Merry Christmas to All!

 Christmas

We were able to drive up to Idaho and spend the holiday with family after Chris got off work on Friday and had all day Saturday and most of Sunday to enjoy. Everyone was there on Saturday morning so we opened all the presents I had brought with us so we didn't have to do two Christmas and the girls didn't notice the difference. They'd been patiently waiting to open their presents so they were excited to finally see all the amazing gifts they got. I wish we had been better at telling them where the gifts came from because Shay now thinks everything was from Santa. We visited our friends Saturday night for dinner and a few hours of playtime while we enjoyed our own game. We got to have two big meals with all the cousins and plenty of playtime on Christmas before we had to come home. 

Claire

Earlier in the week, she had her last day at school and we started our break by picking up more shifts at the gym for people who were going out of town. Luckily, they have been good girls while I'm working and like to play with the kids who come in. Claire will ask when older girls are coming because she wants to play with them and she had a favorite because of the two kitty toys she brought in. Claire got a dress and crown for Christmas and was wearing it most of the time to match her sister's new dress. We had one more year of fitting in the handmade dresses we got last year and I convinced both of them to match mommy and daddy for Christmas...even though Chris changed out of his clothes before we could all get a picture together...not that I'm upset about it or anything. Claire brought her new ponies in a new backpack to church and ended up coloring through her magic marker pony book in less than 24 hours after getting the gift! 

Shay

I did my first shift in the afternoon this week and Shay fell asleep in our cinema room while watching the movie we had on. She slept for a good while and since we didn't have anyone to watch we left early she had been sleeping more than half the time we were there. There was one day this week she threw a tantrum and it took a while to understand her enough to fix the problem. Her tooth has made it a little harder to understand her all the time, but she can usually get her point across eventually.  I'm not going to list all the presents they got because that's a lot, but Shay has been wearing her Elsa dress nonstop and wanted to go to bed in it and wear it to church. Shay brought her PJ mask dolls to church and wanted to bring Elsa, but she was too big for my bag. She then fell asleep under the pew and we had to wake her up when it was time to go home!

Christmas is Coming!

 Claire

There is a sense of organization with her toys that is fun to watch and I know that she gets it from me. She makes sure to put her toys away in like places separating the baskets of dogs, cats, ponies, and princesses. It also rubbed off on Shay who split her PJ masked and Frozen toys when putting things away. Now I need them to also put things away without me telling them 10 times every night. We went over for dinner at my cousin's house who lives in town and the girls were most excited about the dogs. I was glad to catch up with family and look forward to the offer they gave of their girls babysitting ours! They found my ear warmer thing and thought it was funny to wear it, and because I thought Shay looked adorable and took a picture, Claire needed me to take a picture of her with it too.

Shay

Big week for our little girl! There has been a tooth that has been broken for a long time. The dentist we saw a couple weeks ago told us that it needed to be pulled because the infection could harm the permanent teeth. She was the best patient and stayed calm throughout the whole procedure, even when the dentist numbed her with the needle. The dentist and nurse were great, and Shay was excited about losing her tooth. We put it under her pillow that night and the tooth fairy left her a Catboy doll! Claire now asks me to check her teeth for wiggles! We went to the DI this week so Claire could get a present for her sister and Daddy could get some much-needed new gym shorts. It is hard to be in that store without them finding toys they want, so we got them each a toy, Claire got a new flying unicorn pony, and Shay got a Frozen bedroom thing that they have been having a lot of fun playing with and bringing to the gym to show off and share.

December fun

 Claire

This week at school was fun for her and we didn't miss any days because of the weather luckily. She finished learning about the gingerbread man and made a book of things if ran away from that she read to me. Her favorite was chasing the gingerbread man at her school because when she caught him, she earned a cookie...sounded fun when she told me about it! She made a pinata for school and had some sour candies in it so when she chose to eat it, I had to snap a picture. She still liked to share her dreams in the morning and has now also told me a bedtime story last night since I keep telling her Christmas stories at night continuing the tradition from my childhood. Also continued crying during EVERY story that my dad started and I proudly continue. I simplify the stories quite a bit to help them understand them and had a lot of fun putting ourselves in the Gift of the Magi story. Claire and I went to cut our hair to buy daddy a gift in my version and he still thought we were beautiful! 

Shay

I just realized that today was her 2nd to last day in the nursery because we only have an hour for church on Christmas and then in January she starts in the primary. It seems like she was there forever and yet there's no way she is old enough right? They had sticker dots for music time that the kids earned if they sang and Shay wore her's with pride while Claire kept saying she did get some but took them off. Shay knows a cute song about some monkey's in a tree that taunt an alligator that snaps them up! Since daddy was sick today, she sang it for him when we got home and I caught the last verse on video for all of you. While we were trying to cuddle and watch a Christmas movie, Claire decorated us with dogs and Shay had to sit really still to get her head dog. It was almost a disaster, but it worked and Claire insisted on taking a picture of her masterpiece. 

Happy Holidays!

Claire

She was very excited to start our advent calendars, even though the 1st was a busy morning because we had to get to my work, and then go straight to school. We did the first of the days at the end of the day, the other days mainly were before bedtime! On Monday, as we were walking into the library there was snow falling and I taught them to catch it on their tongues instead of trying to eat the stuff off the ground. It was still November, so there weren't any decorations yet, but hopefully going this week, we will see a lot! Claire had two snow days this week because anytime the school has a late start, they cancel the kindergartens and we did school work at home to make up for it. They were learning about the gingerbread man story and Claire got a cookie and could sort of tell the story by looking at the pictures. 

Shay

She is getting used to being at the gym with my for the time we are there and is just always snacking so I have to find things that are more filling. She'll eat all of the lunch I pack and then we have to rush home to eat lunch before Claire starves at school. They also get to experience the fun new stuff that happens like when the gym got a shipment and gave the Kidcare the bubble wrap! On Friday, one of Claire's snow days, we went to Farmington station because there is a snowman search throughout the outside mall. We found most of them, but we had gone after getting chick-fil-a for a late lunch and it was starting to get too cold so I promised we would go back again to find the last 3. I tried to keep track of where we had found them so I can remember where else we need to look, the girls loved finding them and we took a picture with the one that is working out!

Dentist

The girls have been to dentists before, but it has been a while and they had a lot of fun at this one! There was a really cool aquarium they enjoyed fish-watching, and the dentist pointed out the different types of fish. Both nurses and the dentist were very good with kids because this was a pediatric dentist's office and knew how to get them comfortable. We did find out some news about Shay's tooth that makes our hearts break a little because one of them needs to be removed. With the many times, she had falls that hit her two front teeth, the left side is broken and there is an infection sitting right next to her permanent tooth and we don't want it to get ruined. It's going to be sad to see her without that tooth for so long, but I'm hoping it hasn't already been there too long and it will just be a memory to look back at when she grows up with her beautiful teeth.