Happy Holidays and a Great New Year!

In case you missed our Holiday photo, here it is.  The girls did a great job holding G-man up lest he fall.  Such great big sisters.    

Our new year will be full of milestones, G-man will be crawling soon, then walking.  The girls will be learning to read (I predict) and asking more questions about everything they can think of.  As for Doc and I, we try to keep up, stay sane, and have a little fun in the process.  

Hope everyone had a great holiday and a safe and happy new year to all!

Thoughts to Ponder

Me: "Hey girls, should we have pizza for dinner?"

Turbo: "Oven pizza or door pizza?"

Hm, methinks that we order in a bit too much :)

Cookie Monsters

We decided to make cookie making an all-weekend affair.  With Kenzie's help, we made some rockin' decorated sugar cookies.  The girls were really excited and they did a very good job. Saturday's fun was rolling, cutting out, and baking, and Sunday was frosting and decorating. When the weather sucks, you drag these activities out to fill as much time as possible.  Am I right, moms?  :)  

Notes to self for next time: the act of frosting cookies should be left to adults unless you want your 3 year olds to mainline unadulterated sugar for 2 hours.  When given more than one option of cookie sprinkles, a 3 year old will choose "all of the above" for every cookie.  Play-doh rolling pins work really well for cookies when you are in a pinch and everyone MUST HAVE their own rolling pin (see below).  Naps are warranted but impossible for 3 year olds after making and frosting cookies for 2 hours.  

Diva (L) and Turbo (R)

Turbo working her rolling pin

Diva sneaking a bite of her cookie.

Turbo and her green "scary monster" teeth.

The Polar Express

We went to Boone, IA today to go on the Polar Express Train ride through the beautiful Iowa countryside.  The kids wear their pajamas and they get to meet Santa Claus, who gives them a special Christmas jingle bell.  We also sang carols on the way back.  It was a nice way to spend a pre-holiday Saturday with the kiddos.

Every train car has a reader and an elf that read the story to the kids, and passed out cookies and hot chocolate, just like in the book.  The girls just got the book so the significance of the treats was a bit lost on them, but they enjoyed them nonetheless.

Doc and G-man.

Kids and Mom.

Girls enjoying the scenery.  Don't they look so sweet?

Then this is what happens when you take two girls who haven't napped out on a train for 1 1/2 hours and feed them pure sugar to eat and drink!  They both fell asleep on the way home :)

Cereal-ity

G-man is getting so big, he turned 6 months today.  He got his first dose of cereal and seems to really like it...considering he would have licked the bowl if I let him. 

My other little helpers were having fun watching the little guy get his first solid foods.  They are always wondering about themselves at each milestone that he is reaching so it is fun to go back and revisit.  That's Diva on the left and Turbo on the right at about 6 months.

Ok, so I was a shut-in mom of twins, give me a break for having a little fun at their expense :)

Post-Thanksgiving

I think I'm still recovering, but I had so much fun this year at Thanksgiving, I can hardly wait for Christmas.  The food, the mayhem, the mess, I love it all.  Absolutely my favorite holiday. We were really well-planned this year and avoided the last-second freak attack that usually happens trying to get everything ready at the same time.  It was quite wonderful and relaxing.That's my sister and I above, getting to eat FIRST!  Actually we were making plates for our kids.   

My dad and I carve the turkey together every year.  It's my favorite tradition, plus you get to sample the goodness right away.  This year we had a 22 pounder.

Ooh, pie.  I made pumpkin and my mom made cherry and pecan.