Happy Christmas Eve

The girls are watching part of Home Alone, so I'm sneaking in a short post of pictures. 

This is where I found the girls the other day...in the tub, making mischeif. Can you see the progress from the first picture to the second? It's a big sister's job to instigate...she's doing her job well.

Kaitlyn made some playdough cookies for Santa and we found them sitting by the fireplace - that's my girl!

This next sequence can be looked at in one of two ways: "The Gingerbread House Fail," or "The Gingerbread Skating Rinks Win." If you ask the girls, it was a win, and that's all that matters, right? :-)

Mama and Daddy may have made the icing too watery...oops

Daddy making "snow drops"

Stay tuned for Mr. Elf's Adventures!

Balancing Act

Balance is a crucial part of raising kids (and of life in general, actually), if you ask me. We love to go out and have adventures with the girls, but we also try to leave room for some down time at home. However, too much down time = cranky (bored) kids, so balance is key.

Our last few weekends haven't been as busy, so we've been enjoying some of that said down time. Mama needs it, too. :-)

I got to stay home with a sick girl for a couple of days since she couldn't go to day care.

One of Kaitlyn's latest activities. I didn't get a picture later of all of their babies tucked in their blankies on each chair.

Bundled up for a family walk!

My mom brought this up for me about a week ago. Even though I may have let a groan slip out when she handed it to me, I'll admit that I love it now. A little elf pops out on the hour and sings a Christmas song. The girls go running 100 miles an hour into the kitchen each time it starts.

Thank you, Pinterest, for this idea :-)

This is Austen's. You try getting a 21 month old to put a hand print onto an ornament. I think it has character. ;-)

Christmas Girl Jr. She takes after her mama! I have passed down my love for The Grinch quite successfully.

"Mr. Grinch" goes a lot of places these days. I couldn't believe she remembered him from last year. She asked me to go get him from the garage when I was decorating.

Have I mentioned that these two LOVE to dance?! Austen comes to us multiple times a day to command, "DANCE!" Which means, "Put on some good music, and make it snappy!"

A daddy and his girl. Jeff was more than thrilled that our on-the-go lady actually wanted to stop and snuggle after her nap. Everything else can wait for that. :-)

Mama and Kaitlyn made salt dough ornaments and gift tags. This girl could seriously focus on things like this for hours if you let her. She did this for 30 minutes, and cried when we made her take a dinner break. She's our little thinker!

Both got to paint. Every color is "GREEN!" to Austen. So, GREEN! means, "gimme more of whatever color you want, just gimme more!"

This play kitchen is still goin' strong, while all of the flashy, blinky, musical toys tend to sit the bench. They do still do quick drive-bys with those, but these girls always end up back in the kitchen with their imaginations.

DANCE!

Laughter

We do a lot of laughter and silliness in this house. I believe that a sense of humor and laughter is so incredibly important in all areas of life, and especially in a relationship/family. We have our less-than-perfect moments, of course, but we have a lot of fun, and that makes me (us) happy. I don't leave out entire posts about Kaitlyn's latest tantrums in order to make our life look perfect, I just try to keep a lot of this positive is all.

As I get older, I realize more and more how much my life is improved by laughter and an "oh well" attitude. Kaitlyn spills half a bottle of shampoo on the carpet - laugh or get mad? Laugh. Austen spills Riley's water dish and tracks it through the whole kitchen right after it's been mopped - laugh or cry? Laugh, because that's funny when you think about it.

There are also those "cry or shrug moments." The ones you can't really laugh at because they really aren't funny, but you step back and think, "Is getting upset going to change anything?" Austen drops Kaitlyn's home-made ornament (from last year, so irreplaceable) on the floor and it shatters into a million pieces - shrug or cry? I'm sad about that one, but if I don't shrug I'll cry. ;-)

I think it is Jimmy Buffet who says, "If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane." How right he is. Life is so much about choices. Happiness is a choice, positivity is a choice, and reactions are choices. I will never claim to be perfect, I will always admit to being a work in progress...aren't we all? When I preach about these things, I do it knowing that I'm not always the best role model for them, but I also know how much I've improved in these areas because I've consciously worked on them.

There are things that happen in life that are going to make us sad. Save your sadness for the "big deals." We can't be happy 100% of the time (and I believe that if one thinks they can, it ends up backfiring), but many of us can be happy most of the time. I have learned to take more deep breaths, smile more, laugh more, and shrug more. And when I do have a particularly negative day, I make sure to allow myself to start fresh with the next one, instead of feeling like a failure that I vented too much, complained too much, or didn't have enough patience. 

I'll end this with some fun pictures, and you can bet that there was a healthy amount of laughter behind the camera: 

Jeff grew a beard in November

On the last day, he shaved it into a mustache for work. He did what any self-respecting hairy guy would do, and had some fun with different styles in the process

Laughter and fun in the tub while Daddy was shaving

While this picture grosses me out, it also makes me love him that much more. He makes me laugh :-)

Have a great day, folks!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

I couldn't be happier with the reaction from the girls about decorating the Christmas tree. They were so excited and into it...their mama's dream. ;-) If you know me, you know that I love Christmas and everything that comes with it. I started playing Christmas music before Halloween had even passed, which I know some consider a sin, but I do what makes me happy.

I did hold off on the tree until after Thanksgiving, so there.  

Exhibit 3,285 of Jeff being the most awesome daddy: We have never had a tree topper, and Kaitlyn noticed this year. He got out the construction paper and carefully fashioned a star topper. He had each girl decorate a side. Three guesses about whether they are thrilled that they made the tree topper, and the first two don't count.