Oh Christmas Tree

When we were getting ready to decorate for Christmas this year we could not figure out where to put our tree.  I wanted to be able to see it easily and not hide it in some obscure place but we didn't want to have to tell the girls don't touch that a million times either.  So we decided to put the tree at the top of our stairs that overlooks our family room.

I wasn't sure how I was going to like it being up there but I ended up loving it.  It overlooks from our family room and the girls love the Christmas tree.  So every morning when we get them up and they're all sleeping trying to adjust their eyes, as soon as they see the Christmas tree they smile and wave hi to it, every morning and after every nap.  We didn't put anything breakable on there so they've been able to touch it and play with it whenever they're upstairs.  And when they're downstairs playing if you say where's the Christmas tree their heads go straight up and they wave it to it from down below.

Not sure if we'll do this next year or switch it up but it worked out well for us this year.

Family Christmas Card 2012

The Day You Were Born

My mom surprised all of us with a wonderful Christmas gift this year.  She wrote up each story of the day we were born.  It also included a few other stories about each of us and then she went through all her pictures and put together many pages of pictures of each of us growing up.  She put it all together and gave us each a copy of it.

To say I love it is a total understatement.  This book is amazing.  It made me both laugh and cry.  I loved reading the stories about me but also about each of my sisters and brother.  I loved reading it from my mom's perspective.  She even included a section about my sister Debbie who died when she was 6 months old.  I loved reading this and it had many details that I had never heard before.  And to read about it now that I am a mother makes it that much more heartbreaking and special to hear what my parents went through losing their daughter when she was so little and just starting her life.

Mom, Thank You!  This gift has meant so much to me.  Thanks for all the time you took to put this together so nicely and what a true gift it is to read it.  I will treasure it forever and I can't wait to show it to my kids when they get older.

Christmas 2012

We had a great Christmas this year.  Funny, I just realized I didn't really take that many pictures.  The girls got 2 Christmas dresses this year. One that I bought them and one that their Aunt Margene bought them.  Both are so cute and they've been wearing them each Sunday all month.

The Sunday before Christmas we all went to my sister Jennifer's house for cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate.  We exchanged our cousin books and acted out the nativity.  My girls didn't participate but had fun watching and playing with all their cousins.

Christmas Eve we hung out at home and then went over to my parents that night for a yummy ham dinner.  It was just Jennifer, Jeff, Whitney, Max, my parents and us.  It was kind of nice with a smaller group (no offense to the rest of my family) and not so crazy.

We were lucky because the girls went to bed late on Christmas Eve so they didn't wake up until 8am.  Very much sleeping in for us these days.  We got up and had waffles for breakfast and then showed the girls what Santa had brought them.  The girls loved their play house but were a little unsure about their rocking horse.  When we pushed the ear so it starts making galloping and naying sounds Siena totally walked backwards away from it.  Since then they'll go up and pet it and I'm pretty sure they think it's a real horse but they do not want to sit on it and are still a little unsure when it starts making noise.  We had a few presents for them to open and Siena didn't touch one of them.  Luckily Aria was at least a little interested in tearing the paper off.

Shane gave me a bunch of things, a new purse and new blowdryer were my favorite.  I needed both of them desperately.  I gave Shane a few things but his main present was a snowboard helmet...which might have been selfish on my part to keep him safe when he snowboards.  I think he liked it though.

I also got a new iPhone case since I had recently dropped mine and broke the case.  Well is came with a foam cutout of an iPhone and a picture of it.  So I put my old broken case on it and gave it to Siena and she is in love.  She walked around all morning with it thinking she had her own iPhone.  The best present she got which we never even planned for.

That afternoon we went back over to my parents house for our annual turkey dinner.  We ate so much food.  My parents gave the girls little doll strollers and a doll and they love them.  They've been pushing them around all day today.  Aria pushes hers normally and Siena pushes hers to the side and sometimes half carries it but they both love it.  My mom gave me the nicest gift as well but I'll save that for another post.

After dinner we headed over to Shane's brother's house for dessert and were exhausted and very full by the time we got home.

I always feel so blessed and happy at Christmas with everything I'm blessed with.  I have wonderful family, Shane's family and I love that we are all so close and get along so well.  It makes holidays and life so much more fun.  

15 Months

A little update on the girls.  Not the best picture takers lately.  They had their 15 month doctor appointment this week and overall are right on track.  Here are their stats and a few things about them these days.

