Chloe ROCKS

My Newest Niece

Enjoyed meeting my newest niece, Abigail, today. My brother and his wife make beautiful babies!

Stephen Playing on the Chin iPad Mini

Sleeping Angel?

Children always look so angelic when they are asleep. This one was so tired when I picked her up today she had a tantrum roughly every 15 minutes from 5-7. Needless to say, I was very glad when bedtime rolled around (as was she).

Evie with Her "iPad"

Which is really a Leap Frog LeapPad.

Play House

Grammy and Pops gave this play house to the girls for Christmas. I set it up today and they spent a couple of hours coloring it and playing in it. The only problem is it is so big the only place I had room for it was the foyer!

Christmas Day 2012

We've had a lovely Christmas Day. The girls actually slept in until 7:30 this morning (must've been all the excitement at Grammy's yesterday) so I was the first one up. They were thrilled that Santa had come and filled their stockings and left them presents. Here are a few highlights ...

 Darcy's favorite thing was the Hershey's Kisses in her stocking. She ate four or five before I realized what was happening (note the two in her little fist).

Santa brought the kitties this catnip mouse, which Susie started playing with right away, even with the girls around (which is saying something for her).

And Evie's favorite toy today was the Jake and the Neverland Pirates ship that Grandma and Grandpa got her. She wanted it out of the package immediately and tried to see if Kitty fit in the crow's nest. So cute.

My favorite thing was the iPad Mini my parents surprised me with. I was surprised and elated and spent a great deal of time today playing with it. (Thanks again Mom and Dad!)

We spent the afternoon at Blake's parents house with Blake's brother and his family. We had a very nice dinner together (best things were the turkey and the fruit salad, in my opinion). Then it was time for bath and bed time so we all headed home. All in all, a very nice Christmas!

Treats for Santa

Apparently Santa really likes Milano cookies (according to Evie) ...

Potty Mouth

Christmas Eve 2012

We spent Christmas Eve at Grammy and Pops house and decided to let the girls open their gifts from them today so they wouldn't be so overwhelmed by everything tomorrow.

Darcy got a tricycle (her feet reach the pedals, but not enough to push them yet).

Evie got a Cinderella doll (which Darcy ended up playing with most of the afternoon).

Darcy loved her LOL Elmo.

And both girls got these really cool fairy wings (which go great with Santa hats apparently).

First Hot Chocolate

Evie's class made little baggies of hot chocolate as presents for the parenys. She has begged all weekend to try some so here we are. The temperature threw her off at first, but she soon got used to it and declared, "I like hot chocolate!"

O Christmas Tree

The girls have had fun playing with this toy Christmas tree today, which Grammy got for Darcy last year.

Snuggled Up

They did this themselves. Warms my heart!

Funniest Picture

My boss hosted a holiday party for our department this evening, which was very fun. Everyone brought in pictures of themselves from a childhood Christmas and we told stories about holidays past. The photo above is of me circa 1984, which would make me about 3 years old. (Clearly I knew I was fabulous even back then!) Afterwards a team of qualified judges (a 9, 7 and 4 year old) gave out prizes for "the best" photos. I won for funniest photo, which was much appreciated.

Best. Smelling. Hand Soap. Ever.

A lame post, I know. But since I was diagnosed with minor bronchitis today, I hope you'll cut me some slack!

Sweet Sister Moment

Learning to go down the stairs ...

You Know

Just riding around in a shopping cart wearing Santa hats. Just your average Sunday in the Mallard Household.

Carousel

We took the girls to see Santa this morning, but the wait was going to be more than two hours so we took them on a carousel ride instead. (Honestly, I don't think they cared!)

Gorgeous Day in Tampaland

Susie loves this time of year, too!

(And no complaints about cat pictures, Kim! I am pooped tonight.)

Big

I noticed this morning that Darcy's feet touch the bottom of the footrest on her high chair. When did my baby get so big?

Christmas Program 2012

Tonight was Evie's Christmas program at her preschool. Her class sang Must Be Santa and Feliz Navidad. She sang loud and proud about half the time and spent the other half playing with the fake belt buckle on her shirt.

Typical

Darcy cleaned her plate (and asked for seconds), while Evie avoided her food like I was asking her to eat spinach (it was pizza).

Not sure where they're going ...

But Evie spent a great deal of time loading Pooh and friends (which are actually ornaments) into her Zoo Talkers car.

Trimming the Tree

My dad had set the tree up while I was in Boston and added the lights, angel and plain gold ornaments. It was a much-appreciated start, but didn't look quite finished. So today I decided to pull out all my ornaments and finish the job. I hadn't set eyes on any of my ornaments in two years since last year we were living with Blake's parents and all my decorations were in storage, so in a way it was like a walk down memory lane.

I quickly realized there were three major groups of ornaments ...

1. Star Wars (I am the proud owner of not one, but two Death Stars).

2. Florida State (Can one really ever have enough FSU ornaments?)

3. Keepsakes, both from our own childhoods (or at least Blake's) as well as from throughout our marriage and the birth of the girls.

These are a few of my favorites in this category ...

Baby's 1st Christmas for both Evie and Darcy.

This butterfly ornament my dad bought me from Bronner's in Frankenmuth, MI, when we were living in Saginaw.

This one from Blake's mom, which applies to both Blake and I since we are both the youngest in our families.

 

Evie's favorite was this Santa booty that farts. Sigh. Like father, like daughter. She kept saying, "Watch Mommy!" and she'd push the button and crack up at the noises.

Here's the finished product. Pretty nice, I think!

Calvin loves this time of year ...

"Mom! Let me take a picture!"

Photography by Evie.

Yeah

Not my best photo, but I have a terrible cold and it's the best I could do this evening. I figured as long as the girls were in it, I could get away with it!