Merry Christmas!

Christmas has, without a doubt, always been my favorite holiday. This year we truly saw this day through the eyes of our girls. We did not come by parenthood along the easiest or quickest of avenues, and don't take it for granted for a minute. We're incredibly thankful for being a family. We have children who are happy, healthy, love loving others and love to be loved in return. They are gifts and we thank God for them everyday. We're also thankful for our extended family and friends who love us and love our girls. Merry Christmas.

Sometimes you've got to take a break right where you are.

Christmas Eve church service....
After the service our girls and Julane's boys ran willy nilly all over the place, happy to see each other. I've said it before, but the boys are so good to our girls.

After dinner we celebrated Christmas Eve at my dad and Margie's new house. Peyton went and got a chair to help herself to the appetizers on the island.
Jayden guards the top of the stairs on the chair we put up as an impromptu baby gate. He's dressed as an elf because he went to the hospital with my dad earlier in the day to pass out candy canes to patients. My dad was Rudolf, Jayden was the elf.
This we now know about Peyton: Whatever gift she opens first will be the gift she loves most. After opening the Wonder Pets "fly boat", she wasn't too interested in any other gifts.
Christmas morning excitement at the Dovers.
Libby digs in.
Oliver's unimpressed by it all.
Mom and Jayden try on some new digs.

Working together.
Peyton takes a whack (literally) at a new toy.
Have you seen A Christmas Story? Remember the pink bunny costume? My mom found these on clearance after Halloween. Libby's Elmo. Peyton's Cookie Monster.
Winding down and watching Jayden play the WII.
What a great day. Thanks to you who have loved us this year. We love you too. We are so blessed.

A Message from Santa

If you have small children or know someone who does, you've got to check out this site. You enter some basic information and Santa will send your child their own message. Libby asks to watch it over and over. She giggles uncontrollably and hides her face while Santa "talks to her". Watch Libby's message HERE. Or, make your own video HERE.

Tis the Season....

......for taking an insane number of pictures. I can't help it.

Shane taught a fishing seminar for the sporting goods store at the mall last week. The girls and I met up with him after the workshop for dinner. Here they're doing a little window shopping.

Just like her mama. No smiles until after the first cup of coffee. Or in Peyton's case, hot chocolate. Holy morning stink eye. Jeez....
Untangling ornament hooks.
Decking the Halls.
This is Peyton's version of peek-a-boo. She just doesn't know to cover her eyes.
My good friend Julie (a.k.a. Boog) was here this weekend from San Diego. My girls LOVE her.
Julie and Peyton have a special bond. It happened in the first five minutes, and Peyton knew she had a friend for life.
We played at the mall on Saturday only because we had nothing we had to accomplish. We met Rachel, our friend from college and her four kids. Julie treated Rachel's girls to manicures and Libby too! My girlie girl chose blue polish.
Here's a prime example of Peyton doing exactly what Libby does, and just because Libby does.
I just finished a Christmas gift for Shane and Peyton and couldn't wait to give it, so I didn't. Libby has a book that is all about her and Daddy, and it was time for Peyton to have one too. I'm happy to say it's the current favorite.
Reading her "Daddy book" with Daddy.

Libby's Birthday Part Two

There are a ridiculous number of pictures here. I'll try to keep the words short...

What a ham.

My dad and Margie were here for the Civil War game. I went to the game with my dad. Go Ducks!

Grandma Margie and I took the girls to the mall. We had no intention of seeing Santa, but we sat and watched him long enough for Libby to realize that if she sat on his lap she'd get a candy cane and a sheet of stickers. Peyton was less than impressed.Amy and Lucy came from Portland for the party. Girlie fun...
Uncle Kevin and Grandma Betty stopped by for a few minutes. I love how Lucy and Grandma are looking at each other here.
Party!
Amy and a barrel of monkeys.
Lucy masters the trampoline.
Love the parachute.
We sang and she hid. She didn't cry. This is progress, right?
Presents!
Post-party shenanigans with Daddy.
Trying out some of her birthday gifts.
Peyton loves the laptop!
The next day I went outside to get the mail and when I came back in Peyton was on top of the island helping herself to some cake.
Silliness...
I tied Libby up in my sweatshirt, which she thought was great fun.....
until she fell and couldn't get up.
Whatever Libby does, Peyton has to do too.
My poor kids. They get themselves in a bind and before anyone will rescue them, I've gotta get the picture. I promise, no one was injured in the making of this photo.
Working on some skills.
A little self applause is okay. Sometimes it's the only applause you get.

Binky Blues....

Nap time:

It finally happened. After snipping miniscule pieces from the tip of Libby's binky for weeks now, she finally realized where we're headed, and had a meltdown of nuclear proportions this afternoon. It doesn't help that all four of us have had colds in the last week, and we spent the afternoon running errands that none of us wanted to do. At nap time Peyton went down easily (Thank You), and I sat holding Libby in her bed for close to an hour. It was a pretty one sided conversation we had. It went something like this:

"I don't like it get smaaaaaaaaaaaller."

"I don't want to be threeeeeeeeeeeee."

"I wanna turn twooooooooooooooooo."

"I don't like to have a biiiiiiiiirrrrrrrthdaaaaaaaaaay."

"I don't like the binky fairy takin' my biiiiiiiiiinkyyyyyyyyyyy."

"I want my lellow biiiiiiiiinkyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy."

"I don't like my binky get smaaaaaaaaaaaaalleeeeeeeeeerrrrrrr."

I held her and loved her, and resisted the temptation to go get her a binky hidden in the drawer of Peyton's dresser. She finally fell asleep. Victory. I'm hoping bed time will be better, but if not, we'll do it all over again........

Bed time:

Bedtime went much better. Libby got to stay up a little late because she napped forever after all of that crying. She gave me one little whine, but stopped after I reminded her that Daddy's taking her for a doughnut in the morning. We are on our way to becoming a BINKY FREE HOME!

Libby's Dance Recital

We had a late night tonight. Libby had her Christmas dance recital, and she did great. She was excited that I'd get to be in the gym watching her tonight. During class, parents are banished to the hallway so as not to be a distraction to our little Twinkle Toes. Keeping Peyton off of the dance floor while juggling a camera and a video camera was a challenge, but worth it. Libby was so proud of the job she'd done, and loved the juice and cookie she got afterward. I've blurred the faces of the other little dancers since I didn't ask permission to post their pictures from their parents.