Nutcracker and Pinkeye

So Sabrina, who had croup for Thanksgiving managed to get an ear infection and pinkeye simultaneously this week. Fortunately she got it over before Christmas. Last night she also started coughing a lot, so hopefully the poor little girl feels better soon. The rest of us are a little sick, but doing alright.

Sabrina at a big gingerbread display. She enjoyed it last year so she got to go again this year.

Even though Sabrina was contagious, we went on our daddy-daughter-date to the Nutcracker! I figured she wouldn't be touching or breathing on anybody else, plus she really wanted to go. It was really great. After the finale Sabrina turned to me and said, "That was a great movie." I guess that means she liked it.

The videos below are Sabrina performing her Christmas show at her preschool and Clark taking his first and second walks. He took a couple steps the day before by himself then yesterday he started to actually walk alone. He still doesn't like to do it, but he isn't too bad when he tries.

Happy Birthday Mimi!

Mimi's Birthday often gets forgotten since it's so close to Christmas. We decided to put together a little special video to say Happy Birthday! You'll be impressed by Sabrina's freestyle flow.

Lots of Pictures (in no particular order)

 Clark and Sabrina in a box. What fun!

 Sabrina's last day of ballet.

 Annual Thanksgiving day trip to see the giant squirrel.

 A visit from Oma and Opa on Thanksgiving! Sabrina unfortunately had just come down with croup.

 Place cute meme phrase here. Sabrina is holding her penny jar we made for her. Pennies sometimes work as wonderful bribes for good behavior.

 Setting up the Christmas tree party!

 Sabrina reaching up high to help me put on the star.

 Family portrait.

 Sabrina looking too much like a big girl and not enough like my little baby.

 Clark and his beautiful mother.

 Downtown Christmas Parade. Sabrina figured out here that "Horses are always stinky."

 Our little blue eyed girl.

 Sabrina sitting with Oma while not feeling too well.

 Reading a book.

 Is there somebody in that snowman quilt?

Playing hide-and-seek.

Our little man is 1!

I can't believe how our handsome little boy is already 1!  He is such a blessing and a joy to our family.  Manburger and I can't get enough of him and neither can his sister.  There is so much sibling love between those two...it makes us so happy!  Our little man is such a sweet and mellow-natured guy.  He loves to smile and laugh and tell jokes (can't wait till we can understand what the jokes are about).  He also loves to cuddle and loves him some nursing (what baby doesn't?).   On his birthday, we went to a local apple festival in the morning.  There was a live bluegrass band, a great hayride through the Virginia hills, and some awesome apples and apple cider and other local foods.  We all had a terrific time.  After naptime, we went down the neighborhood park and played.  Finally after dinner, came the cake.  He was definitely more interested in cake than his sister and devoured his with relish.  He had a butternut squash cake with cream cheese and chevre topping.  It was completely appropriate for a first birthday...chock full of veggies and not too sweet.  We all enjoyed it, but the birthday boy really loved it.  He is Manburger's son after all and does love to eat!  Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes to our beautiful little boy.  We love him so much!

Halloween

We realize that we are remiss in our posting of photos for our little family, but I was so excited about our Halloween costumes and how much fun Sabrina had, that I had to get these photos up.   Some of them are from our family outing to a local pumpkin patch.  We all enjoyed a hay ride and the corn maze and just running around in the lovely fall weather. Enjoy!

Farm Tour and Shenanigans

A few weeks ago, we took part in an annual tour of local farms.  We only got to two which, all things considered for that day, was pretty good.  The first one was more produce stand than farm tour, but they did have some good homemade peach ice cream which Sabrina was super excited about.  The next place was a grass farm that raised free-range cows, chickens, and ducks.  Their operation was inspired by Joel Salatin's Polyface Farms (read The Omnivore's Dilemma for more details on that) and was on a lovely hill piece of Virginia countryside.  Too bad we won't be here for the event next year, but we would definitely plan it out better and make it to more farms.  The last few pictures are just Sabrina and Clark being silly and if you look close, you can see all the new teeth Clark is getting.  He's gone from 2 teeth to 7 in about a month!

Sabrina's First Day of School

We can hardly believe that our little girl is old enough to start preschool!  This week was her first day of school.  Like her momma, she is one of the youngest in her class, but Sabrina is such an outgoing and independent girl, we knew she was ready for preschool.  And as I expected, not a tear was shed on her first day.  She absolutely loved it and was full of things to tell me about her day.  They get gym time where they play with balls and seated scooters and practice following directions, then they get outdoor playtime at the end of the day.  The preschool she is going to is run by a local church and it is nice to have the gospel and school blend.  The pictures of her at school were taken the week before at the open house where we met her teachers (again) and she got to find the coat hook with her name on it and locate the bathrooms.  It was weird having Clark home all by himself when she was at school, and even weirder when he took his morning nap and it was quiet.  Somehow I think I'll have no problem finding things to fill my quiet time on the mornings when Sabrina is in school.

Fun Kids

Clark loves swinging - this was at the park in Mariemont - one of the areas on our list of places to live in Cincinnati. This is one of my favorite pictures ever of Clark.

Sometimes you have to dress up fancy in order to take a nap. I promise it was not cold in her room. 

 Clark wasn't sure about playing at the local splash pad.

 He certainly enjoyed seeing his sister have fun, though.

 Like a good big sister she tried to help Clark enjoy his time playing in the water.

 What a beautiful group! Sitting on a swing at the nearby lavender fields. They couldn't figure out how to use the swing very well, just how to look great posing on it.

 Sabrina and I really enjoyed swinging together. Sorry for the funny look, but it really was a balancing act keeping myself and Sabrina on while swinging.

Clark didn't swing, but he enjoyed watching his sister.

Birthdays and Stuff

 Happy Birthday Yogurl! No homemade cake this year, unfortunately. She and the kids flew out to Ohio early the next morning, so we didn't want a ton of leftovers.

 Sometimes it is safer to eat cupcakes without your clothes on.

 Sabrina turned 3 in Ohio! That makes three birthday parties in a row at Oma and Opa's house. How fun! We celebrated the day after her birthday in case I didn't make it to Ohio in time (I was driving up from Houston).

 

 Showing off a birthday dress (not totally into it).

 This is a dress from Bulgaria that just looked so cute on her after Oma blow-dried her hair.

A little Clark is needed in this post, too. The other cute little boy is Levi - the son of our good friends the Kaplans.