Pictures from Small Family Christmas

The girls had so much fun at "an udder Kissmas!" I kept telling Kenzie that Christmas was all over cuz she kept asking for more presents, but all my instructing came undone because I forgot we had one more Christmas to celebrate at Mommom's house this past weekend! Ever since then Kenzie reminds me about once a day that she"needs" more "Kissmas" presents and I should "go to the store and buy some"... when I told her we don't have anymore money for presents, well... she had a great answer for that too: "Mommy, we go to the bank and buy more money!"

They had so much fun on Saturday snuggling on Memom and Poppop's laps and opening up gifts from Mommom and "the udder Poppop"

Every Christmas my Mommom makes one of her grandkids a beautiful crocheted blanket and this year it was Stephen's turn! I love my blanket... they are so soft and heavy and warm!!


The traditional picture after the blanket is recieved!

"The Littles"

"The Middles"

Kenzie and Aubrey have been really congested and having trouble breathing at night so we did some breathing treatments just with some salt water. Between that and the humidifier in their room they have thankfully been sleeping through the night again!

So I took my camera to the camera shop and they figured out that is the lens that got bumped and it will cost as much to fix as it would to replace... so that is on the back burner for right now... hence the fuzzy pictures from my phone! I'm convinced I'll find a deal on a lens somewhere and right now I'm grateful that my phone does take half way decent pictures and that I was able to figure out how to upload them to the blog!

Happenings in Our Haven

Well, it's going to be tough for me to blog with pictures for the next few weeks. My camera won't focus on anything up close and that makes it hard to get good pictures of the girls. I have to take pictures on my phone, email them to myself, save them, and then open them up in blogger to get them up here! The good thing about my phone though is that it is usually always with me, so I've been able to get some good pictures while we've been out that I normally wouldn't have gotten. I'm going to have to look into getting a new lens I think... but taking two kids to a camera store doesn't seem like a great idea to me!


Anyway... so we are successfully potty training! It's been a fun adventure! We started Monday... and it was really rough. But yesterday we had success all day and I thought maybe she got it... and I think for the most part she does... but this morning while I left for just a second to check on David while she was in the tub and I heard her say, "Uh-Oh... mommy, yucky poop!" Yes... poop in the bathtub!! Just floating there with all her toys! At least she told me right away! And thankfully Aubrey wasn't in there with her! But I haven't been sure how to respond when she has an accident, I don't want her to think I'm mad, but I want her to know I'm not happy with it either. So I've taken to say, "Oh, I'm such a sad Mommy!" So this morning after she pooped in the tub she says, "You a sad Mommy, but I a happy Kenzie!" Don't know what to do about that one...

Jake commented that a lot of the pictures I've taken of our kids lately don't include them wearing clothes... I guess that goes with potty training and diaper rashes! Here's our big girl being a "happy mommy" and reading so sweetly to her babies... she has three, I don't know how she does it! She feeds them all at the same time, wipes them up, and then reads to them... so cute!



I love life with girls, but sometimes all these costume changes make quite a mess!


Mackenzie got her first makeover at playgroup last week! I think it was a 5 year old that got a hold of some lip gloss and decided Mackenzie needed rosy cheeks! She was only too happy to oblige, she loves "Made Up!"

We took Liv to Ocean's in Motion for her birthday last week... that was the first time I discovered my camera wouldn't work!

And here is my happy husband in his happy haven! He was read to, sung to, and tucked in by Mackenzie... and he really did fall asleep! So great to see him relax, he is the hardest worker I know!

Oh yea, on top of potty training, we have a well that has a mind of its own this week! I'll be doing dishes or taking a shower and all of a sudden the water just stops running. So imagine all the flushing that is involved with a little girl just learning how to tinkle and flush the potty. Well, the potty broke again yesterday and she said, "That's ok Mommy, I think I can fix it! I get my tools!"... sounds just like the man I love!

Last night she took her shopping cart and said, "Bye-bye Mommy, I going to Home Depot!" We started laughing and I asked her what she was going to buy, and she said, "Tools!" Wow!

Too Much Cuteness!!

In the past 5 minutes, Mackenzie has done some of the cutest things ever. First the video of her wiping up Aubrey: I was going to get Jake a towel but I got totally side-tracked by finding Mackenzieonly dragging her "helper chair" over to the high chair to get Aubrey down. It's two minutes long, but it is so cute! She even takes away Aubrey's extra food, takes a out a tupperware, puts the bit of food in it, and then puts in the "re-fidg-er-a-tor"...

The second adorable thing is just something that she said. She took my hand and said, "I want to build a tower with my friend Julie!"... I don't know pyschologically what it means that she called me by my first name, maybe I'm not doing a good enough job teaching her that I'm an authority figure in her life... but I thought it was hilarious. Of course I told her that my name is Julie, but she gets to call me Mommy... but I thought it was pretty funny!

Aubrey update: She has pulled herself to standing TWICE today, and both times I've missed actually seeing her get there!

Christmas Break

It was a dream having Jake home for a whole week in between Christmas a New Years... here are some of the fun things he got to do!

Jake's mom and dad gave us a princess tent for the girls for Christmas... here is Aunt Amy playing in it with Kenzie... what a fun auntie she is!

And here is some of the fun that MOMMY got to have over Christmas break! Hee hee... break shmack!

Saying Good-Bye

We had such a good visit with Jake's mom and dad over Christmas... it is always so sad to see them leave, but it was extra hard this time! They taught us the best card game and we stayed up late every night playing it together! They served us a ton with babysitting and diaper changes and that is being missed too! I'm so glad Mackenzie can remember their visit this time, she can't stop talking about "Nana and Nana's Poppop!" She had a really good time with them! Aubrey had a great time with them too, she just can't be as vocal about it yet... next year!