E is 9

The arrival of New Year's Eve also means that Eleanor Ruth is another year older. It truly is hard to believe that we have a nine-year-old living under our roof!As a nine-year-old, we had her fill out our annual Carroll Birthday Questionnaire to help us remember, years from now, what she was like at this age. Below are her responses. For comparative purposes, here are her answers from last year's questionnaire. Many of her responses were similar to those from last year. The one big change, in my opinion, is that she now wants to go to Hawaii over Hollywood, CA. This new idea is largely due to her interest in the book and movie with the same name - "Soul Surfer", a true story about a girl (Bethanny Hamilton) with a strong faith who was attacked by a shark and lost her arm while surfing in Hawaii a few years ago. I've also told her that there is a live, erupting volcano on the big island of Hawaii that I've seen and she thinks that sounds pretty cool too.

Happy 9th Birthday, sweet girl!

Monthly Headers of the Year

It is always fun for me to reflect on the past year and remember all of the good times we've had as a family. A quick snapshot of some of my favorite memories can be found in the monthly headers of this blog . . . so here is a glimpse of our 2011 in review.


Here's to a fantastic 2012!

Fishing in Florida

Our former minister at church always preached about the benefits of teaching your children to fish. His belief was that if you took your children fishing with you, you would have their undivided attention, away from any distractions, for a few hours. As a parent, this time with your little ones is invaluable.

Whenever we head to Mimi and Papa's house, Thomas always strives to get the kids out with some fishing poles. This trip was no exception. Eleanor, Hayes, Papa and Thomas ventured over the bridge to fish off the Eau Gallie pier one afternoon. The wind was brisk, and the kids were dressed for summer - a bad combination. They both persevered though Hayes was ready to head home the minute he saw me walk onto the pier. (He was too cold to even sit still for me to take his picture.)

While I was on the pier, Eleanor caught a little fish. She did a great job noticing her bobber drop under the water and immediately started reeling it in. Here she is with her catch of the day. I hope, though the years, that the kids continue to show an interest in fishing, mainly because I know that this time with their dad is so important for all of them.

Polar Bear Swimmers

Wouldn't you know that once we arrived in Florida, a cold spell arrived with us. What was 78 degree weather a few days before Christmas turned into low 60 degree weather for us. I had packed bathing suits since I saw mid-70 degree temperatures projected for our last day and thought we might get in a day or two of swimming. . . I did not expect my children to don their swimsuits and hit the pool when the outdoor air temperature was 63 degrees! You can tell by the look on their faces that the water was COLD! I can only imagine how chilly it was because I was not even going to put my toe in that water. Ben, who spent most of the eight-hour drive to Florida talking about how he was not going to get in the pool at all, was the first one in. Of course.Cousin Baylor was the only one with any sense as he stayed fully-clothed and just hit is cousins on the head with his pool noodle. Our three kids ended up getting into the pool every day we were in Floridaand they had a ball each and every time.

Toy Soldier Games

** Early in the morning after Christmas, we left Atlanta to make the eight-hour drive south to Mimi and Papa's house where we visited them for a few days.

For Christmas, Ben got some old school sets of toy soldiers. These toy soldiers provided hours of pure entertainment for all three kids while we were in Florida. The kids ended up creating a game that I've named "Toy Soldier Bowling." The game consists of two teams or sides. Each team sets up his soldiers facing the other team. Then, the team captain takes a ball (a ping pong ball or one slightly heavier . . . sometimes even a tennis ball) and tries to knock down the other team's soldiers. Each toy solder that is knocked down by a roll is removed from the playing field. The team with the last soldier standing wins the match.

The kids played this game both outside in the driveway and also inside, in my parents long hallway. Ben even added books to his team's set-up to make things more challenging.

I never would have thought that toy soldiers would captivate all three kids like they did, but I was very grateful, as it gave me ample time to read books or sit out by the pool!

Christmas Wish Lists

Though I'm very late in posting these, I did not want to forget to document them for this year's Christmas as they provide a good glimpse into the minds of our children. Here is Eleanor's "Wish List":All fall and throughout December, Hayes held off from making a wish list because he said he wanted to be surprised this Christmas. Over the last few weeks of December, though, he did disclose that he'd like a pogo stick and a Georgia Tech football. (He ended up getting both.)

