A Few New Ones

Ooh-la-la!

My kitchen is looking good these days! I am completely ecstatic considering that is where I spend most of my time :-)

November - Painted cabinets and replaced hardware and painted kitchen & dining room with brighter color

January - New granite tops

February - New tile for the backsplash areas



I wish we could add a fridge lock to the new fixtures in the kitchen! The wild child is into everything these days.

No children were harmed during the making of the funny photograph. He always plays with the dryer because he is just high enough to see himself in the door. Patrick gave him a boost so he could see what was really in there.

These kids L-O-V-E their PaPaw. Judah fusses for Terry to hold him and then Piper starts pulling out all the stops to win him back.

Ahhhh, it wouldn't be a proper post without one from Piper the poser.

Christmas

A Merry Metcalf Christmas

This Christmas was so fun. You know your life is good when your list of blessings exceeds your capacity to recall them all at once. Christmas was a first this year for some of our family members and a milestone for others. Most of all it was a beautiful time together.


Christmas is always heralded by the coming of the elf. Piper's mischevious elf Lizzy joins us after Thanksgiving to give us all giggles. And apparently she likes to make cookies too!
The kids Christmas picture and milestone number one - Zac's last one in braces. He got them taken off 2 days before Christmas.
If y'all have been following this blog you know there had to be at least one picture of "the poser".


Milestone number two: First Christmas cousins Judah and baby William. They met for the first time the week before Christmas and Judah seemed very interested in getting to know Kristi and Justin's new addition.
New Mommy and new baby, old mommy and new baby. haha!
Wannabe mommy. Piper gets to hold baby William after much begging. She is such a little mama at heart and always wants to love on the babies.
Down to business - Judah gets a jump on learning how to open presents at our family Christmas party. He mostly learned that the paper and the pacifier can't both go in the mouth at the same time.
One of the many adorable angels watching over baby Jesus in the presentation of the nativity at church on Christmas Eve.Too pooped to party. The day after Christmas Judah slept a lot. I went to check on him at one point and found him slumped over with his toys and everything else he could reach. I giggled when I realized he was resting on the bumper pad like a pillow and what you can't see is the toy still in his hand. I knew exactly how he felt!
Milestone number three: After five years of being a blankie baby, Piper decided to be a big girl and give it up. Santa Claus not only leaves presents on Christmas Eve, he also takes all the elfs back to the North Pole. Piper gave Lizzy her blankies so that Santa could take them to another little girl who needed them. I rewarded her with a prize befitting such a big girl...a fabulous mani/pedi complete with trendy purple polish and flowers on her big toes. And yes, I have created a manicure monster.

We're Off to See The Wizard

We took a day trip to Memphis on Sunday to see Ballet Memphis' performance of The Wizard of Oz where my friend April's sister was dancing the role of Dorothy. The Orpheum was such a cool and intimate environment to see a live performance. The talented dancers deserve many props as well. Piper really enjoyed her first ballet and it was priceless one-on-one time with my baby girl.



A quick stop at the Peabody to see the ducks before the ballet. Did y'all know that those ducks live in a posh, newly renovated $200,000 bird house?

"Take a picture of me and the duck, Mom! That one is my favorite."
That's him behind her head :)

The lovely and talented Miss Rachel Shumake after the performance. Stand in her presence for a second and you can feel her love of the ballet and the sheer joy of being able to do something she loves so much everyday.

This was one of the most fun live performances I've ever seen and Piper hasn't stopped talking about it yet. We actually had to convince her to have her picture taken with Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. She must have been in awe because I'm just saying, that girl definitely isn't shy!

Happy Halloween!

Boo at the Zoo

Friday night we threw all caution to the wind and went to Boo at the Zoo in spite of the bad weather. The first half hour wasn't so bad. We got a sprinkle or two but we were armed with umbrellas and a five year old who just wanted to get candy and to be seen her in her costume.

See what I mean? Such a poser!

We never made it to the Not-So-Spooky Train Ride because it started to pour. Luckily we made it to cover just in time to see it start raining sideways. We entertained ourselves for a bit by laughing about the rain, taking goofy pictures...and Blow Pop sword fighting.
Me, April and Piper -
Gee, Hannah Montana, I didn't realize you were so tall!

Look, it's a Boo! Bear
One more time without the huge green pacifier covering that cute face...
Saturday for the big event Piper went with the entire Ariel theme and sported the red wig. It helped add back what the turtleneck took away from the costume. Too bad it got cold, but no one seemed to mind.
Refer to my previous posts regarding my anguish over never having pics of my oldest child. This time he had an excuse. He was quarantined in his room due to a vile stomach bug that he came home from school with. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I showed off a really funny picture of his favorite big brother ritual that I snapped a couple of days before though.

Nap time with Zac