Christmas wrap-up

Sorry for the delay. Its been a tough month...and in another month it'll be tough again, 1 month from tomorrow: baby brother will arrive...weather pending.

Anyway, yes, we did celebrate Christmas.

And as the famous story goes: what did the girls like best? The giant box from the Disney Store that a bunch of their stuff came in!!!

Our tree with WAY too many gifts under it.
And in the light. Don't be jealous of our tree-topper. That's been our tradition since the first year Daddy and I got a tree together.
The girls came downstairs Christmas morning. Kaylee looked pretty excited about the massive quantities of loot under the tree...
Rowan approached with more caution.
The girls retrieved their stockings and settled on the couch to see what was inside.
Rowan donned her fairy wings almost immediately.
Rowan asked Santa for: boots and a yo-yo. (Yeah we could have gotten off really easy this year!!)
We love our new Hello Kitties.
The girls were even nice enough to give pause to allow Mommy and Daddy to open their gifts.
A snuggle for baby Rudolph.

Kaylee unwrapped her new Tag reader...but wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

But she soon figured it out...and reading is now becoming one of our favorite activities. She is really doing well on that front. Every day, in order to earn privileges to use the Tag reader, Kaylee reads a book with mommy, in which she reads a page and then Mommy reads a page, back in forth. (She even helps Mommy on her pages when Mommy needs help with certain words!)
We were happy with our new princess puzzle too.
But the present that earned the dance around the room was her new Diego Leapster game.
Then we got dressed and headed down to Grammy & Grampy's house for round 2.
Kaylee was more than happy to help Auntie Diana unwrap her gifts.
And Grampy.
Grampy needed some help, Rowan had to tell him who was in his new picture.
Hugs for the Grandparents.
And we did get a little smattering of snow that the girls played in.
Wheeeeee.
Rowan likes to 'help' shovel. I was amazed that the girls lasted as long as they did outside. It was VERY cold.
Anyway, Christmas was, of course, pretty subdued, given the circumstances. The camera was not as 'on' as I usually try to have it be on special occasions. But at least now you have a bit of it.

A visit from the great uncles!

I have been slacking in my photo taking responsibilities. The pregnancy is starting to take over and I do feel like I am phoning it in more often these days. However, here are a few good pics from the first half of the month.

Kaylee & Rowan tackle Loofy on the chair. Its a good thing he's mostly good-natured.

Rowan really liked Halloween, she's more into dress-up now than ever before. Her new persona: a witch.

"I'll get you my pretty...ahahahahahahahaha"

The great uncles came for a visit this past weekend. The girls are still asking for them, they had so much fun. Chuck & Buddy are so tolerant of the whims of a 2 and 4 year old. Here Daddy, Uncle Chuck and Rowan catch some fish.

Kaylee teaches Buddy the ins and out of a computer.
Chuck and the girls hide from Buddy in a rather epic game of Hide and Seek.
Amazingly patient, Buddy plays catch with Rowan...for a WHILE.
So long, in fact, that even Chuck and Kaylee had to get in on the action.
Then it was time for a rousing round of "keep the balloon up in the air."
And of course, its always fun to play "Cave." Although Rowan was apparently suffering from some claustrophobia.
At last only Buddy remained in the Cave.
What a silly game.
We had a 'great' visit. Nyut nyut nyut. Yup, I'm lame, wanna fight about it?
And that, as they say, is that!

some Halloween events

Daddy and Mommy love Halloween, so we try to impart that love onto Kaylee & Rowan. Mommy also doesn't mind getting lots of bang for her costume buck...so we've had some Halloween events this past week...and that's not including another Halloween Party and Trick or Treating on Sunday!

On Thursday we had the MOMS Club Trunk or Treat party...the girls had fun snacking...

and playing with all of her costumed friends!
Trunk or Treat is when all the moms line their cars up along the street and put some non-candy treats in the trunks for the kids to gather. Rowan had to stand on her tippy toes.
Kaylee didn't want to wait so she went ahead with all of her pre-K buddies.
Also on Thursday, was Kaylee's pre-K's Halloween parade...Rowan waited patiently for her sister to march through.
A smile on our pirate princess' face? She liked her parade.
She even brought Rowan into her circle to parade for a little while.
Rowan had her gymnastics Halloween party this week...she showed her teacher she could do her somersaults "all by herself!"
Swinging like the monkey she is.
Trampoline / bounce time is her favorite time at gymnastics.
Climbing down from her obstacle course.
Rowan also is starting to walk the balance beam without assistance...not too shabby!
Time for some balloon fun!
And some parachute dancing as well.
Last week Kaylee's preschool had a Halloween dance...that we all got to go to.

And, perhaps not surprisingly, Rowan is the one who partied hard at Kaylee's shindig.
Rowan and her pal Princess Shelby.
These girls know how to 'get down'...yeah, that's right, I went there.
Hula Hoop Contest...Rowan didn't win, but she was sole Gifford participant.
Finally Rowan coaxed Kaylee out onto the dance floor, even if only for a minute.

Look, Minnie found Mickey!
And they had a little dance too.
Rowan dragged mommy out to dance.
And a daddy/daughters dance...how cute!
Phew, I am exhausted by Halloween, and its not even Halloween yet. I am sure there will be more pictures to come!