Both girls have a love for the Baby Signing Time videos.  We checked out a couple of them and they will sign baby and then look at the TV when they want to watch them.  How can you resist that?  They are obsessed with these videos and are totally mesmerized when they are on.  The Wheels on the Bus song has now been replaced by me singing Baby Signing Time when I want to get their attention or stop them from whining/crying.  As of now they can sign, Baby, Time, More, Milk, All Done, and Siena just learned Please yesterday.

Neither of them are saying any real words yet.  The doctor was happy with their signing though.  She said twins are usually late talkers because of 'twin speak' where they can speak to each other and they understand each other and no one else can.  I don't really see them talking to each other much (except yelling or giggling with each other but the doctor says that is it) but they sure do babble a ton around each other and act like they are saying things so not really sure.  Siena is a little closer to saying things that I think I'm understanding so I'm sure it's just around the corner.  Just need to her to say it in context.

Siena
21 lbs 8 oz - 30%
31.5 inches - 85%
Siena still has no teeth.  The doctor wants me to take her to get X-rays done but then said there wasn't much they can do anyways.  So I think I'll wait a little while longer.  Where are her teeth?  Siena has learned to fake cry and it's pretty funny.  All I do is laugh when she starts fake crying.  Siena likes to be read to but she likes to hold the book herself so she pretty much dictates what page we read and what order we go in and many times just gets up and walks away.  Siena is starting to climb more and more.  She can escape just about any barricade we try to put up.  One of Siena's favorite things to do is after we change diapers she likes to take the diaper to the trash.  For some reason up until yesterday she would not put the diaper in the trash but would drop it 5 feet before the trash but she knows that is her job and she loves it.

Aria
20 lbs 2 oz - 15%
30.5 inches - 50%
Aria is walking and walking all over the place.  My favorite thing about her walking is when she goes to turn she plants her left foot and then pivots with her right foot until she's facing the direction she wants to go and then keeps walking.  Aria has 3 teeth and one bulging just waiting to come out.  Aria is the one that will find a book and walk it over to me to read it to her.  She'll let me read to her for however long and rarely gets bored if I read the same book over and over again.  We have 2 windows in our family room where the girls play and there is one window that if the shutter is closed Aria will go over and open it.  Sometimes I don't think about it and as it gets dark I go over and close it only to turn around and find Aria over there opening it back up.

This age is so fun and cute with how excited they get learning new things and how their face lights up when they know they've done something good/cute/mischievous, etc.  However this age is also pretty exhausting with how much attention they both demand at the same time.  Both girls are still pretty attached to me and many times both want to be held.  In fact sometimes I'm holding one and if I sit down they get mad.  They love to be carried around.  They do pretty good entertaining themselves for small periods at a time so I can't complain.  It's just they always want attention right when I'm trying to get something else done.  They almost always win though! :)  We still love our little girls more then ever and are still amazed what blessings they have brought into our lives.

Thanksgiving in Quincy, CA

Finally posting about Thanksgiving!

We did it.  We went on our first long drive with the girls for Thanksgiving.  We decided to go visit Shane's mom in Quincy, CA.

The girls did great on the trip.  Shane's sister and her dog came with us and so I was way paranoid that the girls were going to scream and not stop for hours.  I checked out a bunch of DVDs and we set up a laptop between their car seats.  They loved watching the DVDs and it kept them more entertained then I thought it would.  They didn't really sleep on the way there except for a 40 minute nap but they were still happy travelers.

Shane's mom was all ready for us.  She bought the girls a cute little Sesame Street table and chairs they could eat at and set up cardboard blockades to keep them in certain parts of the house and away from their wood burning stove.

One day we decided to go on a little walk and we ended up walking to the store to get my favorite ice cream from when I was growing up, chocolate malted krunch.  We walked across the street to the High School where Shane graduated FROM High School. (That's for you Jennifer and Brigitte.)  The girls loved the ice cream and as you can see for some reason we had no napkins!

Shane did a bunch of stuff around the house with his sister for his mom and I just mostly hung out and played with the girls.  I even had time to read a book!  Now that's a sign of a good vacation.

The girls shared a room and did really well together.  After one nap I walked down the hallway to hear them giggling at each other.  We put their pack n plays across the room from each other and between a futon bed so they couldn't see each other but they were giggling away at each other.  It was cute since they don't share rooms at home.

