Christmas with the Cranes

It's so magical to experience the spirit of the season with a two-year old. We've had such a wonderful few weeks preparing for Christmas in our house.

Emma was very excited to decorate the Christmas trees. She helped with all three. We have one in the living room - our "grown up" tree that has coordinating ornaments, etc. Emma carefully placed the snowflakes and berry twigs. Another tree can be found in the playroom/den - this one is a Nutcracker themed tree. Emma had great fun decorating the tree, placing each of the characters from the ballet, making sure that they all had chocolates hanging nearby. The final tree is in Emma's room. We were going with snowflake ornaments, then Emma located some huge plastic Christmas balls and a Blues Clue ornament to hang on the branchnes. It is quite the tree!!

This season has been full of firsts for Emma, even though this is her third Christmas. We enjoyed baking and decorating cookies together. She made sure to put on her apron from Auntie Rel and pick out just the right cookie cutters. She also picked out blue icing (very festive) and decorated each cookie herself.

Watching the cookies bake.

Mmmm...icing.

The finished product.

Emma had her first Christmas Program at Preschool and sang lots of songs. Her favorite was Jingle Bells. Of course, being the proud parents we are, filmed it all. Emma even hit a note on her own at the end of one of her songs. Too funny. Maybe she'll be a performer like her mommy and daddy.

As Christmas grew closer, we talked about many things about the day. First and foremost, we talked about how this was the birthday of Jesus. She is quick to point out any Baby Jesus that she sees in mangers as we drive. We also bought a Little People nativity set in which she has let all the animals in the house join in on. She has also been asking quite frequently, as she did to GiGi one day at her house when looking at tree, "Where's Baby Jesus!?" At the Christmas Eve service, she made sure to bring in her little people Baby Jesus so she could hold him through the service since we were celebrating his birthday.

We also talked about Santa Claus. Emma hasn't been too sure of this guy (just like her mommy was). Any time we talked about going to see him and sitting on his lap, she would say, "No ho ho." When we'd ask her if Santa was going to bring her toys, she would say, "No ho ho. Baby Jack and Mommy and Daddy bring toys." As we got closer to Christmas, she started to talk more about Santa, even calling him Santa instead of Ho Ho. She decided that she wanted him to bring her a Jessie doll from Toy Story 3. On Christmas Eve, she was so excited to track him across the globe. We made food for the reindeer and filled it with magic sprinkles to help them fly. After church we sprinkled it through the yard. That night, she made sure to set out cookies for him (as well as milk and ice water). In addition, she wanted to make sure the reindeer were refreshed. We had to put a bowl of water on the porch.

Tracking Santa Claus

Making Reindeer Food

Reindeer Food!!!!

Ready for church.

Excited for Christmas!

Spreading reindeer food in the yard.

Christmas Eve with cousins Audrey and Natalie.

Cookies for santa.

Being very careful with the milk for santa.

Also needs ice water.

Making sure reindeer are satisfied too.

Christmas morning came and we had SNOW!! I think Dusty and I were more excited than Emma, this being our first white Christmas in Chattanooga. Emma came downstairs, just taking it all in. First she checked to see if Santa ate the cookies. She was quick to note he didn't finish them all. Then she remembered the reindeer and ran out to see the bowl. They had drunk all of the water and left some of their food in the bowl with their messy snouts! Then we said, check your stocking. So she slowly went back over to the fireplace and saw none other than Jessie sticking out! The look on her face was just priceless. It melted my heart!

Jessie doll! Of course we had to go get our Jessie hat that Gigi and Pop brought back from FL.

We opened the rest of our presents and enjoyed a nice breakfast with family. Then it was off to build snowmen in the yard. We got about 4 inches of snow! How wonderful!

View from the front porch

Emma's snowman

Yes, for those of you that know our house, we're not standing in front of it. Used the neighbor's snow!

