Sitting with Grandpa

After spending Christmas day here with my family, we all packed up and headed to Augusta to spend {fake} Christmas day, as Uncle Jay calls it, with Paul's family.

After the party at Gramma's house with her extended family (and before fake Christmas with Grandpa and then Gramma), we headed back to Grandpa's to unpack.

The babies had been fed and were {temporarily} asleep.

And this is what I returned to in the living room.

I adored my grandfather, Paw Paw; and I'm pretty sure he might have adored me just as much.

He would read to me. Play school with me and let me correct his handwriting.

I remember the exact chair he sat in and held me the morning we found my new little kitten was no longer alive. I cried. He cried. And he immediately went out and got me a new kitten!

Because that's what grandfathers do.

I am so thankful that Addie has two special grandfathers who, I do believe, adore her about as much as she adores them.

While I probably wouldn't have found myself on the floor sitting in my grandfather's lap (I'm pretty sure he didn't do yoga and drink a fruit smoothie every morning), it brought back sweet memories watching Addie sit with her Grandpa.

I don't remember the exact conversation, but I'm pretty sure it included discussions about a Safari, a musk ox, zoo lights, and counting the buttons on Grandpa's shirt.

Who better

to be in awe of

than Grandpa.

Christmas with Gramma

After fake Christmas with Grandpa, we spent the next day with Gramma.

More yummy food. Fun times. And lots of serious playing!

It started bright and early with some family pictures taken by one of Gramma's friends, Rosie. My mom and I made outfits just for the occasion for the girls, which turned out to be one of my all time favorites for Addie. We all love Rosie and were super excited to see her.

Addie, however, was not super excited to see her camera. I'll go ahead and publicly apologize to Rosie for Addie's freaking out. Nothing works: bribing, coaxing, not caring, punishing. Nothing. I managed to grab my camera in the middle of it and snap a few just to capture the moment. Because that's what it's all about...right? The memory.

Kira is like, zuh? What's wrong with that girl?

Thankfully, Addie is much more willing to let me take pictures now as long as I show them to her. She's even asked me to take pictures of her! huh?!? So I was so thankful that I actually got some smiles!

I'm pretty much ready for these little girls to slow down! They had so much fun playing with their new Bugs in a Jug and Whatz-it toy from Gramma...and still are!

Our sweet Audrey Kate

I love that upper right one!

And our sweet Anne Perry

She's a tough one sometimes to get to laugh. But when this girl is happy, she is super happy!

All our girls. It will be fun to see a little boy in the mix next year!

Addie and Kira had so much fun spending time together! It was so much fun for us to watch them!

They each got a toy they could "write" on and plopped down next to each other to play.

Paul got this slinky for Christmas; and even though they ended up breaking it, the girls got a lot of fun mileage out of it!

Kira gave Gramma the cutest gift! A book about going to Gramma's with a sweet note and hand print inside! It doesn't get much sweeter than that! Kira immediately wanted to read it, and Papa Al was more than willing.

I'm pretty sure this was later in the day (before naps: hence Audrey Kate's yawn), but I thought it was so cute of the little girls and Gramma...and Kira holding no less than 5 markers in her sweet little hands!

At one point in time, Addie disappeared. I found her in the library all wrapped up in a blanket cuddling in the chair. She put the blanket over her head and this is what popped out! All that I cared about what capturing that smile!

She must have been tired from all her doctor work!

Before their naps, Gramma piled in the bed with both girls to read them a nap time story!
 
And what's better than watching/helping your cousin get a sink bath?

Why getting one yourself!

and another Merry "fake" Christmas to all...

...and to all a good night!

Christmas with Grandpa

After the Dicken's Christmas Party, we had "fake Christmas Day" with Grandpa, Paul's dad. It was super laid back, full of more yummy food (including mint sticks made with almond extract instead of peppermint extract ;) and some seriously delicious treats made by Ms. Gail along with lots of fun presents!

