All Settled into German Fall

Well, we are all recovered from the stomach virus that circled its way through our family last week.  (At least now I understand why SA threw up all over me on the airplane).    Because of the virus, and the general busyness of getting back into our routine, I didn't take very many photos, but here are the few that I did snag.

One morning, the sunrise was so beautiful so the girls and I watched it out the kitchen windows.   

Sarah Avery has become such a big girl since we have been home.   She wants to eat in the playroom at the kids table instead of her highchair.  

Susannah was excited to go back to ballet class.    Here she is just doing a little cooking in her kitchen before it was time to head out the door.

The ice cream place that we love so much closes up for winter.   So we have been attempting to eat our fill while we still can.  

Saturday Peter took the girls to the playground so I could go for a walk by myself and the Fall colors were so amazing.   

I will miss my beloved walking route this time next year. 

The views are at their prettiest right now. 

Sarah Avery loves to play whatever Susannah is playing, including coloring.   It is so fun to watch them be busy together.   

Dressed and ready for school.

Susannah is so grown up lately too.   She dresses herself and brushes her teeth and hair every morning with very little assistance from me.   It is glorious!  

In other news, Sarah Avery has finally taken her first steps.   She still doesn't want to walk, but at least now we know she can.  ;)    Happy Halloween to everybody!   Next week we will have some pictures of our little Elsa and Olaf!  

We're Back from the USA

    The girls and I spent the last three weeks in the states which is why this blog has been completely silent.   But now we are back and mostly over our jet lag, so it is time to share some photos from our fun family visit.   Our decision to make this trip was pretty last minute.   When Peter found out he would be working in Spain for three weeks and I noticed that his absence coincided with my cousin Caleb's wedding, we decided to go for it and booked tickets before I could chicken out.   I was not excited to fly by myself with the girls, but we survived.    10 hours there and 8.5 hours back.   Keeping a 13 month entertained for that long is a feat, but we managed.     I spent a lot of time standing so Sarah Avery could play in my seat.   Susannah was a perfect traveler as usual.   She spent her time coloring in her activity book and watching Disney junior shows.   SA was more of a challenge, but she did well overall too.   Unfortunately, on the way back, SA had some stomach issues, so I spent that last 2 hours of the flight covered in vomit.   It happened when the plane was totally dark and most people were sleeping so at least we didn't make a spectacle.  I went to the back of the plane and the flight attendants were super helpful.   They even sprayed me down with some Christmas air freshener (random, I know).   I don't think it helped much though because the lady across the aisle kept her nose covered with her hair the rest of the flight.   Pretty mortifying, but what can you do???   And all of the travel pain was 100% worth all the family memories we were able to make.   The girls were so happy to have time with grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins.   I was pretty lazy about taking pictures, but here are the ones that I took:

Bright eyes on our first morning.....we all three did really well with the jet lag. 

We stayed at Shoo Shoo's house during our time in Georgia and Susannah had the best time playing dress up with her Aunt Nancy's old dance costumes.  

Mimi and Poppy took us to Charlie Joseph's so Susannah could have her name written in ketchup.   It was a hit even if it was misspelled.  ;)

The girls were so excited to see Meadow and Meadow was equally excited to have girls to pet her constantly and feed her treats.  

 After a few days in Georgia, we rented a car and drove to Knoxville to see Grammy and Grandmama and all of our other Tennessee folks.  

Sarah Avery was hesitant to warm up to everybody on this trip, but Grandmama's husband Jim was the exception.   She loved him from the very first second.   

Grandmama had my very favorite caramel cake waiting for us!   Susannah loved it as much as I did.  

Sarah Avery loved playing at Grammy's house.   She and Susannah especially loved playing in her closet and jewelry box.  

Sweet sisters in their pjs.

Cheeeese

The girls love their grammy.

A rare picture with Mommy

We managed to hit my favorite american things several times.....this included mexican food, chick fil-a, Target and frozen yogurt.

When the sun finally came out we headed to the park by Grammy's house. 

SA loved this little car at Grandmama's.

Grandmama and Susannah played catch in the backyard.   After a few days of rain, the rest of our trip was beautiful and sunny and warm. 

SA with her favorite person. 

She warmed up to her grandmama too though.  

Playing store at Grammy's house.  

Lunchtime

We spent one day with my oldest friend (it makes me so old to type this, but we have been friends for almost 30 years).   We had a great time with Lyndsey and her sweet kiddos Ellie and Hudson.    It is so fun watching Susannah and Ellie play together.

Susannah and I went shoe shopping at the mall one morning.  She loves the shoe section.  

Playing at the park with Grammy

wheee!

Grandmama had some awesome Rapunzel bubbles that kept both girls happy in the backyard.

Another morning Grammy took Susannah to the mall and they came home with this new Elsa dress.

Grandmama gave Susannah her first piano lesson

SA wanted in on the action.

On the morning of my cousin Caleb's wedding, I curled Susannah's hair. 

She was so excited to see the bride.   

The wedding took place during the UGA/UT game.   Dressing the girls in red and black was obviously a bad omen.   

But they sure did look cute.  

All fired up and ready to disrupt the ceremony.   ;)

Susannah was so excited to wear her new dress.

Sweet sisters

So grown up

The three Mallory girls all dressed up 

Uncle Andy was the best man.

Susannah got to go upstairs and see the bride before the wedding.   She was so excited to see her dress.

SA and I sat in the back.   And then we stood outside in the rain after she started squealing during the vows. 

Susannah with the handsome groom.

And the happy couple.

Grandmama looked so beautiful . 

This was my first wedding since I became a mother and I have to say, it was much more emotional.   Watching Caleb dance with his mama was enough to send me over the edge.  

And when Andy gave the toast, I was a mess.   It was such a blessing to be a part of such a big family day since we often miss big events like this.    

The Sunday after the wedding, Grandmama cooked for us one more time.  

Sarah Avery gave her uncle Andy the sweetest goodbye hug.

And one for Aunt Susan too.

One day we will get a good 4 generation picture.   This was not that day though.  ;)

One more fro-yo before heading back to Germany.

And one more chick-fil-a nugget.

And ice dream.

We had  a few more days in LaGrange to spend with Shoo Shoo and meadow. (And Aunt Nancy, who drove all the way from Charleston to see us!)

We soaked it all in.

Susannah discovered Aunt Nancy's Bernstein Bear books and had Shoo-Shoo read to her for hours.   Meadow liked to listen too.   

Meadow was so patient with SA.

And loved Susannah

We got to celebrate cousin Emma's 1st birthday.   Susannah and Sidney had a great night playing dress up.

And eating cheeseburgers.

And singing to the birthday girl.

Susananah was so responsible with the dogs.   She loved walking them and feeding them.   We can't wait for Meadow to move back in with us when we return to the States.

More Bernstein Bears.

And more Meadow love

And now we are home and it is time to switch out our sundresses for winter coats and mittens.    This is SA's new stroller bag.    Warm and cozy.

And that was our trip.   A great big thank you to all of our friends and family that made it such a wonderful visit.   We love you all and miss you already!