Is it a Pillow or Is it a Stuffie?

Though the girls aren't quite sure what to do with the huge stuffed kitty and frog they got from Aunt Pam and Uncle Ronnie for Christmas, they sure do have fun trying to figure it out. They roll around (and off) of them, bounce on them, lay on them, and carry them all over the house. Fun, fun, fun!

Please notice the hand stuffed in Mallory's mouth. Think she teething? You better believe it! Those back teeth are no fun.

Ballerinas or Basketball Players

After making a quick trip to the mall this morning for new "dress" shoes, we went to watch Connor's basketball game. The girls were thoroughly entertained and quite content to sit on the bleachers and cheer on Connor and his teammates. Sadly, they lost but it sure looked like they had fun doing it!

The girls may have distracted Connor just a bit...

He spent a good bit of his time on the court waving to his fans in the stands. Oops!

Can you just picture four years from now these three little ones running up and down a basketball court?!

Hmmm...makes me wonder if Anna Claire and Mallory will want to be ballerinas or basketball players - or both!

Caught Ya'...

Caught ya' - again!

I can't keep Anna Claire from pulling diapers out the diaper stacker!

Monday = Fun Day

Today was a school holiday (yippee!), so right after breakfast, the girls and I hopped in the car and headed out to meet Michelle, Connor, and Dylan at Target. The girls love riding in the "big girls" shopping cart. They were so good and sat very still. Mallory only tried to jump out once - when we bumped into Aunt Dot, Cecelia, and Will. After leaving Target, we switched to the stroller and hit Ross, TJ Maxx, Shoe Carnival (new Keds), ans Pier One. We all loved these Mardi Gras masks and had fun trying them on and making the kids laugh. Then Michelle spotted the price tag on this one ($65!), and the fun was over. Our last stop was McAllister's for lunch. It was so nice outside today we ate out on the patio.The girls' climber/slide finally made it to our house today, so when we got back from our outing, the girls got to play outside (without a coat, hat, or mittens!) before nap time.

Look at that baby's belly...

Going down backwards is their favorite!

Needless to say, they napped very well!

After the girls woke up, Walter took them to visit with two of their three Great-Grandmothers who reside at the Presbyterian home and I went to Publix. While I never see myself as one of those shoppers who can save more than she spends, I am really getting into this whole coupon craze and had my best totals ever today - spent $215 and saved $91. Woo Hoo!!!!!

Monday = Fun Day!!!

Ho-Ho

A few nights ago the girls had a bubble bath, and when Anna Claire dunked her face in the water and came back up Mallory looked at her sister's "bubble-beard" and immediately saw a resemblance to Santa Clause, pointing at Anna Claire and shouting out, "Ho-Ho!" (aka Santa Clause).

Here's Mallory trying trying on her bubble-beard...

Silly girls!

French Braids

I finally got Mallory to sit still long enough (during snack time with cartoons on the tv) for French braid pigtails. Her hair is so fine it just slips through my fingers. The braids are far from perfect, but I think we did pretty well for our first try...

Eighteen Month Well-Baby Visit

Anna Claire and Mallory had their eighteen month well-baby visit way back on December 22, and I have yet to write about it because, let me just tell you, it was a doozie! I sat down and typed up a looooong post recounting all the traumatic details and then deleted the whole thing because it was way too snarky (I need to leave it in the past). The gist is this - we waited a very.long.time. with two babies who have pretty severe doctor's office anxiety too see a fairly inexperienced fill-in doctor for Dr. Tillman.

Since I DO want to get their stats recorded, here are the details on our thriving girlios...

Anna Claire
Weight 23 lbs. 10 oz.
Height 32 1/2 in.

Mallory
Weight 24 lbs. 4 oz.
Height 32 1/2 in.

Though I'm pretty confident the girls are right on track, I wish I had n "official" developmental update for you. I didn't get any of my questions answered because all we wanted to do was get out of there! I hope we don't have to go back until June 22!

Santa bought the girls a doctor's bag so we can all pretend to give each other shots, listen to hearts beating, look in ears, etc. which will hopefully make future visits a little easier on the girls.

