Oh Santa...why do you haunt me so...

Time for another Katie confession. When I was a little girl I was terrified of Santa. I HATED going to see Santa at the mall so in many of my pictures with Santa let’s just say, I’m not “at my best”. I have no idea why I was scared of Santa, but I have a feeling it has something to do with roller skating and alligators. You may think these could not possibly be related…but you would be wrong! In my fishbowl, everything is related.

Side note: I do have a little Doris Pegg in my genes! A little insight for those of you who never knew my Grandmother, she would often pull a comment out of nowhere, a comment unrelated to any of the current conversation. As Adam says (about me) “you pulled that comment out of the fishbowl (while pretending to reach into a bowl and pull out a slip of paper)”. I do it ALL the time and even more now that I’m older. I’m just always thinking of a million things and every once in awhile my thoughts come out of my mouth! It’s actually pretty funny and I think of my Grandma every time I do it!

Okay, back to my point. I hated Santa, not the idea of Santa, just the actual human being dressed as Santa. When I was 5 or 6 years old Santa decided to come visit my house to see me and my sister before Christmas to ask us what we wanted. This might sound like a really touching and special moment for my family, but in reality it will go down in history of one of the most terrifying moments of my life.

That night when Santa arrived at our house, Wendy and I were roller skating in the basement. Santa rang the doorbell and I heard a faint “ho ho ho”. I was leery anyway because I was not Santa’s biggest fan, but it only got worse.

You see, my sister told me that there were alligators in the basement. However, the alligators only came out when it was dark down there. So once she heard Santa’s bells and his “ho ho ho” she ripped off her roller skates in record speed and ran up the stairs as fast as she could and…you know what’s coming here…she TURNED OFF THE LIGHTS!!! I was still downstairs desperately trying to free myself from the roller skates that seemed to be permanently attached to my shoes just waiting for the alligators to come out of hiding (I guess they would come out of the drain? I never really thought that part through). By the time I got upstairs I was hysterical. I mean totally UGLY crying! I’m not sure who was more damaged by the experience…me or the sweet man from the down the street who dressed up as a Santa helper to visit us.

All this to show you the difference a year makes. We took Sophie to the mall to see Santa. She saw him from afar and was okay with it. BUT as soon as I turned the corner she turned her head into my shoulder and put the death grip on. I had to pry her off me to even put her in his lap. The photographer asked if I wanted the “screaming Santa picture” as if it was on special and I said “of course.” And it is one of the BEST screaming Santa pictures I’ve ever seen, a classic! Poor Sophie…

The cutest baby in the world

This is one of my favorite pictures of her! I could just eat her up with a spoon!!!

Christmas 2008 Hart-Reinbold-Huskins Style

For those of you who know me and my sister well, you will find our selection of gifts for our nieces quite fitting! I am pretty girly. If you haven’t read my baby doll post, you probably should to fully understand. My sister, on the other hand, not so girly. She is more into sports toys, etc. The good thing is that when it comes to gift giving, we can balance each other pretty well. Sophie got a PINK big wheel and helmet (along with an adorable polka dot raincoat, a movie, and a hilarious book). We gave Josie a baby doll set just like Sophie’s (yes I’m obsessed with it) and a magic tea set. I will laugh really hard if Sophie ends up being the tom-boy and Josie is the little girly girl! I just want to make sure Josie gets to play with girl toys and Wendy wants to make sure I don’t turn Sophie into a REAL princess! Before I get myself in trouble, Wendy will let her play with whatever she wants, she just tends to lean towards the less girly of the girl toys while I am all about some pink and some baby dolls! But I did buy Sophie some trucks for her stocking this year, of course she is far more interested in her pink laptop!

Parents' Night OUT...Girl's Night IN

Here are some pictures of Sophie and Josie partying! You’ll notice that Josie has control of the beanbag AND Big Bird. But really, who is surprised?
 

So Far Behind

I am so far behind on my blog postings! I’m not even sure where I left off. But a good place to start is with some pictures of some really good bed head. In the first picture she was trying to hide it. I walked into her room and she was standing up with the best case of bed head I’ve seen in a while. I immediately started laughing and ran for the camera. When I came back in she was curled up in the corner…I think she knew what I was after!

