Christmas 2013

We had a wonderful Christmas together!  My parents came to Arlington again this year and stayed at our house.  It was for sure a full house but very fun!  I was not as organized as I usually am but we managed and I think I only lost it a few times.  Sorry Mom, Dad, and Gonzo!  Glad they love me in spite of my crazy mind!

Adda and Ella wanted to help NanAnn with the baking! 

Christmas Eve at Lee and Andrea's house.  All the kiddos!

We made a plate of goodies for Santa!  Adda felt like he needed Coke instead of milk! 

Santa came!!

Even Pops and NanAnn had a visit from Santa!  Don't mind Sissy!

Wake up girls!  Santa came!!!!!

Sweet girls!

I love this one!

The kids eating Christmas dinner!

Horray for Baby Jesus

The week before school was out for Christmas break Adda had her program at school. 

I wasn't sure how much she would actually sing because she wouldn't sing the songs for me at home.  She also had a school program back in the Fall that she was totally not interested in singing at.  Much to our surprise she was into it and sang her little heart out for the crowd of proud parents.

She spotted us as she walked in!

Here is my nephew Abel walking in with his class.

Adda next to her friend Daniel who she informed us moved to Tennessee to play baseball because he "likes Tennessee and he loves baseball".  I thought she meant that Daniel was going there for Christmas, but turns out Daniel really did move there!  

Looking for us!

Looking for us again!

Searching for us!

Abel had his eyes glued on his teacher! 

Remind me to tell you what happened in this picture!!!!

Looking for us again!

 

 It was so cute to see her sings her little heart out about Baby Jesus!  I loved every second of it.  I especially loved that every time I snapped a picture she was looking for us in the crowd.  I asked her later what her favorite part was about the program and she said having Daddy take her to school and watch her sing!  I loved that!

Okay, now about that picture above...we noticed her turned around having a discussion with a boy behind her.  I didn't think a whole lot about it but after the program Gonzo asked if I saw that boy kiss Adda.  I said, UM NOOOOO I did not see that!  So he asked Adda that night when he got home from work and she told us that he did kiss her.  So we had a big discussion about it and I think I could see the steam shooting out of Gonzo's ears.  Adda was totally cool with the fact that boys don't kiss girls unless they are married like me and Daddy!  Gonzo said, "You tell that boy that if he kisses you again your Daddy is going to have to talk with him!"  She was cool with that too!  Oh, boy this is only the beginning!  We have four of them!  Is it bad to start begging The Lord to take us home!  I mean at least take us home before our first Prom!!!  

Icemageddon 2013

I am finally getting the chance to get caught up on some blogging.  I probably would throw the towel in with this but it keeps me on my toes with updating our daily lives.  Our days go so fast and it's really easy for us to forget what's going on in the heart of our home!  I also very much enjoy the writing part of blogging.  It's like my outlet, my dear diary!  It's kinda my time for eating cookies, drinking coffee, and taking deep breaths!  At this very moment I'm finishing off the last of my egg nog for the year!  I drink it when my kids are asleep or not looking so I don't have to share!!!   

At the beginning of December we had a crazy ice storm here in the metroplex.  School was canceled for 3 full days.  I've seen ice and snow and ice and snow, but I've never seen inches of solid ice.  When you looked outside it looked like white snow on the ground and on the roofs but actually it was all ice.  After a few days we finally decided we needed to let the girls go outside for a little while and attempt to do something.  The kids in our cul-de-sac had been sledding and playing ice hockey and the girls stood at the window watching and begging.  I'm glad we finally decided to go play because even though we were only out there for about 15 minutes they had a blast.  The sledding was a great success!  Here are a few pictures from Icemageddon 2013.

Heading out!  Yes, Gonzo is in shorts!  He's crazy!!!

Look at poor Ella's hands!  I'm that parent that doesn't have gloves for my 2 year old!  Woops!!!!

Ready to go back inside where it's warm!!

Here is a video from my phone of the girls sledding!  They had a good time!  In fact, they are still talking about it.  Click the link and you should be able to view it.
Adda and Ella sledding - Icemageddon 2013

Christmas Craft!

Yesterday I decided to do a craft with the girls.  I wanted to make the day fun for Adda who was pretty bummed about not getting to go to school for her Christmas party because of some weird fever causing virus.  She acted fine but had a fever Monday night and so I didn't feel right about sending her to potentially infect everyone else in the class.  I try to make some sort of ornament with the kids each year and looked around on Pinterest for some inspiration.  I wanted to try and use their hand prints and decided on salt dough because I already had everything for the project.  Here is the recipe I used:

Salt Dough Ornaments
1 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Salt
1/2 Water (or more if needed)

Mix all ingredients and form into a ball.  Roll out on a floured surface to desired thickness.  Use a straw to make the hole for the ribbon.  Bake at 250 degrees for 2 hours.  I actually had to bake mine a little longer and ended up turning Adda and Ella's over after 3 hours.  I guess the bigger the ornament the longer it takes to dry out in the oven. 

After they were cooled I spray painted them white.  I painted the inside of the hand print with regular glue and then dusted it with glitter, then set them aside to dry overnight.  This morning I used a brush to dust off excess glitter and then sprayed them with a thin coating of polyurethane.  They turned out pretty cute and the girls had a blast.  I wish I had done this for Adda and Ella when they were younger.  I love their tiny prints and I can see little things in each hand that reminds me of their actual hand.  I'm glad I have a little memory to hold on to. 

Adda choose orange glitter only because I did not have any rainbow glitter!!!

Pink for Chloe because this is the color we use to tell her apart from Claire.  Pink Paci, Pink Print!

Purple Paci, Purple Print for Claire!

Yellow (or gold) glitter for Ella.  This seems to be her favorite color right now.  She was the hardest to get a print from.  I think I redid hers about 15 times before I got a decent print.  I love how it shows her little crocked pinky finger just like my Granny's!

5 Months, 5 Months!!!

Well this is my second time to type this blog.  I was blogging while pumping and in my two seconds it took to take my milk in the kitchen Ella turned off the computer.  Sheesh!  I should have known she was gonna do something when I got up because she kept coming over to me while I was typing and telling me "I love you mom!" and then trying to hit button on the keyboard!  Sneaky little varmint!  So here it goes again!

It's so hard to believe they are five months already!  I'm trying to soak it all up but we are so busy that sometimes I forget to stop and breath!  We are really starting to see differences in their personalities now.  I mentioned this last month but Claire is showing to be the one who is needier.  That being said they are both such good babies!  I have no complaining to do at all!  Some of the things they do and love:
*rolling all over the place
*playing on the floor
*attempting to sit up for a few seconds at a time
*watching and talking to Adda and Ella
*drinking 5 bottles a day each with 6.5 oz, all are pumped breast milk except the last one of the day
*going through 6-7 diapers a day per baby, looking forward to potty training Ella after Christmas
*sleeping 12-13 hours a night and taking one 2-3 hour nap a day
*they both have the middle bottom 2 teeth
*I have had a few people ask me when I am going to start food...I'm in nooooo hurry at all!  That will be another really big job added to our day!

Chloe

Claire
She gave herself a hickey under her bottom lip the other night!  Don't ask me how she managed to make that happen.  I think they are both working on the top two teeth now. 

Claire-Trying to get a picture showing the teeth! 

Chloe-Show me those teeth!

They look just like my brother!  We found a picture of Lee at about this age and it's crazy how similar they look.  Especially Chloe!!!

Let me mass of picture taking begin.  Not sure if I got a good one of everyone looking.  I took this when we got home from picking Adda up from school and it was a bit chaotic!

Adda holding Claire

Ella holding Chloe