Gingerbread Houses and Cookies

 This month has been crazy. It has gone by so fast! We tried our best to fit in all of our December traditions, and I feel like we were pretty successful. The girls made gingerbread houses. Well, Leah did, and Juliet concentrated on tasting the ingredients to make sure they would be satisfactory, if she were to use them. And then yelling at me when I nonchalantly tried to stick candy onto her house. 

 Leah was the most excited to eat the leftover frosting out of the squeeze thing. 

 We also made cookies. Here are the girls looking sad because they had to wait for Chris to get home from walking the dog before they started frosting and decorating. 

 They were happy to start. Juliet frosted and ate a few cookies while the rest of us concentrated on frosting and decorating. 

 Leah was really into it this year and spent a lot of time on her designs. She did great! 

 Here are some of the finished products. Not bad. 

Tree Farm

 Ollie's first trip to the farm. He was super excited. 

 This girl wasn't so excited. The car ride was too long. She was too hot. No, too cold. It was hard to walk. She was hungry. She wanted to leave the farm, get lunch, and come back. She wanted a small tree. No, a big tree. No, a red tree. 

 We found several contenders, but ended up with this one that Leah picked. A little smaller than usual, but a great choice. And, she was right on about the size. I love how it looks in our living room. 

 Posing. 

 We took our annual horse drawn sleigh ride. Leah sat as up front as you could get. She loved watching the horses. Ollie sat in the car and panicked that we had left him while we were on the the wagon ride and Chris was having the tree baled. 

Black Friday

 In celebration of Black Friday we dressed up in Christmas clothes and finalized our lists to Santa. Leah would like: Julie's Dogs (American Girl), underwear, American Girl books, and some skirts. Juliet would like: Bitty Baby Doctor Kit, underwear, dresses that match with Leah, and Kit books. We do something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read gifts from Santa. It's worked perfectly. From us, Leah wants an I-pod and Juliet wants a Leap Pad. 

 Still looking for that illusive magical girls and dog picture...

 We also broke out the mini trees for their rooms. They were so excited to decorate their trees. It was funny watching them unpack the ornaments. They had no idea what they had and were so excited every time they opened one. 

 Brain liked the trees, too.

I ended up buying a new carpet cleaner on Target's website and we had to go to the store to pick it up. Leah and I went and were glad that we are not Black Friday shoppers. Leah was reading all the signs asking why there were signs for lines. And why there were arrows around the store. And why did the store look dirty. And why were there so many people out? It was pretty funny. 

Gobble Gobble

We hosted Thanksgiving here. I have a love/hate relationship with hosting. I love being able to pick the time (hello, after nap time) and the food. It's always a little stressful to put the entire meal together timing wise, and keeping the house clean is a challenge. 

The day was a success! I made Latvian Pierogs for an appetizer. We made turkey, 2 types of stuffing (corn bread with sausage was the big hit), macaroni and cheese, and rainbow carrots. Auntie Nicole made the gravy and mashed potatoes. For desert, I made homemade apple crumb pie and pumpkin cheesecake. We worked as a family really well to get it all done. The girls were rewarded with a blind basket of Shopkins in recognition of how well they played by themselves while Chris and I cooked and cleaned.

I love this picture of Leah and Juliet. This is pretty much them. Juliet has started saying, "Aw, Jam it!" like the poptart commercial. It's pretty funny. 

 Annual cousins picture. Leah was so excited for her cousins to come over. She kept asking what time it was and when they were coming. We saw very little of Leah and Juliet after they all arrived. 

Snow

 It snowed.

Chris and I weren't all that excited about it, but the girls were thrilled.

 They got all dressed up to play outside.

There was a lot of snowball fights.

 Our Mississippi Boy wasn't sure what to think about the snow.

Once he figured out the snow was water that he could eat, he was pretty happy. 

He liked running through it and playing tag, but he gets cold really easily and shivers uncontrollably. I left him outside with Leah for 10 minutes while I took the clothes from the laundry room upstairs. He got himself dangled around a bush and was sitting there shaking and whimpering when I found him. He acted like he had been left outside overnight. It was seriously for 10 minutes. 

 I love this picture of Ollie. 

Juliet is never sure what to think about the cold. She wants to play with her sister, but really doesn't like to be cold. She went out and in a few times while Leah was outside. I tried to put on Leah's old boots for her, that she wore at 3. They must have somehow dry rotted in the garage, because they pulled apart and the rubber began to crumble. They were nice boots, too. So, she wore her rain boots while I ordered her a new pair. 

 Here is another "magical" picture of the kids and dog. Nailed it.

 Leah worked so hard on this snowman. She did it totally by herself without any help. She was such a good worker and kept working long after her sister and I had gone inside. I got her the accessories, and she told me, "Take my picture, and put it on the computer. Say, Leah's first snowman. Exclamation point. Tell everyone I made this snowman all by myself, with no help from anyone. And, that it took me several hours". It really only took about 30-40 minutes, but I was super impressed nonetheless. 

Every Morning

 Mornings are hard. We've got to get up earlier than any of us want to. We like to sleep until 8ish. Every morning we tell Ollie, "Go get your girl" He runs to her bed and cuddles with her. It might be my favorite time of the day. Sometimes it's hard to have a dog. Sometimes he's annoying. But, there is so much love and joy that he brings to our family. I remember as a kid, just LOVING our family dog, Whiskey. I'm glad that they will have a similar experience. 

