Play Group

We finally made it back to another play group this week. The girls were really excited about getting out and playing with friends. They had a blast doing crafts, puzzles, and pretending. Abigail completing her craft. She decorated her Christmas tree by peeling and sticking stickers.

Emily decorated her Christmas tree by using glue and "sparkly jewels".

The table was filled with Fruit Loops today. Emily tried her hand at stringing them on a pipe cleaner to make a candy cane while Abigail preferred to scoop and pour.

Emily working the fire truck puzzle. It was very difficult. Ms. Carman and I had to work together to figure it out after Emily was finished working it her own way.

Abigail working the vehicle puzzle. She had to go around the table and work each of the 6 puzzles laid out.

Both girls love to work with tools. Today they fixed the sink and the wall behind the sink. Apparently, there was leak.

Emily cutting food.

Emily (bottom) and Abigail (top two pictures) riding a bike. Safety Tip # 7 "Always wear a helmet" (Officer Buckle and Gloria; Their favorite bed time story right now and two weeks ago)

They worked together to build a "castle" taller than they are.
Emily spent a lot of time playing with the shape sorter.

The girls sharing and paying nice with this sorting toy!

Emily playing with the doll house.Abigail absolutely loved the fire fighter outfit. She said, "I look like a REAL fire fighter!" Then, she cried when we had to leave it there. I told her maybe Santa would bring her one that we could keep at our house. I guess I've got more Christmas shopping to do...
Snack time; sugar cookies and apple juice.


Emily loves to play with pretend kitchen toys. Here she told me she needed to wash her hands.

Story Time with Santa

Santa made a special trip to Hardesty Public Library to read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to us. Before he made his highly anticipated entrance, a nice librarian read us other books like "Ginger Bread Pirate" and "Santa's Stowaway" and we sang songs using bells. The girls were pretty excited to see Santa, but really wanted to go to the children's area and check out the beautiful animals and read books themselves.

The Christmas Train

Our family went to visit The Christmas Train at Dry Gulch last weekend. It was the perfect evening to spend outdoors with the ones you love.

We first waited in line to ride the train. It was a long line, but moved very quickly. We were able to view the train as we waited, which kept the girls occupied.
Next, we received our boarding passes and waited inside the depot (big, yellow station, as Abigail and Emily call it) for our turn to board.
Uncle Bryan, Aunt Traice, Lorelai, Nana, Emily, Poppy, Alesha, Josh, and Abigail

Once on the train, the girls were excited to get going.

We watched the amazing story of creation and the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They had beautiful billboards, live scenes, and narration depicting the story throughout the ride. The girls were very interesting in watching it all unfold.

Next, we rode the carousel, took a horse drawn wagon ride through the story "T'was the Night Before Christmas, played on the play ground, and walked around the town.

By the end of the night, the girls were too exhausted to walk back to the car, so Daddy carried our two 37 pound daughters through the parking lot.

Our 1st Haircut

Well, the time has come for the girls to get their first haircut. Their hair was getting so long and uneven, so Aunt Tracie agreed to give them a trim. These are their BEFORE pictures:

Emily,

Abigail,

Emily sat very still and let Aunt Tracie get everything just right.
However, Abigail didn't make it through the whole haircut sitting in one place. I'm so glad we have a stylist in the family because I don't know if a stranger would have chased her down to finish. She started off ok, but then had to be held by Daddy. Then, moved to sitting in a different chair where Aunt Tracie was finally able to finish.


Here are the final results.


Before/After:

Emily,

Abigail,

Although, not much hair was taken off, it made them both seem older. Another transition showing how quickly they are turning from my little babies to my little girls.

Abigail is Reading!!

At 2 years and 8 months old, Abigail read her first book completely by herself!! Momo bought them a set of sight word readers and she was able to read all the words the first time we looked at it together.

This is an example of the pages in the book. The harder words (floor and door) have pictures to help them read. The first time reading it, Abigail seemed to only be focusing on saying the words. The second time she read it, she seemed to realize that she was putting words together to make sentences and tell a story.

Build-A-Bear 2009

We took the girls for our annual Build-A-Bear Christmas trip today. Emily chose a dog for the third year in a row and named her Chance. Abigail picked a frog and named her Verde (green in Spanish). They were both a little unsure of the loud stuffing machine, but Abigail eventually helped by pushing the pedal. They put hearts in their animals, gave them baths, and dressed them in pajamas. This year was different from the years past. They were much more interested and involved in the whole process. Emily amazed us with her memory. She said "We are going to give them a bath." She remembered that from last years' trip, when she was only 21 months old. Abigail stuffing her frog. The girls warming the hearts before putting them in their new friends. Emily washing Chance. Emily dressing Chance for bedtime. Abigail washing Verde. Abigail dressing Verde in her frogging p.j.s.

Our 1st
Build-A-Bear 2007

Flower Girls

Uncle Jerrad requested Emily and Abigail be the flower girls in his wedding. Mommy was a little worried how they would react to a crowd and if they would make it down the aisle. So, in preparation, we watched videos of other flower girls, played "flower girl" without dressing up, and then, finally, we got them both in their dresses, walking down the hallway, and throwing the petals as they walked. However, Abigail was still not thrilled about wearing her dress. She kept saying it was "too tight".

The day of the wedding we drove to Eureka Springs where they were having the wedding at the beautiful Crescent Hotel. We had to get the girls dressed a little early for pictures. Like we feared, Abigail wanted it off badly. She cried for a while until we distracted her and the wedding began...two hours later. However, she and Emily did PERFECT!!! They were the cutest flower girls ever. As soon as they walked down the aisle, they came back to where Mommy was sitting. Emily exclaimed, "I DID IT!" and Abigail said loudly, "Take it off now" speaking of her dress. Everyone heard them, of course, and laughed. I was so proud of them both and they looked so beautiful!

Trick or Treat

This year was a lot different from last year's trick or treating. The girls were anxious to walk(at the beginning) and they could actually knock on the doors, say, "Trick or treat!", and "Thank you". They also understood that they get lots of candy and that candy is GOOD. They, however, have not yet realized that we gave away or hid most of their bounty. Emily has discovered a new love, but still won't eat chocolate.

By the end, Emily just wanted to ride and dig through her bucket. Abigail did a pretty good job of making it the whole way.