A day of quiet

I took a walk down memory lane the other day and looked back at pictures of my blog from years past.  I used to take so many photos of the girls during the day while we played, crafted, baked, played played and played some more.  I miss those quiet days without the hustle and bustle of school schedules.  The holiday craze is past us, the cold winter months are upon us, so I wanted to capture a day at home.  Our school district closed on Tuesday because of the subzero temps.  It was a perfect day to stay inside and be cozy.  I followed the girls around with the camera in hand and enjoyed our peaceful day home with no schedule whatsoever!

We started the morning off watching a few shows, making some rainbow loom bracelets and then they picked up the playroom for our company that evening.  I brought the vacuum cleaner downstairs and told them to try vacuuming for the first time!  They were so excited!  We painted pictures, ate lunch, the girls tucked in for a long nap, then baths and then a bit of iPad time before our company planned to arrive.  It was such a nice day.  Wish we could have those days everyday!

Jumping beans

Everyday they jump jump jump.  Everyday I sit in a freezing cold basement and feel so glad that we have this trampoline for them during these long, cold, dark winter days!  Hopefully daddy will get the insulation and walls put in sooner than later : ) Thankfully the finished basement side is toasty warm! 

Toothless Girl

I love this toothless face!

Playroom mess

I have visions of this room being clean all the time.  Not so much.  Thankfully I can close the basement door!

Mia girl

What a sweet puppy.  Even when she makes me crazy while she is being crazy!  She truly is such a well behaved girl.  She has her moments of being a total puppy but all in a good way.  Never destructive!

Anyway, she hates my camera as much as the girls.  It was pretty apparent by the look on her face that I was annoying her while she was trying to nap!

Bye bye tree

For the first time in forever, I was really sad to see our Christmas tree go.  We put the 11.5 foot tree in our breakfast nook area so it wasn't in our family room space.  It was still beautifully visible from our FR, but it wasn't in the way at all.  Most years I am so ready to have my living space back. We moved our dining table against the wall and moved our kitchen table to the dining room.  We also enjoyed eating in the dining room for a change!

But it was time....

So Jim sawed the poor tree in half to get it out of the house.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Jim often treats the girls to his mom's yummy buttermilk pancakes recipe.  This morning was one of those days.  They always request chocolate chip but this morning Sydney asked for a plain one with peanut butter on top. They are so yummy but unfortunately, pancakes leave a rock in my stomach so I never eat them.  So sad.  But I took lots of pictures of them while they were eating them this morning! 

This is the look I got when I stole a little tiny bite off of Sydney's pancake.  They don't like to share their special buttermilk pancakes!!!

 Goofball Sawyer.  She loves her some pancakes!  I mean, really, really loves pancakes!

The big kids

It was great having so much family time over the holiday!  We loved having Jess, Kevin and the kids here to visit.  Always fun hanging with Bethany and Jared!

 Mia loves wrestling with Jared!

Playing with their toys

Adorably awkward

Sydney has been losing teeth like crazy lately.  Her two front teeth recently shifted and got really loose.  The other night after we got back from dinner, I suggested we take dental floss and try to pull the really loose one out.  The first time we did this, she was so excited, the second time, not so much.  This time she wigged out.  I told her it was all good and that it wouldn't hurt.  After a bit of a fit, I got the dental floss tied to her front tooth and out it popped!  She was so excited!!!

I love this adorably awkward stage of missing teeth.  It is so cute!

However, the tooth fairy needs to get her act together and have things ready sooner!

So proud of her missing front tooth!

Christmas 2013

Christmas was amazing! Each year seems to get more fun as the girls get older.  They had an awesome time making cookies, helping me wrap, buying eachother a gift and opening their presents!

The iPad minis were a huge hit.  Monster High dolls, Frozen dolls, Barbies, crafts, Playdoh, books, homemade blankets and tons of stocking stuffers put smiles on our girls' faces.

We baked cookies and tracked Santa on Daddy's Kindle on Christmas Eve.  Sawyer fell asleep quickly but I could hear Sdyney up for a while.  She told me the next morning that she heard Santa and his reindeer out her window.  I remember saying the same thing when I was her age!  Such anticipation and excitement.

As usual, the girls had us up early!  Dark early!

Baking cookies for Santa!

 Leaving cookies for Santa and veggies for the reindeer!

 Saying goodbye to Charlie, our elf.

 Tracking Santa!  Sydney wanted to get tucked in quickly because he was getting close!  She rushed Sawyer out of her room quickly to get tucked in!

 Sawyer kept asking for an umbrella for Christmas!  She was super excited when she opened this gift!

 Sawyer was so excited to open her fancy shoes!

 Opening the iPads!

Wearing her fancy (supposed to be dress up shoes) before we headed to Nana and Pap Pap's.  She asked if she could wear them over to their house and I couldn't turn her down!  Glitter everywhere.  I'm sure my parents were vaccuuming after that visit!