Snow Day!

Yes, I titled this post correctly. We had snow! Click on the below picture to enlarge it and then squish your face up to the screen. There you go. Do you see the white specks falling? Even Iris was a little skeptical at first.... but then she got into the swing of things and tried to catch some snowflakes on her tongue.... The pictures really do not do justice. The snow was falling most of the day and at times it was completely white when you looked outside. It was very pretty falling. It just melted as soon as it hit the ground. Iris enjoyed playing in it. Instead of making snow angels I told her to flap her wings (ie. arms) and fly like a snow angel. She ran around the yard doing that for a while and had a blast. Then it was inside for some hot chocolate. It was Iris' first time having hot chocolate. She cared for it about as much as she did for the chocolate milk the other week. Again, fine by me.

This picture shows the snow the best.

Christmas at Nana & Papa's

Christmas at Nana and Papa's was quite hectic with 5 kids.

As if things weren't loud enough, Iris opened up her KidiJamz DJ set. Then things really got loud. Iris sang for everyone. Over, and over, and over....

Grandma showing off her new necklace... Dad's famous "Festive Smile." He must have skipped the "ho" pudding....

Christmas Morning

When Iris came downstairs Christmas morning she found that Santa had left a ton of toys and a train set. She was a little hesitant about the train at first but then she warmed up to it, took the remote control, and that was the basically the end of Christmas morning. She had little interest in the other toys. She just wanted to play with the train. Isabella really enjoyed it too. I realized when I was posting this that I did not take a lot of pictures Christmas morning. We videotaped it instead so I ended up not getting many pictures. Here are a few though... As any other 2 year old going on 16 she did take interest in the clothing Santa left. She found her treasure chest of dress up clothes and her Elmo slippers and insisted that she wear them immediately. Isabella's main interest was the leftover boxes... Then it was off to Nana and Papa's with Iris wearing her new white sweater. Now we can retire the too small one she has been wearing all summer and winter and give it to Isabella next winter. Thank you Granny and Grandad! I made several dishes for Christmas dinner to take to Nana and Papa's. Brad graciously helped me out on Christmas Eve with the cooking and he made the banana pudding for me. He decided to be festive and spell "ho ho" on the pudding with vanilla wafers. Unfortunately he made the 'H" too big so he only had room for one "ho." Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas Decorations

I meant to put pictures of our Christmas decorations up a while ago but things have been busy. Iris helped me decorate her tree this year. I know there are some bare spots on the tree in this picture but that is because she re-arranged the ornaments every day. Our stockings hung by the chimney with care... We decide to stick with an artificial tree again this year. With the exersaucers, jumperoos and all the additional baby stuff we have right now we just wanted to keep it simple. Plus, I had visions of Iris pulling over a real tree and it toppling onto Isabella. That was the real reason we stuck with the artificial one. I think it turned out nice though... We also added some new decorations this year. Isabella's first ornament and a heart ornament made by my niece, Kaitlyn. Iris' reindeer art... an advent calendar from Brad's childhood... and our best new addition of the year....Isaboo!

Isabella is 8 months!

Isabella is 8 months. This is not her Christmas dress. It was Iris' from last year but I wanted to try it on her so I thought this would make a nice 8 month picture. Iris wore it when she was 5 months and it fits Isabella perfectly at 8 months. She looks beautiful in it. I should have let her wear this for Christmas but I had already bought her a new dress. I was thinking this would not fit because of their age difference at Christmas time. Lesson learned.

Isabella weighs 15 pounds. I know this because she also had her first double ear infection this month which required a trip to the Dr.'s office.

Here are a few new firsts and accomplishments:

--took her first plane ride this month when we went to Indiana for Thanksgiving

--first ear infection

--likes bananas now

--scooting backwards

I know this is Isabella's post but when I was taking Isabella's picture in the dress Iris had a meltdown and wanted to put a dress on too and get her picture taken. I was able to get her to calm down and agree to her super woman costume instead. She calls herself Superman when she wears it but whatever. I think I took too many pictures of her these last two years. She is a complete Ham.

Cookie Swap Party

After spending the morning in a box I took Iris to a cookie swap party. Isabella stayed home with daddy. As usual, halfway across the bridge Iris exclaims, "Where's Isaboo?"

I had to calm her down and reassure her Isaboo was just fine at home.

The cookie swap was fun. Iris was not much into decorating though. Notice the glob of sprinkles she dumped in one place and the hand reaching for the gumdrop. That gumdrop never made it to the cookie. She was much more into eating the candy.

