Fun With Friends

One of my favorite things about breaks from school is spending time with our friends. Last night, our friends the Sparks came over for dinner. The Sparks live in Illinois and we hadn't seen them since Christmas of 2008. Shane and Gina have children the same ages as our children so we had a good time playing. The last time we were together, Leah and Molly were babies and Michael and Rayna weren't around yet so we had a good time catching up!
Today we went to one of our favorite places--The Discovery Place, with some of our favorite girls--the McArthur girls. Like always, we had a great time!
Update:

While we were having breakfast this morning, I was talking to Molly about the Discovery Place.

Me: Did you have fun at the Discovery Place yesterday?
Molly: Yes.
Me: What was your favorite part?
Molly: Eating lunch.
Me: Did you like anything else?
Molly: Yes.
Me: What?
Molly: Chocolate milk.

There you have it, Folks. The best part of the Discovery Place is eating lunch (which we brought from home) and chocolate milk. :-)

Snow!

When it started snowing last night, I was so excited! This is my first ever white Christmas! I was so happy that I woke Brian up (he was snoozing on the couch) and made him come to the window to see. It started snowing after the girls went to bed last night, so when they woke up, everything was covered with snow. Molly was beyond excited and couldn't wait to go outside. We played for all of ten minutes before everyone was cold and wet and ready to go in, but it was a lot of fun.

Merry Christmas!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas....

We didn't make the Christmas Eve service this year. Both of the girls are still not themselves and bedtime was 6:30 tonight. The good news is that Nana is spending the night tonight and we all look adorable in our Christmas jammies. Well, ALMOST everyone. I'll let you pick out the Scrooge. ;-) Also, notice that Molly's jammies do not have feet. She will not wear footie jammies, so we just cut the feet off of her Christmas PJs. Good things our children aren't spoiled!

Gingerbread Houses

We had planned on having our life group over to make gingerbread houses, but had to cancel because of the girls being sick. Molly was so excited about making gingerbread houses, that we made them today. I wish our friends could have come over, but we still had fun.

I think we are finally on the mend. Both of the girls have been fever-free for 48 hours. Rayna is fussy, but no fever. Molly slept through the night in her own bed for the first time last night, so that's a huge step in the right direction. Whatever we had was YUCK so I'm glad that we're all starting to feel better. Just in time for Christmas!

Hot off the press!

I have a new niece! Maliah Marie was born less than an hour ago! Sweet little Christmas baby!

Sick Girls

For the past several days, we've been a little under the weather around here. Molly has been sick since Wednesday and is on an antibiotic, and Rayna has been sick since Friday night. (Luckily, the pediatrician said that if Rayna ended up sick as well, we could just call in and they would give us the same antibiotic for her.) Molly has been fever free all day today which hopefully means that we're on the road to recovery.

Having the girls sick at Christmas time is no fun. This week, we've had to miss work, church, and two Christmas parties. Hopefully they will be better in time for Christmas. It's really had me thinking a lot of families who will be spending this Christmas in the hospital. Families that have children that won't be "better" for Christmas. We've spent Christmas in the hospital and know how hard it can be. Yet another thing my precious son taught me during his short year on Earth. Never take for granted the health of your children.

Happy 5th Birthday in Heaven

Gingerbread Girl

Molly and Nana (with a little help from Rayna) made their gingerbread GIRL yesterday afternoon. Molly corrected me several times when I called it a gingerbread man. She told me many times that it was not a gingerbread man, but a gingerbread GIRL. :-)

More Christmas Fun

The girls have been really fun this Christmas season. Molly is loving all of the Christmas festivities and is so excited about all of our upcoming fun. Three is such a fun age for the holidays!

Rayna is also loving life and all of the excitement that comes with this time of year. The girls got their first Christmas presents from a friend from Nana's church. I think Rayna is finally starting to figure out that if a box comes wrapped in paper, there is probably something good inside! They are just so much fun!

Tomorrow is the four year anniversary of Zeke going to be with Jesus. This time of year is still so hard. It's like there is a dark cloud hanging over my head. Don't get me wrong--I am having a great time celebrating the holiday season with my girls. I just wish their big brother was here to celebrate with us.

Daddy's Girl

My Girls

Both of my girls have BIG personalities. But they are so incredibly different. The older they get, the more the differences are obvious. At 13 months, Molly had a lot of words and a lot of signs. She would sit and listen to stories and loved looking at pictures. She crawled, but didn't walk until 17 months and didn't climb until she was almost 2.

Rayna isn't saying a lot yet. She has a couple of words and a couple of signs, but doesn't really use any form of communication other than screaming. :-) But she is SO mobile. At 13 months old, not only is she walking, she is RUNNING. She is pushing a chair around the kitchen to get things she wants off of the counter. She climbs on the table, climbs up the stairs, and is already trying to climb out of her crib.

I actually think their differences have very little to do with the fact that they are not biologically related. I have many friends who have multiple bio kids that have very different personalities. I think Molly is just Molly and Rayna is just Rayna. And honestly, I love their differences! I love all of the little things that make Molly Molly and all of the little things that make Rayna Rayna.

I took these adorable pictures of Molly in her Christmas PJs in December 2008.

I thought I would attempt to recreate those photos with her little sister in the same PJs this Christmas. HA! Check out the differences.

They are so different--but I wouldn't change a single thing about either of them! :-)