Merry, Merry, Christmas!!

Chloe put her own headband on this particular morning, and Claire is reading her book upside down! Must be early. :):):)

We attempted to keep very busy this week to make the time go really fast until Christmas.....

Coloring...

And cleaning up after coloring and then....

Taking walks............

And finally Christmas Day! Aunt Suzie let the girls open one package early as a teaser.....

Papa keeps Chloe busy.....

We read the Bible story and pray and then Claire and Chloe did a surprise song for their Mommy and Daddy, singing "Away in a Manger". They did an excellent job without any hesitation at all.

Presents galore......

Rapunzel's hair was a hit.....

And a new doll crib....

And way too many sweets............

Our Christmas week was a great mixture of family and friends and wonderful times together. We are so blessed! We are so thankful for the gift of Jesus, God's Son, and for the freedom to celebrate and worship during this season and throughout the year.

Celebrating Paula's Birthday!!!

Walking on the curb...one of Chloe's favorite things to do when we take a walk! This week brought a very special birthday for Claire and Chloe's Mom, Paula. In celebration of that day, we decided to bake a cake. The girls are preparing to take on this task!

We carefully mix the cake......

Next, of course, the cake had to be baked and then cooled. It was so hard to wait all that time before making (and tasting) the frosting. Finally it is time and we mix the frosting....
Spread most of it on the cake.....

And lick the spatulas.....

Add some sprinkles and some writing.......

And show off our proud accomplishment.....

The next hard part was waiting for Mommy to get home. She had to take some classes at the hospital on her birthday so was gone for most of the day. Chloe stated several times that we "needed" to cut the cake. All in all it was a great activity for a cold day and it went very smoothly. We also celebrated with a family brunch this morning after church. The birthday girl opens a gift from Uncle Superman below.

Quote of the day as Papa was kissing Chloe goodbye after the brunch. Papa: "Can I come see you tomorrow, Chloe?" Chloe: "Not so quick, Papa, not so quick! I need to come to your house for Christmas and THEN you can come to my house after that."

Guess she thought Christmas would come much sooner that way. So much to look forward to. Christmas and then a new baby boy shortly after. So many blessings!

Merry Christmas!!!

Fun Was the Name of the Game!

We had a busy but very fun week, and Papa and Grandma got to spend a few more hours than usual with Claire and Chloe. Here Papa and the girls are playing ball. They played with all different sizes of balls for quite some time. The tossing, catching, and rolling skills are getting better all the time. A big box arrived and boxes always provide lots of creative play. The next day the focus seemed to be on the "dress-up clothes". They had all of their costumes and accessories out, and Chloe ended up wearing one, or the other, of her fairy costumes for a couple of days.

Chloe with her beautiful fairy crown....

Claire in her pink superwoman cape and princess tiara. What a combination.

Great anticipation of Papa's arrival......

Here he comes and he has burritos for lunch....yum-yum!!

The real treat for us was that the girls got to go home with us on Tuesday to spend the night. We had planned for a special time with our good friend Miss Connie, and her granddaughter Danica, for Tuesday evening and Wednesday. So it was pizza parlor for dinner on Tuesday, and a movie on Wednesday...girls day out!

Below are Claire and Chloe in Papa and Grandma's bed starting to watch Charlie Brown's Christmas on TV. They watched about half of it and then we called it a night.


After a great night's sleep, we got up, had breakfast, and got ready for an outing to the movies. This was Claire and Chloe's first movie in a theater and I was just a bit hesitant about it being 3-D, but with Mommy and Daddy's permission, we decided to try it. Below you see Claire, Chloe, and their new friend Danica with their 3-D glasses on, enjoying their popcorn. Mommy Paula met us there so that made it much more special. Amazingly, the girls kept their glasses on for the majority of the movie and other than a few "scary" parts I think they really enjoyed it.

Time to say goodbye to Danica. We look forward to planning another outing in a few months again. All of the girls used their best manners and were so pleasant to be with and a great time was had by all!

Two weeks until Christmas----can you believe it?

Let the Christmas Season Begin!!!

Christmas for almost 3 year olds will be an amazing experience for the family this year. Claire and Chloe have been working on a song with motions that we intend to surprise Mommy and Daddy with on Christmas. They are both very much into the song (hint: about where baby Jesus was born) and getting it all correct. We do it multiple times a day, each day that Papa and I are with them. I'm not sure what they remember about last Christmas because each small thing seems to thrill them like it is brand new.

Mommy (Paula) had the great idea of purchasing a gingerbread house kit to put together on a day that Papa and I were there. We had such fun. Papa and I put the walls and roof together while they napped because it had to dry between applications and patience is not quite a virtue of two year olds. When they got up we got their aprons on and the project began. As Papa unwrapped some of the candy, Claire began to lick the peppermint. She told us, "I am licking it so that it will stick to the gingerbread house better." Yeah, right! Both of the girls licked and tasted most of the candy and frosting that went on the house. Claire, not liking sticky hands too much, begins to show her need to get that stickiness off her hands.

and face....... She told me her mouth felt all funny.....I am not surprised.

Somehow Chloe's face isn't showing any indication that she had been eating candy and frosting...
but trust me, she had her share.

The finished project....pretty good for two year olds, I would say.

Later in the week, Chloe enjoys their dollhouse.



And the new toy flute....

Claire gets her turn with the flute....


Sisters....we love how they sometimes call each other "sis".


Saturday, Claire, Chloe, Mike and Paula came to enjoy our little town's "Hometown Christmas". They arrived just in time to help me finish decorating our little tree.

They were very careful and precise about placement of the ornaments.

We walked downtown to check out the craft vendors and to visit with Santa. Below Claire and Chloe meet a little girl ahead of them in line to talk to Santa. They chatted as if they were long lost friends.

Initially, before coming, Mike reported that neither of the girls wanted to see Santa. But when they got on the phone with Papa their story had changed. There was just a bit of hesitation when they were in line but when their turn came they both went up willingly.

Claire asked Santa if he would like to come for dinner.... He said he would really enjoy that.

After visiting Santa, the girls, wearing their new princess crowns, each had a pony ride.

The pony wrangler told us that she asked Chloe her name and Chloe said, "Diego". We had a good laugh, that is definitely one of Chloe's aliases. Hope by the time she is in school she will accept that her name is Chloe or at the very least Coco.

Firetrucks are always part of a small town's celebrations. Here the girls check out one of the trucks.

We walked back home and the girls made their own pizza slices and had apples and bananas before we headed for the parade. This was the first parade for them and they took it all in...especially the floats that were throwing candy. That was the highlight for them and of course seeing Santa, who seemed to now be their personal friend.

Below Daddy and our good friend "Mr. Wayne" hold the girls high so they can see.

The end of the parade, a beautifully decorated fire truck. Claire and Chloe had a day full of excitement and there is more to come. Check back next week for an update.