Christmas and New Year!

 Christmas!

Of course, we had an amazing time in the morning watching the girls enjoy the excitement of Christmas. Shay was the first to wake up but didn't come in to wake me up so I got to sleep in a little, but eventually, the girls had eaten their breakfast and we went to wake Daddy up at 8am to start opening presents. Our focus this year was to have the girls open them one at a time and know who had given them to them before opening so they could associate each gift with the right person. I was still a little sick, but the day was filled with playing with the toys and games we all received as gifts and I really enjoyed seeing us in our matching cute PJs. It is hard to pick a single gift to like best because I love my new rocking chair, I'm excited to use the new Scripture felts next year, and I've wanted the new game Azul for a while! Chris' big gift was a new shotgun because he always wants a new gun while I'm pregnant...for many reasons but he 'says' it is because he needs to protect his family. 

Claire

Funny enough, Claire's favorite toy from Christmas has been the one from her sister that I didn't even think she would like! It is a set of Barbie swimming stuff and has caused her to ask for a bath most days this week so she could use them. She also plays with her Bluey dollhouse and characters every day and the new Barbie dolls she has with Shay. We've played a lot of board games this week between having them opened on Christmas, Grandma visiting, and Mama wanting to get better at Azul. There was this present from their cousins that I worked on a lot, but Claire and Shay both tried because its jewels on little princess stickers. They got bored easily and couldn't dump the jewels out or put them away, but because I was there they got to have fun picking a princess to do on their own.

Shay

When I woke up and came out wondering why neither girl had come to wake me up like normal I saw their bedroom door open and worried they might have already snuck downstairs. Instead, I find Shay trying her hardest to be patient in her bed 'trying' to be asleep and I asked her what she was doing she said "I can't sleep because I'm too excited." It was just us eating breakfast until Claire woke up 20 minutes later and only another 20 minutes before the day started but they both were excited to see the cookies and milk gone and their stockings full. Shay is a good patient girl and I think her favorite gift is the little Dalmatian stuffed puppy that was in her stocking or her Marinette doll from Santa because she has played with them the most. She was excited about all the other things like a new purse to match her doll, a coloring book, a princess game she shares with Claire, and the candy.

Visit

Chris' parents came to visit Friday night and we all went out to eat which the girls really enjoyed because we don't eat out much. Then they got to show off all their new toys and played two different games with Grandma Bell between bugging Grandpa Bell with my yoga ball or jumping on the couch too close to him. They came with a few more gifts and sweets to share, and also some hand-me-down baby clothes to help me be ready in a few weeks! I'm rocking a 33-week tummy and feeling huge so I was grateful to get the last of what we need for when he first gets here and thankful they made the trip this way instead of having to be in a car for 4 hours at a time. It was a short visit and Claire kept saying as we were eating lunch before they left that she didn't want them to go. We need more guests I guess, but the only other one planned so far is when my parents come after the baby is born.

Anniversary

New Year's for us is also a celebration of our anniversary and this year we are celebrating 8 years! We counted the dinner out as a family with grandparents as enough of a celebration that we didn't need to plan another one. But we did have a delicious French Toast dinner for today since enjoying that big of a meal for breakfast before going to church is hard on me right now. The girls are old enough for me to think they should stay up late just to yell "Happy New Year" at midnight so we planned a small bonfire for after dinner and let them stay up an hour later. I doubt Chris and I will stay up till midnight either even though Chris has tomorrow off. 

Christmas Eve

 Claire

She had a fun spirit week for school getting dressed up as Mrs. Clause on Monday, wearing a Christmas hat on Tuesday, a sweater on Wednesday, Fancy dress on Thursday, and Pajamas on Friday. She also had a Polar Express party on Friday for her class and brought home popcorn and many crafts they had been doing all week. Now she is home for Christmas break and I'm going to have to find fun things for them to do here at home. We put together some graham cracker houses that the girls decorated with frosting and M&MS trying to get them to use them and not eat them. I was there to help them but Chris made one as well and Claire and Shay labeled them all so when Santa comes tonight he can see them. My project was trying to carefully cut little people out of the spare graham crackers so they could have people at their houses.

