December is such a great month...

I mean really! It can't get any better than December! Christmas, vacation from school, hot cocoa, fuzzy socks, super awesome people's birthdays... ;)

We had a super busy Christmas. Twas great. Christmas Eve we had hot cocoa with candy canes in it, watched a christmas movie(I had forgotten how much I dislike Charlie Brown), had Rob read us several Christmas books, opened a present each (Rob and Danica played with one of the gifts-a game) and then drove around seeing Christmas lights. I love doing things as a family. I'm usually just dragging the girls here or there.

So last time I posted it let me actual cut and paste the pics wherever I wanted. I was so excited that it was no longer a nightmare to fix a post!...and now it won't let me. Grrr. Here is Danica on Christmas Eve. Us girls went and had pizza at Grandma's house....well, poor Mira didn't get any pizza.
Christmas morn we were at my parent's house. We 'intended' to wake up and have our Christmas morn at home. opening presents but we kinda totally slept in and were late getting to my folks for breakfast. Neil has a sense of humor and thought it would be funny to be really thorough in providing me with what was on my Christmas list-a hand grater. I received half a dozen from him. Har, har, har.

Babes was a happy camper Christmas morn.

It is SOOO much fun having little kids on Christmas. We heard a lot of "it's just what I always wanted!" from her.

Mira wanted her presents to, in a way. Yum!

We're back to Christmas Eve now.

Aren't y'all jealous of our amazing tree?! This was Danica's tree last year that she had in her bedroom and got to decorate with her ornaments. I felt so guilty last year for killing a tree that we enjoyed this one as our family tree this year. It would have been better if a third of the lights weren't out. When I was putting it away for next year I removed the lights so we could put whatever strand we want...it took me probably an hour! It was a nightmare. I kept having an inner debate on whether I should just toss it and get a new one. Cheapness won.

The girls...Mira kept trying to twist around Danica and get the tree/nativity/anything she could reach so we had to give her something to placate her.

It's so hard to get Rob to not pull faces. Poor Danica had to sit through several pics before I could get a semi-decent one.

Puppy pals Bingo. =)

Storytime.

Back to Christmas. We went over to Dan and Julie's for lunch.

I should have taken a close-up of this tray that Julie made for Danica. It is so pretty!

They framed Rob's diploma for him.

Finally back at our house in the evening. After a couple pics we decided we were all pictured out so I gave up. =)

Danica opening her gift from Mandi. It was so sweet of her to think of kiddo. She's a po' missionary =)

Nana Mykie made the girls both matching pajamas and dresses. Amazing! I get frustrated just trying to make elastic waist band skirts!

Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas! Thanks to everyone who made ours special!

Tids and Tads

Hmm, I debated on just posting pictures but let's see if I can come up with some word vomit to act as filler. Things have been pretty good lately. Nothing too exciting going on. Danica and I have enjoyed getting ready for Christmas. I'd call Rob a scrooge but he's kinda neutral. We have been sick one after another for weeks. It's gonna be a long winter. Babes had what seemed the tiniest of colds but she has been sounding awful for the last few days. Her voice is so off, I keep expecting her to lose it. I thought she sounded a little better today but she's been fussing non-stop for the last few hours so maybe not. Danica has just a couple more days of school and then is out for break. I'm real excited for it. She keeps talking about "when it snows" though. We should probably take a trip to the mountains one day. I'm not sure how we'd manage that with Babes though? Hmm, Mira started pushing herself up on her hands and knees just these last couple days. She scoots backwards a lot too now. Yesterday she scooted backwards under the table and whined til I pulled her out. haha. I learned she can sit up on her own for a little bit too. She lasted long enough for me to run get the camera but I noticed that picture didn't load. Does anyone else have the worst time loading pics? I even load them one at a time and it takes me several times for some of the pics. Grrr! Okay, on to pics...

Luckily babes still likes listening to stories enough to get through them. She is always trying to get my books though. She must think they are simply the greatest toys ever since momma is always playing with them. =)

Uncle Neil stops by looking for rootbeer floats but we make him play with the baby too. ;) Babes likes him. They're birthday pals so of course she will. Which by the way, they celebrated their half birthday just yesterday.