The whole gang was there too. Getting these 4 to look at the camera simultaneously is an impossible task. I just went for the "action" shot instead.

Who needs Santa?

Who needs Santa and presents under the tree when you have............a box!

I spent Sunday morning pulling these two around in a box that their aunt Barbara sent. It was full of presents but Iris was much more interested in the box. Isabella loved it too!

Train Display

Saturday we drove downtown to Charleston Place hotel to see their train display. Iris loved it. She is very into trains these days. I did not do a good job with pictures. This was the best one...

The standard "proof that Isabella was there too" picture. There's no train in the background but I promise you were there Isabella. Like I said, I really did a poor job with pictures. Afterwards we braved the cold, wind and rain and walked down the street to Starbucks. Iris had her first chocolate milk. I know, you may think that's crazy since she's almost two and a half but I have never given her chocolate milk. She could have cared less really. It wasn't quite the momentous moment I thought it would be but I thought I should take a picture to commemorate the event anyway. I think we'll be sticking to plain white milk which is just fine with me!

Playing nicely

Iris is really turning into a great big sister. She always gets down on the floor and plays with Isabella. She brings her toys, pacifiers etc. If Isabella is crying you'll soon hear a chorus of "What's wrong Isabella?, "It's OK", "Don't cry baby." Then she'll find a toy or pacifier and bring it to Isabella to make her stop crying. It's very sweet. I have noticed that sometimes the reason Iris is being so nice bringing her toys is because she has just snatched one out of Isabella's hand which is the reason she's crying in the first place. Still, I think it shows she cares (or maybe just doesn't want to get in trouble). She's also starting to notice when Isabella is not there. It's not often we go somewhere without Isabella but if we do about halfway to our destination Iris will notice the empty car seat and say, " Uh oh, Mommy! Where's Isaboo?" She gets very upset and I have to reassure her that's it's OK and daddy is with Isabella at home. If only they always played this nicely!

What's for Dinner?

Isabella Stew! I know, wrong on so many levels......but I bet it made you laugh!

First Haircuts!

Wednesday was an emotional day for mommy. I have been postponing Iris' first haircut for as long as possible. It's been getting very stringy lately and loosing it's curl so I decided it was time.

Here's the Before picture....

During... and After! Look at those beautiful curls bounce back into action! (The lady put the bow on the wrong side but I didn't have the heart to fix it in front of her).

And yes, the post did say haircuts, as in plural. Isabella's hair has been getting in her eyes and the lady offered to just do a little snip to clean it up. Isabella was very excited about her haircut. Here's her Before picture... and After. I know, not that dramatic but it really did make a difference. Have you ever seen anyone this happy about a haircut? Sometimes I think we should rename her "Smiley."

Holiday Shopping

Monday mom went to the mall with me to try and help with the girls while I finished some last minute Christmas shopping. Some brilliant person decided to put a train in our mall so now everytime parents try to run to the mall for quick trip it turns into a nightmare. The kids see the train and have a meltdown to ride it (or at least that's what mine does). It goes around the whole mall and whistles and toots it's horn so there's no avoiding it. We didn't even try fight it this time. Mom took Avery and Iris on a train ride while Isabella and I dashed in and out of a few stores. Then we did a quick trip to Target. My Sit-N-Stand stroller came in handy. I think it's just meant for one rider up front but Iris and Avery didn't seem to care... well, Avery may have been a little squished....

Tis' the Season!

Polar Express

Saturday morning the aquarium sponsored a Polar Express party. Isabella stayed snug in her bed at home with daddy while I drove Iris downtown in her pajamas and in the freezing cold rain. It was worth it though. Clara and Iris enjoyed some coloring... and some crafting.... The Buxton boys were more into trains than crafting. Iris pushed herself right in there to help out with the puzzle for a few seconds. Then it was back to the crafts. She especially liked cutting with the scissors... so much so that she sat at the table alone and cut string while everyone else gathered around to hear the Polar Express book. Oh well, she had fun and that was the whole point!

Avery's Birthday

Avery's 4th birthday party was last weekend. She had an all girls tea party to celebrate. Here's all the little ladies decked out in their dress up clothes. Mom was brave enough to volunteer her real china for everyone to use. Thanks mom! we're proud to say nothing was broken.

The Birthday Girl being silly.... Iris was very into the whole dress-up tea party idea. She even tried to eat with her white gloves on until one of us took them off.

She wore the earrings for the rest of the day and called them her "ears." They kept falling off while she was playing and we would have to put them back on over and over again. I hid them after she went to bed. I just couldn't take it anymore.

Iris getting a hug from Grandma Jane....