Elle's taking her act...

...on the road.



And she's clearly committed to her craft.  She's not sure who the yahoo is that shouted "Free Bird", but she is not amused. 

Auditions for the new band will be held soon. 

Happy New Year!

2011.  Twenty-eleven.  2-0-1-1.  It's a New Year everyone!  And we spent it on Isle of Palms, SC with our friends Brenda, Jo & cutie pie Charlotte.  Not that Brenda & Jo aren't cute too.  Totally are.

ANYWAY.

After we got back from our Christmas travels, we did a little (read: a LOT of) laundry, re-packed our bags and hit the road.  5 hours later, we arrived at our cute little rental on Isle of Palms, dropped our stuff off and managed to pick the most expensive restaurant there for dinner.  It really wasn't that bad, but we totally thought it was something different and after trying, unsuccessfully, to vacate the premises, settled in for our fancy dinner.  I wish I could explain the awkwardness of it: mumbling excuses, Brenda actually turning around to leave, me breaking out into a light sweat and trying not to make eye contact with the host...  But the she-crab soup?  Was delicious. 

Only being about 15 minutes from Charleston, we of course went into the city, walked around the Market, played in the park, ate some more crab and did some window shopping.  We went to the beach.  We ate in (after we finally found the oven.  Don't judge.  Did you know that a microwave can also double as a convection oven?  Yeah, neither did we.), watched movies (maybe Eclipse, but let's pretend it was something cooler like Star Trek.  Oh wait - what's that Jo?  That's what you wanted to watch?  Pipe down, buddy.  Edward & Bella 4EVER), drank Jingle Juice and and hot chocolate and just relaxed and hung out.

Was that the longest run-on sentence ever? 

All this to say, we had a great time!  And here's hoping that Brenda and Jo don't refuse to travel with us anymore because Kate refused to sleep at night.  You still want to travel with us...right guys?

Guys?

*Tap tap.....is this thing on?*

PICTURES!

This may be one of my favorite pictures of Elle.  She loved running up and down the side porch of the house. 

Kate enjoying the beach!

A motley crew.  Oh look, Elle's running up and down the porch.  Imagine that!

I could squeeze her to pieces.

Love this picture of Charlotte.  She totally stopped and posed for me. 

Burns' Family pic

Ho Ho Ho!

Prepare for some back to back posts, everyone.  We are snowed in here in the ATL leaving more time for blogging and drinking hot chocolate.  First up?  Christmas!  Hope you all had a very merry one!

Ours was great.  We were able to spend it with both families and to top it all off, it snowed!  The girls didn't have to wait long for their first White Christmas.  They were troopers with all the traveling and were thoroughly loved on and spoiled and showered with attention from all their grandparents, great-grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends.  It's exhausting being so adorable and fabulous.  :)

Both celebrations were wonderful and filled with lots of laughter, joy & great memories.

Pictures below!

Tell me again about this "snack trap", Dad

Elle & Kate loved Gabby's light-up snowman

4 Generations

LOVE this picture of Elle & Uncle P

Christmas morning fun

Annual Burns Christmas pic!

Elle - show me "Dazed & Confused". 

I love that Papa & Kate's expression are the same.  But let's not talk about Elle's hair.

Thanksgiving

Wow, I'm really doing an excellent job with the holiday posts.  And now, just in time for Christmas....it's Thanksgiving!!!

*crickets*

I know, sorry folks.  We did, however, have a wonderful Thanksgiving with both sides of our family.  My mom made a DELICIOUS meal for us on Thursday that all of us, including Elle & Kate, loved.  Mom, I heart your squash casserole.  I contributed a pumpkin and chocolate pie.  They were both tasty, though my meringue leaves something to be desired.*

We had a super fun visit with Grandbob, Mimi, Uncle Preston & Gabby.   There's nothing like being home for the holidays.  *Cue The Carpenters*  But really, there's nothing like it.

Believe it or not, this is pre-turkey.  Elle must have been resting up for the feast to come.  Also, Tyler?  You're cute.

Kate thinks Uncle P rocks.  And his MacBook too.

Gabby doing what Gabby's do best - soothing a fussy baby (in this case, Kate)

If anyone is wondering what to get Elle or Kate for Christmas, might I recommend a dog crate?  They had ENDLESS amounts of fun playing with it.

Having fun....

