Before we welcome 2010...

Before we welcome 2010, I thought I should probably get my final photos of 2009 up on the blog. This Holiday season beginning with Halloween and ending with New Year's has been quite a whirlwind, but it has definitely been a lot of fun. Randy and I are so blessed to have two such wonderful and sweet little girls. Lily Catherine absolutely loves being a big sister, and Charlotte just loves her Lily Catherine.

Here are some photos from this fall and the Holidays.

At the Pumpkin Patch



Charlotte (2.5 months old)


Pumpkin Carving


Charlotte's Baptism


Thanksgiving 2009




Christmas!

Play School Christmas Party


Cookie with Santa at the Lewis' House


Children's Christmas Eve Service at our Church
(Charlotte got to play Baby Jesus which meant Randy and I were Joseph and Mary)

Charlotte -- 2 month update

5 days old.

With Grandaddy and Lily Catherine

Reading in Bed with Lily Catherine

Our Crazy Sports-Filled weekend including a first Preds game and a first Titans Game.

Swinging with Lily Catherine's babydoll.

Randy the "Superdad" at the zoo.
First Lake Trip

Birth Announcement Photo (3 Weeks Old)

Two Months Old

Lily Catherine's First Ballet Class

This morning Lily Catherine had her very first ballet class. She is taking lessons at Ann Carroll School of Dance in Franklin which is where I took dance for 15 years. I even used to be the demonstrator with her teacher Miss Jeanne when I was in high school.

The two-year-old class is the Belle class (named for the Disney Princess), so all the girls wear yellow leotards, since Belle's princess dress is yellow. When I got Lily Catherine all dressed and ready to go this morning with her tights, leotard, and ballet shoes, I must admit that I got a little misty-eyed. But that soon passed as we raced to get everyone in the car and out the door to head to "dancin' school" as Lily Catherine calls it. We actually got there a little early and had time to meet some new dance friends before class began.

Outside the building, sitting on one of the benches.

Running down the hall to the studio after Miss Jeanne invited the class in.

Waiting for Class to begin.

Standing next to her dot on the floor.

Watching Miss Jeanne hand out "Belle" coloring pages at the end of the class.

Checking out her "Belle" coloring page after class.

While the class was going on, I sat with Charlotte in the lobby and got to know the other moms. The best thing was they have televisions in the lobby, and we could see the whole class. Lily Catherine was the first one start following Miss Jeanne as she danced around the room. She wasn't shy at all, but she also did a very good job of following all of the directions and doing exactly what Miss Jeanne was asking her to do.

Tonight when Lily Catherine said her prayers, she said thank you for Miss Jeanne 5 times, Ballet 1 time, and new friends 1 time, so I am pretty sure she loved it.

Greek Festival 2009

This past Saturday, we attended the Greek festival at the Greek Orthodox church in Nashville. Lily Catherine had a BLAST playing and dancing with her cousin Andrew while Charlotte slept soundly in the Ergo for almost the entire time we were there.

Lily Catherine had more fun dancing on the dance floor between the performances of the Greek Dancers. She also loved watching all of the dancers while we were eating dinner.

For dinner we got to have all of our favorite traditional Greek dishes including Pisticcio, Mousaka, Gyros, Loukoumades, and Baklava Sundays.

After dinner, Lily Catherine caught sight of all of the inflatable fun and we spent the rest of the evening playing on those.

Just before heading home, we went back inside the church to say good-bye to Great-Papou who was working at the Greek Grocery stand. Let's just say that Lily Catherine made out pretty well since just before we left Papou bought her a sweet "Love My Papou" shirt (which she put on immediately after we got home), and she convinced Randy to buy her a hotpink "jingle skirt" that is now her favorite thing to wear around the house.

Welcome Baby Charlotte!

On August 7, 2009 at 3:28AM

Charlotte Elizabeth Bury

joined our family weighing in a 8 lbs, 6 oz and measuring 19 3/4 inches.

I just had to share these!

The weekend before Charlotte was born, we took Lily Catherine to the park to do a quick two-year-old photo shoot. At 39 weeks pregnant (and in early August in Nashville!) it wasn't easy to chase her around, but I was determined to get some photos of her before the new one came along. I didn't want to miss out on those last days before she started to look more and more like a "big kid" than a baby. Let's just say that braving the heat was so worth it. I love the photos that I got!

The New Nursery

The new nursery has been a work in progress now for months,
but I think we have finally completed all of the finishing touches!

We decided to leave the walls the original blue that they were when we moved into the house regardless of whether or not we were having a boy or a girl. For the first half of the pregnancy I really thought we were having a boy, and I had picked out a green, blue and white plaid fabric to be use in the nursery.

When we found out we were having another girl, I knew that I wanted to use the nursery rhyme toile fabric called "Over the Moon" that I had found at the fabric store when Lily Catherine was about 6 months old. However, the fabric has a white background and our crib is white, so I needed to find some coordinating fabrics to match. I set out to find just the right blue and pink striped fabric, but I couldn't find anything that worked. I spent countless hours driving from one fabric store to the next to find things that would coordinate with one another just the way I wanted. It took three stores to find gather all the fabric I used.

Then came the really long part... SEWING all of the room decor. I must say that this took A LOT longer than I expected it to take, and I will definitely think twice before ever embarking on something this ambitious again, but I am really happy with how it all turned out.

The Crib

The Bumper

The Window Seat

The Valance

The Pillows on the Bench

Close-up of the Bench that Randy built

The Diaper Stacker