merry christmas, everyone!

My favorite picture from christmas. All she wanted was a bow and arrow.

Dash is just like his dad. Already likes to work in his shop.
All Katie wanted was a tea set.

dash loves this star.

house for sale. and i will throw in the wreaths!

gingerbread fun!

Also, as a totally random side note, i think beds should be named after how many kids you have. for example, instead of a queen, you would have a 3 kid king. That way you could all fit. Because 5 people in a queen bed all night is a little tight and makes for a very early christmas morning!

Lake Tahoe Here We Come

The Gillespie family has big news. Kyle has accepted a job in northern Nevada and we are making the big cross-country move in January. It is a bitter-sweet decision. We will miss many things about the South and the amazing friends we've made in Demopolis. (We are thinking of packing them in the moving truck.) However, we are almost giddy to be closer to our families, mountains, and the hobbies we grew up loving.

This week has been a whirlwind. It is awesome to see two years of prayers come together in one week. We have learned so much and are so grateful for last 5 1/2 years in Alabama. We hope that we won't lose friends but instead our friends will gain a vacation destination!

Favorite quote of the week:

Kate:'But I don't want to sell our house!'

Mom:'We have to so we can live closer to the grandmas.'

Deep reflection . . .

Kate: "I HATE this BORING house!"

Seriously, she is the funnest 2 year old around!

Dash's B-day and School Christmas Party

This first picture made me cry when I saw it. Kyle is the best husband but he is an even better dad. I am so blessed that my kids have him in their lives. He is quiet to most people but he really knows how to love.

Our Christmas party on lilypad lane. I love these kids and their moms.

Ella and Kate, in December, in the rain. At some point you have to not fight it and say, sure, wear your swimsuit in the rain and see how long you last in the cold.

Regardless, there is something freeing and wonderful about playing in the rain and mud in a month when you should be wearing scarves and gloves.

That is one gift I hope to give my kids as a mom. I want them to know what it's like to be without boundaries . . . to be creative, to love, to be free, to innovate, to experience rain and sunshine . . . to know what happy feels like deep down.

My demopolis family.

Where do they come up with this stuff?

I have to write it down or I will forget:

Ella
Ella and I were talking about going to first grade next year. She asked what she should do if the kids were mean to her. I told her to just be kind and things would work out. Then she said . . .

"Oh, I have a great idea! I will gather my friends around and then I will tell them about Jesus!"

Kate
Has been filling up her sippy cups with water, inserting pollypockets, and putting lids on them. They are all over the bathroom and are kinda freaky, i'll admit. Did she see the movie Prestige?

On another note the other day I was poking my belly out at Kate and just for fun asked her what she would think about having another baby. "You mean like Dash?" No, a new one, I told her. "You mean like you're going to swallow a person?" I thought that was pretty funny.

Happy B-day, Dash!

Here is to a perfect year with a perfect baby! We love you, Dash!

Christmas on the river

Demopolis is famous for Christmas on the River. They also host a 5K that's part of Tuscaloosa's grand prix.

Ella ran the kid race. Kyle, Kate and Dash were her support team.

Before we left for the race I asked Ella what she should do if she felt like stopping. Her reply: "I guess I'll stop." I suggested she try to push through. "Yeah, okay. Good idea."

My running buddies, Lauren and Lil.

They are the best!

Lauren--Had the best effort at the end and made her goal with 2 seconds to spare!

Lil--Took second in her category.

Me--First in my category, third woman overall, seventeenth if you count the men. Pardon my crazy hair.

And P.S. here is an update on Ella's dress. It now has sleeves!

Modest is hottest

Ella came to me today and said,

"Mom, I have an idea. It started in my tummy and it is coming up my throat . . . I want to sew a dress."

So she picked out her material in my scrap pile and asked what to do first. I told her we needed a pattern. "I'll lie down and you can trace me." So that's what we did. I got out a magic marker and traced a pattern. Then she cut it out, picked another color, and tried to cut it out the same.

Then I threaded a needle and had her sew down each side. I thought at first it was going to be way too small because she sewed a ways in from her edges, but VOILA. The thing fit and I about died laughing and smiling with pride.

