Party Animals!

Happy New Year!!

I bought some fun Happy New Year attire for the girls to play with. They have absolutely no idea about new years, but they had fun playing with the hats and noise makers. They will not be staying up tonight to watch the ball drop, however they've both been pretty sick and up numerous times a night. So they might be up- who knows! I thought I'd get some pictures while they were awake and in good spirits to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!!

They couldn't blow hard enough for the noise makers to work, but they had fun trying.

We resorted to getting some old noise makers out that were left over from Arilyn's birthday. They did much better with Cinderella!

Addison was trying so hard, but gave up and started making noises with her mouth instead. It was really funny!

And of course- we had to get the pups involved in the festivities! I know Ellie gets so annoyed when we do this, but it looks cute and she gets cookies when we're done. She likes that part!

We couldn't forget about Graysen!

I usually don't dress the girls alike, but Shawn's mom bought these cute Ralph Lauren sweaters, so we took some pictures for her. They are completely matching even down to the Cinderella socks, which were from Aunt Sue.

Since everyone was in a photogenic mood, I took advantage of it and got a pretty good picture of all four of my girls! Goofy 'cheeeese' smiles and all! Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas!

Christmas in Massachusetts

After making it back to MA, Shawn's parents came to our house to celebrate Christmas. We had a really good time and the girls loved opening all their presents. It was very cute when the girls were going to bed Christmas Eve. I had gotten an advent calendar that had a Bible verse for each day that led up to the birth of Christ and then Christmas Eve, we put them all together and read the whole Christmas story. As Arilyn was going to bed, I asked her- "who's going to come tonight?" I was expecting her answer to be Santa, but she got a huge smile on her face and said "Jesus!" It was so sweet and made me smile that she gets the true meaning of Christmas!

Arilyn and Addison actually slept in Christmas morning, which was really nice! I know that won't happen as they get older! This is when they first came downstairs and saw the presents.

Arilyn was so excited. She got lipstick (which is really chap stick!) in her stocking.

Addison opening things in her stocking. I got them each a small plastic snow globe that played a handful of Christmas songs. They loved them! We had to take them away and hide them so that they would open the other presents!

I don't think Addison knew exactly what was happening with all the presents, but she loved ripping the paper!

We were all thinking the same thing this year with Arilyn. She got puzzles from Santa, Shawn's parents and Shawn's aunt. They were a big hit! She wanted to do them all day. Abuelo was helping her do this one.

We ordered a pizza the last night Shawn's parents were here. I usually cut up Addison's piece, but I don't think I'm going to anymore. She barely ate any of the pieces I cut up, but she grabbed a piece of Grandma's pizza and chowed down! She just wants to be a big girl, too I guess!

Giving Grandma a kiss.

We took Shawn's parents to see the the Christmas light display that I had put on the blog a few weeks ago. The girls enjoyed it just as much as the first time. This is Arilyn hanging onto her globe. I don't think either of them let go of them all day!

Shawn's aunt got Arilyn and Addison boas, which they played with for a while. Then we went upstairs to eat dinner. When we came back down, this is how we found Graysen. She is such a big baby and looks for anything soft to lay on. She was using the boas as a pillow and I thought it was so cute!

Christmas in Ohio

We went back to Ohio last weekend to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family. We had horrible weather on the drive there and back, but we had a great time while we were visiting. Arilyn and Addison did great in the car, considering it took us 15 hours to get home because of the weather. It was a great trip!

My sister-in-law, Linda with Addison.

My Aunt Sue, sister Lisa and me.

My mom and her boyfriend, Charlie.

This is my niece, Edwina-- she's not a fan of the camera!

This is my first nephew, Isaiah. It was the first time I've seen him since he was born. He is adorable and has the biggest cheeks I've seen! Arilyn was very good when I was holding him and rubbed his arm saying "He's so cute!" Addison was not so accepting of the new baby. She got very jealous when I was holding Isaiah. She was never mean to him, but would start whining and want me to pick her up. It was pretty funny!

There were snow flake ornaments by everyone's seat at dinner and Arilyn had them on her ears like earrings. 

Arilyn and Addison have always been a little funny around my dad, my brother, and Shawn's dad. It takes them a little while to warm up. My dad, however, is not above bribery! He's sharing his ice cream with them! Addison will sit with anyone willing to share ice cream!

Arilyn and my niece Jaden. They spent most of the day together upstairs playing with Polly Pockets.

My dad and Isaiah.

Shawn took this picture of my niece Benita. I love it! Very elegant.

My sister's kids-- Alyssa, Macenzie, Isaiah and Jaden.

And here's the whole gang! Merry Christmas!

New England Winter Has Begun!

These first few pictures were taken last week. It was 56 degrees! We got outside for one last play in nice weather. It didn't last long. A few days later a big storm came in and we got about 14 inches of snow in an afternoon! I could only take a few pictures before the camera was covered in snow. It would have shut things down for days in Dayton, but they were plowing our road, which is a small circle street by midnight. It was amazing! Welcome to New England winters!!

