Christmas at home

After celebrating an early Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa P., Maddie and Lena were positive each morning they would find presents under their own tree.  Once the day finally arrived they were pleasantly surprised to see lots of goodies waiting for them.  I think the biggest hits were their dollhouse (an early gift from G and G Smart) and their vanity.  They played so nice together all day- doing each others' makeup, taking turns with their instruments, and dancing with "We Did It Dora" (also a crowd pleaser).  Daddy learned that afternoon that he didn't have to head to New York the next morning thanks to the weather, so we truly had a wonderful, relaxing Christmas.  

Christmas with the Parmentars

Since Chris' schedule at work was insane this year, we went to his parent's house the weekend before Christmas this year.  M and L were beyond excited when they realized it was finally time for Santa to come and bring them presents.  We stayed for one quick night, but it was such a nice visit.  We had lots of yummy food, good time to catch up, and fun new toys for everyone.  I have been putting off blogging, because Uncle Zach got us a new Mac.  I am still figuring out how to use it!  M and L were thrilled with their gifts, and they played with them most of the second day we were at Grandma and Grandpa's.  Grandma also helped me take the kids to have their picture made with Santa.  If we can ever get our scanner installed I'll post that picture here, too.

Somehow the girls have confused the Christmas story with the fact that I am pregnant. They now think baby Jesus is in mommy's belly. Lena also says that Tinkerbell is an angel. We are just watching the movie for the first time. This all must be so confusing for them!

It's a girl!

Chris' reaction? "Ooooohhhh, man!" We are very excited both baby and mom look perfectly healthy. This is when I was put on bed rest last time, so all the news we received today was welcome news.

 

My Wednesday night group of girls came over for dinner and cookie decorating this evening.  It was really fun to watch the girls get so excited about the cookies, icing, and sprinkles.  They "helped" decorate a few cookies, but really they were more interested in sticking their fingers in the icing.  Maddie was green from head to toe by the time we were finished.  I'm not even sure how many cookies Lena ended up eating...a bite from this one, and a bite from that one.  When no one was looking she would grab a new one.  I am a bit surprised they went right to sleep after all that sugar.

Tonight at bedtime I thought I would introduce the girls to praying.  Since they are two and I take them to church, I thought it might be time.  I invited Lena to come over and sit on Maddie's bed so we could say our prayers.  Both girls' eyes lit up, and they started shouting, "Yummy! I love pears!"  Then they pretended to feed each other bites of pear.  I let them play for a couple minutes then I taught them how to say prayers.  Then we folded our hands (in the cutest, sloppiest way imaginable), and said "Thank you God for Lena, Maddie, Mommy, Daddy, Grandmas and Grandpas, our toys, and our friends."  They seemed very interested and repeated every word I said...just very slowly.  We'll try again tomorrow night.

Christmas Card Bloopers