I SWEAR she did this all by herself. We are adding sleeves tomorrow because as Ella and Kate say, "Modest is hottest!" But here is a preview. Kate took the pictures.

Dash is a mess but he sure is fun

The other day I told Dash to sit down and he shook his head no. It was hilarious. I caught a small glimpse of it here for your watching enjoyment. He can also say Bye Bye. I'm afraid my little baby is turning into a small toddler.

All ella wanted for christmas was her own room. So we moved all the kids upstairs. Lil and Lauren are excited because now their old bedroom/playroom is our early morning exercize room. I guess it will help me get out of bed if they are knocking on my door :).

We are redoing both of the bathrooms upstairs. They just need a little love, nothing too crazy. I will post some pictures when they are done.

A story to be thankful for . . .

I've been wanting to introduce you to the Busbys for awhile. They are our AWESOME neighbors who love mexican food as much as we do and have two kids: aiden (6) and rhea (about 20 months).

It constantly amazes me how you can live so far from your home and still find people who remind you of home. Dana and Jay are always cooking for us and making us feel like we belong.

Baby Rhea is a special little miracle herself. She was born with OI, lots of people know it as fragile bone disease.

She has had over 50ish broken bones in her little life, but you would never know she is in pain because she practically glows with happiness and love. The OI community says that these little kids may have fragile bones but they have unbreakable spirits!


Last month Baby Rhea flew to Omaha so a specialist could put telescoping metal rods in her legs for strength and straightening. Check out the before and after X-rays. They make me cry every time I see them.

Anyway, my kids pray for the Baby Rhea every night. I tell Ella one reason its important to do her school work is because in order for people to find cures and solutions for people like Baby Rhea, you have to learn how to read and think and be inventive.

Anyway we are so thankful for the Busbys and all of the awesome people in demopolis. They have been nothing but gracious to us and we love them.


Anyway, this month has been busy. We had a traditional thanksgiving feast for Kyle's office (mexican fiesta and cheesecake) and tomorrow we are hosting T-day for all the demopolis strays, so needless to say I better stop typing and start cooking.

A few other randoms from the kids:

-"Mom, I think Dash and Baby Rhea are falling in love." --Ella

-"Mom, all I want for Christmas is my own room with a sign that says NO TWO-YEAR-OLDS ALLOWED." --Ella

-"I want some boobs like that." --Kate

-"I'm not spilling water, I'm making rain drops." --Kate

-"I want a new mommy. You can be my sister. I want my new mommy to be Grandma Anne. Grandpa Dug can be the Joker."

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We are grateful for you!

Nashville and Montgomery

We made our annual trip to see our the Solomons in Nashville this weekend. They are such an awesome family and even though our visit was short it was great to see them as always.

The hayrolls, cotton fields and pecan orchards make for a gorgeous drive.

Vacations are even funner when the kids get along and don't fight. Drew kept calling me "Katie's mom."

This is a picture of Andy's land. 32 acres of pristine georgia soil. Kyle and the girls enjoyed riding the intruder buggy. We are excited to go visit them after their house is built sometime next year.



One of my favorite things to do is look at homes. So after the boys got done with their golf, Laura surprised me with a tour of nashville home show! Yeah! It was so fun. The insides were AMAZING. For a town of 4,000 they have some incredible decorators.

PS Laura is prego with the third solomon BOY.

Dash has officially tasted the thrill of freedom. I can't get anything done. He climbs out of his high chair, tries to climb out of his crib, goes up and down stairs and can climb up the slide backwards. The good news is he is always smiling while causing trouble.

The montgomery zoo, 2 1/2 hours away. If that doesn't make us dedicated moms I don't know what does! 4 adults and 10 kids under 6. WHEW.

Dash is all boy

Can you believe Dash is almost one? He is such a happy little guy. And already he loves his planes, trains and automobiles.

You can see what happens when his sisters get involved.

Fall at foscue. I am going to have to start wearing some rollerblades while I push the stroller. I am a bit sore from running like a madwoman trying to keep up with kate.

The kids are looking at a family of turtles on the river.

Bikes are still in season here . . .

And the winners were . . .