Kisses from Elmo

Here's a short one to give you a taste of what Elmo can do...

Sarah and Elmo

While we were in Cleveland for Thanksgiving, we discovered Sarah's love for Elmo. She talked about him all the time and was always so excited to identify him in her books. So, when we discovered Elmo Live, the newest life-like version of Elmo, we just had to get it for her. The video below is her opening it up. My favorite part is when she kisses him! I wish I had more video of her playing with it, but I think this is still pretty darn cute. Enjoy!

Christmas with the Clicks

On the 21st, we had quite the busy day. Not only did we celebrate Sarah's 2nd birthday (which was the 20th), but we also celebrated Christmas with Garth's family since we were going to be in Missouri for Christmas. It was a jam-packed day, but we had a great time seeing everyone. Garth's Uncle Bryce and Aunt Bonnie, along with his cousin Kara and her husband, Gil, and son, Gabe, made the trip up from Alabama. We always enjoy the chance to see them.

Sarah tries to blow out the candles on her cake.

Sarah tries on her new raincoat and boots from Aunt Bonnie.

Here is Sarah with her dolly. She carries it with her wherever she goes!
I didn't realize Harry Potter was invited!

Oh wait, it's Gabe! Isn't he cute?! We hear he's quite the catch at school. He has all the girls chasing him!



Gabe and his Dad, Gil. Aren't they festive in their green and red?

Opening presents...
Amy helps Sarah open her Elmo computer, while Kara and Gabe look at their gifts.

Once the extended family left, we had a chance to exchange gifts with Garth's immediate family. Here's Henry and Linda and their new shoes!

Look at the next post to see a video of Sarah opening her gift from us!

Bailey's Christmas Extravaganza

This year, we decided to have a Christmas party at our house. In keeping with our theme of parties this year, we had another "Bailey party". This one was aptly called "Bailey's Christmas Extravanganza".

Here's the invite for the party

Garth and I at the party
Bailey was thrilled to have people come over to the house. But after a while, her bone was far more interesting.

Jan and Dan chillin on the couch

Nathan (aka Putty) gives the party a thumbs up!

Garth and Rosemary, a fellow lawyer from Springfield

Blair and Chris

My gal pals, Katie and Jessica

Brian and Kim, our friends from church

Our neighbors, Ricky and Jennifer stop by

"Crazy Kyle" and Chris show us the infamous "prom pose"

Drew decides to relax a little at the party.

Blair played some Christmas tunes on my new piano.

Thanks to everyone who came - we had a great time and hope you did too!

Thanksgiving in Cleveland - The Search for the Perfect Tree

At long last, here's the continuation of our trip to Cleveland. The day after Thanksgiving, we went to a tree farm in search of the perfect Christmas tree. This was the first time any of us had cut down a tree by ourselves. It was quite an experience!

Just as you would imagine, Santa was at the tree farm. Sarah wasn't so sure what to think of this Santa character!

Off to find the perfect tree!

There are SO many trees...how do we choose?

Garth finds a tree that looks tall enough, but it isn't the one.


So, we look at even more trees....

At long last, Amy finds THE ONE! Henry got the dubious task of cutting it down.

Garth drags the tree back to the barn to be tied up and taken home.

Garth and I getting ready to leave the tree farm. The snow was pretty, but it was cold! We were ready to go home!

Sarah Sings her ABCs....Sorta

Sarah is already starting to learn her ABCs! She starts with A...B...C...D... and then has a mix of letters after that. I'm confident it won't belong before she has it all down. In the meantime, this is just darn cute!

Thanksgiving in Cleveland - the Sarah Show!

For Thanksgiving weekend, Garth and I went to Cleveland to spend the holiday with his sister, Amy. Garth's parents rode along with us for the long ride up north. It was great to finally see where Amy, Carl and Sarah live!

I took a ton of pictures while were there...admittedly, most of them were of our favorite niece, Sarah! Here are some of my favorites...

Miss Piggy - Sarah shows off her pigtails

"What do you mean this is YOUR phone?"

Sarah was also quite taken with my cell phone. She even dialed a couple of people - thank goodness she called my family members and not someone else!

Silly Sarah, tricks are for kids!

I don't know what Sarah is doing here, but doesn't she look all grown up?!

Sarah's Aunt Katharine (Carl's sister) came over for Thanksgiving dinner. It was great to see her again!

One of Sarah's favorite things to do was pull all of the CDs out of the entertainment center. She liked identifying the colors on the CDs. In particular, she was always searching for the blue one (notice the blue Disney CD), a green one (another Disney CD) and a pink one.

After pulling all the CDs out, she liked to stack them back up. The stack is almost taller than you, Sarah!

You've almost got it!

Sarah also LOVES for people to read books to her. She was always bringing books to anyone who was willing to read. Here she is with Aunt Katharine. Aren't her pigtails cute?

Uncle Garth reads to Sarah. I love how she's looking at Garth!

"Gee, Uncle Garth...I'm not so sure about this Cinderella"

I even got my turn reading Sleeping Beauty.

One night, we went to dinner at this great Stir Fry place called Stir Crazy. Unfortunately, Sarah made a bit of a mess on her clothes. So, we had to do a quick chang-a-roo at the restaurant. She was perfectly fine being topless at the restaurant. I snapped this quick pic before they got her cleaned up. I thought it was too cute!

I have more pictures from our trip...stay tuned for the continuation of our Cleveland adventure!