Color-Coordinated Christmas

We wore our "Christmas finery" to church this morning, so we attempted a family photo (if nothing else, to show that we really do all exist). It wasn't destined to be a great photo--the littlest one is only now learning to hold her head up and has only smiled a handful of times so far, the other little one shies away from cameras and won't smile politely on command, and the mom is only a few weeks post-partum, with all the extra baby weight to show for it. And Dad, apparently, blinks whenever a photo is taken. So this first photo shows us all looking somewhat toward the camera: This photo made the cut because K. is smiling and looks cute. Please disregard the rest of the people in the photograph.
And we had a friend take one of us at church. Dad blinking, Mom crazy, and the girls with the identical "I don't know them" expressions that they'll use again as teenagers.

And we attempted a few mother-daughter shots by the tree.I think this is the closest we got to a decent photo:

And then N. fussed, and that was the end of the shoot.

As Fast As You Can

We were invited to a friend's house to decorate gingerbread houses. K. had a really fun time, and was so careful in placing the candy on her house. I didn't tell her that frosting and candy was edible, and she didn't ever ask to eat it, so we managed to have a non-sugar-overload morning. My friend captured this cute K. photo, and she has more photos of the event on her blog. And here K. is, focused on correct placement of candy:
We had such a good time, N. cooperated and napped while we were decorating, and I'm so appreciative to my friend C. for having us over. I'm not sure I would have let K. play with candy and frosting at my own house, but C. is a more brave mother than I.

Sisterly Love

An almost-cute photo of the two girls, coordinating. Too bad the flash was turned off.

A sisterly smooch. How did I get the big girl to pose with the little one? Bribery. She's chomping on a bit of twizzler as a reward for staying in the chair.

Batteries Not Included

K. has spurts of being pretty active. Here she is, dancing with a new moose that she got for Christmas (thanks, Auntie D):

And don't tell my mom, but K. has jumped on the couch upstairs. She figured out how to hop from cushion to cushion, and had a blast.

And with bunny:

Six Super Weeks

N. is six weeks old already! It seems like she was just born, yet I can't imagine our family without her.

Here N. is playing with her friend S. Hard to believe he's 11 months old already--here he is when K. was checking his newborn self out, and now he's checking out newborn N. N, contemplating:

Thankful for Front-Loaders

It's not my job any more...

123 and ABC

K. counting. She can do a better job (and include 9 and 10 without prompting), but she tends to be distracted by the camera.

K. saying the alphabet. Again, like the counting, she does a better job when not on camera (though I find it darling that she says "double" instead of "W").

Smiley Sunday

This Sunday, N. took her first trip to church. She did great during the worship portion of the service, and quietly enjoyed the special music. She started squawking not too long into the sermon, though, so she and I stepped out to have a meal.

She had fun getting all dressed up, and had friends cooing over her all morning.

But the most exciting thing is that she was smiling again this morning and we actually caught one on camera!

Daddy's Girls

Even though he doesn't get to be home during the day with them, Dad spends some nice quality time with his daughters. Here, he and N. sit on the couch and lick the envelopes for the Christmas cards. And snuggling with Dad:
Daddy's girls. Someday we'll get a picture with both of them looking pleasant, but it might take several years. Especially since K. has taken to scowling at the camera or running the other way.

Snuggling with Dad, though N. looks suspicious:

And the happiness ends.

Cheek to Cheek

Just wanted to share some pictures of how cheeky little N. is becoming. And, to make life even better, yesterday she smiled at K. and me! She was sitting on the couch and K. and I were talking to her, and she smiled! I can't wait for even more. Of course, this meant that I spent the rest of the day following her around with a camera.
Only to capture more sullen expressions.

In Your Face

Some recent pictures of the littlest one. She makes the cutest faces!

Don't you just want to kiss her sweet face?!

First Snowfall

We had our first snow here. It was a dusting, but enough to stick. I didn't know that K. was familiar with snow, but she looked out the back door of the house and said, "snow." She then asked for her coat and shoes, so I bundled her up and let her go play on the deck. She had a fun time clearing the snow off of everything that was sitting out there.

Then she came inside to warm up. I didn't bundle her sister up and set her in the snow for a photo op. I probably will at some point, but she was sleeping when K. was playing, so she missed the fun.

She's such a cute little bundle of joy when she's sleeping!

A Plaid-tastic Day

Thanks, Aunt J., for the girls' darling matching plaid outfits! We'll try for another cute photo the next time they wear them, but here's the first attempt:K's friend L. was over yesterday, and it is really fun to watch them play together. He's used to playing with other kids, and is a year older than K, but for K. this is all new. She's just now starting to be interested in actually playing with kids, not just playing near them. They played together with cars and blocks, danced in the music room, and ran laps around the kitchen island.
And I've been poor in taking pictures of N. with her visitors, so here are a couple pictures that I actually did remember to take:
Sorry N. looks so grumpy in photos. Hopefully she'll start her "social smile" in the next couple of weeks.

And I couldn't resist attempting this next photo. Without knowing the dress code for the day, S. wore a red shirt and brown pants to match the girls.

Cookin' Up Trouble

I had K. help me with some baking last night. We made homemade muffins. Well, the muffins themselves are homemade, but not exactly by me--my mom made some homemade mixes that K. and I just needed to add the wet ingredients to. K. was surprised when she helped me break the egg, but she was good at whisking and mixing."I think this egg is the right consistency. We can add the other ingredients now."
"Just mixing. Pretty proud of myself that I figured out to hold the handle of the bowl for better leverage."

"One muffin cup...two muffin cups...three..."

Now K. just has to get to the point where she can cook without my supervision, and I'm turning over dinner duty to her!

Camera Shy

And not to neglect the beautiful K, here are some pictures of her. There aren't nearly as many as of N., which at the moment is because K. runs away whenever I pull the camera out. I think she's old enough to smile on command, but has no interest and says "no" when I ask to take her picture. These candids are the best I could do:

The Many Faces of N

"Get me out of here. There's a crazy guy behind me."

"Are you my mother? You don't look like her."

"You want a piece of this?"

Introducing the Little N!

We welcomed Little N. into our family on November 2, 2009. She is simply wonderful and has been such a joy to us. Her big sister, K, seems to be adjusting fine and really loves her little sister. K. is so gentle with her and holds her often, though only for moments at a time.

"Oh, she's so sweet!"

"And I'm done now. You can take her back."

So I'm way behind on blogging and rather than uploading a month worth of cute photos here, which would take me forever, I've created a web album. You can view it by clicking here.

Catching up on cute and smart things that K. has done in the past month:

• While picking up her toys in the living room, rather than bring the toys to the basket K. realized it was faster to move the basket around to where the toys are.
• She lines up cars, toys, and people.
• She asked Dad to put a diaper on one of her baby dolls. He put the diaper on backwards. She realized it was wrong, and promptly turned the baby's head 180 degrees so it was facing the correct way.
• Before N. was born, K. took a lot of trips to the OB with me. We were playing together in her room and she asked me to lay down. She pretended to measure my belly, then used a plastic toy to listen for the heartbeat. When she was done, she wiped the pretend goo off of my belly and even extended her hand to help me up!
• Today she was playing with her Little People. She set several of them up in a circle on a table, sang "all fall down," and knocked them over. I guess she likes playing "Ring Around the Rosie" more than I knew!