Hattie's Impressive Slide

We appreciate how much our girls love being active and trying new things. Hattie pulled off this impressive feat on the slide on New Years Day, following the lead of her sister. 

Some Sister Love

Despite the squabbles - and there are many - these sort of moments are the best you get with parenting. Here we've captured a few pictures and videos of Clara and Hattie's sisterly love...

Laughing at something called Bubble Guppies.

Practicing the balance beam at North Hills Park...

And, the best, Clara reading Hattie good night stories...

Christmas in Auburn

Paul and Clara boarded a plane, headed to Atlanta, and spent a couple days with BIG family down South. With Hattie in the throes of a two-year old rebellion (refusing to spend extended time in a car seat), we opted for a divide and conquer strategy (Paul takes Clara, Hattie stays with Kate) rather than haul the entire family through seven hours of car seat misery to Georgia and Alabama.

This was Clara's second trip on an plane, and the excitement from airports and jets has already worn off. It's old shoe now.

But she did love seeing her cousins, and see them she did...some 20 or so. Julie and Branden we kind enough to let us stay at their place, which gave Clara lots of play time with Karlie, Abby, Nathan, and Colin. Jill and David came through with Emma, Josh and Lilly, so we got to see them a bit, too.

 

Then we loaded up and headed to Auburn for the grand get together.

Then we loaded up and came back to Raleigh. Clara loved to see her cousins, but she had been a little homesick...

...and she was thrilled to see her sister, Hattie!

Paul and Kate's Fearrington Village Christmas Gift

Paul and Kate's Christmas gift to/from each other (and from Ga and Pappaw who were watching the girls at home) was an overnight trip to Fearrington Village the day after Christmas. It's a little inn a few miles outside of Chapel Hill, and it has the highest rated restaurant in North Carolina. We were pampered with afternoon teas, delicious dinners, luxurious turn down service (complete with chocolate truffles and a decanter of brandy), and Kate even sneaked in a spa treatment before we left.

We're already hatching a plan for our return!

Remains of a Christmas Day, 2013

No surprise, we spent the rest of Christmas playing with toys, lounging in front of the t.v. (Hattie developed a serious fixation on how one's tongue might become stuck to a frozen flag pole), cooking and eating, and finally getting out the door for a little walk.

Of course no visit from Ga and Pappaw would be complete without a healthy game of hop on Pop (Pappaw).

Christmas 2013, Hattie Joins In

Hattie was ready to join the Christmas festivities at 7:30. She took in the sights from the stairs with a broad smile across that two-year old face. It might be her third Christmas, but it's the first where she's been really into what's going on. Clara had a present waiting for her - a jewelry box - as Hattie entered the living room.

Big Sister than gave a tour of the remains of Santa's cookies, bringing her to Hattie's stocking where Hattie was quick to grab the Mickey Mouse toy at the top before jumping through the rest of her loot.

 

Christmas 2013, Clara's Wake-Up

Pappaw could barely stand the wait. He had been up since five, and had already showered and dressed. Yet only now were there stirrings of a little one ready for Christmas. It was 6:45. He knocked on Paul and Kate's door, "Clara's ready," he said, rousing them from dream-filled slumber. 

We scrambled for a phone to document Clara's descent down the stairs. We wanted to capture the first Christmas at the new house. Ga kept Clara busy in her room for a few minutes while we prepared, and then she came to the stairs...but only ventured halfway down - ever cautious - before peaking over the railing to behold the splendor of Christmas morn at a safe distance.

She is drawn first to the doll house/mansion Santa brought, declaring "It's even bigger than me!" before turning her attention to the vestiges of milk, cookies and carrots left by Santa and his reindeer. "The reindeer ate the carrots!" she exclaimed before running to read Santa's note.

Hattie was still asleep, so Clara was able to start the orgy of unwrapping all by herself, making serious progress before her little sister was ready to join in.