Once I took these pictures I noticed a curious thing…all of her prized bed time possessions had somehow been evicted from the crib and were all on the floor. Sometimes I wonder if she got any of my genes at all (well besides her love of Mexican food). You THREW your FAVORITE babies ON THE FLOOR. Isn’t that some kind of stuffed animal assault. When I was little it was more likely that my animals would stay in the bed and I would sleep on the floor. Even now I have to put her baby doll in her cradle before I can go to bed, it truly makes me sad to see her on the floor, cold and alone. I think maybe they make medication for this. I’m simply not right, but at least I’m honest!

Josie is ONE

She, however, did NOT inherit her Aunt Katie’s or Cousin Sophie’s love of sweets! Probably a good thing, I’m not sure she ingested much of the cake at all…terribly unimpressive!

These boots were NOT made for walking

Sophie got new boots (thanks Lucy)...unfortunately she acts like she cannot walk in them...

Not only is Sophie taller..

So is her ponytail...

New Age Limit

We have all had it happen to us on Halloween, you go to the door and open it up expecting to see some adorable children dressed up in their costumes and yelling “Trick or Treat” at the top of their lungs. Instead you open the door and find some “children” who are a bit too old to be trick or treating and are simply looking for free candy. Well this year, Adam was that “child” he and our friend Michael rang the doorbell of a very sweet and unsuspecting lady…at least they were in costume! When she saw who was on the other side of the door she paused for a second and then asked “do you want a LIGHT beer?” Emphasis on the LIGHT. It was HILARIOUS…and captured on film! She was such a good sport!

More Halloween...professional style

Here are the last of the Halloween pictures (though it might take a couple of posts), these are the best of the best taken by the professional photographer. Time to move on to Thanksgiving!

Halloween

We had a very happy and hilarious Halloween! We are so grateful for the wonderful neighborhood we live in, everyone is so much fun and it is so nice to have such great friends! The night started with pizza, hot dogs, brats, etc and lots of pictures at our neighbor’s house (with a professional photographer…no I’m not kidding…is that great or what?). Then we went on a hay ride through the neighborhood! Wendy and Josie were able to join us as well (Jason was coaching a game…BOO)! Since Sophie is too little for candy, and Lord knows I don’t need it, we just rode on the trailer and Sophie ate hay instead! I wasn’t sure how Sophie would do just riding on the hay ride, but she LOVED it. She and Josie laughed and played in the hay the whole time. I think as Sophie gets older I will simply buy her the candy she likes and instead of getting on and off the hay ride 50 times to trick or treat, we can just ride around. That’s the way to do it! After the hay ride, Sophie went over to Aunt Wendy’s and Adam and I went to a party with all our neighbors. We laughed until we were almost sick, LITERALLY. I’m still laughing! I’ll post some more pictures later…but here are a few that Aunt Wendy sent to us. She is WAY more on the ball than I am, I haven’t even downloaded ours yet!! I can’t wait to see the professional pictures as well!



Yes, this is Adam’s costume…high school jock! HAHAHA…it was my idea, he still holds the PAT record at Sullivan South High School! At least I hope he does since I keep telling everyone that!
 
Late at night in Williamson County…the McCain Palin fairies come out

We took Sophie aka “strawberry fairy” to Pumpkinfest in downtown Franklin on Saturday. No, she is not dressed as a chili pepper as some very astute lady thought. We met up with Wendy and Josie and Sophie’s nanny, Jamie. It was so much fun to see all the little (and big) kids all dressed up. I had 2 favorites (besides Sophie and Josie of course). One was a little boy, probably about 3, that was dressed as a skunk. It was hilarious. I’m not sure if he is the “stinky kid” in the family or what, but it was so cute! My 2nd favorite was a little girl dressed up as a giraffe. I would have taken pictures, but then I would have been the creepy lady taking pictures of someone else’s kids. So, you’ll just have to settle for some pictures of the fairies!

Now if you realize how much my brother-in-law HATES clowns, that makes the next picture that much funnier!! We took it just for him…look at how interested Josie is!

