1955 Goodhousekeeping Article

Ladies, please take note (click on the image to bring up a larger one)

The Reason for the Season

Jesus Graphics provided by MySpaceAnimations.com

We are trying to teach Bella that while Santa Claus and the presents are a fun part of Christmas, it isn't what Christmas is really about. She is only two and everyone is always asking her about Santa Claus, so I had to try and put this in some way that she would understand. Well, she now knows that Christmas is Baby Jesus's birthday! When you ask her "What is Christmas really about?" she responds "Baby Jesus"! YAY!!!

Brooklyn during Storytime

Brooklyn didn't want to sit still for the Stories today and one of the tables still had some puzzles on it and she went straight for the table!

Storytime

This was Tree Decorating day at Storytime at the Library! After Ms. Dorothy read two stories (Once There Was a Christmas Tree and The Little Christmas Tree), we sang Jingle Bells and headed over to decorate the tree!

Before...

During...

After...

Another Movie Night

We had movie night again last night. We watched The Polar Express and Bella really seemed to enjoy it!

Tuesday's Project

I have been looking for clear glass (well, preferably plastic) ornaments that you can take the "top" off and stuff with foil shreds and then decorate the outside with foam stickers. I cannot find them anywhere! After much thinking of what I could use instead, I saw some "mini" water bottles at the grocery store! While it isn't the Christmas Tree Ornaments I wanted to make, it is a suitable replacement (although I'm still on the lookout for the ornaments)! On Tuesday, we made Christmas Bottles! We stuffed them with colored (red, silver or gold) shredded foil, decorated them with foam stickers, wrapped/glued a pipe cleaner around the lid, glued little pom poms on top of the lid, and then tied a bow around the "neck"! We made three - I made one while they napped to see if it would work, then Bella made one after her nap and then we made a "Christmas Tree" bottle using green beads for the inside of the bottle. Thank goodness I only have to impress a 2-year old! She thought they were "so cute" (her exact words)!

Bella being Bella

Bella LOVES walking around in my shoes. She will go in my closet and pick out the pair she wants to "wear"! I keep a pair of tennis shoes (slip ons) next to the front door for taking Georgia out, running to the laundry room, etc - just to have a pair by the door. She came out of Brooklyn's room where she had found the sunglasses and hat and I couldn't resist a picture!

Brooklyn picking out a movie...

Brooklyn loves to sit/stand next to the DVD towers and take all the DVDs and throw them onto the floor.

Bossy Bella

We have electric heaters in each of the girl's rooms (we do not have central heat and air - just a window A/C unit in the living room [which can also function as a heater], a window A/C unit in our bedroom, and a gas heater in the living room). Last night, Brannon was checking the heaters to be sure that they were turning on at the right time (he has them set on a timer, but I sometimes turn them on at naptime and consequently screw up the timers). He checked Brooklyn's and then closed her door so her room could warm up. He then proceeded to Bella's room, where he checked her heater and then tried to close her door. She stood in the "hallway", pointing at him saying "no close door, no close door" in a very serious, bossy voice! She then pulled him by his shirt back to the living room to the couch and told him to sit down! We all know that laughing at them when they do these things only encourages such behavior in the future - but tell me how are we not supposed to laugh! It was soooo funny!

Signing off for now!

I think 16 posts (17 if you count this one) is plenty for one day! Unless of course, the girls do something post-worthy this afternoon!!! Hope everyone has a great week!

The Santa Card

So we've been having some issues getting Bella to go to bed at night in her own bed! I'll admit there have been a few nights that I have just been so tired, that I have given in and let her fall asleep with me in our bed and Brannon will move her to her bed before he comes to bed. She's also been waking up in the middle of the night and crawling into our bed as well. I do not want this to become a habit!! Brooklyn is still easy - we just put her in her crib and she can't get out! Bella has a toddler bed though and she can easily get in and out of it. Last night after we had read a story and said our prayers, she still didn't want to go to bed. So...I told her that Santa Claus was watching her and that if she didn't go to sleep like a big girl, he might not leave her prizes. She then started saying "sleep Mommy's bed", so I told her that if she didn't sleep in her own bed then Santa Claus wouldn't know that she was here. Does this make me a bad mom for using the "Santa Card"?She still woke up at 12 midnight wanting in bed with us - but it was storming (lightning, thunder, heavy winds and rain), so she did sleep with us for a bit before I took her back to her room.

