Nyla's bread

Sorry this picture is posted twice! All year I have had the girls watch and help me make bread. Just these last few months they have helped me roll out the dough with the rolling pin, roll the dough up, pinch the seam and fold the edges. I usually just have them help with one thing per bread making. I was making 3 loaves of bread and on the last lump of dough, Christopher decided to get into the bathroom. So I left Nyla in the kitchen with this lump of dough and I told her that she could start rolling it out. When I got back, she had rolled it out, rolled it up, pinched the seam and was working on tucking the sides to put in the pan. I let her finish by putting it in the oven to finish its final rise. She was so proud of herself and so was I. It came out just great with no airbubbles or anything! We ate some of it with dinner that night. It was so cute how concerned she was about her loaf of bread. She wanted to carry it in on the cutting board and set it just perfect in the middle of the table. It never ceases to amaze me what our little ones are capable of at such a young age! Only 4 and making bread! You go girl! On a silly side note, Nyla's favorite books right now are "Captain Unerpants". She gets a new one every time we go to the library. She is always curled up somewhere reading her book. I love how she "reads" out loud and I get to listen to her fun stories of what she interprets the pictures in the books to be doing.

Nyla

Chirstmas dresses

Each year I have these great ideas for dresses for the girls. Sometimes they turn out and sometimes not. I was working with what I had! I would have done some things differently, but I think they turned out ok. The zippers were the most expensive part of these dresses! The blue satin was left over from some brides maid dresses I made this summer and I got about 10yds of the black organza for about dollar at a garage sale this summer(surprised?). I made them matching flowers for the dress and for their hair. I was attempting to revamp an old 80's pattern. I liked the bottom of the dress, but not so much the top. I'll know better for next time!

It was the longest 1 hour of church ever that day! I'll try and get some better pictures, but we just wanted to get out of there after we spent the majority of the meeting out in the hall with one or another of the kids. Mostly Lizzy and Brother. Nyla was supposed to go up and sing with the Primary kids while just few of the kids played the bells. Well, they'd all been using the bells during singing time so Nyla went down to get her bell and I'm not sure if she was just mad or emberassed or both, but she crossed her arms and got the best frowny face on and stomped all the way down the isle to the back of the chapel where we were sitting when they told her she was just singing and not playing a bell. Most of that side of the chapel got a chuckle out of her spiritedness. Right at that moment she reminded me of another very head strong red head. Anne of Green Gables!

I made a matching bow tie for Christopher and it turned out so cute that I'm going to make him more! I will post it as soon as I can get a picture of him in it again. He was so adorable with his little bow tie. I'll have to dig through my scraps to see what I can find! What a treat! I think it turned out so well because the organza stiffened the satin fabric to just the right firmness. I'll have to keep that in mind when I make more. I'll post those too!

Christmas morning

Christopher hanging out on the couch, not quite sure what to make of all this stuff on the floor. Mommy found this dolly house that folds out and all the house accesories and the car for $11 at a garage sale this summer. What a great find! Both the girls love it and are having a great time with it. Nyla especially. She has such an amazing imagination! She tells full stories and acts out everything with her little figures. Anything can become a person with a personality. Just today she had a whole gripping saga going on with her pile of fresh green beans!

Christopher looks as if he's going to say, "All these cool toys and all I get is a measly puzzle?" He did get some cool toys this year! TONS of cars and trucks which he loves. He is a true boy through and through. He already pushes his cars and trucks around and is trying to make that motor sound that all boys do. Mommy tried making that sound the other day and after a few seconds, he just looked at me like, "Mom, its ok. You don't have to make that sound anymore. It sounds like you're choking".

Some snuggly jammies from aunt Amber! He carried them around like this for quite a while. He looks like Lynus from Peanuts lately because he carries his blankets around just like this! Its the most adorable thing ever! He also has a stuffed dog that he talks to as he's falling asleep in his crib. Its the cutest thing ever.

After all the toys and packages are opened, what do all the kids want to play with? You guessed it! The box and packaging fluff! Nyla even packaged herself right in! They were attracted to the crinkly sound of the plastic and the lure of the unknown insides of the box like a bunch of cats up from nap. What a bunch of sillies! Mommy got a new cooking skillet with the big straight sides from santa for christmas in this box.

Christmas is here!

Here we are on Saturday for our Christmas dinner. Daddy makes the most rockin' turkey and stuffing there ever was. And mommy's dinner rolls were the best she's ever made! Wha whoo! That turkey was so big, we are still eating it a week later! We decided to do the big dinner the day before because church was at 1pm in the afternoon the next day and that would just be too stressful the cram it all together! It was so much better to just enjoy the yummy re-heated leftovers after present unwrapping, mess picking-uping, surviving one hour of church and stimulation over load melt downs.

Waiting in the hall to enter that Santa drop zone while we take turns using the potty in the morning.

And the wait was worth it! I think daddy liked the sight just as much as the girls did. Lizzy was so funny. She freaked out when someone else got a present and it wasn't all for her. She was the one who was in melt down mode by 8am because of all the stuff on the floor! -Cherie, notice our stack of VHS movies beside our TV. That's two piles! One in front of the other. Matt's mom hit the jack pot at a garage sale this summer. We haven't even watched them all!

