Mississippi for the Holidays

Sylvia and I had a close call making our flight out Friday morning. By the graciousness of some fellow travelers in the security line, we were able to cut to the front of the line and scramble our way through. I was so stressed out, but Sylvia knew how to lighten up the situation. As I was sprinting to the gate, she started giggling. Running in mam-mam's arms is pretty hilarious. It was just the laugh I needed since we were the last people to board the plane.

Now, we are in MS where it is nice and warm. It was 68 degrees when we arrived. We played all day at Grandmama's on Friday. It was too exciting to nap so after some play time, we drove around until Sylvia fell asleep. Sylvia has been chasing Dede and Papa's cat and dog around and yesterday, she enjoyed playing with the gigantic red ball outside. We got to see everyone at Uncle Eric and Aunt Monica's house. Sylvia and Adriana danced together. She also had fun running around the church with Noah during Elaina's Baptism. The temperature dropped a bit overnight, but it's still warm to us. Sylvia has three parties today - her step-dad's 60th birthday, cookies and hot cocoa with Cheryl and Charlie, and then a Christmas party!

Winter in the City

While Chris was scouting a location for a film, Darcie and Sylvia dug the car out and headed down to Marshall Fields (ok, Macy's) and Millennium Park to enjoy some of the city's holiday cheer. Here they are in front of the Bean (ok, Cloud Gate):


And here, Sylvia tries to get a view of Frank Gehry's Pritzker Pavilion, though it was a little hard to see with all of the snow:


More posing at the Bean (because Chris was adamant that there had to be photos to post):


Unfortunately, the line to sit in Santa's lap was bit too long, but Sylvia should have nothing to worry about. After her afternoon nap, she bagged up homemade sugar cookies and took them to the other kids in the building and her 2nd floor neighbors. She knows what this season is all about.

Super Saturday Video!

We've posted two new videos to the collection. Just click on "Movie" in the nav menu to the right to check them out. The first new video shows Sylvia walking around the condo. The second shows her walking around in the snow. Enjoy!

It's Not as Cold as It Looks

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. We've been a little busy shoveling snow and chasing after a toddler who now has no problems walking to find trouble.

Over the past week or so, we have had a lot of snow, though most of it has melted now. Here's what it looked like when it was fresh:


Sylvia asks to go outside:


Sylvia goes outside:


We told Sylvia about Santa and encouraged her to write him a letter. We're not sure where she got it, but she found a phone number for him instead. Kids these days.

Settling Into Winter

Sylvia and I are trying to figure how to make it outside this winter. Last winter she was small enough to snuggle into a little bundle in my coat. This winter, it's all about walking! She often doesn't feel that the stroller is "cool" enough, but she hasn't quite mastered walking on ice, not that I have either, but suffice to say, me trying to carry her on sidewalks that people haven't salted isn't the best idea. Wednesday, we got in the stroller (with a little bribe of a cracker, one of those things I saw parents do and swore I'd never do that) to run some errands. I had promised a trip to the swings so there we landed after our grocery trip. It was desolate and snow covered. Sylvia was in her snow suit and me standing in ice coated snow pushing her back and forth. We both marveled at how close her feet were to the ground because of the snow. We attempted to wipe the slide clean, but she looked at me like, "woah, mam-mam you are c-a-razzzy." So she walked me home, pushing the stroller for me!

Holiday Decorating

While Sylvia napped and the rain fell outside, two elves dug through lights, ornaments, and decorative soaps. We decided that a real tree might not survive the season in our household this year, so we pulled out our little 18 inch plastic tree which has served us well since 2001.

White December

Technically it snowed on Thanksgiving day, but we weren't around. So on December 1, as if someone flipped the winter switch, we got quite a little snowstorm.



We think that might be it for the basil this season.

Don't worry. Sylvia was prepared.

The night it snowed was just a little too icy and cold for us to drag her out in it, though, and the next morning the snow had pretty much melted and was replaced with 45 degree rain. So you'll have to wait for the first pictures of Sylvia making a snow angel.