Presents - Round 1

We flew to Texas a few days before Christmas so we opened presents for Mom and Dad before we left. I really wanted to get them scooters and was hoping they would like them!!

Elise was pretty excited to just unwrap something!!

She knew exactly what she got!

Hadley was excited to open hers

The week before I had them pick their favorite color. Hadley wanted the "sparkly" silver and Elise wanted the teal color (I kind of steered them toward the more gender neutral colors, the brand is know for being really durable). 

Hadley was tall enough for the big kid scooter that is adjustable and Elise fit perfectly on the little one. When we got back we bought them helmets - Elise picked a pink Minnie and Hadley picked a pink Princess.

We spent the morning testing them out. We have a covered patio so they can scooter a bit outside and have started to get the hang of it. Hopefully as the weather keeps getting better we will be able to take them to a larger space to play.

Christmas Dresses

As a little girl I always had a special Christmas dress and Easter dress. My mom has bought the girls matching Christmas dresses for the last two years! We loved them! Although these are the best photos we got of them!!

Elise couldn't stop laughing

Jamie finally had to hod her and Hadley was more interested in her Christmas craft

At the end of the day this was the best shot we got! Jamie had to hold Elise to keep her in place and we couldn't get Hadley looking at us! Maybe next year we will try before church!

A Long Post on December

It is a bit long but here is what we did for our month of December -

It was Jamie's birthday, he was at least home this year to enjoy dessert! It felt like we had been eating sugar for weeks and I wasn't feeling well so we had ice cream with nerds (one of his favorites) and promised that we would get his favorite chocolate silk pie from Marie Callendars at some other time. Hadley was thrilled to help blow out his candle!

On Elise's actual birthday she sat on the couch begging for treats and asking for christmas shows. It only seemed right.

Hadley has preschool twice a week so Elise and I get some time alone. She things going to the grocery store is a fantastic trip and loves pushing her little cart, she does insist that the groceries she picks out be placed in her own grocery bag that she places in the car all on her very own. She is definitely my child that says "me do!!" multiple times a day!

She is also my baby that loves a blanket or pillow, a friend gave us these random Christmas pillows and both girls claimed one.

Hadley adores preschool and it was so fun to see her enjoy it during the holidays

A friend hosted a gingerbread party and Hadley was in heaven, she was so focused and you can tell by her little tongue sticking out! I love that she does this!

We watched lots of christmas movies, somehow it felt more like celebrating a holiday rather than just letting them watching shows and I felt a lot less guilty!  Their favorites were the Grinch, Mickey's Christmas  and Rudolph.

 We did read lots of Christmas books! They loved the Polar express, a pop up 12 days of christmas bugs and an animal nativity book.

We also spent our fair share huddled at home drinking hot chocolate and in our jammies.

Our friend hosted a christmas party for Hadley's age and invited Elise, she was so thrilled to be included!!

Hadley got right into the cookie decorating, I think she has it all figured out!

Grandma sent us matching shirts, they were super cute and somehow this is the best photo I got of them!

Hadley loved the lights, and I would find her setting up her babies, books and blankets in front of the tree and sitting quietly. It was so sweet to see.

We carried on the tradition of having the girls buying for one another. We took them to the mall and I first took the girls to pick out a tie for Dad - last year it went great, Hadley picked out the color, I picked out three in that color and then she made the final choice. This year she had more opinions and actually picked a tie that looked like it had "sprinkles" on it. It wasn't horrible although t it wasn't great but I wanted her to feel like it was her gift so we went with it! Jamie then took them to Ann Taylor to pick out earrings for me, we figured it was pretty safe but I didn't take into account she is a very girly 4 year old girl. She found these bows that were super sparkly, she was gets so very thrilled when I wear them!

Elise had her 2 year check up. She is tall like her sister and I love a squishy baby tummy!

Hadley had a party for her preschool class and I was the working parent, I wasn't sure at first but I have really enjoyed working in her classroom for moments like this!!

Elise loves being near us and laughs hysterically as we drag her around! 

Elise learned how to peel oranges, we love cuties and keep a large bowl on the kitchen table, I would find peels and fruit everywhere!

They loved having tea parties with the tree and had lots of little christmas parties together!

Live Nativity and the Creche

This year I really wanted to focus on the true meaning of Christmas, it is really the first time Hadley is understanding holidays and I wanted her to understand why we really celebrate it. In our area there are two activities that I have loved for the last few years, one is a live nativity the local church down the street puts on every year and the other is the Creche exhibit that the LDS church puts on in Palo Alto. This year they happened to fall on the same very cold weekend!