Shay

Shay has been a great helper this week when I went to pick up a baby swing, mail out Christmas presents, wrap presents and keep the house put together. I started getting sick this week and she keeps trying to help me feel better and it is so sweet. When Claire would get dressed and I told her what spirit day it was, Shay wanted to match as much as possible even when I hung ornaments on their sweaters to make them Christmas sweaters. I can tell she is getting excited to go to school next year and it will be fun for her to start doing the things that Claire does there and bring home school projects. I'm not creative enough to have all that here at home with Shay so I hope she gets a great Kindergarten teacher and experience all of that! I'm glad I'll have my precious Shay when the baby is here (in two months!!) and I'm sure I'll miss her when she starts to go to school next year!

Excitment is in the Air

 Claire

I like letting her pick her own clothes every day, but sometimes her outfits are funny, other times she looks super cute. They were on a cute matching kick this past weekend and were excited about being twin dresses at church and twin pajamas. The pajamas came from a few years back when we got them in a set for Christmas from Chris's brother and his wife. They bought us extra that was too big for them at the time and they are fitting pretty well right now and they like the pictures on the butt! Chris and I have the same full-body version even though my stomach doesn't fit in them right now we could all wear them to match. We have new ones we will open on Christmas Eve though that we get to match again!

Shay

When we went to the library, Shay built a tower and they both stood for the picture. We also did some coloring and found more of their new favorite book with a pigeon that Daddy has already read to them 3 nights in a row. I like that we get to the library about every week so that they get the opportunity to love books. Shay was teaching magic school this week to some of her stuffed animals and using her wand to show them what to do. I snuck a picture but didn't want to ruin it by taking a video and distracting her. There was one time she was coloring and talking about how she was only going to use girl's colors and the boy's colors were black, brown, and gray. When I tried to get a video she got camera-shy, but I found it pretty funny she was labeling colors like that.

Celebrating The Season

Party

Claire and Shay were excited all day to go to our ward Christmas Party and since we told them the night before they keep asking and asking if it was time to go. Unfortunately, it didn't start until 6pm so it was a long day for them, but they helped me bake cookies and clean up the house a little before we started getting ready. The gym was beautifully decorated and we had some good food that they ate without fighting! After food, there was a short musical presentation from a member of our ward who plays the bagpipes, and then the primary kids were brought to the stage to sing Jingle Bells while Santa and Mrs. Clause snuck up behind them! I wish I had a good picture of Claire's 'O' face after discovering him, but they were so excited to see them and sit on his lap and tell them what they wanted for Christmas.

Friends

On Friday, we went to dinner at a friend's house and afterward walked down the street to a house that had a fancy Christmas light set up. This is the first time I've driven them anywhere while it is dark outside and their joy at spotting the decorated houses was fun to listen to. The girls had fun at a new house full of toys they had never played with so they didn't eat much dinner. By the time we were driving home, they said they were hungry...we were already getting home late, but they had to eat a snack before going to bed. The house with the lights that dance with songs was exciting for everyone! They had a way to control what songs you can listen to and we focused on the fun kid's songs that they would like most because I didn't last long in the cold before wanting to go back inside!

Everything Else

I found some Christmas PJs and the reindeer I made two years ago while going through some things in my sewing room so Claire made her own reindeer out of Duplos and I thought they looked cute. Especially since they had wavy hair from braiding it when it was wet! Claire did this random thing when we were reading this week and wanted to memorize the words she knew on the page we were reading so she didn't have to look as we read. It didn't go so well so she then wrote them down on a page so she could read from that page instead of the book. I don't know why or if she had the idea from somewhere specific, but she did pretty good on the two pages we did! Just as I said, Shay built a castle with the magnet tiles again at our baby appointment and wanted me to take a picture so she could show Claire. She had found the tinest little gem in the car right before we went in and it took all of 2 minutes to lose it on the ground which made her sad, but the toys in there made it possible to distract her.

It's Beginning

Winter! 

Both girls were so excited to see snow on Friday morning! I had to convince Claire she could play in it after school because they both wanted to go play right after breakfast. I also knew it would be dark to build a snowman with them when Chris got home from work so they did it on Saturday. I was at a choir practice and when I got home I got to see their masterpiece and hear all about how they found rocks and used popsicle sticks for hair, and Claire convinced Daddy to use a carrot for the nose. I got a picture of the morning snow amount, and then it snowed a little more during the day, but now it's all melted away and even rained today. I'm proud that we still have snow clothes that fit them for this season and it's all pulled out and I have to find a place for it to live downstairs so it's easy to get to. 

