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!