After a day of driving through snow (and sleet and rain) to get there, we woke up to a beautiful white {fake} Christmas morning!

perfect...

All of my babies:

The little girls had fun playing with their new toy that Grandpa and Gramma sent to Montgomery. They love it so much that we put it in the car and brought it to Augusta!

And I'm pretty sure Grandpa's old cell phone was a big hit too!

It was so much fun to watch Kira play with the baby girls. She will have a new baby brother this time next year! I'm sure (as it was with us last year watching Addie with Kira) it was a huge relief to her mama and daddy to watch her respond so sweetly to the babies.

Addie got her very own camera for Christmas. I think Kira's doing a pretty good job with it here!

Ms. Gail gave the little girls these darling flower headbands.

And of course Addie would not be left out: wearing one of the babies' headbands and her new shiny shirt from Ms. Gail on top of her smocked dress!

But one of our Christmas goals was to get a picture of Grandpa with all 3 girls, however that might look.

And we did!

Merry {fake} Christmas!

7 (almost 8) Months

We interrupt this Christmas posting marathon to celebrate {only 3+ weeks late) 7 months of our sweet baby girls! Yes, in a mere 2 days, we will celebrate 8 months...but I've made it within that 7th month!

Disclaimer: please excuse the wildly different color of these pictures. 1.) they were taken inside, unlike all the others except the 1st month. 2.) i had to use a flash that i dont completely understand. and 3.) we have a wonderful barrel ceiling in our living room that caused said flash to bounce more wildly than usual. oh and 4.) i have a lot to learn about lightroom!

Not only do we have rollers and scooters, we have sitters! Sure, it didn't actually happen until 2 weeks into this 7 month, but none-the-less, we have sitters!

They love it. We love it. Addie loves it!

They love playing with toys, taking things from each other, and discovering anything they can get their sweet little hands on! 

This month has been full of change and a good amount of chaos in our house (due to our house), but these little girls have managed to maintain good nap schedules and, with the exception of when we've traveled, pretty good night time sleeping too!

Anne Perry

I don't know any other way to describe Anne Perry this month than a completely different child on new reflux meds. Completely.

I have finally admitted that I didn't know what I was going to do with her for the next few months if they were going to be anything like her 4th-6th months. She would never.let.me.put.her.down. Her pediatrician finally saw her spit up at their 6 month appointment and put them on generic Prilosec. Um. Miracle drug for these little girls. Totally personality altering for Anne Perry! And a tremendous blessing for our family!

Anne Perry is most often a/an:
happy girl!
jumpy jumping girl!
owner of two very sharp teeth!

excellent sitter!
mama's girl.
always observer.

lover of all things shakey.
stealer of her sister's toys.
raspberry spitter of baby food.

clap, clap, clapper!

Audrey Kate

This laid back little girl seems to have more of an opinion about things than we originally thought! She loves being right in the middle of things; and if that changes, she lets you know about it! Ninety-five percent of the time, she is happy go lucky; but that 5% when she's unhappy, she has a cry that will break your heart!

 

Audrey Kate is usually a/an:

happy girl.
awesome sitter.

 

knees rocker.

trying so hard to be a crawler.
stealer of her sister's toys.
focuser and can maintain amazing concentration.
fan of ritz crackers.
non fan of canned baby food!

 

another raspberry baby food spitting girl!
smiler. oh how this little girl's eye's light up when she smiles!

Both girls:

love them some cheerios and ritz crackers.
think blowing raspberries is a form of communication.

 

hate HATE hate sleeping in pack-in-plays.

are finally sleeping {much better} in separate cribs.
are huge fans of their lovies and sleep sacks.
sleep rolled to their side.
continue to adore their big sister.

pretty much have their mama and daddy wrapped around their little fingers!

and...

are completely unbelievable, joyful blessings!

Happy 7 (almost 8) months little girls!