December 2015

I thought this was such a sweet sister moment-  we were at Costco and McKenna and Brooklyn were in the cart when they took them to the other side of the register from me.  I think McKenna was a little nervous about it so she put her arm around Brooklyn and Brooklyn gave her a huge smile.  I love moments like that- you know despite all of the fighting that they really do love each other and will take care of each other!

This was probably our last time at Zoo Lights!  We finally stood in line to see Santa, which may be only the second time my girls have ever done that. 

We love the zoo here- it is amazing!  The city we move to is going to have a lot to live up to...

This year for my neighbor treats I tried to keep it simple.  Usually that is my favorite time to try out new recipes and I do 3 or 4 different things to hand out.  But this year we just decorated ornament cupcakes and I let the girls do most of them.  It was really fun to watch the girls be able to actually decorate something now and I think they turned out pretty cute! 

I have always wanted to participate in our complex's annual door decorating contest but never was brave enough to do it.  I spent hours and hours putting together this door! We didn't win anything but I was glad I can finally say that I did it.  No regrets! ;)

Brooklyn is getting so big!  She is showing so much personality and I love when they start to get really fun at this age.

 

We went to Holly's for Christmas again. We kept planning Christmas-y games and activities for the kids to do but they would just fight and whine so we just let them play and they had so much fun! Which gave Holly and I a lot of time to be together...which made it my favorite Christmas trip so far!

We did our own little nativity on Christmas Eve 

and then had the cousins exchange gifts. The Andreasons gave our girls these beautiful nightgowns and they have wanted to wear them every single night since!

Once again my pictures of Christmas morning have mysteriously disappeared :( The girls got a giant dollhouse which I was SO excited about.  However, the girls were less than enthusiastic and didn't touch it at all at Holly's house and have barely played with it since we've been home.  I ALWAYS wanted a big Barbie house so I guess I was just trying to live out my childhood through them?  Which they did not appreciate.... oh well.  Maybe next year I'll get Christmas right!

We were very sad to leave Holly's house, especially knowing it might be our last Christmas with them. We'll just have to keep enjoying them while we can!

November 2015

The girls had the post-Halloween blues so we built a whole city out of candy.  I think it was more fun for me than the girls... but anytime they can be with their candy they are a little happier!  

We also did an activity at COSI where the girls pounded golf tees into a pumpkin with a wooden mallet.  Since I didn't have either of those I gave them real nails and a real hammer.  I am such a good, safe mom.... but they had a blast doing it!

Brooklyn starting crawling and it didn't take her long to get moving all over the place. I am so nervous to have a crawling baby with all the tiny toys my girls have now. I guess that is the hazard of being the youngest!

McKenna continues to be Brooklyn's best buddy.  We are still working on loving and playing with her in good ways, but she is so good at taking care of her and wanting to be with her every second.

McKenna wanted to have a party with her friends this year so we planned it the week before her birthday so we didn't run into Thanksgiving.  Thank goodness she actually loved it this year and wanted to participate in everything!  We had a rainbow party and I think it ended up being a lot of fun. Some of our pictures are mysteriously missing from when we switched computers so I don't have any photos right now but hopefully I can find where they went!

We had a very crazy Thanksgiving.  We were planning on going to Holly's house but the night before we were going to leave, Brooklyn was really struggling to breathe. We decided to take her to the doctor and then leave later that day but instead they sent her to the hospital where she was diagnosed with RSV!  Poor thing had so much junk in her lungs and really struggled to breathe for a few days.  It was very scary but luckily we had someone in the ward teach us a trick to clear up her lungs and immediately she sounded so much better!  If only the doctors had done that 4 days earlier.... Kaylee also got an ear infection and McKenna had a really dry cough that kept her up.  Between the 3 sickies none of us got any sleep!  It was a very long week and I was very grateful Richard was home to help me.  My Utah sibs were so sweet  and ordered a pizza to be delivered to our house the day Brooklyn was in the hospital so that I didn't have to worry about making dinner.  Even being 1700 miles away, they still found a way to take care of us!  They are the best. 

  Because we didn't get to go to Holly's we didn't have plans for Thanksgiving dinner and I didn't want to join anyone's group in case we spread our sicknesses. My VT companion was so sweet and brought us an entire dinner, with enough for leftovers too!  We were so blessed to be taken care of in our hard week. 

October 2015

October brought a lot of gorgeous weather days.  If I could live in Ohio in the fall my whole life, I would be happy.  Unfortunately the other 8 months of the year definitely don't make it worth it :)

Putting Daddy under arrest at the park:

We took advantage of a day off of school and went to the pumpkin patch with our friends.  They have a little petting zoo, big hay slides, a hay maze, sunflower maze, pumpkin donuts, and of course a tractor ride out to pick a pumpkin.  The kids had a blast, except when we were attacking by vicious wasps while trying to eat our treats!  Everyone else ran away but I was in the middle of nursing Brooklyn so I was just really hoping they would take pity on me and leave us alone! 

As usual we painted our pumpkins instead of attempting carving.  Kenna did her usual- mix the paints until they are some kind of gray and paint the whole thing the same color.  And Kaylee did her usual- very meticulous painting with a lot of different colors. And this time she even attempted a vampire after seeing my Dracula pumpkin.  These girls are such opposites!  But still best friends.  

My neighbor taught a little class on flooding sugar cookies and gave us all a few cookies to practice on.  It was really fun to decorate but honestly I don't know if I will put in all the work to make them on my own...  they are always pretty to look at though!

Halloween was so spread out and the girls got to dress up multiple times- I don't think they understand anymore that holidays are supposed to just be on one day!  First we went to Boo at the Zoo and we were lucky enough to have Uncle Robert here for that again this year.  

McKenna had her Halloween party at preschool but Kaylee's school is super lame and don't let them dress up or barely have any celebration at all.  

Trick or treating was moved to Thursday even though Halloween was actually on Saturday.  Crazy Columbus!  It was pretty cold but the girls didn't seem to mind at all- they wanted to keep going!  Poor little Brooklyn had frozen hands and was up way past her bedtime though. 

McKenna fell off one of our kitchen chairs and sliced her chin open.  I am so bad in those situations!  I can't handle them on my own.  I face-timed Richard so he could tell me if I needed to take her in to get stitches or not :)  Luckily we didn't end up taking her in but it was still scary!

Holly came to visit for the weekend and we went to COSI 

and then our ward Halloween party.  Holly was nice enough to dress up with me since Richard never wants to do a couple's theme anymore :)  

I love this crazy crew!