First Shiner

This morning Mallory woke up with a swollen, black eye. She didn't hurt herself playing yesterday evening as far as we know. We wondered if she could have fallen in the crib last night even though we never heard her cry out. What is probably most likely is that this is a delayed result of the fall we took Monday afternoon. Poor baby; now I feel even worse.

Furlough

Yesterday was our first of three furlough days, which means I did not get paid, so my big plan this long weekend was to not spend any money. I was doing great, and then yesterday my mom called to say the Pink Crocodile was having a huge clearance sale on holiday and winter clothes. She came over and fed the girls lunch so I could run up there and see what they had. I got the girls three dresses (six total). A white candy-cane smocked bishop for next Christmas, a red corduroy dress with buttons down the front that can be worn as a coat or dress and can be holiday or not, and a cute school bus-smocked bishop for the fall. What a deal, too. So much for saving $$$!

Switching topics (but stay with me)...

This is the girls' doll house (a Christmas present from Connor and Dylan) which they love playing with, especially Mallory. After lunch yesterday and before my mom left, I picked up Mallory out of the chair in the living room, stepped backwards away from the chair, tripped over the doll house, and fell (hard). I was holding Mallory on my hip with one arm, and as I fell she toppled forward out of my arms and hit the floor with her forehead. I think I nearly gave my mom a heart attack because I screamed as soon as I realized I was going down. Poor Mallory burst into tears and I didn't know if she was hurt or scared. Thank goodness my mom was there because she was able to scoop up Mallory and check her out while I was flat on my back on the floor. Turns out she has a little rug burn on her forehead but is otherwise just fine. Me? My whole body aches today.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

This afternoon it finally warmed up enough for the girls to play outside. And tonight the weather channel is calling for snow! We all know how that goes, so it will be interesting to see if we get any precipitation at all and how that may (or may not) affect school tomorrow.

Mommy's Little Helper

Whenever I'm doing laundry, Anna Claire is right there with me. Instead of struggling to keep her out of the way, I decided over Christmas break to let her start helping . I'll hand her wet items from the washer and she puts them in the dryer. She never lets me forget the dryer sheet and loves banging the dryer door shut. She also likes taking warm clothes out the dryer. She does her best to fold them and place them in the laundry basket.

It's never too early, right?

The Wheels on the Bus

Tomorrow morning, children everywhere will board school buses just like this one (well, not just like this one) and head back to school. Christmas break is O-V-E-R. Yuck!
I've had so much fun with the girls. We did a little shopping, went out to lunch and dinner, enjoyed the awesome holidays with family, but mostly just stayed home - which was so great! The past two weeks have been wonderful. The girls are napping better (between 1 1/2 and 2 hours, typically) and Mallory's little temper tantrums seem to be tapering off a bit. The girls have been sleeping in the mornings until about 7:15, and so have I. Tomorrow, the alarm clock will go off at 5:30. Ugh!

Not wanting to think anymore about having to say "goodbye" to vacation and "hello" to work, I'll just share a bit of Anna Claire cuteness.

She went from not having enough hair for a bow, to refusing to wear a bow once she did have enough hair, to requesting a bow to wear with her jammies immediately after hopping out of her crib in the morning!

And this is how I found her this morning...quietly looking at a book in the nursery.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

This weekend it is C-O-L-D (today's high is 42*), so the girls are having a great time playing inside with all their new Christmas toys...

Mallory is feeding two babies their bottles at once...just like Mommy used to do!

We've also been enjoying out real snacks at the girls' new table and chairs.

Happy New Year!

As is tradition, we rang in the new year at Cousin Chauncey's annual pig pickin' on New Year's Eve. Yummmm!

Anna Claire couldn't eat enough "dip" and crackers (the girls call everything "dip" - ketchup, mustard, sour cream, tartar sauce...). She happened to fall in love with cream cheese and pepper jelly! I can't blame her. All bundled up...

Today we ate Hoppin' John, collard greens, sweet potato casserole and all the works at Granny and Papa's house. Yummy, again (diet starts tomorrow).

The girls had their first chance since Christmas day to play with the shopping carts Santa left for them there.

It took the girls about 15 minutes to trash the living room, but I guess Granny better get used to it again - her "daycare" opens back up Monday. Boo, hoo!