I sent Danica into my room to make sure Mira didn't roll off the bed and within a minute tops I hear her laughing. Mira doesn't stay still for long.
Another example of this... Danica and I were in the kitchen and heard a commotion... Apparently she's a fan of Barbie movies?? We'll get along just fine.
Babes has a slightly purple mouth here from the gentian violet.
She was fascinated with this door. She was just swinging it back and forth, totally oblivious to all the stuff in there.
She managed to take her arm out of her shirt? Purple again. She just LOVES playing in her exersaucer. I snuck it out of my parents attic hoping my mom wouldn't mind. She bought it when Danica was a baby and I'm not sure if it's hers or mine ;) There are a few little balls that go in the track her hand is on. They are her favorite part. She is constantly knocking them off the tray. Luckily she has a great big sister who crawls under the table and retrieves them for her.
So Rob would often make fun of how messy my feeding her is...asking if she was actually getting any in her mouth. Well he finally fed her the carrots one night.
HAHA. (she waved her arms a lot) Momma had to clean this up. (sigh)
Grandma Cindy has a tradition of getting Danica an ornament every year. Here are this year's. Babes was properly excited about the wrapping. She is going to be one happy baby come Christmas morn.
Apparently she is not too concerned if there is actually milk. Rob said she fell asleep trying to eat his shirt. =)
We totally scored on this Little People Nativity set. My parents mentioned that they wanted the new one that comes with more stuff and backdrops so I started hinting early that I would LOVE to inherit their discarded one...Jackpot!
Uncle John and Aunt Kari came by to visit today. John will be leaving for Cali for a couple weeks for work but Kari will be sticking around because she has fam in town. Danica didn't get to see them because she was in school while they came but she has already asked if Aunt Kari can come visit several times. "Is she coming today? Can she come tomorrow? Is she coming tomorrow? When's Aunt Kari visiting?..." She better visit STAT or I will be driven insane. haha.
They did however leave her with a pony that she adores.

Holidays

You know what my favorite part of Thanksgiving is?! That BLACK FRIDAY is the next day!!!! How fun!

...and I guess I'm pretty fond of eating leftover turkey on rolls....like after BLACK FRIDAY shopping!!!

Well, my hubby is cooking so I better go busy myself...by going to the store and getting a newspaper for BLACK FRIDAY sales ads!

Odds and Ends.

I decided to look back over the last month's pictures to see what I've done lately and should be blogging about. Perhaps all I did was take pictures?
I realize that the majority of pics that I post seem to contain only half of my children, do not worry all my bazillion blog readers. Babes has only about 1/100th the pictures Danica had by the time she was this age so I'm not really playing favorites.

If you could look closely at this pic you can see a trail of spit up across the floor... How many times can babes spit up when crossing 5 ft?
We were watching a movie as a fam, Bedtime Stories, Danica kept taking over Mira's blanket so Rob had her get her own. Lil sis decided she liked sharing...Danica was kinda in her way though. As much as she tried she just couldn't roll over big sissy.

Danica picked out a handful of babylegs to order for babes. This is one of our favorite pairs.
We got all ready to go swimming....then someone got in trouble and we couldn't go. =( I have a child that argues nonstop and I try to discourage that.
Danica kept giving Mira her toy/book to draw with. She was scribbling on it for a while! I took a video of it. Danica says the final pic was a wave and an arrow... Danica is constantly playing with her little sis. It's so darlin' to hear her read stories and "teach" her things.
Haha. Danica has been practicing braiding on my hair lately. Well she was blowdrying it so she could play with it because she wanted to put barrettes in it this time but it takes too long to blowdry so I told her she could do my makeup in the meantime. She sure got a kick out of it. She put about ten different shades of eyeshadow on me because that was her favorite part. It turned out gray all mixed together. Don't I look beautiful?! I didn't let her do mascara-didn't want to be blinded or anything. ;) I love having lil girls.
Babes is kind enough to wash her own toes in the bath. She LOVES baths. Even if she is screaming her head off if we take her into the bathroom and start getting her ready for a bath she'll quiet right down.
Rob decided to feed her bananas as her first food...That was the only thing Danica had a reaction to as a baby...
She took them really well. I'm too lazy to start her on food any earlier than is necessary but I think she will really like it. Since she spits up ALL the time I can't imagine the messes I'd have to clean up were she having stuff other than milk.
We made turkeys for a Thanksgiving craft! I had bought the stuff for them last year but never got around to doing them. It was probably a good thing. I think it would have been a little much for Danica last year. Of course we needed refreshments since we were crafting.


Bye now!

Pumpkin Patch!

I was afraid I had procrastinated too much this year to make it to the pumpkin patch without getting poured on. Luckily it was actually sunny for a while today so my mom, the kiddos and I headed out. The sun did not follow us to the pumpkin patch though. =(

Danica was a little hesitant at first about feeding the goats but after I let them slobber all over my hand to get the alfalfa pellets she apparently decided it was safe.

They had things like this set up randomly around the farm. Fun!

Bone's Bend Pumpkin Patch...of rotting pumpkins.
My there's a super bright pumpkin out there...
Danica and I with our favorite rotting pumpkins....maybe it's so you don't need to carve them? You can just jab your finger into them and make designs? Kid friendly pumpkins anyone?
We played tag.
Sisters.