Christmas Prep

Can't believe it's December already! I like it when the winter goes by fast though since it's not my favorite season. :) But...I do love Christmas time. :) The girls have been having so much fun with all of the festivities. :) Yesterday I attempted to bake Christmas cut-out cookies with them. I just tried to have a "laid back" approach and then it didn't matter if half the dough was eaten or if all the cookies turned into blob shapes instead of cute snowmen and angels. :) Not to mention the flour that was all over the kitchen. :) But it was fun. And we made a memory - right? :) So yea, now today we might attempt the frosting part!

And, last weekend, the girls helpled decorate their trees. It was fun that they could actually help this year! We only broke 3 ornaments - so that's not TOO bad. Hopefully that's it though for this season! It's so fun that they each have their own tree to decorate though - a gift from my parents for their 1st Christmas! Their trees have their own "color" ribbon on it...and it's the same ribbon that we made into bracelets to identify the girls when they were babies. So that's fun. Then they can start collecting ornaments for their trees when they eventually move out of the house! SAD! I can't even IMAGINE that!

Anyways, we've been busy...or at least I've been trying to KEEP the girls busy...because they've been acting up a lot lately. Ryan was home for a lot of days in a row over Thanksgiving and I'm pretty sure he was excited to go back to work. :) The girls have just been whining more than usual and fighting and we feel like constant referrees sometimes. Any suggestions on how to curb the whining habit would be great! Also, I remember being SOO excited for the day the girls could walk so that we wouldn't have to carry them everywhere anymore...and I could give my arms a break! But, now that they can walk and run, they've just been wanting to be carried everywhere lately. Now I know that in a couple years I'm going to want to hold them and they won't WANT to be held...so I should just embrace it all. But I'm telling you, it breaks your heart to only be able to hold ONE of our daughters now and have to say no to the other two. Once one asks to be held, then the other 2 want to be held too...and then you just can't anymore because they weigh 30 lbs...and then there are tears and it spirals downward pretty quickly after that. Ahh!! Ryan even fell down the stairs the other morning carrying all THREE of them because you just feel so bad when you can't hold them all and they are CRYING to be held! (No worries - everyone is fine) :) So yea, turning 2 has been fun - with all of their communicating which cracks us up all the time. For instance, this morning the girls said "Daddy go?" And I said, "he's in the shower." And then Hailey said "skinky?" And I smiled and just said "yep, daddy was stinky." :) I just love how their little minds think lately. But, turning 2 is also a challenge! We love watching their little personalities develop but at the same time, all of their opinions are tough to work with ALL day long! :) They fight over who gets the green plate...or the yellow nuk...and who gets to sit in what chair...and who gets to wear what necklace...and who gets to be carried up to bed first...and who gets to turn the pages of the book and on and on it goes. Some days I have more patience than other days. The best days are when we have activities planned and I have nothing to do...no laundry, no cooking, no cleaning, no agenda :) ...because then they can have ALL of my attention and then they act much better! :) I'm just rambling...but just thought I would share a tidbit about life as we know it right now so I won't forget it...and I know I'm going to MISS this stage sooo much very soon. :)

Emily ate a LOT of cookie dough. She was trying to be so sneaky. It reminded me of myself when I was little. I ALWAYS snuck the dough. That's WHY you bake cookies, isn't it? :) Here they are enjoying the finished product. :) (HAE)

Emily - so focused on getting that ornament on JUST right.

Addy - admiring her work.
Hailey
Making Boboli pizza's together one night. :)