Claire

She made a note for the boy she loves at school that has them getting married and having a baby, it concerned Chris greatly. She has it in her backpack so she can give it to him tomorrow and I do wonder what he's going to say, hopefully nothing mean. I know boys don't focus on that as much so I'm interested in what she will say about it after school. Chris and I went out to eat for a date on Saturday and they were over the moon excited their friend was coming back to play with them! When we got home they were making pictures for each other and I could tell they had so much fun so it is nice to have them excited for babysitters. I know it will be harder for me to leave for dates when I have a newborn, so we are trying to get some time now. Another silly moment of Claire's was when she started using my scarf as a toy and put it around her arm as a sling! They did a bunch of other stuff too but this was the one I got a picture of. I pulled out my Christmas jewelry for church today and Claire picked the candy canes and wore a Santa hat to church even!

Shay

She has some very silly moments sometimes and adorned her face with stickers when she was bored one day. I was on top of my game and got a picture! She also loves building castles with these magnet toys because when we were at the library she made a huge castle, even bigger than the ones at my midwife appointments! She'll have another chance tomorrow because we are going for my next appointment and I'll probably get a picture of it again. It's long, but the video shows how much enjoyment they get from seeing bad guys suffer...we watched Home Alone! I wasn't sure they were going to be into it and at first, they asked a lot of questions about why he was doing certain things. It was fun to see them try to tell little Kevin to not do things because they know it's bad, like sledding down the stairs! Then the traps were set and the whole house shook with the giggles of delight at watching the bad guys get hurt. A little worrying, but overall it was good fun and they asked to watch it again the next day, AND THEN they asked if there was more so they watched the second one yesterday!

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving as a family with Chris having work off! Claire was excited to have him play all sorts of games with her and we got a new firepit that we tested out after our feast. The girls actually ate some of the dishes without being too difficult and part of that was because they helped me cook some of them. We had delicious ham, mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, carrots, rolls, and some sparkling cider and eggnog to drink. The only thing they didn't want was mashed potatoes for some reason, and then they got to enjoy our pumpkin pie after our tummies emptied watching our fire. We also focused on decorating our Christmas tree because I had pulled out the decorations on Wednesday since we would be leaving for the weekend. The girls were begging to decorate all day Chris was at work and then when he left to go work out instead of decorating in the morning it was so annoying for them!

Family

My brother and his family were going to visit but unfortunately got sick and had to stay away, we drove across Idaho to visit Chris's family for the weekend. Chris had someone who wanted to pick up some hours at his work so he got off earlier than expected and we drove in time to make it for dinner on Friday. Then we had all Saturday to help get the house ready and play with cousins for a few hours before decorating Grandma and Grandpa's tree they cut down from their front yard in the morning! We aren't a sports family except for Chris always wanting to go shooting with his brother, but they had time to go work out together if that counts...there was snow on the ground and I didn't bring snow clothes for the girls so we were stuck inside playing. It would have been fun to go sledding because there was just enough to have a few inches, but the sun was out so it wasn't too cold. The snow here is making me ready for snuggling up and not going outside!

Girls

With Claire having all week off of school, the girls have been getting tired of each other so it's good we got time with others over the weekend. By halfway through the week, Claire would ask me before lunchtime how long it was until Daddy got home because she loves to play little games with him. We play plenty of games with the girls during the day when we are here at home. I'm trying to figure out how to get Shay's emotions to simmer a little because she gets really upset about little things and will hold onto that emotion for way too long. This is a good age to be excited about visiting cousins, but they also have way too much energy to play nicely for the whole time we are together. And by next year we will have three newborns added to the mix!

Obstacles and Bikes

 Claire

We have had a few fun things happen this week. We were given a princess bike that someone didn't need anymore which is an upgrade for the old bike Claire used to ride, but that means she has to learn how to ride without training wheels! I don't know how well she will do before the snow starts to fall and we have to put it away for the winter, but we went to a church parking lot and Chris held on to her to start practicing. She was nervous for the first time, but when daddy didn't let her fall, she got more excited about doing laps around the lot and improved in at least confidence if not skill just yet. On her day off from school on Wednesday, she asked me to build her an obstacle course and I came up with a few things that made it fun. She specifically asked for the basket that could catch her which at first I wasn't sure was possible, but it worked out alright and it's been up all week now. She did a funny thing when she got home from school one day and asked for apple juice and an apple slice so she could put it on the side of her cup while she drank from it. Such a funny girl she is!

