Opening Gifts

Christmas this year was a lot of fun. The girls were able to open ther own gifts and is even starting to understand what the true meaning of Christmas is. When we asked "Whose birthday is it?" they would respond, "Jesus".

Emily woke up ready to go on Christmas morning, but Abigail needed a little time to wake up. Mommy and Daddy were more excited about them opening thier gifts than they originally were.


Abigail wanted to take the time to play with each toy after she opened it. Emily, on the other hand, wanted to go from gift to gift tearing the wrapping off.


They received a 50's diner and began playing with it immediately. They love cooking and passing food through the window to their "customer" sitting in the booth on the other side.

Merry Christmas!

The visit with Santa was very interesting this year. Last year they both hated sitting on his lap. This year, Emily warmed right up to him. She stayed there while he showed her and sister the snow globe and even while they looked at a book together. Abigail wanted out of there as quickly as possible.

Story Time with Santa

Santa came to visit our local library. We got to spend a lot of time with him. He worked very hard to get the girls to interact. Emily finally warmed up a little as long as he didn't try to hold her. She was very interested in showing him her new Santa finger puppet that the nice librarian gave her. Abigail would only give him a high five and then rush away. She would also talk to him from a distance, like correcting him when he said that Emily's bow was green.

Mambo

Abigial loves to do the Mambo dance. First, she marches in place. Then, she wiggles her hips(the best part!). Lastly, she circles her hands. She's a very good little dancer.

Abigial knows many, many animal sounds(even whale), can tell you where milk and eggs come from, how apples grow and are harvested, and "reads" every rhyming word on each page in the book "There's a Wocket in my Pocket". She also "reads" her own portion of the book "Dear Zoo". The larger puzzles(like the ones in the background of the video) are fairly easy for her, so we have moved to 12 piece jigsaw puzzles. She has added the Spanish words for thank you(gracias), jump(salto), and school(escuela) to her repertoire and frequently uses 3 word phrases. It is truly amazing to watch as both girls learn and grow.

"Sister...Stuck!"

I don't know what got into Emily, but she just suddenly started wrestling Abigail. I think it took Abigail off guard too. She just yells, "Sister! Stuck!" She is very good at telling Mommy exactly what sister has done.
Emily calls Abigail "Sissy" unless Mommy is yelling for her, and then she tries to mimic me and yells, "ABBA!". She has also gotten into telling the cat to "shoo, shoo" and even tells that to people that she doesn't want to deal with. However, she is great at telling you, "Thank you" when you give her something. She also says "Welcome" when you say "thank you" to her. She is usually very polite.

Thanksgiving

We spent this Thanksgiving with family. First, we visited with Momo, Pa, Uncle Jerrad, Jordan, and the rest of the gang. Then, we went to see Nana and Papa. We have so much to be thankful for. We are a very blessed family!

Fall Fun

We usually go outside and play after dinner. Tonight things got darker a lot sooner than before. We are still dealing with the time change, but are trying to get our schedules back on track. This evening Daddy raked the leaves into piles and the girls played in them.

Trick or Treat

This was the girls first Trick or Treating experience. They were our little Monkeys and Daddy and I were zoo keepers. Abigail was attached to Daddy all night, not letting him put her down. She would say "Teet-Teet" instead of "Trick or Treat". Emily went from person to person and was very into getting candy. When they offered seconds she would gladly accept and then try to go back for thirds. She would say "Treat", knock on doors, and even try to turn the door knob if they didn't answer quickly enough.

Dorthy (A.K.A. Momo) helped Emily walk from house to house.

Emily became attached to Sheri throughout the night.

Daddy was more excited about getting candy than Abigail was. Maybe she already knew that she wouldn't be getting too much of it.

Pumpkin Patch 2008

This year the girls went to visit two different pumpkin patches. The first one we went to was in Broken Arrow. This was their first experience with pumpkins. Abigail ran around trying to see everything all at once. She kept yelling "PUNK!". She also learned what a gourd was. All her excitement lead to a refusal of stopping to take group pictures. Emily, on the other hand, was very deliberate and took her time taking it all in. We went with everyone from my side of the family; Nana, Papa, Aunt Lisa, Jeremy, Aly, Benjamin, Uncle Donnie, Aunt Jess, Donnie, Licia, E, Aunt Tracie, Uncle Bryan, and our newest cousin-to-be, Lorelai. Afterwards, we all went back to our house and had a pumpkin carving party. Papa carved us a fun pumpkin. It was a window with a cat looking out, a spider hanging from the top, and a jack-o-lantern sitting on the ledge.


Then we went to the pumpkin patch in Bixby with Momo and Jordan. The girls climbed all over mounds of pumpkins, feed goats, sheep, and pigs, and got to see camels, rabbits, a giant turtle, and chickens.
We had so much fun!!