Rayna says.....

Mommy got really brave today and took Molly and me out by herself for the first time! I know what you're thinking--I was a little worried too!

But don't worry! We weren't really by ourselves! We met Miss Nicole and Cooper at the mall for lunch. Mommy even managed to do a little shopping!

And Molly and Cooper got to play in the play place so they were super happy!

All in all, it was a successful trip! Now that she's done it once, she's thinking about taking us both to do some grocery shopping this week. I don't know about all THAT! :-)

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Christmas Eve

Nana spent the night at our house on Christmas Eve and we all went to our church's Christmas Eve service.

Christmas Morning

Molly was exhausted from the Christmas Eve service the night before, so she slept in a little Christmas morning. This will probably the last year that will happen until the girls are teenagers! When she woke up she was so surprised at all of the presents! She was so cute--she wanted to play with each thing she opened before opening anything else. I guess she wanted to show her appreciation for each gift! It was so much fun!

Christmas at Nana's

We went to Nana's house for dinner Christmas night. My brother and his family came over and we had a wonderful dinner. My nephew Robert is here from Hawaii so we were excited to get to see him. Nana made a birthday cake for Jesus and Molly and Lexy got to blow out the candles. So fun!

Lexy loves her new cousin!

Molly helped Nana in the kitchen--can you tell?!

Of course there were lots of presents to open!

Christmas in Winston-Salem

We're ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house now!!

(My friend Andrea made these adorable shirts for the girls. Andrea is so talented! Check out her Etsy store!)

Grandma and Grandpa's house is SO fun!

The girls got lots of exciting presents from the Hineses!
Molly loved her new pink lap top!Me with my Honey--a rare shot of just the two of us!Rayna loved spending time with her grandparents!
Molly and Aunt Marie made adorable Christmas magnets for everyone yesterday. Molly was SO proud of them!
Rayna got to meet her Great Grandma for the first time--so special!
Molly very happily took a bath at Grandma and Grandpa's and changed into her new Elmo PJs.

Such a fun trip!

Christmas Eve Eve

We had a super fun day today! Our friends the Russells came over for a visit this morning. I've known the Russells forever. I grew up next door to them and used to babysit for them. I love this family and always have such a good time with them. Our friend Mrs. Austin also came over for a visit today. Molly loved all the attention (and presents!) from everyone.
Tonight we went to church with Nana for her church's candlelight service. Molly, Rayna, and I hung out in the nursery, but we had a great time visiting with Mom's friends after the service.

Molly Update

Picture taken by Molly Hines

One of my goals for maternity leave was to get to work on the girls' baby books. Now my goal for their books is nothing fancy--an update each month and two pictures. However, I have been a huge slacker. Molly is 17 months old in hers and I haven't even started Rayna's. AND--I've only done Molly's updates--not her pictures. It overwhelms me to think about how far behind I am, so I made the decision to start doing the updates on the blog for two reasons. One, because I'm a lot more on top of the blog than I am on their baby books. Maybe if I put updates on here, I will eventually transfer them into their books. And two, so that you can hold me accountable. Look for updates on Molly on the 22nd of every month and updates on Rayna on the 2nd of every month. If you don't get updates, nag me! :-)

Molly,

You have been SO fun this month! It's been so exciting to celebrate the Christmas season with you--to get to experience everything through your eyes. We gave you an early Christmas present--a Little People Nativity set--and you love playing with it. You line all of the animals up to see the baby Jesus--SO cute! You love all of the lights. One night when we were driving home from Life Group, there were several houses in a row with lights. You got so excited and said, "Lights and lights and more lights! Lights everywhere, everywhere!" Your daddy and I thought it was SO funny! You had a fun time helping Mommy and Nana decorate for Christmas. You loved looking through all of the ornaments as we put them on the tree (and you only broke one!) And of course you love all of the presents! I can't wait to see you Christmas morning!

