Movie Night

Yesterday was dark and a mix of rain and ice. It certainly didn't give us any outdoor options so we had a movie yesterday afternoon after naps. They made themselves all snugly and chose Finding Nemo, which has been on a long hiatus after a record thousand showings. Sophia had huge chunks of dialog memorized so I shelved it for a bit. The girls had popcorn tossed with some trail mix. Yum! Winter is just starting so I'm sure that we will have several more movie nights to round out the season.

Santas Little Helpers

The girls were playing in the basement a few nights ago before bed when I heard hysterical laughter coming from the both of them. They were playing Santa and his reindeer and getting quite a kick out of it.

Outtakes

I did the girls photo session for Christmas cards on Wednesday. As you can imagine getting a two and a four year old to simultaneously look at you and smile naturally doesn't fall under the category of "easy things to accomplish". So, most of my pictures from the morning look like this.

Oh Christmas Tree

We are in full swing for Christmas around here. I have to say that I LOVE Christmas with a capital L. I love decorating the tree, putting up the Christmas village, making the mantle look beautiful and hanging my family's stockings. I love reading the Polar Express to my girls. I love Eggnog. I love Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, (Is this the airport, Clark?) and It's A Wonderful Life. I love getting the 12 days of cookies email from The Food Network. I love sending out and receiving Christmas cards. I love baking cookies and other treats. I love Christmas dinner, Christmas day, Christmas mass. I love shopping and fighting crowds and traffic. I love the promise of snow, of magic, of the coming new year. I love Christmas.

Sugar Bugs

The girls had a check up at the dentist on Thursday. Sophia loves going to the dentist. Weird for a four year old, I know.It's one of her favorite things. She asks me all the time when it is going to be time for her next visit. This was Mia's second visit and I wasn't so sure how it was going to go since the night before she expressed a little, ahem, concern about going. She was laying in bed and we were talking about our appointment when she said "I not go to the dentist to see my teeth!" and then pulled the covers over her head. To my surprise she sat in the chair and fully cooperated with her hygienist for the entire cleaning. She flipped over on her stomach and propped herself on the back of the chair for her cleaning. Had to get cozy, I guess.

Welcome Home

Christian was in England this week for work and what better way to welcome him home than bake a cake. Sophia got the idea from a book that I read to the girls when Christian is away called "When Daddy Travels". Its all about the things that Daddies do on business trips like flying, taxi, hotels, meetings, and finally making it back home. At the end of the book the children make a cake on the last day to welcome their Dad home.

I took the girls to the grocery and let them choose whatever they wanted to make. It ended up being a strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting, sprinkles, red accent frosting, and candles. I let them have total freedom in the decorating. Its hideous and adorable all at the same time.

Of course, Christian loved it.

Groove Holmes

Santa Claus brought a key board last year for the girls. It mysteriously lost its batteries and power cable. So after a long break um...absence, the keyboard has returned and the girls have been jamming out as much as I can stand it.

I went upstairs last night to fill up the tub and looked over the banister to see the girls snuggeled up composing a tune. Sophia was trying to explain how to turn on the background beats while you play the piano and Mia was thrilled at this discovery. She looked at her sister and said, "For Real?"