A true gift

A few days after we had gotten back from our Christmas trip Ali decided to give 2 more presents to her little sister. Her 2 very favorite pairs of jammies were getting quite small (they are size threes) so she finally bequethed them with great ceremony to Lizzie. She said because Lizzie was such a good girl and was starting to use the potty that she could have her "most, best favorite" ice-cream and cupcake jammies. It was so sweet. I love it that they are so nice to each other.

Baptism

Lizzie and Nora weren't so happy getting their pictures taken!! Here is Grandpa, Grandma, Erin, Tony, Nora, and our family.

Grandma Ginnie, Lizzie, Chris, and Great-Grandma at Lizzie's Baptism

Since almost all of our family members were in town (or agreed to come especially for the event) we wanted to have Elizabeth baptized. We think it was so special that Pastor Joel was such a big part of my growing up, he married Chris & I, baptized Alexandra, and now baptized Elizabeth. We had the baptism outside in Nana's backyard and Aunt Erin, Aunt Wendy, Uncle Colin, and Uncle Pete (who was unable to come due to his busy doctor work schedule) were her sponsors just as they were for Ali. Pastor Joel introduced Lizzie as "The newest member of the Christian faith." It was a lovely event.

We miss AZ!

Grandpa & Grandma's Bistro...It was SO nice to spend time outdoors! The girls loved that Grandma brought lunch out to them at the little cafe table. After that, everytime Lizzie saw the table in their backyard she said, "I want applesauce!"

Merry Christmas crackers! We just love the hat tradition at Christmas dinner!

We also were spoiled and got taken out to dinner by Great Grandma (my Grandma) and my Dad and Janey. Lizzie and cousin Nora were running all around the restaurant while Ali colored. Then Nora sat down for a nice dinner and sat nicely the whole time. Ali ate well and sat the whole time.....and where was Lizzie??? Underneath my chair!!

PRESENTS

Even our basement is a fun place to play now! These tunnels and tents, our scooter, little car, and fun blackboards are hours of fun!

Christmas #3

Next, we went to Grandpa and Grandma's house for more gift opening, spending time with adorable cousin Nora and SWIMMING!! (In Missouri today it was 17 degrees...oh, I miss AZ!!)

Christmas AZ style

Thank you Nana so much for taking us to the Nutcracker Ballet! It was SO beautiful and the girls really enjoyed it. Lizzie was a bit restless during the second act but she was still really good and Ali watched the whole thing and loved it!

Christmas Eve dinner at Nana and Poppa's house...what a nice time we had at their house!

Christmas #1

We got to go to AZ for Christmas with my family this year so we celebrated at home early. It was good we got to spread out the gift opening because these little girls got SO many presents...they are so lucky! (Today we were reading one of our gifts, one of the "Little House on the Prairie" books, and Laura & Mary only got 2 small gifts for Christmas in the book. I asked Ali how many gifts she got and she didn't even know there were so many!)

Actually, this picture wasn't of the very first present openings....the VERY first gift that was opened this year by the girls was accidental. In the middle of December we were sitting around the living room talking and the girls were running around. All of a sudden there was a new Barbie in the room and I said, "Where did that come from??" It turns out that Lizzie had opened one of her gifts a bit early!! The Barbie doll was in a gift bag and she just reached in and took it out while we weren't looking!! THANKS to Kirstin (Chris' cousin) for giving the girls two of her Barbies!!

They LOVE the new Mouse House playground and their new "wheels" that we put down in the basement!!