Cookie time!

It's already Christmas Eve!

After a short trip to grandpa's house our family arrived home just in time for dinner. On the pretense of making cookies for Santa Claus, mommy made cookies for the whole family to enjoy after dinner. As usual, the girls were extremely excited about the cookies and could hardly wait for them to be cool enough to eat.

As the cookies sat on the stove, out of reach of eager hands, I went into the living room to help place the girls' stockings under the tree. After a moment I turned around to see Diana moving daddy's new chair out of the living room and down our short hallway. I really wasn't sure what Diana was up to - I assumed she would move the chair to the family room.

Mike and I were really surprised when we saw what Diana was doing. She moved the chair to the middle of the kitchen, turned it to face the oven, and sat down to watch and wait for her cookies to cool.

Amelia soon joined Diana and I grabbed the camera to catch a shot of the girls staring at the oven and waiting for their treats.

Daddy and I are really looking forward to tomorrow morning. We may even be more excited than the girls, and I can tell you that Amelia is really excited about opening more presents.

Merry Christmas to you all,
Lisa

On the first day of Christmas...

Slowly but surely our home and our family are preparing for the holidays. Little by little the house is getting cleaned and straightened. The girls are in great spirits and Amelia loves wrapping presents and practicing writing her name on gift tags.

Friday night the girls had their first real taste of Christmas when they got to open gifts from uncle Chris and aunt Gloria. Amelia and Diana loved their presents, and both girls especially enjoyed their toy chest full of princess dresses. Amelia wanted to dress up as a princess right away, and Diana followed her big sister's lead (as she usually does - though notice that the princess' crown doesn't fit perfectly on Diana's head).

In fact, it was difficult to get Amelia out of her princess dress in time for dinner. It was so difficult to take Diana out of her Snow White top the following morning that mommy gave in and let her wear it to bed for her afternoon nap.

I only hope the girls love the rest of their gifts as much as they've enjoyed these.

Lisa

Trying to prepare for the holidays

Though the holidays are all about children, children do make holiday preparations very challenging. It is almost impossible to wrap presents with the girls' "help," and there's always the off chance that I'll accidentally wrap up one of the girls (since they keep finding boxes to climb into).

And I hate to suggest that I'm keeping score, but so far this year four of my Christmas ornaments have been broken. I have already glued one back together, but I guess I thought those plastic Hallmark critters were tougher than they really are. Because the ornaments keep breaking, and since I can't convince either girl to simply leave the ornaments on the tree, my tree is pretty sparse with decorations this year (outside of the lights and garland).

Always helpful, Amelia seems to have found a solution to my problem of how to decorate the tree without risking more breakage. Today I found a cluster of her stuffed animals on the tree and she seemed very proud of what she had done.

Why didn't I think of that before?

Lisa

Revisiting planes, planes and more planes

Today the girls and I set off for our local Air Force base. Though I didn't accomplish what I had set out to do, both girls had a wonderful time (as usual) at the Air Force museum. Amelia loved all of the airplanes, from the giant transports to the tiny models. Diana loved the fact that I let her get around on her own two feet and did not put her in a stroller. Though I did have to keep her from crossing a couple of display barricades, Diana was a pretty good girl all the time we were at the museum.

For the first time, all of us actually made it to the very back of the museum. There I was surprised to find a huge jet engine (very cool when it's close enough to touch) and a model of the Apollo capsule. Both girls loved sitting in all of the cockpits that were open to the public and Diana is getting very good at saying, "Cheese" whenever she is faced with a camera.

Of course, the day wasn't event free. For one thing Diana can't possibly pass by a puddle of any size without stomping in it and splashing in it. Amelia joined right in. Diana's pants became so wet and dirty after playing outside that she rode home pantsless. (I didn't want her sitting in wet clothing when the weather was so cold.)

Another small incident involved one of the two Christmas trees set up in the museum. Diana is convinced that anything she finds that's round is a ball - and that all balls bounce. Though most of the Christmas ornaments she encountered when we started our tour were plastic, she managed to find one glass bulb as we were on our way out the door. It was impressive to see Diana grab the bulb and throw it with all of her might onto the linoleum floor. The gift shop manager was sympathetic when I told him what had happened.

When we got home, the fun continued. Amelia and Diana have become "partners in crime" when it comes to grabbing mom's clean lingerie and running it down the hall to put it in the washer. I watched the two of them jog back and forth down the hall with pantyhose, bras, etc. All the time the girls had huge smiles on their faces, loving the mischief and mayhem they were causing.

Then something changed a bit. Diana came toward me and I saw that instead of carrying a pair of my panties in her hand he had removed her diaper and was bringing it down the hall. I thought it was hilarious when she handed me her diaper and went straight back to her business of emptying my lingerie drawer. It was still funny when she got ready for her evening bath - mostly because I had checked the floors all up and down the hall and had not found a single questionable puddle (if you know what I mean).

Lisa

a.k.a. "Santa"

Last week mommy took Amelia and Diana to the mall to see Santa Claus. Visiting Santa (and paying for a photograph) has been a Christmas tradition since Amelia was born.

This year Amelia seemed more interested than usual in jolly old St. Nick. The Santa Claus doll that I brought into the house for the holidays quickly became a good friend of Amelia's. She would sit next to him and repeatedly squeeze his hand so she could hear, "Remember, the spirit of Christmas lies in your heart," over and over again.

Amelia also talked about Santa Claus. One day she was describing the toy elf and said, "This is Santa Claus, or you can call him 'Santa'." Another afternoon I heard her say, "Santa doesn't share." I found this surprising since sharing has been such an important issue in our household recently and since no fictional character shares nearly as much as he does. I asked Amelia why she thought Santa didn't share and she pointed out that the toy bell he carries in his left hand is permanently attached.

Oh, that makes sense.

Thursday morning I asked Amelia if she wanted to visit Santa Claus and she enthusiastically said, "Yes." We drove off to the mall and found Santa in his usual spot. There was no line to see Santa and I spoke to an elf about ordering photographs. As I continued to talk I noticed Amelia slowly slinking away. She had backed off until she reached a nearby partition and when I asked her, "Don't you want to see Santa?" she fell on the ground in melodramatic fashion and said, "Oh no, not yet."

I told the elf we would return and took Amelia around the mall so she could calm her nerves. In the process I spent $20 on a singing Christmas tree that Diana loved so much I couldn't pry it from her tiny hands. (I now have to hear, "Rocking around the Christmas tree" a dozen times a day.)

Finally, after shopping and playing and snacking I convinced Amelia to take a chance on Santa since I was sure he would give her a coloring book after her visit. Amelia agreed to see St. Nick. When he asked her what she wanted for Christmas she told him, "A coloring book." She got her wish in record time.

Diana wasn't sure about the man in red. She cried when I sat her on Santa's knee and though she calmed down very quickly she still felt much more relaxed with her fingers in her mouth. Her slightly scared look is actually really sweet to me.

So enjoy this annual tradition and look for more holiday pictures from us in the near future.

Lisa