New Babydoll for Sophie...I think

For those of you who knew me when I was a little girl, you will remember that I have always been a mommy. I LOVED my baby-dolls more than anything in the world. First there was broken-leg baby (I’ll call her BLB for short). My best friend Sarah and I would fight over BLB because she had mobile joints and eyes that blinked. Ironically, she wasn’t actually mine. My mom gave her to my sister when I was born, as a consolation prize. However, Wendy was more interested in Big Footed Darcy…the barbie doll with the biggest feet ever made, and simply neglected BLB. I hated her (Darcy…not Wendy). Anyway, back to BLB, it was the moveable joints that were her downfall and the impetus for her name.

I must digress a little to paint a picture of this doll. I found her not too long ago in my parent’s basement. I was tempted to send her to Sarah after all these years, but I resisted. Anyway, she is pathetic looking. She used to have hair, but I never remember her that way. I’m not sure she was ever “mine” when she had hair. By the time I got her she only had a few rows of hair in the middle of her head left. I used to make them into pigtails that stuck straight out of her head. Really…she’s quite a sight. My sister used to carry her around by the hair so it all fell out, are you beginning to understand me a little better knowing this fact? I’m 4 years younger than my sister, that’s all I am saying.

Anyway, I’ll never forget the day. I was probably 6 years old and BLB and I were playing on my grand-parents’ screened-in porch, which was one of my absolute favorite places in the world! Anyway, we were having a great time bouncing up and down on the glider (BLB was bouncing, not me). When all of the sudden her leg came flying off. I actually think this was the 2nd time, but I can’t remember the intimate details of the first…mostly a lot of finger pointing as to who was responsible, etc. Anyway, I was DEVASTED. I don’t mean sad, run to your mom to fix it, I mean DEVASTED. I thought that was the end of BLB. Thankfully she was fixable and lived on as my favorite for many years, until…Genny Felise (oh yes, I remember her name).
Genny Felise was my 1st cabbage patch kid (CPK). I actually got her before people started pulling hair and trying to kill each other over CPKs in the stores. I LOVED Genny. She doesn’t look all that great anymore either. Then came Daniel Foster (originally Foster Corwin, but when I officially adopted him I changed his name). Daniel, ironically, was a preemie CPK. He also only had a tuft of hair in the middle of his head. My 3rd CPK was Madeline Doris (originally Doris Faye). I kept the Doris because it was my Grandmother’s name. She was a corn silk CPK. You couldn’t brush her hair now if you had to.

I loved these baby dolls so much it used to drive my sister crazy. I took them EVERYWHERE with me. I can remember one trip to my grand-parents’ specifically. I had all 3 dolls in the car ready to go and my sister started whining “does she have to take all 3?” to which my ever practical father said “Kate, just pick 1, you don’t need all 3.” OMG the insanity. Are you kidding? I have to pick 1…above the other 2…and leave the other 2 behind. Oh no…I don’t think so. You have to understand that when I was little I would lie in bed at night and think “if this house burns down, I don’t care what they say, I’m taking all 3 with me.” (Yeah, I was a strange child, I also used to play with receipt books, but that’s a story for another time). Anyway, I was completely horrified, and I’m sure pitching a pretty good fit. My mom understood my devotion and snuck the other 2 in the back for me. I mean really, pick 1??? Only a boy would even think that.

So…you have endured this story all for a few pictures of Sophie’s FIRST baby-doll. I found this cute set at Costco that came with a stroller, a baby doll, a diaper bag, a rocking bassinet, and a carseat/feeding chair. I love it, if they had this when I was little I would have been in HEAVEN. Anyway, I had to buy it for Sophie. It was supposed to be a Christmas present but I couldn’t wait. Sophie loves the stroller, but hasn’t quite figured out how to turn it around when she runs into something so she just keeps slamming it into the wall/chair/table/etc. She also isn’t quite as taken with the babydoll as I had hoped. Usually she picks it up by the head (just like Aunt Wendy), bites it (I think this might be an attempt at a kiss) and throws it on the floor. Oh well, all in good time my dear, all in good time!
 

Sophie's Newest Mode of Travel

After taking the Graco stroller “off road” a few times too many, Adam and I decided to invest in a new mode of transport for Sophie. We tried it out on a hike at Radnor Lake. It was a beautiful day and Sophie loved her new view.

Gentry's Farm

We took Sophie to Gentry’s Farm in Franklin to pick out some pumpkins. She got to see  a teepee, a log cabin, some goats, chickens, pigeons, and a rooster (her personal favorite). We also got to go on a nature walk and a hayride! It was a lot of fun!