Ollie is also just a really easy dog. The only annoying thing he ever really did is chew their toys (which was annoying, but helped me thin the hoard of toys!) and run like a crazy dog outside, in a crazy game of "catch me if you can" tag (we've gotten better at being aware of where he is and not leaving doors open around him). With a little Dan Morris training, he is so much better. He rarely chews anymore, and is doing a good job of learning to "sit" and "stay". He is good on a leash with Chris, but not so good for me. He is such a lover, and is always so excited to go see Leah (it's the only bed he's allowed to cuddle in). Sometimes I let him sit on my lap when we are watching TV. He is big, but is so excited to get in my lap and cuddle like a lap dog. Whenever Chris or I sit on the floor, he cautiously tries to get on our laps. It's pretty funny. He loves water and drinks out of the bath when Leah and Juliet take baths. After Chris and I shower, he gets in the shower and licks the water off the floor. He also drinks out of the hose, which is pretty funny, but more rare now that it is cold. Juliet has grown to love him, too, which is pretty good news. 

 Some mornings, Juliet wants in on the pile, too. This morning she was cuddling up against Leah. Most mornings I wake up Leah first, cuddle her and the dog, and get her dressed before I wake up Juliet. She is NOT a morning person and usually wakes up with the loudest of, "AFFSSGINSESFH" sounds. 

 After Leah wakes up, she usually wants to dog to lick her. Ollie isn't much of a licker, at all, so he's usually pretty unsure if she actually wants to be licked. Once he starts, he can't stop. And Leah loves it. 

 We love the mornings when Daddy can cuddle, too. Juliet still loves to suck her fingers and "beep". We are trying to get her away from it. Sometimes she doesn't care, and will stop, other times she feels as though she "needs to" in the most desperate of ways. Sometimes Mommy is tired and will let her do what she wants in order to go to sleep.

My Girl

 Leah has been counting down the days until we could make a fire. She knew it had to be under 40 degrees. She would ask every time she was cold. The weather finally allowed it a few weeks ago. We've been enjoying fires regularly since then. Last weekend, I took out our bin of Christmas books. Leah spent over an hour in front of the fire with a pile of Christmas books, reading each one, then stacking it up. She is so excited about Christmas. She's need to be put in check a few times, though. This year, especially, I want her to consider how she can help others. We have so much, and it's just not reality for many other families. Due to redistricting, there are several new families at the school I work with, and many have heartbreaking stories. It's been over 5 years since I worked at a school that had similar stories to the ones I am hearing this year. This year I think Leah is old enough to understand that she can help others in a more "real"/concrete way. 

Fall Fun

 A few weeks ago we had a warm spell. Perfect for playing in the leaves. Unfortunately, just like last year, our lawn service was out the day before we had the inclination to play, leaving our lawn pretty barren of leaves. Last year, I was able to import leaves from the median. This year, those trees were bare. So, I had to sneak across the street and steal them from a neighbors yard. I hope he didn't mind.

It took me a while to get all the leaves over. I asked the girls to pose for a picture in front of the leaves, and they game me the sweetest, most gentle smiles. I liked it. 

 I LOVE this picture of Leah. Occasionally, I can still see a glimpse of her baby face. This was a glimpse. It's the same face she would make as a baby when she was really excited about something. I love her so much. All Day Kindergarten is hard. By 4:00 I physically miss her. She loves it, though.

 Obligatory picture in the leaves. Just like last year I had to bribe them with Halloween candy. They don't want to sit still for a minute.

Leah kept pulling leaves out of the pile, and telling me to save them because she loved them. I told her that was silly, so she was trying to hold on to them all herself. The one on her chest is one she particularly liked. Then, she started making me go to other trees to get leaves, because she liked the different colors. She's mighty lucky I love her and that she's cute. 

 I love this picture of Leah and Juliet flopping. 

 Ollie was hilarious in the leaves. I would bury Leah and ask Ollie, "Where is Leah?! Go get her!" And her would run to the leaf pile and jump all around trying to find her. It was so cute. We tried to get it on video, but Ollie stopped doing it after a few times.

Fall Photos

 I dropped the ball this year and didn't schedule a fall mini session. It's the second year in a row. Our photographer usually only does early morning sessions, and it can be hard to convince Chris that these are necessary when it always seems to be 30 degrees. Juliet is the worst when it comes to the cold, too. Also, we took pictures on both family vacations this year. Still, I love fall pictures. It's my second favorite time of year. 

We took these in the woods behind the house. I just had the camera on automatic. We had the dog and two girls who really were more interested in playing (not that I blame them). I wish I would have tried a little harder on the settings, but oh well. My favorite picture is the one above, and I think it turned out perfect. The others are a little fuzzy and the colors kind of wash together, but that's okay, too. I am definitely not a professional. 

 I pointed my camera up and got this picture. I love this season. Someone had even decorated the woods in a "spooky way" with skeletons and ghosts. The girls thought it was awesome and wanted to poke them all with sticks, just to make sure they were just pretend.

 I had the idea that I could get the kids and the dog together somehow in a magical way.

      Nailed it. 

 But, I do really like the picture of Leah and Ollie. Every morning we tell him, "Go get your girl" and he runs into her room and jumps on her bed. He cuddles her as close as possible. Sometimes Leah loves it, sometimes it makes her crazy. Chris and I think it is the cutest thing. This morning their faces were all mushed together. Leah just kept on sleeping.