It was so cold but we bundle up the girls and drove over the the live nativity. They had camels out in front and the girls were mesmerized.

The whole parking lot is set up to look like the inside of bethlehem at the time of Jesus's birth. There are stalls you can visit and actors that are in the stalls and roaming around as soldiers. The soldiers kinda scared the girls but they loved looking at all the other things to see.

They could see the different foods, they even let them make shekels out of clay (hadley carried hers around for weeks) and little bracelets.

About every half hour Joseph and Mary come through the little town on a donkey and make their way to the stable. They then have a few musical numbers. Hadley had the best seat in the house.

Elise said one last goodbye to the sheep on the way out. I love that they put this on every year and it is such a production!

The next night we went up to the creche exhibit. They have gorgeous displays from all over the world. The girls were not as interested walking around quietly this year as they had been the year before, and I was a little worried about all the breakables! We did get to see a few beautiful ones and talk about what they represent.

Luckily they had a kids section where they could make wise men crowns with sparkly jewels and other little crafts. They could dress up in costumes and they had a marionette show put on by some of the youth of the area that depicted the story of Christ's birth. It remains one of my favorite activities of the season. I hope in the future when I have more time I can volunteer, it really brings the spirit to the season. And contrary to her expression the girls had a wonderful time!

Elise Turns TWO!!

My baby girl turned two!! In honor of our happy Elise we tried to do everything she loved!

We opened presents

She was so thrilled to have toys just for her

She got a little toolbox from us and a car parking lot station and extra cars from the Mocklers and a Tonka Dump truck from the Teuschers. She loves to slide the cars down the ramps and cart things around in her dump truck!

We also purchased a scuut for her, I figured it would be a great start to learning to ride a real bike for her and Hadley. In hindsight buying it in the winter when I wasn't feeling well was not my best idea. It has basically been on the side of the house collecting dust. Elise is on the young side and just needs help while riding it. I am hoping both of them get the hang of it over the summer when we can take them to a parking lot and practice.

For dinner we had her favorite food - waffle fries!! She LOVES fries and the waffle cut ones are her favorite although she isn't picky. Her favorite combo is the chocolate milk and fries.

She has learned what all the signs look like for stores that have fries and begs for them even at 8:30 in the morning after driving by in n out after dropping Hadley off at school.

She literally shoves them in her mouth as fast as she can:)

We followed the fries with her birthday "cake". She doesn't like cake (and won't eat bread - a texture thing?) so I made her a chocolate chip cookie cake and decorated it with frosting, which she does like.

She was so excited she didn't even notice the only candle we had in the house was the one that had a "3" on it left over from Hadley's bday. We just drew a two on it with a marker!

My happy girl! We love her so very much and her smile and spunky, happy personality light up our home. We can't imagine life without our love bug!! 

Hadley's Christmas Tree

While we were picking out the family Christmas tree, Hadley fell in love with the tiny ones and wanted one for her room. We decided it would be a fun tradition for the girls but wanted something more durable for her room. We went to Target the next day and bought her a little 4 foot tree.

We let her and Elise pick out a few ornaments as well that wouldn't break. My good friend also gave us a set of perfect candy themed ornaments that her sister had passed onto her. We love having a fun reminder of our friends on the tree.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the season.

Hadley asks for the lights on every morning (we let her sleep with them on the first night and discovered she barely slept at all she was so excited!) and I have found her countless times just quietly sitting with her Christmas tree. It was so fun this year to see her get into the Christmas spirit.

Setting Up Christmas

The day after Thanksgiving we decided to pick out a tree! We debated going out to the mountains but then just opted to buy something local since we were tired. We went by a little tree site just down the road but we were not impressed with the trees so we just ended up at Whole Foods! The trees were beautiful and the price was good. 

The girls loved wandering the aisle of trees

We picked one out and loaded it up to take home. It was really all quite painless.

Both girls love to sweep (unfortunately for me they are not that great at it yet!) but they followed Jamie around making sure to sweep all the needles.

We also got out our Fisher Price Nativity, Elise loves it!

And after letting the girls put on a few unbreakable ornaments Hadley got to put the star on top of the tree. 

I loved doing it at a little girl

And she was so focused and excited!!

We finished the night off by wearing our Christmas Jammies (The ones I picked out came as a set of two and I really liked the green polka dot ones, the girls preferred the reindeer ones and so those became the official Christmas Jammies) and letting the girls go through our Christmas book collection. I dont know if Elise is smiling so hard because Jamie is home or because she likes the book!!