decided to take a crack at it myself at the beach. Seriously - taking a good picture of more than one kid at a time is miserable. Do they ever both look normal at the same time?! Here's the best of what I got. Let me know your vote for the "Christmas present" picture that we'll give to all the family!

Random beach pics

Including Omi and Papa. Thanks for the beach house!

Back from the beach!

Well - it went by super fast, but we had such a great time at the beach. I also took tons of pictures, so prepare yourself! Kate has turned into a crazy, wave jumping dynamo, which occupied vast amounts of our time. Gotta love the free entertainment! - And check out that form!

The Unforgettable Fair

Next month we're taking Kate to Disneyworld for the first time. While we're in Florida, Anneliese is going to be pretty well spoiled by both sets of grandparents - but since she's not going on the big trip this time, we decided to take just Anneliese to the Dixie Classic Fair (it's the second biggest fair in NC, y'all!). She had a blast petting the animals (every single goat that stuck its head out at the petting zoo got a hug from anneliese. we decided they didn't appreciate the hugs as much as anneliese thought they would), running around trees, riding on shoulders and swinging. So thank you, Dixie Classic Fair, for being Disneyworld for Anneliese!
p.s. we're headed to the beach for a few days - so check back next week for pics of beachy fun!

Funnest Wedding Ever!

So this weekend, we had the pleasure of attending the funnest wedding ever! (I originally told Blake that I thought that after our wedding - this was the most fun wedding we had been to. But then Blake said, "Yeah - this is actually better than ours." He was right.) My friend Laura and her pretty great guy Derek put together a really fun day at this awesome camp in Chapel Hill. It all started with an afternoon of giant trike rides and water balloon races (plus loads of other games) and ended with a super sweet wedding back in the woods overlooking the lake. Oh - and did I mention that it was catered by Carrburritos? Seriously good burritos. If you're ever in the area, I would highly recommend them! Congratulations Laura and Derek!
And also (for you girls) - one of the best wedding dresses ever!

Quiet Time

Kate gave up the nap long ago - which leaves us with "quiet time." Some days it's not so quiet. And then there are the days that are so quiet, for so long, that you begin to wonder - "what could she be doing up there?" It's a mixed blessing that long quiet time. Today I discovered CAMPING - Kate Style. This involved removing everything from Anneliese's closet (in the playroom), bagging/basketing it up and moving it to the bottom of the stairs. As Kate reminded me, it's really "much more faster to get Anneliese dressed when her clothes are already downstairs." Why didn't I think of that? One thing's for sure - the girl knows how to clean out a closet.

Sisters

There are times when Kate and Anneliese just get on each others nerves. Like this morning, when Anneliese said, "TATE BAKKA SHAVAA (that's anneliese for kate berkley shotwell) DON'T. MESS. MY. STUFF!" But for the most part - they really love playing together - which is a blessing I didn't expect for 2 girls, 3 years apart. Anneliese really helps Kate come out of her shell - especially in a big group of people. And Anneliese loves no other the way she loves Kate. Maybe I should save this for 12 or so years to show them when they're battling to the death over a hair clip, or a pair of shoes or something.

4th of July

So we decided it was finally time to let Kate stay up and watch the fireworks this year. We happened to be in Goldsboro, where I grew up, which was a lot of fun. It was nice for Kate's first fireworks experience to be exactly what I remembered from my childhood with the family all piled in the back of a pick-up in the McDonald's parking lot. Thanks Uncle Rick!

That Kate

Kate is our dreamer. She loves reading and pretending - especially if it involves being a dog or a lion. Oh, and asking questions. Lots of questions all day long. Seriously - lots. All day. So if YOU have a question, just ask Kate. Surely she's got all the answers by now!

Meet Anneliese

You know that nursery rhyme - "there was a little girl, who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead. when she was good - she was very, very good. but when she was bad - she was horrid!" Meet Anneliese. (Rhymes with Donna-Lease, for those who don't know.) She's the sweetest and funniest little girl - with the best sense of humor! But - we don't take her out much! She's a tricky one - that Anneliese, but she sure is fun!

Kate and Anneliese and Fletch (oh my!)

I'm no scrapbooker. I think that's why Blake really wanted me to do a blog - to keep some sort of record of how great our girls are. We're probably biased, but they really are just the best. Here's what they've been up to lately.

Happy Birthday Blake

Blake has been jealous of our friends' blogs for a while now - so in an effort to be a good wife, I've decided to take a shot at this thing. Happy Birthday Blake - I wouldn't do this for anyone but you!