Merry Christmas

I dressed the kids up in their Christmas clothes yesterday and got a couple of cute pictures. They were smiling and doing really well until Daphne fell off the ottoman and landed on her head....sigh.... (and yes, Zachary does have a chocolate milk mustache because it's impossible to keep that child clean!)

9 Months Old!!!

Wow, I can't believe my baby is 9 months already!!! Time has flown by so fast, but I really love this stage so I wish it would slow down just a little bit.... Anyway, here are a few things my little cutie-pie is doing:
She has perfected a gimpy crawling technique. Instead of hands and knees, she uses one knee and then pushes off with the other foot. It looks funny, but she gets where she wants to go!! She's so much happier now that she can crawl, which makes my life much easier. She's also pulling herself up on everything, of course, and even getting to the point where she doesn't fall quite as often. Her favorite thing to do, however, is to walk (or run!) while holding onto my fingers.
She says da-da-da ALL the time, unless she wants your attention, and then she shortens it to one loud DA! She loves to play peek-a-boo, and she's finally starting to giggle regularly.
She still just has her two bottom teeth, but her hair is finally starting to grow!
And lastly, she all of a sudden thinks that she doesn't need sleep!!! I don't know if she's ready to give up a nap or if it's just a phase, but yesterday she took one 30 min nap, and that was it!!! She was really happy all day despite the lack of sleep, however, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see how things pan out.
All in all, we love our little girl soooo much!

Reindeer Dancing

I have this cute reindeer that I bought a couple of years ago that sings "I Feel Good" and dances. Zachary and Daphne both love it, and Daphne starts dancing as soon as she hears it. It's so cute!!!

Snow Babies

Don't I have such cute little snow babies? (they remind me of the little boy on A Christmas Story)

Entertainment

The other night I was making dinner, and both Zachary and Daphne wanted me to play with them. They finally started playing together, and Zachary was playing peek-a-boo with Daphne in the pantry. In order to do this he had to take out all of the grocery bags that are in there, and they then discovered that plastic bags are a great entertainment!! They were super happy the rest of the time I was making dinner, so I guess all I need to get them for Christmas are a few bags!!!

Putting up the Christmas Tree

Zachary, Daphne, and I had fun putting up the Christmas tree this year. Zachary wanted to help me every step of the way, and he got so excited when each piece was finished. Daphne just wanted to climb up on it, but she loved playing with the ornaments. I went and got plastic ornaments last year after Zachary broke about three of them within the first hour, so now I don't have to worry so much about my tree. Zachary's favorite part, however, is the train that goes around the tree. He's always asking if he can turn it on, and he'll sit there for several minutes at a time just watching it go around and around and around. I must say, I love Christmas even more now that I have kids!!!

How can you say no to that cute little face and those huge brown eyes?

Chocolates!!!

'Tis the season for.....Dipping Chocolates!!!!
Every year, my family gets together and dips chocolates for 4 or 5 days, resulting in thousands of yummy temptations. It's something I look forward to all year, but it is getting a little more difficult now that I have two little kids running around.... I have to say, though, that I have definitely given my sweet tooth to them!!

Every time we walked past the counter while holding Daphne, she would lunge for the chocolate

"this sure is good mom!"

Zachary helping himself to a caramel

the stinker wouldn't let me take any more pictures of him

8 Months Old!

Daphne is 8 months old, and growing up so fast!! She has hit a lot of milestones this month: She got her first two teeth (thank goodness they're in, because she was Grumpy!!!), she perfected sitting, and on her 8 month birthday she figured out how to crawl!! She crawls kind of funny because she mostly drags one leg behind her, but it gets her where she wants to be and she loves it!!! She is now trying to pull herself up on everything of course, and is super proud of herself when she accomplishes something. We love her to death, and we're having so much fun watching her grow.

Playing in the Leaves

I was beginning to wonder if I was going to get any pictures of the kids playing in the leaves this year because they fell really late. I didn't end up with much of a window, but I managed to get some cute ones :)

These first few were taken when it was still quite warm out, even though it was the first week of November :)

I don't get a lot of camera smiles out of him anymore, so this made me happy

By the time there were actually a good amount of leaves on the ground it was cold outside!

Daphne wasn't sure what to think....

but she still liked eating them :)