Because the house has a wood burning stove, the rooms at night would get pretty chilly.  I always made sure the girls were covered up before we went to bed and one night we found Siena like this.  I guess her face was cold...lol.

We went to church Sunday morning before we left.  Siena decided to snuggle up to Grandma and take a little pre-trip nap.

The ride home was long.  The girls slept a little bit more but towards the end kept waking up and crying, then going back to sleep, then wake up crying again, etc.  But over all I can't complain as they did great.

It was a fun weekend and nice to get away and it was fun getting to be in Quincy again since it had been several years since I had been there.

Friday Night Excitement

A few Friday nights ago, we decided to meet the Pace's and go to Jungle Jims so the girls and their bestie Holland could have a fun night out.  We all went to Cafe Rio beforehand for some good food.  Then the rest of our exciting Friday night was spent at Jungle Jims.  Siena got a little freaked out on the crickety carousel and after that was a little nervous about a lot of rides.  However, Aria loved all the rides. She went on the jeep/train ride with just Holland and she even went on the fast roller coaster with me.  Brigitte went on the roller coaster with Holland and I'm surprised it didn't send her into labor.  I still think their favorite ride is the swings for both of them.

 
I couldn't help but think how a few years ago it would've been Brigitte and I out on the town on a Friday night going to a party, or trying to find something fun to do.  How things have changed and I wouldn't have rather been doing one other thing then spending my Friday night at Jungle Jims with my family and the Paces.

PS I can't wait until they're old enough to all look at and smile at the camera.

Meeting Santa

We took the girls to meet Santa this week.  We went back to the same place we went to last year and it turned out exactly as we thought.  They were happy looking and talking to Santa when they were in our arms.  They screamed as soon as we set them on his lap and then were totally fine and happy as soon as we picked them up.  Santa was super nice and told them he would still bring them some fun toys and gave them a little bag of treats.  The girls were really happy with the free chocolate chip cookies they handed out.

Aria throws up....in church!

Embarrassing moment this week.  This cute little face caused quite the ruckus in church this week.  Here's how it went down.  We walked into church, happy, clean, hair combed, etc.  Church starts, the girls are looking through books.  They start passing the sacrament.  I get out the girls sippy cups of water.  Aria is drinking away sitting on my lap.  All of the sudden she coughs, then again, then tries to take a breath and can't, then turns bright red.  Then....she throws up...all over herself and me!  And it stinks!!!  Bad!!!  Everyone turns around wondering how to help.  Shane gets out some wipes and the the dry onesie change of clothes to mop up the puddle formed in my skirt.  It stinks, everyone is staring at us.  Aria is just fine by the way, not crying or anything, just looking around.  We wipe up what we can, and with that we stand up (All 4 of us) and walk out.  Everyone is looking, smiling, sympathizing and thinking either 'glad it's not me or been there done that.'

Aria really just choked on water, she wasn't sick and has been fine since.

We got home, cleaned up and changed and well 10 minutes of church is good right?

8 is great for Avery Jane

Avery turned 8 and was baptized this summer.  Since she lives in California, I wasn't able to go.  However, as is tradition with all the nieces and nephews when they get baptized, they get to go to dinner with me.  Avery was in town with her family for Thanksgiving so we decided to go to lunch.  Her lunch choice was Panda Express.  Since this was such a low key place to go we decided to then go get some ice cream afterwards.  We got to make our own yogurt combination and sit on couches while we ate them up.  Afterwards we decided to go check out the new Scheels to ride their ferris wheel.  It was so fun.  Then we walked around and took advantage of all their photo op spots.  Avery and I had a great time and it was fun to spend time with just her.

Congrats Avery on your baptism.  Thanks for coming with me for a fun afternoon.

Girls night out

While my sisters were in town before Thanksgiving all my sisters, sister in law and mom, decided to have a girls night out and go see the last Twilight film.  We all met at Olive Garden beforehand and then went and saw Breaking Dawn Part 2.  By far I think this was my favorite Twilight film out of all of them.  It was such a fun night out with my family.

Shane got invited to a Jazz game last minute that same night so we had to scramble and get a babysitter.  Luckily, Shane's cousin came to the rescue and watched the girls for us.  The girls were good and I was able to sneak out so they didn't cry when I left.  They went right down to bed for her like they do every night for us and so it was a great night out for both of us.

