Christmas

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year. Eric had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas day so we celebrated on Tues. It was so much fun watching Madison and Taylor enjoy their presents and all the festivities.

"Ssshhh...Dont wake me baby up" My parents sent my old baby crib for Madison this year and a new baby to go in it! She loves to play mommy. Madison had so much fun opening presents that after about an hour of playing with her new toys she told us she didnt like any of them (she was hoping that would get her more- sorry, no such luck!- good try though :)

Taylor had fun trying to get her presents opened. She actually succeeded and I had to make sure she didnt eat the paper. The tooth she got the day before must have helped (the second one came in on Friday)

Taylor's 5 months old!

Taylor is getting so big, so fast. She is such a good baby!- hardly ever cries. Im sure having a big sister to entertain her is a big help. Madison loves to "help" Taylor- although sharing toys is slowly becoming a challenge now that Taylor is become more mobile and grabs things.
Taylor finally decided she LOVES to eat! You can see in the picture that she is lunging for her food because mommy is just too slow! She likes to grab my hands with her grimy little ones and help guide the spoon into her mouth. Then sucks her thumb while she works on that bite- Just like Madison still does! :)
She also sits now, for the most part anyway. I still have to put pillows around her or sit next to her so she doesnt throw herself backwards or fall face forward into toys. I love this stage of being able to entertain themselves, but not able to move from where you put them!

Santa Cookies!

Madi and I made Santa cookies today- one of the many traditions from my childhood. They are cute, easy, yummy and fun to make!

Madi worked on designing some of the end pieces of dough:

Madison's picasso santa's and her original designs (which she says are for daddy):

Sinterklaas Day!!

We celebrated Sinterklaas day for the first time this year. For those of you unfamiliar with the day, its a holiday celebrated in Holland. The idea of Santa Claus (Sinterklaas) actually originated in Holland when St. Nicholas would bring toys to orphan children. I dont really now the full story. Now kids put out their klompen (sp?) (wooden shoes) in hopes of recieving a treat for being good instead of a piece of coal. I guess part of the fun of the day is to make the gifts you give each other as hard to find as possible, even hiding it in wet sand, yuck!, and often ends up in a scavenger hunt of sorts. So we did that with Madison. I was surprised at how quickly and well she caught on. She LOVED it! She would run from clue to clue giggling. At the end she found a chocolate santa.
The other tradition of Sinterklaas day is making Speculaas cookies (windmill cookies). We didnt have a wooden mold or even cookie cutters, so we had to settle for biscuit cutters. Madi enjoyed helping me roll the dough and using the cutter and putting almond slices on top. Then I had to teach Madison the right way to eat windmill cookies- Dunked in Milk! Whoever said Oreos were milks favorite cookie never dunked a windmill cookie! Mmmm! It was my first time making them and they turned out surprisingly very similar to the originals, just maybe not as thick, mine spread more than anticipated in the oven. A fun day, I think this tradition is a keeper! Maybe next year we will try to make one giant one like we used to get from Grandma Vanderbilt!

Cozy Winter Day

We had our second decent snow of the season yesterday. I actually had to go out and shovel the driveway! Its actually pretty invigorating and good winter exercise. Then when Eric woke up (he is working nights right now) he went out and fed his dog, Paco. Of course Madi had to get bundled up and go with him. Its kinda great because then she gets her outdoor/snow time with minimal effort on my part.

Then Madi wanted to come into the house and show me her "snowman baby" she made with daddy. She knocked over the big one Eric made for her outside.

Oh so cozy! Dont you just want to pick her up and cuddle her? One minute she was rolling around, the next- sound asleep.

Healthy Girls

The girls had their Dr. visits yesterday. Madi's 2 year, and Taylor's 4 month. They are both good and healthy and tall- both in the 97th % for height! They got multiple shots. :( When Madi woke up from her afternoon nap Taylor was crying and I said Taylor was sad and Madi responds with, "because Taylor mad at doctor"!

Ugh!!

Yes, that is vasoline! This happened about a month ago, but, its just so blog worthy, I had to post it. A week and a half, lots of baby powder and many, many hair washings later, she was finally slick free! Our lovely little Madi keeping life interesting!

Taylor wont be far behind- she learned how to roll from her back to her tummy yesterday and has shown off her new skill many times today. Only problem- she always forgets that she Hates lying on her belly. Guess she will just have to learn how to roll the other way.