Lights at the Boardwalk

This will be the first year that we as a family have driven to the Boardwalk to see the lights! Every year they close off the boardwalk at night and have a huge lights display. You spend some of the time with the windows down, so we bundled the girls up and headed out!

Atalie didn't really get to enjoy it much, being rear facing and kind of low in the seat. She was mostly entertained by Charis and me.As you can see, she got reeeally sleepy.

Brian chauffeured us. :)

Charis loved it...she's a Christmas light fanatic. She actually cried this year when she realized we'd have to take down the lights.

Tree Decorating and Our First "Snow"

As you can see I'm frantically trying to play catch up with our Christmas pictures.

Here's Charis decorating her silver tree in her bedroom. She chose glittery blue and silver ornaments to put on the tree.

Decorating the tree was a little more challenging this year. I forget how much stuff we unpack with all the boxes, the ornament hooks, the tissue paper, and sooooo many tree needles calling "eat me!" to Atalie. Charis was 6 months old on her first Christmas and had no interest in the tree. At 18 months she listened well enough that the tree wasn't an issue. Atalie is the perfect age to be completely intrigued AND conveniently selective in her hearing when given instructions. (Did she not hear me or is the wooing of the tree and it's glistening ornaments too much for her?)

I caught a random hug...one with Charis gently snuggling her sister and Atalie not screaming about possible strangulation.

And here's the first snow of the year. Mostly ice. Perhaps our only snow as tomorrow it's going to be near 60 degrees. *sigh* Sometimes I wish for the snows we used to have. I remember using 10 gallon buckets to build igloos in the backyard, my feet sinking shin deep in snow as I cried in the middle of the yard because I was cold but didn't want to go inside. I was younger than 10 last time that happened.
Here's our piddly snow this year. No matter how grumpy I was to wake up and see the "Storm of the Year" amounting to the frost on the veggies in my freezer, Charis was delighted. Yes, she's still in her pajamas. I had to rush her out there...it was melting that fast.

She was so happy. Thankfully it doesn't take much. Maybe I need to be a little (or a lot) more like that.

Christmas Crafts, etc

We did a few (okay, quite a few) Christmas activities this year. I didn't get pictures of them all, but here's a sampling of what I did get.

Chocolate covered pretzels...

reindeer cookies...

Salt dough ornaments...

Then painting those ornaments...

Making sugar cookies...then decorating!

or as you may have noticed, more eating than decorating...

Reindeer handprint art...

and we made snowman pancakes on multiple days!

:)

Bath time is a regular fun-fest here for the girls. Well, on most occasions. On this particular day they were singing, playing, splashing...really in rare form. Charis decided that Atalie was going to be her princess building canvas today instead of the tub walls. Strangely, Atalie had no problem with that.


Then Charis had a great idea. Do you see it coming? Notice the unsuspecting victim happily splashing with her foam letters and princesses stuck to her head.


A play by play, just for you... This was literally about 1 second before everything got a little chaotic and, well, reeeally loud.

In case you aren't sure, that cup of water was dumped directly over Atalie's head.

So Atalie started crying (understandably since she sucked in a good noseful of water). You know how everything in the bathroom sounds louder? Oh, yeah. Atalie's crying made Charis cry. And even when Atalie stopped, Charis still cried.

So, the continual crying (sobbing, wailing...it all fits) made Atalie cry harder. Atalie cries with her lips closed. Charis cries so hard she turns a little purple...mouth wide open, with everything she's got.

And then it was head tilted back wailing. I just had to start laughing. The more I laughed, however, the harder Charis cried. The drama struck me as really funny for some odd reason.

So before I rescued them from their pool of misery, I snapped a few more pictures. I mean, who wouldn't want to record this sweet little memory? :)

Warm beginnings

December started a little on the warm side here. We got lots of rain. Rain, puddles, and toddlers can be a fun mix.

I decided on this pleasant December day to do a little straightening in the garage. Charis had a great time practicing on her tricycle. When she went running around the corner, she slipped and fell in the mud. (Notice the happy face).

She looked at me to see what I'd say. My response?

"Why don't you roll in it? That's what I'd do!"

So she did.

And she dipped her hair in it.

And jumped in it.

That was a fun day.

Tree Hunting....a little late

Things have been so busy around here this month. I have taken over 1000 pictures this month (no exaggeration) and have yet to record the memories. It may take a few posts, but I'll do my best!!

A yearly tradition for us is going to the tree lot, finding a live tree, and then going out to get dessert. This was Atalie's first and Charis's 3rd trip. Though we chose our tree quickly, we played in the lot a little. Charis had a blast running around the trees and being chased by Paw Paw. Atalie, as usual, just took it all in. Charis loves running around the lot, weaving in and out of the trees. Atalie was just happy to be with family. We finally decided on a small tree, much smaller than previous years. It ended up being perfect for Charis to help decorate.

After loading the trees up on Paw Paw and Bean's car, we headed off to Applebee's. I was not happy to find that my favorite splurge, The Apple Chimi-Cheesecake, had been discontinued. Atalie had a great time at the table, tasted her first lemon, and made a huge mess on the floor. Charis devoured her ice cream. Are you surprised to hear that she had a hard time winding down for the evening?

YUM!

Forgot these...

Here's a few pics I forgot for Thanksgiving...
Keex and Atalie snuggling...

The girls and Bean and Paw Paw dancing...

Paw Paw reading a self-edited version of Cinderella...

Atalie listens intently. :)

And stories told by Uncle Jason.