Bird Feeders and Basket Hats

Baby Beluga likes to use our vegetable basket as a hat.

And Big Sis loves to leap.

 I'm in the process of organizing my study and sorting through lots of papers. I found some of Big Sis' artwork from several months ago.

The other day before dinner we found the girls playing doctor. Baby Beluga was content to sit in the carseat while Big Sis did all the doctor work. We were told that Baby Beluga had been in a bike accident.

The end of this week brought some really cold weather.

Our preschool craft this week was pine cone bird-feeders! We've been excited to watch for birds every time we sit down to eat.

Playing with Big Sis' old birthday card. It sings "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" and Baby Beluga loves it.

Family scripture time with a parasol. 

So cold!

And we finally welcomed a 2nd vehicle to the family last night! Thank you to anyone who gave us advice and guidance through the process!

January

We've been blessed (as in SUPER DUPER blessed) to have Aunt D move in with us to help me with the kids while I try to lay down as much as possible. 

Now the girls get to go on our weekly walks to the library, play at the park, and outings that go along with our home prek curriculum. This makes for some really happy girls and one happy mom. Not to mention Aunt D is amazing at making dinner. We are so grateful she is willing to help us!

Grama T and Grampa A gave Big Sis an indoor hopscotch toy for Christmas, which both kids love to play with.

Baby Beluga says "hop, hop, hop" while she runs across. Big Sis is getting better and better at hopping accurately with two feet and I think we'll soon see some hopping on one foot.

I made a New Year's goal to stretch/yoga each day for 15 minutes or so. Aunt D got a picture of the girls stretching with me. 

Baby Beluga is 18 months old now and in nursery at church! She is also an expert at saying "cheese," staying still, and smiling while I snap pictures. 

Baby Beluga is "reading" this book aloud, which makes it even cuter. I got it on video too. Her top pick from her Christmas book set is If You Give a Cat a Cupcake. 

The other day our living room became a hair salon-bakery. Handsome got his haircut while eating a cupcake. Big Sis asked "How would you like your hair?"

Then she decided Handsome should give her a haircut.

And then she gave Aunt D a haircut before she headed out the door to Institute. 

Christmas and Cousins

Our Christmas season, unfortunately, was full of sickness, but we still had a wonderful time just being together. I've also been on semi-bed rest since the beginning of December. So both of those factors led to some really simplified Christmas traditions. 

Like using a can of frosting for our candy houses instead of our traditional royal icing that turns ROCK solid.

Before Handsome and I headed to bed we took a picture of how it would look when the girls woke up.

Santa brought the girls an easel with paints, colored chalk, and colored whiteboard markers. 

And he brought them each a set of books. 

A Fancy Nancy set for our fancy Big Sis and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie set for our animal loving Baby Beluga.

Mom and Dad gave Baby Beluga an airplane riding toy.

Checking out our new Christmas ornament from our May Disney trip, while wearing the new princess bows from both her stocking and Big Sis' stocking.

Each year we decided to give the kids an ornament that hopefully had to do with something we did that year, and then by the time they head off to college they would have at least 18 ornaments of their own to decorate a mini tree in their dorm room.

Mom and Dad gave Big Sis a caboodle with bracelets and necklaces and colorful combs (someone was always trying to use Dad's comb and we kept misplacing it). 

We loved getting new books and games from our wonderful family! Thank you bunches and gobs! Books are one of our girls' FAVORITE things.

 

Baby brother's first gift ever--made by Great Grampa M's sister. One of the other reasons it is so special is that Handsome had a blanket made of the same type of material and with the same color when he was little.

Right after Christmas our cousins came to visit, which Big Sis LOVED because she really needed someone to play with who wasn't sick or under the weather. Baby Beluga loved hanging out with Uncle P (my apologies, Uncle P...none of the pictures I took turned out very good!)