....at Mimi & Grandbob's

 And while we were in Franklin, we were able to visit The Porters & meet baby Anna for the first time!  She's such a doll.  And Tyler and I couldn't believe how teeny she was.  It seems like forever ago that Elle & Kate were that small and we totally thought we were going to break her.

Hello, Gorgeous!

Oh, look!  It's Anna and her favorite Aunt Jen.  :)

We headed to Huntsville on Friday for Thanksgiving part 2 and the Iron Bowl.  Enter more delicious food, fun family time and the most animated I think I've ever seen Tyler during a football game.  He has come a long way since our days in Media Relations at Auburn when we weren't allowed to cheer during the games at all.  War Eagle.   

Elle is ready for the big game.

Add Kate has already staked out her seat.

Kate being silly in her reindeer antlers at Grandma & Bill's house.

Cousins!

Having fun at Papa & Coco's.  Also...need another gift idea for Elle & Kate?  USPS boxes. 

 We had a great Thanksgiving all around.  Elle & Kate had such fun - it's amazing how much they've changed and grown since last Thanksgiving.  And can I just say how thankful I am that we are surrounded by such wonderful family on both sides?  It's such a blessing.  They are such a blessing.  I love 'em all and can't wait for Christmas.  Which, due to the lateness of this post, is in 4 days.  Well done.

So, Happy Thanksgiving!  And, more appropriately, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

*Special thanks to Papa of Papa & Coco for the chocolate pie recipe.  He is the king of chocolate pies.

A Visit from Nana

It appears I only blog on holidays lately.  The days slip away and I don't post.  Maybe I need to get the heck off Facebook.

Anywho - there will be a forthcoming Thanksgiving post, but first, a visit from Nana!  Well, my Nana and Kate and Elle's Great Nana.  They were able to meet her the week before Thanksgiving when she came down with Mimi & Grandbob.  They had a grand ole time showing off for her, playing with her and generally being cute.  I'm so glad they were able to spend some time together!  We all had a great visit.  We even got some shopping in!

Elle & Nana

Nana with her Great-Grandaughters.  Getting these two to look at the camera at the same time, let alone smile, is a feat. 

Kate loves Nana.  And her buttons.

 

Nana, me, & Mom aka Mimi

PS - The girls REALLY impressed Nana during dinnertime.  Luckily, this was bath night.  Elle looks like the town drunk.  We've all decided to start calling her Otis.

Don't mind me...

I'm just doing a little light reading in the nude.

The Monkey and The Ladybug: A Halloween Story

Wow, it's been way too long since I wrote!  The Burns' house has been under the weather/travelling for the past month or so, which is my excuse for the long drought of posts.  But as a friend of Tyler's says, "Excuses are like bellybuttons.  We all have them."  Ahem.

Elle & Kate went trick-or-treating for the first time this year!  Last year I think they were asleep for most of it.  Not this year.  They were big fans of their costumes - especially Elle, who would laugh every time we put her ladybug hood on her.  We They got tons of candy that we they will surely gobble right up.  Our Their favorites are raisinets and gobstoppers.

We stopped by our friends Ang & Josh's house for our first trick-or-treat and the girls had way too much fun digging through their candy basket and then throwing the candy out of said candy basket.  They still have a few manners to learn.

Then we went trick-or-treating with some new friends from our neighborhood and their little girl and our good friends Shane, Jessica and Campbell the Duck.  The girls' costumes were a hit and they thoroughly enjoyed going door to door and didn't even fuss when they ate dinner an hour later than they usually do. 

Oh, and they hung out in our church's pumpkin patch on Sunday morning for a few obligatory fall pictures!  Pictures of all are below.  All in all, it was a very Happy Halloween!

Elle & Kate chillin' in the Pumpkin Patch

Elle looks like WAY too much of a big girl in this picture!

Getting ready to go!  Elles in the picture are more excited than they appear.

Digging through Ang & Josh's candy basket.  Elle apparently loves Reese's.

So a duck, a dalmation, a monkey and a ladybug walk into a graveyard...

Despite our attempts to clarify that Kate is indeed a girl monkey by putting a bow on her ear, people still thought she was Elle's brother. 

Here, I believe Elle is contemplating how her world might implode if someone were to take that Twix she has a death grip on in her hand.  Seriously, she held onto that thing until it was mushy and chocolate was seeping out the sides.

Daddy and his ladybug.