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Family Picture from our photo shoot in July!

Well it's been quite a year for the Puryear family! Our  poor blog was one of the first to be neglected.  However, with the change of seasons will bring a new change in routine. The girls are simply hilarious lately. Their words and  expressions. Their actions. Their strong wills and desires. So, with the help of Dan, I will be updating more regularly and trying to capture the girls quotes and actions!

Before we begin,  I want to sum up 2012 and 2013 in a few sentences: Olivia turned 3, and we way over did Christmas this year!  After the holidays we hibernated for January and most if February. Celebrated the Ravens Super Bowl victory.  Had a freak spring snow storm in March and the girls loved the snow! Renovated the Garden Ridge kitchen and then put the house on the market, and after exactly 8 weeks on the marker we had a full price offer.  Went house hunting and narrowed our search to three. When it came time to make the decision, one more house came in the market Dad thought we should check out.  We liked it, although knew it needed updates. Push came to shove and we put in an offer.   It was accepted on July 4th! End of July we left for an unbelievable two week beach vacation with our Keuka family and then my own family in OBX and then Myrtle Beach. Finally got back and packed up the house, started back to school, celebrated Madelyn's 2nd birthday, settled on our townhouse, closed on Autumn View, moved.   Two trucks, four movers, plus Jean Puryear, and ten hours later, we were in the new house.   Keep in mind this was the weekend before our students came back to school!  To wrap up our year long recap, we hosted Laura's 30th birthday party a week after we moved in, and a month later we hosted Madelyn's 2nd Birthday with friends and family.  Phew!  That was more than a few sentences and yes...the run on sentences pretty much sum up the pace of our year.  If you are interested in other events from the year, check out the Piscasa Web link and see our year in pictures!

Quick Update on our Girls

 Olivia is now 3 and will be 4 in 4 weeks!  She is a spunky, challenging, smart, and passionate little girl!  She seems to be a leader and does not really like to do what other kids tell her.  We often hear her say, "Madelyn come on remember we did this..." then expects her to come and play.  She is kind to others and we often see her giving hugs to her friends at preschool.  However, she has my stubborn streak and my anger.  I see a lot of myself in her and I have really tried to take a deep breath before reacting to her.  Her favorite toys are puzzles, our iPad, books, and the playing house.  Livy Loo had a little adjustment period to the move and staring preschool, but things have really calmed down and she has been an angel lately!

Madelyn Faith!  She started walking and quickly started running to keep up with her "Libia".  The youngest in our family and certainly will not be ignored.  She took a little more time to start talking and within the last month really started to put sentences together.  When in new situations she is more shy and resreved, but once she gets comfortable, watch out!  Content to play by herself, follow her sister around, read book after book, she loves Ariel, the little mermaid and "Minnie Mouse Clubhouse"  Her personality was very laid back and we see a lot of Dan in her!  She has brought more joy than we can imagine in our lives.

Back to the present day and the point of this update.  I want to be more proactive about updating because this is really a memory for my girls, you readers just get to experience our life with us!

Words of Wisdom with Olivia and Madelyn:

Sunday September 29th- While cutting her toe nails I mention to Olivia, "your poor little pinky nail is hardly there."  Her priceless reply was, "That is the way God made me.  That is why I sit down to pee and not stand up that is how God made me."

Monday September 30th- Madelyn was throwing a fit at the table because we buckled her into her chair, needless to say, she was very upset.  I said Madelyn are you feeling better, as her cries begin to subside.  Her reply, "No, still crying."  Then cries harder.

I cannot remember what Olivia said yesterday but here is a great memory!  We receive an array of magazine addressed to the previous owner.  The latest one to arrive was a Halloween magazine, filled with all kinds of odd decorations.  Olivia sat at the kitchen table and laugh and giggled at half of the items in that magazine.  She and I sat there for at least 15 minutes giggling and turning back to look at the pictures again.  These are the moments I never want to forget!  

Tuesday October 1st:  
Forgotten already!   However, there was a great moment after dinner when the girls were playing with the Fairy Minnie toy together.   Both girls were running around "flying Minnie" and both singing a song, in their own worlds.  It was fabulous to see them happily playing together!