The Faklaris Family: November 2009

Chris' Christmas present (and mine too - smiley face)

"If you give a pig a pancake"...is how it all began. Our basement flooded with all the rains in late September/early October. We had the carpet ripped out and picked out slate to put down (it was on special and looked quite nice in the store - smiley face). Once it was in, I decided I wanted to paint the walls too and casually suggested to Chris that he get the TV he's been dreaming of for the past few years (but we couldn't figure out how to make work in our family room) - the girls are getting older so their toys are getting somewhat smaller - so we opted to make half the basement theirs and half ours....Chris has watched more tv since Black Friday then he has all year (not really - but wow, this is a big tv with a clear picture - smiley face). Speaking of Black Friday...this was our first adventure out on it (and wow were the stores crazy - why do so many folks get up at such a crazy hour for these deals....?!?) and maybe our last (although I got 85% of our Christmas shopping done by 11am that morning - it may become a tradition, the girls spend the night at Nana & Papa's and then Chris & I go shopping....another first, he helped with Christmas shopping) - we like our sleep at that hour too much - ha ha. Anyway...as I was posting pictures tonight & updating things online, I snapped this photo of Chris in his new spot...smiley face. Life is good and we have to rememember to give thanks for all we have!

Abby's first trip to the dentist

She did GREAT - I heard her chatting it up from the waiting room - so cute, she was excited. She picked cookie dough toothpaste (seriously - they make that stuff?!). Hannah was soooo good to her too - she told her in the car on the way over that she would "go first so she could see she didn't have to be scared - that it was fun to pick out the toothpast flavor" - adorable. Now we just have to work on this finger sucking problem.....aie yi yi

Miley Cyrus Concert

Unbeknownst to me, Chris ordered concert tickets to Hannah Montana for Lexy (turns out it was really Miley Cyrus) ages ago....he surprised her a month ago with a scavenger hunt around the house and took Lexy and a good friend, Kate, to their first concert....they had a BLAST. There were a few other girls in our neighborhood going also and they met up with Emily & her mom for dinner before the show.

Chris has some great memories to share from the show....the girls were tired (it was a late night for them - Miley didn't go on until 8pm - her brother's band opened for her - so from time to time Lexy would put her head on Chris' shoulder to rest) and it was loud (the paranoid mom that I am - I bought them earplugs Sunday afternoon - they were too big for their little ears, but they did try - but the girls kept saying it was "too loud") - and they were so curious as to why she kept going back stage to change clothes. They were thrilled with the little things (the light they were "given" - they had to buy it; the ice cream they ate; the friends they saw) and loved to dance to the songs they knew...so exciting, but scary all at once - our little girl is growing up.

Towards the end of the show (when everyone was clapping for Miley's encore to begin - she had to sing The Climb still), Lexy turned to Chris and said "I'm tired of clapping Daddy" - he cracked up - but she clapped on and sang her heart out to one of her favorite songs...smiley face

Girls' Trees

The girls have so many ornaments (thank you family traditions and grandparents - smiley face) that last year Chris & I realized we could barely fit our own christmas ornaments (and memories) on our family tree...so this year we bought them each their own tree. After a fun day of family walks, bike riding & soccer the girls had a ball decorating them...(I did a little re-decorating afterwards - ha ha - had to make it proportional) - smiley face!

Picking out our Christmas tree....

We preordered our tree again from our church (the proceeds benefit the youth missions) - when we went to pick it out Sunday after church Hannah immediately went for the tallest and most beautiful tree (a girl after my own heart), but as Chris tried to explain - it wouldn't fit in our house....so we rerouted our sweet girls to another area &alas we found the perfect tree....smiley face. I shared our finished product (and notice HAL in the corner - he appears in our house for the girls on December 1....we just found him tonight (I had to make a trip to Barnes & Noble for a backup b/c we couldn't find his special hiding place...aie yi yi & WHEW all at once - smiley face).

Happy Thanksgiving

Meredith & Tom hosted the entire Riggle & Faklaris clans (we missed Aunt Dana & Uncle Chris) - and we had a fabulous time at their home....thank you! Here are pictures before the delicious and huge meal. While this has been a tough year on our families, we have so much to be thankful for at the same time. It's amazing how much strength you can find in adversity. God truly has a plan for us - and we have to keep the faith at all times - smiley face.

