Reading time-3

We even read to the dolls in this house.

Reading Time-2

Reading time

The kids have been spending a lot of time reading, and lately I have managed to capture it with the camera. Now, you get to see the pictures.

Biking

Daddy takes his bike to work many days. He has some issues with making sure drivers can see him. To make himself more visible, he added a little bit of reflective tape to his bike. I think he will be more visible riding home at dusk. His new fluorescent green rain jacket that he got for Christmas will help too.

Baking

This little one REALLY likes to help mommy bake! especially when it is chocolate cake.

Puzzles

We love puzzles and Princess is very proud when she finishes one. She even asks to get her picture taken with the completed works. Thanks for the new puzzles Grandma!

Construction

This is how you see over the fence, When this is on the other side of the fence.

32 Pillowcases?

Sometimes the mess around here gets a little overwhelming, especially when I have kids help me put away laundry. They tend to stuff and shove instead of placing neatly. This week the linen closet had finally reached maximum capacity. It was a disaster. I dumped all the stuff out on the hall floor.Then I sorted, folded, put in the donate pile and put some of it back. I had tons of stuf that I had never used. I now have less stuff and I can find what I need. However, I still have 32 pillowcases (not including the ones on the beds currently) I need to do something with all of those. As a side note, I also found 3 tubes of toothpaste, 5 toothbrushes, 6 bottles of shampoo and several free samples. Now maybe I will start using those, instead of buying new. You can save money by being organized.

Fashion

This is the latest fashion in our house. This was taken after she came downstairs after her 20 minute "nap" I found a HUGE mess of clothes, toys and diapers in her room. Take note, when I sent her to bed, she had pants on and the sweater was in the laundry basket to be washed.

Hair

This is just a cute picture of the girls. (taken before my shower) This was me every morning before going to school.

New hair

We had an outing today that was needed. I went to the salon last week and got my hair cut, when I got home Princess asked why I didn't take her, because she needed her hair cut. I will admit, she did need a cut, but I needed some time away.

Today it was her turn. We went early to look at the books so she could decide if she wanted something different. She wanted to grow out her bangs, but that is a long process that is frustrating. So with some encouragement from the hairdresser, we decided not to do that and then she picked out this cut. I love it. Hopefully now I won't have to struggle every morning to do her hair and she can just brush it herself. It is totally different and she looks really grown up. To see what I was dealing with every day scroll down to the Christmas pictures... not a good hair day.

Surprises

Corn meal with a side of Little people

Little People

We love playing with the "little people" play set. We started with one set when princess was little and we added new pieces since then. The kids all love playing them, and we dug out them all this week to spread around the rug.

Ice Skating

We took the kids ice skating again, Princess and Buddy have been begging for a long time. They remember going last year and loving it. they loved it again this year, but I think Princess spent more time on her backside than on her feet, but she wants to go back soon.

Play time

The kids are off school for Christmas break, so we have had some time to play around the house. When I tried to take a picture of the two little kids in the doll stroller, but that soon turned into a contest over who could make the silliest face.

Laundry

Sometimes I wonder why I spend money on toys, though I will admit this was taken the day before they got all their new Christmas presents. I think they would still play with them even with the new stuff. The video is hilarious, but you might want to turn down the volume, for some reason it is pretty loud.

b

Christmas morning pictures

I actually didn't take very many pictures of Christmas morning, this year I have a few, but I kept forgetting about the camera. We had a relaxing Christmas day and spent a lot of time with each other and reading the Christmas story. Thank you to all of our family that sent presents!

As a side note to this, I wanted to share something we did in our house this year. We made a decision this year to limit the amount of Christmas presents we give. The kids got one toy present and one book from mom and dad. We filled their stocking, and then they got one present from the grandparents and other family. We have learned that in our family having too many gifts is not enjoyable. The kids either want to rip through all of them so by the time they are done they can't remember the first ones they opened or they get so overwhelmed by the stuff that they are crying before they finish opening the presents. This year we achieved a great balance and I hope we can repeat it again next year.