Eleanor "helped" Ben make his list, though I'm not sure how much input Ben provided. I always love seeing what kids his age ask for as they are usually items that they have made up like "small sculpture of Ben" and "clothes with candy on it".

Luckily, after reading through these lists post-Christmas, it looks like Santa and family did a good job of helping some of these wishes come true.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day seems like such a blur. The kids wake up early (though we kept them upstairs until 7am) and then it is non-stop action until our heads hit the pillow much later that night. The best way to sum up our Christmas Day is with pictures, though I did not take many this year.




Unlike last year, we were not lucky enough to have a white Christmas, but the kids, after hearing Christmas songs all December, expected a white Christmas to be "the norm". Maybe next year . . . because Christmas is all about hope, isn't it?

Ornaments 2011

In honor of the family's Halloween costume theme this year, the kids received Star Wars ornaments as their ornament gift of 2011. Hayes got Darth Vader, Eleanor received Yoda, and Ben got R2D2.

Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas Eve morning was spent relaxing. The kids watched some old "The Muppet Show" episodes while Thomas and I caught up on life and listened to Christmas tunes. We had our traditional Chick-fil-A for lunch, got Ben down for a quick nap, and then headed to church for the 4:00 Family Service. As she had in 2008, 2009 and 2010, Eleanor played the role of an angel in the church's Christmas Pageant, and was grateful to have her friend Martha serve as an angel as well. This year, E was thrilled to have finally reached enough pageant seniority to have been assigned a line to shout before the congregation -"Baby Jesus!" Hayes elected to sit out of the pageant this year, and I think his years of playing a role in the pageant have passed.

After church, we joined the extended McGalliard Family over at Grandmommy's and Granddaddy's house for a lasagna and spaghetti dinner. (The two families have gathered together for Christmas Eve since Daddy was a little boy.) It was fun catching up with all of the family and the kids had a ball together. After dinner, we rushed home to get the kids to bed before Santa arrived (with a few of them even conking out in the car), but made sure we read the story of Jesus's birth out of the Bible one last time. Happy Christmas Eve!

Christmas Pajamas 2011

As is custom on Christmas Eve, the kids are allowed to open one present before Christmas morning. Mom and Dad select the presents that are to be opened, and we always choose gifts that contain new Christmas pajamas. The kids then wear their new pajamas to bed and wake up in them Christmas morning. These red snowmen pajamas were the selection for Christmas 2011.

Merry Christmas!

We wish you a Merry Christmas 2011!

Christmas Books 2011

Each December, we pull all of our Christmas books out from the basement and bring them up in a crate for the kids to read at their leisure during the month. We also give each of the kids a new Christmas book. Here are the Christmas book selections for 2011:

Ben received The Christmas Baby by Marion Dane Bauer. It is a great book for his age group as it relates the news of Jesus's birth in very simple language.

We gave Hayes the book "Listen to the Silent Night" by Dandi Daley Mackall. It tells the story of all of the sounds heard the night of Jesus's birth.

We gave Eleanor the book "Priscilla and the Great Santa Search" by Nathaniel Hobbie. (The original Rich's Pink Pig here in Atlanta was named Priscilla and through the years Eleanor has loved going to ride the Pink Pig at Lenox Mall.) This book is about Priscilla's adventure to the North Pole to find the real Santa Claus after seeing many "fakes" around in malls.

Crafts & Baking

My goal this month has been to keep our Carroll elves busy with festive activities. We've been busy crafting and baking during any free moment we have.

We have made more Eggnog Pound Cakes than I can keep track of. We've also made Buckeyes, Christmas Bark (with added M&Ms and sprinkles), Chocolate-Dipped Pretzel Rods and Monster Cookies. We've built gum drop trees, decorated pine cone trees and even tried our hand at making paint ornaments. We are sad to see the Christmas season draw to a close soon, but we know that we have had fun celebrating December. Merry, Merry!