The Carroll Crew: November 2012

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Santa's Lap!

Mom and I took the girls to see Santa at the mall last Friday (Black Friday, that is!) and I figured Madi would do great. She's never been scared of anyone dressed up (not Santa last year, not the Easter Bunny, not at Disney World, and not even Chuck-E-Cheese), but she didn't like him all that much...

You can't really tell (because she would not give up the little girl behind us's reindeer from Build-A-Bear) but she is SCREAMING at the top of her lungs and trying to get out of his lap!!

Emma did really good though! (She wants to make sure she's on the "Nice" list!!

But, to give Madi credit, we got in line at ten minutes till 1, and they had already roped it off for Santa's break from 1-2. We waited around the mall, and finally got to see him at 2:15...which was way past when we should have been napping!

Thanksgiving Fun!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Thanksgiving!!! I love everything about it! The food, the family get togethers, the deserts, and did I mention the food?! Our Thanksgiving Day was very busy...of course, but we are very blessed to have lots of family to fellowship with! One of the main things we always do...in addition to eating... is try to get "Christmas card worthy" family photos! This is proving much more difficult, the more kiddos we add to the mix, but overall, I think we are a pretty good looking group!

The Jefcoat Fam

The Carroll Crew

I think what I love most about Thanksgiving is that it officially kicks off the whole holiday season, which is most definitely my most favorite time of the year!!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Madi the "Billy Goat"!

As you know, we found out Madi was allergic to milk proteins when she was like 2 months old. We tried EVERY kind of formula made, with NO LUCK, until we finally took her to LeBohneur and Dr. Corkins put her on Neocate. Well, at a year old, we were "supposed" to take her off formula and start whole milk. The Neocate formula was very expensive, but I was definitely willing to get it for her because we didn't have to deal with the constant screaming/colicky crying, terrible rash all over her trunk, and sneezing/ watery eyes!! At about 9 months, I started trying the "step-down" approach Dr. Corkins suggested...Alimentum formula for a few months, then regular milk formula for a few months, then milk. As soon as we tried the Alimentum, she broke out in a rash and started the crying bit. After she turned a year old, I tried Silk, Almond milk, Rice milk, and Coconut milk...NOTHING suited her!! Several people had told me that goat milk worked miracles for their babies...I was really nervous about trying it, but they were so right!!! Madi LOVES it, and even better, it LOVES her! She is completely clear of any rashes and her eyes don't look "allergery!" We even got to quit giving her "poo poo" medicine, just to make her go to the bathroom!! It's kind of funny, because we've always said Madi was a little billy goat because she loves to eat paper and is always chewing on everything!! I guess she has been trying to tell me for a while that all she needed was goat milk! ;)

Madi actually got this empty milk carton out of the garbage and brought it to me with her cup!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

The last of Soccer!

It was COLD for the last couple of Emma's soccer games!! On Tuesday, Oct 30, Emma said she was going to score 4 goals, and what do you know? She scored 3 in the first 10 minutes of the game!! Go Emma!! She has improved so much this year and we are so proud of her!!

Here's a few pics of the Oct 30 game!

And here are a few pics from the Nov 6 game (our last game this fall)! Emma didn't score in this game but got several "assists" to Olivia, who scored like 8 goals! Yay the Wild Ones were undefeated this fall!!

Happy Birthday Mammaw Carroll!!

Mammaw Carroll turned 85 this year!! She absolutely adores the girls, and they love going to play at her house! We are so blessed to have one of our grandparents that the girls get to know! She is such a big part of Nick's life and we love that she is doing so great! Even after 2 knee replacements, she gets around about better than I do! We took her lunch and cupcakes on the Sunday before her birthday for her little "birthday party"!

Emma, Mammaw, and Madi!

Nick, Emma, Mammaw, PaPa Tony, and Madi!

No Trcks...Just Treats!

Halloween was super fun this year!! Of course, I completely try to do way too much and it usually ends up being way to crazy, but I try! I wanted the girls to coordinate for Halloween (I know...that's no different from every other day!), but all Emma wanted to be was some sort of fairy or something with a tutu and wings. And since we already had several of those costumes, I actually talked her into being the same butterfly she wore two years ago and got Madi a cute tutu caterpillar costume off of Etsy! They didn't really "match" but they definitely looked super cute!! Tuesday night was Tupelo's Downtown Trick-Or-Treating with the businesses on Main St. I had never been, but wanted to try it out. Emma also had a soccer game at 7, so we went at 5 and HAD to leave by 6 in order to each something quickly and get to the game in time. I was a little dissapointed in the whole Downtown thing...it wasn't nearly as big as I thought it would be!

Photo attempt! Madi kept pulling off her hat...which was the only thing that actually let you know she was dressed as a caterpillar!

Madi was NOT into it at first, but Emma had a great time! She wasn't nearly as scared at all the people dressed up!

My pretty little butterfly!

My pretty little caterpillar! Madi finally decided she'd get down and join the fun!

Photo Attempt #2!

This is my favorite picture of the girls in their costumes!!

Fayth the Ninja and Emma the butterfly

Thomas (AKA Jake!)

Thomas and Emma! Unfortunately we had to leave early to get to the game, so we didn't get to Trick-or-Treat with Fayth and Thomas :(

Halloween night Nick and I decided to take both girls Trick-orTreating with Jason, Miranda, and Preston!

Emma and Madi TOT'd at LoLo and PaPa's first!

PaPa makes a pretty cute caterpillar too!

LOVE this one of Madi!

Ready to TOT!

Preston and Emma!

Fall Festival at School!

Emma and Madi had their Preschool Fall Festival on the Tuesday before Halloween! LoLo agreed to "work" it so I could work and still get to hang out for both of the girls' time at the gym! (I don't know WHAT we'd do without LoLo!! She is definitely a HUGE blessing!) Madi's class came to play first. She was not in the best of moods...she has beenthis way lately, and I guess it is because she is cutting all of her back teeth at once! Poor thing has her front 4 teeth, then skips several and has all of her back ones. I've never seen a kid cut teeth like her! Anyways, she was being a little "tooty" but I got a few pics of her having fun!

She wanted me or LoLo to hold her for the most part.

She didn't even want to jump! So not like her!

Madi LOVES "baaaallllssss"! (She makes it like 5 syllables!)

She finally enjoyed playing with the ring toss!

Bless her! Those toothies get in the way of all her fun!

She didn't like my idea of peeking thru the hole in the pumpkin bean bag toss!!

Each class usually gets a class picture with their teacher...well, this was a stretch for the toddler group!

Madi was NOT going to pose! And I love the other kids' expressions! HA!

Bless her! (And in her defense, it was during their normal nap time!! She really does LOVE school and has done such a great job! She hasn't cried since the first week!!)

Emma's class and the other 4 year old class came next! Of course, Emma had a blast!