It's the Holiday Season!

We have been hard at work this holiday season with opening our Christmas show here in Savannah. This year we've added a section that features Mike as Scrooge, and the rest of the cast joins him to do a musical version of A Christmas Carol. The audiences seem to really enjoy it, and we are nearly sold out every night this December!

We ordered Christmas cards, but they are going to be here a bit late, so you might get them after Christmas. So I thought I'd share a few photos for you guys so you didn't miss anything. 

Constance and Lucca both started Pre School at a church down the street a couple of weeks ago. They are having fun socializing with other kids, doing fun art projects, and learning the alphabet and bible stories, etc. They only go 2 days a week for 4 hours a day, but it's amazing how much we can get accomplished in those 4 hours! Haha. 

Savannah has been very mild this winter. We hardly need a jacket so far, which is in contrast to the rest of the country and all of the snow storms. Yesterday we bought our first live Christmas tree, and later this week we will decorate it with the girls. I'll try to remember to take pictures. Constance helped pick out the tree.

The girls both get along with each other very well, and they even share toys and tickle each other sometimes. Lucca is getting her back teeth in, and Constance is learning to put some clothes on. We are still having a hard time with potty training, but hopefully being in school with other kids will help her figure out what she should be doing. They both love to sing songs, and they sing to each other in the car all the time. Constance is only 29 lbs, still, and I don't know about Lucca, we forgot to weigh her this week. Constance is in size 3T clothing (mostly... sometimes I have to take in her pants at the waist, because she's a tiny thing) and wears size 7.5 toddler shoes, and Lucca is generally in 18 month clothes and wears size 4 baby shoes. 

We had visits from nearly the whole family this year, and the girls are having so much fun seeing everyone. We are thankful that everyone wants to be such a part of their lives. 

Love to you all! And Merry Christmas!!!

~Michael, Shannon, Constance, and Lucca

Fall Updates

Sorry, things have been very busy since our cross country road trip. Since my last update, Lucca has turned 1 (on September 1st, 2013) and has started walking. Constance is getting so smart, and she is very helpful around the house.

For our 3 year anniversary, Mike bought me a sewing machine (which I asked for), and I've started to make the girls some clothes, following in the footsteps of my dad's mom, my Nonna.

Lucca's one year old doctor's appointment stats were:
22.2 lbs (85%)
18 inch head
29.25 inches (50%)
All which means she's perfectly normal sized and growing just like she should. We are still trying to decide if she has a milk sensitivity, but she's taking it well, as we have switched her from soy milk to almond milk to lactose free milk, and most recently to rice milk.

Instead of a lot of updates, I'll just post some recent photos! Some of them are from here at home, and some of them are from our road trip across America!!!

Downtown living once again

For the moment, we have moved back to downtown Savannah, into the carriage house behind our old place, near the theatre. While it's a serious downsize from our house, it's a good time for us to reflect on what is important in our lives. Small spaces will make you do that! We did not sell our home, but we are renting it out for 6 months (through Christmas), and are planning to return next year.

The girls are adjusting very well to sleeping in the same room. I'm really impressed that they don't wake each other up more than they do. They have a mute button for each other when they are sleepy I guess!!!

Lucca is standing up with assistance, and has 7 teeth. She isn't walking yet, but we think she's getting closer. Constance is still potty training, and she's getting better and better all the time. Her speech is getting much better, and we can very often understand what she is asking from us. She loves to dance, loves to draw, and loves to give things to Lucca. Curious George is still her favorite tv show.

We had a nice visit with my brother, Alex, over the 4th of July holiday, as well as with most of Mike's family that came down to Tybee Island to visit.

New Family Photos

We had our friend Erin shoot some photos of us a couple of weeks ago. This is a link to her website that has our pictures on it:

http://erinrenephotography.com/blog/?p=5473

The girls fixing my hair

Constance likes it when I "fix" her hair now (though she won't leave it up), and now she wants to fix mine. Mike caught this moment that both girls were fixing my hair. Constance is 2 years and 2.5 months, and Lucca is 8 months old today. 

Riding "Bambi"

Constance went on her first carousel ride this week. We rode a horse first, then came back later and tried another animal (this carousel has a lot of strange animals on it). The one she chose KIND of looked like a deer, but she was convinced it was Bambi. Here is the video I got of her. She's saying "I ride Bambi" (with a little bit of a stuffy nose).

 

 The photo is of Lucca this week in her new cute diapers. :)

Spring has sprung!!

We are getting down to the "house projects" that we've promised ourselves we would do this year. Hopefully we can get some grass to come in this year, since last year it wasn't very soft or full. First order of business is trying to kill the weeds, but we have it prepped, and if we don't see the grass start to come in soon, we'll put some seed down.

We've finally got a patio table, compliments of Uncle Mike and Uncle Larry in Tennessee. Once we get cushions on the chairs, we'll be eating our breakfasts outside!

Around the house, the azaleas have come into bloom, which is fortunate, since they looked so homely last year, I almost pulled them up.

We are doing great at home. Lucca is finally crawling forward, and Constance is talking more all the time. Today she was playing "golf", which meant she had golf balls and was hitting them with my tennis racket. That's fine- at least someone is getting some use out of that thing. I'm terrible at tennis. And golf, for that matter.

We also took the girls to their first aquarium visit in Atlanta last weekend. Constance was in awe of all of the fish, and kept wanting to go back to the sea dragons (though, she can't say "dragon" yet, and it came out "wagon").

Attached is a photo of our house, as well as videos of Constance tucking in her bunnies, and Lucca eating her first lemon.

Constance and Lucca's checkup

So it was time for Constance's 2 year checkup, and Lucca's 6 month checkup. I had taken pictures of the girls, but I accidentally deleted them, so I'll have to take some more to put up.

Here are the stats:

Constance-
Weight 26 lbs (40-45%)
Height 32 inches (30%)

Lucca-
Weight 17 lbs (70%)
Height 26.5 inches (80%)

So that means both girls are completely normal. :)

Since I don't have pictures of the girls from this week, I'll put up a couple from Constance's birthday which was on February 10.

Lucca's 4 month visit

This holiday season has been pretty busy! After Christmas in North Carolina to visit Clint, Luisa, and Karl, we went to Tennessee and visited Mike's family for a few days. Then we flew out of Atlanta on Lucca's first plane trip to visit my dad, stepmom, and brother in Alameda California. Thankfully, both girls are troopers, and did quite well on the trip. Constance fed ducks for the first time, and couldn't stop talking about the San Francisco trolley (which she calls a train).

As soon as we got back home, we started doing rehearsals for our show Civil War Voices, based on 5 true stories of the Civil War. In the middle of that, I had a photoshoot for Paula Deen's new banquet hall spaces at the same time that Mike took the babies to Lucca's 4 month visit.

It's been a very busy few weeks around here!!

Here are Lucca's stats:
Weight: 15lb 11oz (85%)
Height: 25 inches

Can't find Constance's stats from that age, but if I do, I'll post them soon. :) Pictures forthcoming, but today is an errand day!!!