You continue to be such a sweet big sister to Rayna. Just this week we were riding in the car and you said, "I love you, Rayna" in your sweet little voice and gave her the "I love you" sign. It melted my heart! You're very patient when we are giving Rayna attention. You've grown up a lot since becoming a big sister!

You are SO independent! You want to do EVERYTHING yourself. You like to help cook dinner and make Daddy's tea. You want to buckle yourself into your car seat, put your own toothpaste on your tooth brush, etc. One of your favorite sayings is, "I do it!" Sometimes you are sneaky--you will put Rayna's paci in your mouth or take Mommy's camera when you think no one is looking. :-)

You are talking and understanding SO much! If I tell you something is going to happen when you wake up from your nap, you remember! Sunday I told you that when you woke up from your nap we were going to Cooper's party. When you woke up, you said, "I up my nap, I go Cooper's party now!" Such a smart girl!

You are doing really well with your manners! Tonight you asked to be excused from the table all by yourself! After you eat your dinner, you love crawling under the table and playing with Ruthie. Last night you were eager to get down from the table, but you had a treat (a chocolate ball) that you really wanted to finished so you stuffed the whole thing in your mouth and then said, "May I be excused, please?" with a mouth full of chocolate. It was running out of your mouth and all over your shirt! Nana and I had to laugh!

You are still on bath strike. I think you are too "busy" to take a bath. The last few times you've had a bath, it's been in Rayna's little baby bath tub. Hey! Whatever works! Hopefully the bath strike will end soon and you will love baths again!

Your favorite book is Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Your favorite DVD is Blue's Clues. Your favorite activity is helping Mommy or Nana cook. Your favorite song is Upside Down by Jack Johnson.

We love you more and more everyday! :-)

Christmas Parties

We were quite the party animals last night. First, my kindergarten team had our party and Brian and I stopped by with the girls. It was great seeing my team again--some of them I hadn't seen in awhile. Molly had a good time hanging out with Mr. James while I chatted with my buddies. :-)
Then we headed over to the Hendricks for their annual Christmas party. This was the SEVENTH Hendricks Christmas party we've been to--do you realize that, Nicole? Every year the Hendricks give us an ornament from the party and our first one was 2003!

There were lots of little ones, so Molly and Rayna had lots of little friends to play with. AND the cookies Molly and I baked won the cookie contest! Woo-hoo! I've been working on that for the last seven years--I guess I just needed Molly's help to win! :-)

'Twas the Weekend Before Christmas.....

It's been a fun weekend around the Hines house. We had our friends Scottie and Joel over for the weekend. Friday night we had dinner with Scottie, Joel, and some other friends, the Goodmans. Then we had Cookout milkshakes (yum!) and watched It's a Wonderful Life. Believe it or not, I had never seen that movie. Rayna wasn't that excited about the movie, so I only got about halfway through it, but finished it last night. SO good! I think I could watch it every year. :-)
Last night Scottie and Joel were visiting with some other friends, so we went over to my mom's house. She was making her famous gingerbread men for all of her neighbors. Molly LOVES helping Nana make gingerbread men and I felt like it was a good opportunity for her to do something kind for others, so we went over to help. Molly and I went with Nana to deliver the gingerbread men, and she had a blast walking around the block. It's so fun to be two! :-)

And Rayna had a fun time hanging out and watching all of the action! She can't wait to be big enough to help! :-)

Today we visited my mom's church so that she could show off her sweet grandbabies. Then we went out for Japanese. At the restaurant, one of the waitresses asked me about Molly. I told her we had adopted her from Vietnam and she said she was also from Vietnam. It turns out she's from the same province as Molly's orphanage! She said that it was so good that we adopted Molly and that Molly was so lucky to have a home here in the United States. I told her that we were the lucky ones to have Molly has our daughter. God definitely had us planned for each other. :-)

Well, the weekend Christmas fun continues! Tonight we are going over to Mike and Nicole's for their annual Christmas party. Molly helped me bake cookies for the party yesterday and is super excited about taking them to Cooper's house. Guess I better go wake my sleeping beauties up (Daddy included!) and get them ready to go!