This was absolutely an amazingly beautiful Christmas for so many reasons. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful family, with such an amazing daughter and husband who never cease to amaze me in all ways possible.

Oh Toodles!

Alrighty, it has been a long time since my last post. I promise to catch up soon - and there is so much to catch up on! I just had to blog about something my little Emma said today. For this to make sense, you have to watch Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse. Mickey and all of his friends are Emma's favorite right now. Her birthday party was all about Mickey as were a lot of her gifts. She loves Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Daisy, and Donald among others. So on Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse, they are always trying to solve problems and Toodles helps the gang out. He's a little flying mouse ears that has tools to use for solve the problems.

Emma and I were sitting on the couch tonight looking at her new Thomas Look and Find book. She accessorized the book yesterday with stickers she got from the doctor. We were able to safely remove two of the stickers, but two were pretty well stuck. I told her we'd have to leave the stickers in the book because they would tear the page. They were stuck. She looked at me and said, "Noodles help" very matter of factly. She calls her Magna Doodle Noodles, so I was confused at first. Then after she said it again, I realized she was saying, "toodles help". I asked her, can Toodles help us, and she said very excitedly, "yes!" and of course we had to proceed in saying "Oh Toodles!!!!"

Emma's Language

Emma talks non-stop (wonder where she got that from - ha).

Here are some of her words that need translation:

Bah - Bath
vrrooom vrroom - Car (yes car would be much easier to say but what fun would that be)
Guck Guck - Duck
Paark or Paarka Paarka - Park
Beets - Beach
Nanana - Banana
Nack - Snack
Coast - Roller Coaster
Mere - Come here
There Go - there you go
Sah-ey Mommy - Sorry Mommy
Bawnee - Barney (the guy who has been staining our soon to be installed stairs)
Uh-wnee - Ernie (from Sesame Street and Papa)
Dipe - Diaper
Tuuwbo - turbo
Turto - Turtle
Nette - Miss Jeanette at PlayGym
Nat - Cousin Natalie
Augsh -Cousin Audrey
saux - Sauce - and everything must have this (ketchup, bbq, ranch, whatever it is good)
rockeen chair - rocking chair
fffog - frog
sop - Shop (and anytime she says she's going to "sop" I ask her what she's going to buy. The immediate reply is "shoes". That's my girl!)
Eggie - Egg

I can't list all the ones that she says clearly. She will pretty much repeat anything you ask her to say, and some days she downright surprises me in what comes clearly out of her mouth (in a good way)!

It's amazing the things she remembers, too. She gets so excited when we pass Chik-fil-a. "Moos Cows! Cows Moos!" And usually, the cow isn't around, so we have to tell her the cow is in the barn. We are Tuesday Night - Kids Eat Free - regulars. I know that sounds bad, but the kid loves the nuggets and fruit. She knows exactly where her grandparents live as well as where we buy groceries. She knows as soon as we get near a Cracker Barrell that we're going to sit on the rocking chairs and can this kid spot a park!! She gets excited when we get to 4-corners in Collegedale, just knowing she's going to the Parka Parka. Last weekend, we visited Dusty's Mamaw for Easter lunch. Her apartments have a putting green. Emma and her Uncle Pete played "ball". This weekend, any time we had the Masters on, Emma was searching for "Peeet".

What a wonderful kid! She is full of such energy. I love her so much! I'll post pictures soon!

Spring is Coming!

The sun has been shining. The weather is getting warm. We are ready for spring! We have been playing outside, going to the zoo, and to the "parka parka" every chance we get!

Year End Review

I have found that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find time to write. A three day weekend sure does help!

Here's a little photo catch up on the past few months.

Emma walked in her 2nd Race for the Cure.

One of Emma's favorite things to do when the weather was nice was riding in her wagon. She always insisted on bringing along a few extras. On this day, it was her new lawn mower.

In October, we took a trip to Sanibel Island. It is one of our favorite places to go for a relaxing vacation. My family took Dusty along to Sanibel years ago on a family vacation, and he fell in love. This was Emma's second trip, and I think she is in love. We couldn't spend enough time on the beach, gathering shells and playing in the waves.