Addison's new trick...when she sees the camera she gets this goofy grin on her face and says "cheeeese!" It's pretty funny.

Our driveway has a gradual slant to it and one of Arilyn's favorite things to do is to ride this tiny car that she got for her 1st birthday down the hill. She gets going so fast! She loves it.

The girls drawing with sidewalk chalk.

And then the snow began! It started snowing around 1pm and didn't stop until around 10:30pm. It was crazy! This was Addison's first snow experience. She liked most of it, but it was snowing so hard- she didn't like it when it hit her face!

This was supposed to be a picture of Shawn and Arilyn playing, but you can barely see them through the snow.

Ellie loves the snow. She was running everywhere and so playful! Graysen, on the other hand does not like the snow so much. She hates the cold and just stood by the door waiting to go inside.

Arilyn eating the snow!

Arilyn had fun going down her snow covered slide! You can really see in this picture the snow covering their hats. We were only outside for about 20 minutes at this point and Arilyn's hat was covered in snow. 

Christmas Tree Hunting

We went Christmas tree hunting today. It was freezing, but sunny, which was really nice after the 3 days of solid rain that we had. (although I shouldn't complain, we were very lucky and only got rain, but all around us got nothing but ice and people are still without power). The girls were very excited and every tree was "beautiful!" We found a tree and as soon as we got home Arilyn wanted to decorate it. It was a very fun day and is now officially Christmas in our house!

Here we are by our tree.

We don't have a lot of room in our new house, so it was a lot smaller this year.

Shawn doing all the hard work while Arilyn played in the ice and I snapped pictures!

He got a little help from Arilyn carrying it back to the car! She had a hold on the very tip and thought it was "so heavy!"

Arilyn was so excited to decorate the tree. We had to redistribute the ornaments after she went to bed because they all ended up at the bottom- some even touching each other! It was really funny.

When Addison woke up from her nap we let her help. I don't think any ornaments actually stayed on the tree, but she thought it was pretty neat!

The finished product!

The tree was decorated, Christmas music playing, the girls were in their Christmas pajamas. Perfect set up for a photo op, right?? I don't know what I was thinking! Trying to get a 16 month old to sit still for anything is impossible! Arilyn was trying to hold on to her, but it was a nightmare. I gave up after 3 pictures! This is the best one! Maybe next time!

Arilyn's Big BIG Girl Bed...Finally!

Around late September, Arilyn was giving us a really hard time about going to bed. I'm still not exactly sure of the reason-- if it was just a power struggle of her trying to be independent or if she was scared by all the Halloween stuff, but it was horrible. Many nights she would finally fall asleep around 10pm (from pure exhaustion from all the crying and screaming) only to wake up at 1am and then waking up a few more times after that- with more crying and screaming. Again... it was horrible. After many tears (of my own!), I got out the books. I had gotten the book- Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Weissbluth when Arilyn was a baby. So here I am 3 years later frantically flipping through the pages trying to figure out what to do. I tried everything- from taking things away to yelling to ignoring to rewards and everything in between! Nothing was working. We tried rearranging her furniture in her room and let her say where she wanted things. We tried moving our dog Ellie's bed in her room so she'd have company...didn't work either. So I decided we were going to make a chart with the bedtime rules. I made 10 squares and let Arilyn decorate it however she wanted. We bought special stickers to put in the 10 squares and when she followed the rules she could put a sticker on the poster and get a special treat in the morning. When all 10 squares were filled in- she got a big BIG girl bed (a regular twin bed). We started the chart the last week in October and finally, Arilyn slept in her big BIG girl bed for the first time last night!! I have a very strong willed little girl, but I am so proud of her. Bedtime is almost back to normal now and I am so thankful! 

This is the poster we made that hung on Arilyn's wall. There were only 4 rules: stay in bed, stay quiet, close your eyes, and go to sleep. As you can see, Arilyn is still really into princess everything!

We went out and luckily found a cute headboard that was in stock and we didn't have to order. The poor kid took so long to get the bed- I didn't want it to be another 3 weeks before she could sleep in it!! She got to pick out the sheets and comforter, too. Thankfully she picked out something cute that still matched her room.

The happy BIG girl! She was so excited about her new bed. She helped Daddy put it together and didn't want to leave her room once it was together!

It was really neat to see how proud she was of her new bed. It made me very happy and proud to see her feel good about herself that she accomplished something so exciting. 

And here she is...asleep in her new bed! Yea! AND- she stayed there all night! It was awesome! Hopefully it stays that way. She looked so little- you have to look for her in the picture! And, yes- if you noticed, she still has a binky, which she only gets at bedtime. She really needs to get rid of it, I know. But for now, I think I'm going to catch up on my sleep and enjoy some peace and quiet at night before I tackle that project!! Haha!