Shay

She was a little jealous that Claire got a new bike, so we might have to make her feel extra special by getting her an Elsa bike when she is ready to upgrade to no training wheels. I think she needs more practice with confidence on the bike she has though because she doesn't have the speed to make me think she can start to balance correctly. It breaks my heart that she feels left out by these kinds of things and I want to make her feel special too even though it seems that Claire gets all these new things like bikes and going to school. Hopefully being able to help Mommy with the baby after he comes will make her feel special and Claire will have to be the jealous one because she has school when Shay stays home with us. I think coming shopping with me all the time helps too, and she doesn't seem to be waiting around all day for Claire to get home because she plays on her own a lot and is content here at home for now, especially now that she can do the obstacle course without Claire in the way!

A Week of Appointments

 Claire

Almost every day after picking her up from school we drive by the park and they want to go and play so we did that a few times. I was cold but they made some friends and got some energy out before we had to go home. They went to the dentist before school this Wednesday and were complimented on how well they listened when the nurses were cleaning and brushing their teeth. They both liked getting new toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss after being good girls. Today was the primary program and I had a perfect front-row view of Claire's singing which mostly involves her copying the director and waving her arms. I wonder if she thinks that's a good calling because I did it in Farmington right before we moved and she remembers me doing it. I hope music is important to them and they will join me in singing in the choir in the future.

Shay

She came to my appointments this week and showed how well-behaved she is by listening so well and sitting quietly. I love that she doesn't try to make Claire jealous that she goes places with me and always thinks about getting something for her sister when we go shopping. We had an extra long baby appointment and she made a tower for Rapunzel and then when she knocked that over on accident we built a huge castle because she gets to go live at home at the end of the movie. This week we started working on her ability to say her name because she usually pronounces it 'Tay' so we were teaching her the 'sh' sound because during the primary program, she has to introduce herself. It was very separate when she said 'Sh-ay', but I'm sure she will get better as we continue to work on it. I think it was pretty cute and I had some other people notice how adorable my children are!

Halloween and Welcoming November

 Halloween!

On Tuesday, Claire dressed up at school and had a little party with her class, and then there is a track out back of the school where Shay and I went to watch the parade of costumes. Shay had fun seeing the many different costumes and Claire was excited to see us and wave the 3 times she passed where we were standing. Once we got home she showed us all the fun things she got...including slime...and we ate dinner and waited for daddy to get home from work so we could go trick or treating! We had some neighbors come to get candy from us right as Chris was finishing dinner and Claire asked to stay home to hand out candy and see more people! I don't know how many people came around our neighborhood but I had a bowl on our porch for them and we went to a bigger neighborhood to get our treats. There are a lot of people around this area that set out bowls probably going around with their own kids! Both girls filled up their little buckets and had us carry them once they were 3/4 full because they were getting heavy with several full-sized candy bars, and plenty of variety! You can see Claire was a mermaid again, Shay was Catboy, and Chris and I decided to be skeletons to stay warm which I was grateful for, but too bad we didn't have time for face paint.

Claire

Every morning while they eat breakfast I let them watch cartoons before Claire has to go to school and she has been picking Bluey every day! She then got it in her head that she wanted to do ALL the 12 puzzles we have because of one of the episodes that reminded her of the puzzles. It took her 3 days and help from Daddy, Shay, and me to actually finish them all because she gets distracted like in another episode we know...She is doing really well when we read together and is improving and enjoying it now especially since she can earn time to play phone games on the old phone if she reads two books in a row with me. We limit that to the weekends mostly and only if she asks so she doesn't spend time on the phone much anymore and we are glad we broke that habit. 

Shay

She helped me take down the Halloween decorations at home and put up the 5 Thanksgiving decorations we have. I wish it hadn't rained most of the week because it feels like we've been stuck inside forever and at least we have lots to do inside. With Claire's obsession with Bluey, Shay likes it too and we brought down all the stuffed dogs that were currently hiding in the closet. She found her puppy from the library and did her hair then told me to take her picture. Luckily I did or else I'd only have pictures from Halloween! I love this little cutie!!