Merry Christmas!

Sadie's Theatrical Debut

Our church Christmas program was this morning, and the little kids (2 and under) were set to be sheep for the program. One of our members spent many hours making costumes, and made adorable little lamb costumes for the little kids. Last week at the dress rehearsal, none of the little ones would put the costumes on. This morning, Daniel successfully got Sadie into the sheep costume! We hurried up and took pictures, because we just KNEW that costume was NOT going to stay on long. It did indeed come off at one point before the sheep were set to go up on stage, so we didn't push it. When it came close to time for the sheep, I took Sadie over to watch the bigger kids sing "Away in the Manger", then told her "Let's put on your costume" and "Let's go walk with the big kids". She nodded during all this, and I thought....this might just work! Sure enough, she made it on stage (with a little of my help) and actually stood up there by herself for the duration of her required time. Of course, then she didn't want to get off!!!! She very much enjoyed looking out into the audience to see who was looking at her I think....the girl loves an audience!!!!

Baaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

She even got on all fours!

Fun times!

After church last Sunday we took a little field trip down to play at the Lilly House and walk around the gardens and grounds. The Lilly House is part of the IMA (Indiana Museum of Art) campus and is an absolutely beautiful home. The 22 room home was finished in 1913, designed as part of the American country home era, but was most notably purchased in 1930 by J.K. Lilly, Jr. (the grandson of Eli Lilly) and donated with its 152 acre Oldfield grounds to build the IMA.

We went back last Thursday for "Christmas at the Lilly House" to tour the home, decorated with 1930's Christmas decorations and luminaries lining the paths and drives. One thing my parents taught me (and I suspect my siblings) is a love of old homes, and this home didn't disappoint. It still holds alot of the Lilly's furnishings, as well as original wallpaper, moldings, and flooring, yet it isn't stuffy. It's just what you expect of an American Country Home. How fun it would have been to see this house in it's hey-day!

When we visited on Sunday, Sadie was in the mood to laugh and run (after a quick 10 minute nap on the car ride down!), and she had her chance!

Look - do you see the airplane???

Catch me if you can!

Another airplane?

I'm still running....

Who says it's cold out here?

I'm going in for a break!

What a fun day!!!

Christmas Card Attempt #127

What we thought was going to be a really great idea didn't quite work out. For our family Christmas card, we were going to to have 3 pictures of Sadie holding up a letter. We would then put the 3 pictures together to spell out JOY on the Christmas card.

What an idea.... the letters were made, her outfit was put together, and we had a Saturday with some beautiful weather. However, we found having our 19 month old daughter holding cute letter cards in her cute outfit and looking at the camera with a cute smile, didn't quite work out as we had hoped! Things started out alright, but as you can see, Sadie quickly lost interest!

Maybe Daniel should have dressed in a cuter outfit and played a supporting role to Sadie.....

So now we know who's boss in the Foley household! On to the next GRAND idea!

Gig'em Aggies!!

Say cheese!

Sadie can now reach on top of the kitchen countertops and pull things from the middle of the kitchen table. We found her snacking on some cheese tonight after dinner....

(when I got the camera out, she said "CHEESE!!!!". ha! Pun intended?)

Happy Halloween!

Brown tights and shirt....Gap giftcard...FREE

Suede boots.....Target...$14.99

Whiskers and brown nose ..... Mommy's makeup...FREE


Lion costume....Cousin Livy's...FREE

Getting to sort through EVERY neighbor's loot of candy...


PRICELESS!!!!!

Sadie LOVED Halloween! She got a little stage fright as soon as every door opened, but she sweetly picked out her piece of candy (and in most cases her PIECES of candy since there weren't many other trick-or-treaters around). We would then say, "Sadie, say thank you", and she would look up at the kind candy giver, nod once, and turn around to walk off. There was no roaring like we practiced, or "Trick-or-Treat" like we practiced, just a sweet stare as she awaited the inevitable lowering of the bowls of candy. She was very good at knowing exactly how to pick out the right piece of candy and put it in her bag, and very good at finding the next house to approach. She was a natural!


Our camera battery ran out before we got back to the house. So we didn't get to take a picture of her with all her candy dumped out on the dining room floor. She was truly one happy lion! Now, what to do with all of it?!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Children's Museum

So Sadie and I have been bugging Daniel to go with us to the Children's Museum for a while now. I just knew he would enjoy watching Sadie play there. Last spring Sadie and I were going once a week. We slowed down during the summer and spent more time outside instead. But now it's cooling down, and the museum is calling our name again!

So finally, a couple of Fridays ago, Daniel called around lunch time and surprised us by saying he was going to leave work a little early, and we could make a little trip to the Children's Museum. Yahoo! We didn't hesitate in accepting his invitation.

To the Children's Museum we go......

This is Sadie's "strong" face. She makes it when she's trying really hard or when she's mad. I think she was just trying hard here. :)

Building sand castles...

Harvest time...

This is classic Sadie. She is always working.

Daddy got in on it too!


So, what's next?!

Sitting in an Indy racecar

and we ended up our trip with a ride on the carousel...

She's an old pro... One handed!

Our travels

This post is LONG overdue. Here are some pictures from our Labor Day weekend in Texas (finally!). We spent most of the weekend in San Antonio then headed to my Grandma's in Dime Box for Labor Day.

We got down to San Antonio Friday morning so we could go spend some time with Daniel's grandmother, Naunie. Friday evening, Daniel's cousin, Duquessa, and her family and Daniel's sister, Christine, and her family came for dinner at Naunie's house.

Sadie and Duquessa's sons eating at the kid's table.

Then Saturday evening was Daniel's cousin, Mary's, wedding reception. Mary's new husband, Nixon, is from the Bahamas. So they were married there in August.

Mary and Nixon dancing

Sadie hitting the dance floor with her cousins

Sadie hitting the dance floor with big Grampi (Daniel's grandfather) and her cousins

Ben (Christine's son) and Drew (John J.'s son) dancing together. Too cute! We'll have to pull that one out when they're in high school. :)

Sarah (Christine's daughter) and Tess (John J.'s daughter)

Daniel with his cousins, Jim and Tim

Sadie and her daddy

Daniel's 90-something year old great aunt cutting a rug. Go Girl!!!

Sadie and Grammi Foley (Daniel's mom)

Then Sunday we celebrated Grampi's 90th birthday with a mass and brunch.

The man of the hour with Grandmother


Cousins.....

Hugh, Christine's son is on the left

(I had the pleasure of sitting next to Ben at the brunch and had so much fun talking to him! He was making me laugh so hard!)

Luke, John J.'s youngest son

Grampi's parish in Wichita Falls just finished building a new church. Last summer, Daniel's cousins all got together and purchased a window in the new church in Grampi's name. It is the Holy Spirit window that is part of the Holy Trinity windows in the church. They officially presented it to him at his birthday party (or at least the picture of it in the church) :).

We spent the rest of the weekend in Dime Box with my family, just hanging out.