Round and Round

The girls have a bean bag chair that pretty much stays in Bella's room. Bella likes to lay in it and have someone spin her "round and round". She came out of her room last night pulling the chair saying "daddy round, round, daddy, round, round". So of course, he spun her around and around - I'm not sure if Brooklyn was on top of Bella for the spinning or if she crawled up there after he had spun Bella around.

Brooklyn wants to ride in the stroller

Brooklyn somehow managed to climb into the baby doll stroller yesterday!

Dalton has arrived!

Dalton Michael was born on Sunday, November 25th. He weighed in at 6 lbs 10 oz and is 18 inches long. The only picture I have is one taken on a cell phone, but here he is! Allie and Dalton are doing great and are expected to make it home tomorrow! He and Whitney are 12 months and 1 day apart as Whitney celebrated her first birthday on Saturday, November 24th.

Some other good ones...

We use a place called Portrait Innovations for our pictures - they are great! They take a bunch of pictures and then you go through and pick the ones you like and you leave with your pictures that day, along with a CD with all the shots taken! For our "photo shoot" on Saturday - they took 88 pictures (I'll refrain from posting all 88, haha)! Here are some other pictures we liked but didn't buy!

Bella at 1 year vs Bella at 2 years

Bella at 1 year

Bella at 2 years

And now for some comparisons...

Bella at 1 year in my Grandma's overalls

AND

Brooklyn at 1 year in my Grandma's overalls

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Bella at 1 year in my Grandma's overalls

AND

Brooklyn at 1 year in my Grandma's overalls

Family Pictures, 2 year Pictures, 1 year Pictures and Christmas Pictures

We finally got some new pictures of the girls made this past Saturday. Although we did not get any of just the girls together, we did get some pretty cute ones! Here are the ones we actually got!

I hadn't really thought that we'd be "going to the beach" when I dressed the girls...After seeing the pictures, I really should have just taken off their vests for this picture! But oh well - it is still a pretty good family picture!

This is Brooklyn in my Grandma's overalls that she wore as a little girl.

This is Bella in those same overalls of my Grandma. We also had Bella's picture made in these last year for her 1 year pictures, but they still sort of fit her, so we thought we do another round. Yess, we actually bought this one! But you have to understand that right now, Brooklyn is constantly making this face and saying "uh-oh"..So we just had to get it for her 1 year pictures!

Bella's 2 year pictures!
The girl that was doing our pictures just happened to snap this one at just the right time!!

And finally, a Christmas picture!

A Truckload of Books

Bella came out of her room on Sunday with a "truckload" of books! She had taken all her "Little Golden Books" and put them in the dump truck and was pushing it around the house!

Build a Puppy Dog

Patiently waiting to build her puppy dog (not sure why she has her thumb in her mouth as she does not usually!).

Kissing the heart for her puppy!

Stuffing her puppy dog!

Giving her puppy dog a little scrub down before putting the pretty red sweater on!

Daddy Does My Hair

Brannon put Bella's hair up in an elastic and then put a bow in it on Saturday! He discovered very quickly that she does not stay still for you to "fix" her hair! So her hair was a little lopsided! I kept teasing saying she looked like she belonged in the 80s with the hair put up on the side! She, of course, didn't seem to mind it at all!

Giving Daddy some love!

Mowing the Lawn

Picking Satsumas with Daddy

There is a couple here in Huxford that has Satsuma trees and it was time to pick them. Brannon's dad asked him to go and pick them on Friday, so we all went over to pick some! I'm not sure if you can tell, but Bella is holding the bag for Brannon to put the fruit into.