Taggart

Look at this cute little thing with all his dark hair!  This is the girls newest boyfriend.  They're going to have to fight over him though.  Little Taggart Pace was born the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  It was fun visiting Brigitte and meeting and holding him the next day.  He was born at the same hospital the girls were born at so it was fun being back at the same hospital and being happy I didn't have to go into the NICU.

Welcome Taggart!  I can't wait to hold you again.

Business Suits

I have a lot of blogging to catch up on, you have been warned.

Just a cute picture I didn't want to forget to post.  Before the girls were born we bought these jogging suits for the girls.  If you know Shane you know he owns and wears a lot of jogging suits.  He calls them his business suits as this is what he 'wears to work'  He kept telling me when I was pregnant that the girls were going to wear these every day in the winter time.  They've worn them a few times but plan to get plenty more use as it starts snowing more.

Aria is walking....yay!

Aria has finally started taking some steps.  She isn't doing it on her own yet but we are so proud of her.  She is pretty cautious and will only do this a couple times for us but I can tell her confidence is building.  She's going to be running around with Siena before we know it.

I had to remove the videos as I'm running out of room.  Hope everyone was able to watch them!

Then I had to add this video.  Siena has learned to fake cry and it's so funny.  You'll see just how fake it is when you watch this.  Then the end of the video is trying to get Aria to walk again and you can see just how hard it is to get her to try and want to walk when she doesn't want to.  She almost thinks its a game to flop down on the floor.

Morning Routine

I wanted to post our morning routine we go through each day so I don't forget.  On weekdays we have only about 30-35 mins. from when we get the girls up to when I need to leave for work.  So we have our routine down pretty good.

We get them up at 7:00am, I've already filled their sippy cups with milk.  They sit in their highchairs and drink milk while I make their breakfast.  Right now their breakfast is consisting of oatmeal cereal and applesauce mixed together.  We've tried other things but this the fastest and what they like the most.  In fact they always start kicking their legs with huge smiles on their faces when they start eating it.  Why change something that works so well.  We feed them their cereal and then immediately they know they get their yogurt bites (which they LOVE) and some plain cheerios to eat while we eat our breakfast.  After we finish, I do their hair while they are still in their high chair.  They don't fight me and try to get away while they're still trapped.  Then we change their diapers and get them dressed.  After that it's off to the bathroom where we brush our teeth.  The girls love their little toothbrushes and although they aren't great at it,) they mostly suck and chew on them), they do like to try to imitate me brushing my teeth so it's pretty cute.

After that comes the hard part, saying good bye to mom.  Up until recently they didn't really get what this part meant and then all of the sudden it has clicked that I leave every day at this time and they hate it.  And so I hate it again.  They cry, cling to me, will not let me put them down.  Many mornings I shut the door to sounds of 1 or 2 crying girls...which ends up with 3 crying girls sometimes as well.  They do recover pretty quickly, at least that is what Shane tells me.  And now I feel like I've scarred them for life because on weekend mornings they won't let me out of their site.  If I walk into the kitchen they're right behind me crying, probably thinking that I'm leaving.  Ugh...

It's a fast 35 minutes of our day but we get a lot done and I like the rountine we have.  I also love that I get to spend a short amount of time with the girls before I leave for work each morning.

Aquarium

We are officially season pass holders at the Aquarium. A couple weeks ago we decided to go check out the aquarium.  To get in is $10 and a year long pass is $20 and the girls are free.  So we decided it would be a good winter activity to go do on the cold snowy days that lay ahead of us (like today for instance)

Their favorite exhibit was the Penguins.  They were swimming and running around all over the place so it was easy for them to watch and follow.  I think it will be a fun activity in the coming months.

Snowbird

In October Snowbird put on a customer appreciation weekend.  If you donated cans to the Food Shelter, then you got a free ride up the tram.  I've always wanted to up the tram but never had.  It also happened to be Shane's sister's birthday.  So we all decided to go.  We went to lunch first and then headed up.  I was nervous it was going to be way crowded but it wasn't too bad at all.

I wasn't sure how the girls would react but they didn't seem to mind at all.  And in fact on the way down Aria and I stood right by the front of the glass looking out loving the view. 

It was pretty cold and very windy but the views up at the top were so pretty.  It was such a fun afternoon and we had a great time.