The girls saying Hi to G and G Hayden on skype. They always open presents with us on Christmas morning! Its fun to share the morning magic with them.

Ballet class

Here's our last ballet class of the year. Nyla and Lizzy are learning first position. This was such a fun class for the girls. The teachers were so fun. They did some tap, some ballet and some silly wiggle songs. Perfect for first timers! And wiggle worms like Lizzy and Nyla.

Nyla acting like a pretty princess with her "crown" on. They were to walk , turn and hold their hands like a princess ballerina.

Nyla working on her turns. Lizzy, I'm not sure what she was doing. Half of the class she's paying attention and the other half is seeing how the laminate floor feels as she scoots across it on her back or belly. So glad this only cost me $10!

Here is Christopher out in the middle of all the girls! He loved this class as much as his sisters did! He was always wanting to get out there and bust a move with them all! And he would! They played all kinds of silly wiggle songs that made it so he just souldn't sit still!

Finding Nemo

Matt thought up the title to this one! Sigh. We have entered the unchartered territory of toilets with Christopher right now. I'm not totally sure how he got in there like that, but that hasn't stopped him any! Two days later I found him sitting in the toilet bowl, happy as a clam, soaked up to his waist in a cloth diaper and his little Robeez shoes. And my camera battery dead! What a shame. We have since been drilling the girls to close the door after using the bathroom!

Here he is in a less messy container! He was so proud of himself for getting in there. What a silly goose!

LIzzy's many PhoManChoos

One of these days, I'm going to make a book just of Lizzy's dirty faces. She's got a different Phoo Man Choo for just about every medium that you can think of. That this one for instance. What would you guess it is? Water colors. She likes to pretend that everything is make up right now!

I'm not sure if its because she's eating so fast or that she likes to experience her food that this face is the norm for our little Lizzy! We love her!

After the Recital

I should have done these pics first! Here we are enjoying a special treat after the Christmas Ballet Recital. Eating is never just eating for Lizzy. It is always an experience! Boy, does she like her chocolate!

Nyla is our slow eater and always takes her time. She is always only about halfway done by the time Lizzy has devoured hers and being the awesome older sister she is, shares a bite or two with her little sister.

Heres daddy showing Lizzy his baby ice cream cone.

Mommy and Brother shared some Peppermint Schtick ice cream here at Ben and Jerry's parlor! He loved his spoon and getting his own ice cream out of the cup.

Ballet Recital

Here's Nyla just before they got ready to perform. Unfortunately, we just videod the whole thing and didn't get any still pictures of them all! She was so excited to perform at the nursing home for all the "grandmas and grandpas".

At the end of their performance, all the kids handed out little candies and cards to all the residents that came to the show.

Here's a group picture with Miss Shelly(L) and Miss Cindy(R). Nyla is standing in the back by Miss Shelly and Lizzy is sitting on Miss Cindy's lap with the hat on.

Lizzy, having the sweet tooth that she does, didn't want to hand out her candy. She just wanted to eat it! They were one hat short so I volunteered to make one for Lizzy because I just so happened to have red felt at home. And handy. That I, you guessed it, found at a garage sale for just such an occasion as this! :) The felt was very nice and thick so Lizzy's hat stands straight up when she wears it. She looked like a little garden knomb!
She had such a fun time performing for the "grandmas and Granpas"! She is definately not afraid to get in front of a group of people! She got out there a busted a move.

Christopher's got wheels

So my sister sent this to my girls for a joint birthday present, but it has been taken over by Mr. Christopher himself. When ever we head down stairs to go out to play, he makes a bee line for it and pulls it out! Who cares if its pink and purple? Its got wheels and it goes!

He's even figured out how to make it go! He LOVES to push the button all by himself! I took the battery out to recharge it and he didn't care. He just pushed it around from the back!

The Making of a Family Tradition

The girls had so much fun making these fun ornaments! I found a bunch of green felt at (you guessed it!) a garage sale for a dollar. I cut out two trees each, put a hole in one for a picture, added cut cinnamon sticks for trunks and let the girls go to town with the sequins! I did hot glue the pictures and trees together because it stuck together faster.

Lizzy LOVES to find her ornament on the tree and show it to me at least once a day. It was such a fun activity that I think we will do this as our family tradition each year! What a tree that will be. :)

Here we all are with our goods laid out before us. I busted out my boxes and containers full of beads and sequins that have been breeding in my craft collection. Yeah! I knew I was holding on to those all these years for something...

Lizzy picked her own picture out and was enjoying putting some on and taking some off, and then putting a few more on. She even got to pick her ribbon to hang her tree. Pink of course!

Our ornaments for 2011

Here's Lizzy's! She was so proud of her picture on her tree!

Nyla was enjoying a little ice cream with pie pastry cookies while admiring her new ornament.

Dad was very focused on getting all the green sequins to get his tree just right. It is a beautiful sight to see!