Abby could care less about "treats and juice"

I just thought this picture was priceless...that's her looking at the piece of fresh pineapple on her plate (see the bag of dried apples near her...as well as the one in her hand - her staple nutritious item). We have now limited her to only three meals with milk and water for snacks...until she eats a fresh fruit or vegetable she can't have any snacks, treats or juice....she could care less that's she's not having any of that (although she does ask a few times a day..."is gatorade a treat?", "is goldfish a snack?"...too funny! She is incredibly stubborn - it's amazing how she won't eat applesauce or a grape for us.....she has her meal with her bag of dried apples. When is she gonna get sick of these things?! aie yi yi...gotta love her though- smiley face!

Goofy Bannana

I was taking a picture of Lexy on Saturday morning (she lost her third tooth while eating EGGS!) and Hannah wanted to pose for the camera too....she cracks us up - smiley face. The many faces of Hannah....plus how she plays Toss Up (our new favorite dice game....we must play that and Uno ten thousand times a day these days - ha ha) - she cracks us up how she tosses the dice.....so sweet. The last picture is of her hair....she did it herself - love the barrettes - I think she has six in there (smiley face) - so proud!

Another tooth is gone....

The tooth fairy visited our family again this weekend....Daddy had to go search early in the morning b/c the money "fell out of the pillow during the night" - whew! So exciting....three teeth gone. We think Baby Charlie got her last one....his tooth started peeking through the day after Lexy lost hers - isn't it amazing how the tooth fairy works - why else would they come get little girls teeth if they weren't giving them to baby's who need them....smiley face. One more tooth and she'll have NO FRONT TEETH....lots to sing about this Christmas - haha!

The Rockettes

Some friends from our neighborhood bought group tickets to see the Rockette's Christmas show in Atlanta for a mommy & daughter date...Chris was thrilled he didn't have to go (he thinks the Fox is "soooo hot" - too funny it's the temperature he complains about - smiley face) so he stayed home with Abby while I took Lexy & Hannah for a fun afternoon. It was an incredible show - and I had no idea but the ending was about the birth of Christ - impressive. Hannah was probably a bit to young for the show (she grew antsy often), but they both loved seeing Santa Claus, Mrs Claus, the toy soliders falling (impressive), the 12 days of Christmas, a "santa pizza" (when all of the Rockettes were dancing santas they formed a triangle and she thought it looked like a piece of pizza - too funny), scenes from the Nutcracker and more...and of course singing Away in a Manger.

Thanksgiving at DUMCP

The girls had their thanksgiving feasts at school (more like a snack with turkey & all the fixins)....here they are in their indian attire at home....so sweet. When we asked Hannah what she ate from the feast she said "bread, popcorn and rice krispie treats"....hmmmmm (no turkey & veggies for her - ha ha)

How to cook a turkey....by Hannah Faklaris

"Go to Costco and buy a turkey. Go home and put salt on it. Cook it in the oven for 2 minutes. Take it out of the oven and eat it."

We do love costco...and our garlic salt. So sweet...this is what Hannah told her teacher at school ast week - smiley face

H1N1 strikes again....

So Lexy came down with her fever two weeks ago tomorrow, Hannah a week ago today and Abby....less than an hour ago.

As if on cue, the weekend is coming & the fever set in....Abby & I were out running errands this morning & she was unusually fussy - we went for a walk around the neighborhood & I let her ride with her blankie & froggie - sure enough, when I took her out of the stroller after our hour walk - she was on fire....

Poor girl...but at least the Faklaris Family is nearly done with this flu/virus....whew! Just wanted to let you know we still aren't safe yet...next week, hopefully in time for Thanksgiving - smiley face!

Daddy's "homemade" apple orchard for some real homemade applesauce

Chris' office is having their thankgsiving feast tomorrow - someone signed up to bring his favorite & speciality (yummy pumpkin bread) so he signed up to bring applesauce. It's my grandmother's receipe (if you could call it that - I don't follow measurements exactly - smiley face) and it is delicious, but apparently it's pretty "sally" for him to bring in....so he's been talking it up like he took the girls to an orchard in N Ga to get the apples as an outing....and now he had them act like they were picking those apples from trees in our backyard...he's bringing the pix in, Motts Applesauce to throw them and as I type right now he's peeling many, many apples to make our yummy homemade stuff (I hope there's some for the girls & me to eat tomorrow - it is one of my favorites).....too funny!

Thanksgiving at Woodland

Lexy's school celebrated Thanksgiving today - they had an adorable program in their classroom first (Lexy was asked to do the introduction - she read it today in class, but had memorized it for us at home - we were sooooo impressed by how well she read these long words and shared the history of Thanksgiving). We were lucky to have her grandparents there to support her & enjoy the thanksgiving feast the cafeteria prepared...yum (smiley face).