Emma was our little monkey for Halloween. We went with the McKennas to Boo in the Zoo. Emma and Owen had fun riding together in the wagon.

Burt's Farm for some pumpkin picking.

Out with our cousins!

We got to enjoy snow in early December. Emma was a little timid at first, but loved it once she started playing!

Christmas with the Cranes

It's Christmastime at the Cranes! What a wonderful season it has been. There's nothing more special than sharing this time with a 17 month old. I just know it's going to get better and better each year. This year Dusty and I decided not to exchange gifts, and as he put it last night, it has been the best Christmas ever, watching Emma run all over with joy.


Emma has really gotten in to all the lights and music of the season. Her favorite CD that has been playing for the last month in the house is Muppets Christmas. She especially loves Miss Piggy's singing and the Little Saint Nick song. She loves Christmas lights. When we drive down the road we hear lots of "ooohs" when she sees the lights, and "ho ho" for Santa.


We kicked off the season with the annual Nutcracker performance. I returned to dancing this year, dancing in the corps for snow and waltz. Emma came to the dress rehearsal and LOVED it (other than the house lights being turned off and the curtain closing). She wouldn't sit - she just stood and bounced along as the girls danced and said...(of course) "mowre, mowre". Dusty was in the sound booth and I was on stage and she kept saying to Dusty - "Daddy!" and to me on stage "Mommy!" - looking for both of us each time.


Last weekend, we headed to Nashville for the 2nd Annual UTC Gang Christmas party. My how our gatherings have changed, but in a wonderful way. I just love all of our little ones. We missed the Straits at our gathering, but we still had lots of kiddos running about. The next day, we headed to the North Georgia mountains for Dusty's family gathering.

Emma looking for "moos!" (aka cows) on the way to the Whitakers


The UTC Gang - two newest additions - Gabbie and Melina
Emma and Owen in deep conversation.
Snowy mountain on the way to the Denise and Michael's
Aunt Robin

Grammy Natalie crawling around

We always spend Christmas Eve with Dusty's family. We attended the early candle lighting service at Christ United and then headed to Dusty's mom's for a breakfast dinner. Emma had a blast with her Grammy, Papa, Uncle Spence, Aunt Lish, Mamaw, Audge, and Nat. We lost count at how many times she flew around the house. Audrey got a kick out of watching Emma pass by her while she was crawling around. We opened lots of presents at the end of the evening. I think Emma's favorite was her pink ride on from Papa and the cars from Grammy. Once she figured out the seat of the ride on had a storage compartment for her cars, she was set!

"It's Christmas!!"
Audrey wiped out from the excitement of the day.

Emma has been picking up cameras and saying "Cheese"
Emma and Audrey discussing their new presents.

Dusty and I got to experience the joys of parenthood at Christmas once we got home. After Emma was in bed, we hurried back downstairs to put together Emma's special Christmas morning!

Emma's toys waiting for Christmas morning.


Christmas morning, Emma slept in, as usual, unaware of the excitement that was about to take place. We left most of her presents unwrapped, so she could hop around and play with everything. First she ran to the new table and chairs, until she realized the gate was no longer around the tree. It immediately became the excitement - all of those ornaments!

Exploring her new tent
Trying out her new cookware

Do you think we can fit more stuff in here?
Maybe a mommy....


Mom and dad came over for breakfast and of course had gifts for the Divine Miss Em. Here's her favorite - need I say more? She is our daughter!

To wrap up the day, we headed to mom and dad's for dinner with Omi and Poppop. My brother's old room is Emma's play room. Whenever she walks into their house, she makes a b-line to that room!


Hanging out with Omi and Poppo


What a wonderful Christmas season. I am so thankful and blessed for my wonderful and loving husband, my sweet daughter, and all of our family and friends. God is good.