Clyde the Camel

Every year our church has a "Come to Bethlehem" event. It teaches the kids about the true meaning of Christmas. Every year this includes a camel ride. So here is Daley in the middle...in a dress that I made for her last year I might add.

Christmas stress!

Daley and Laura around the tree
Laura striking a pose for the camera

The whole family Mommy and her girls

I really love this time of year. I drive around listening to Christmas music and love all of the lights and decorations, but UGGGGHHHH the shopping and preparation gets so old! Not too mention that in the last 14 days Daley has had strep throat and an ear infection, Laura had an ear infection in both ears, and Danny caught some nasty bug that had him running fever for almost three days along with puking...and other things. Everyone is recovering, but I'm still stressed.

OH WELL...

Enjoy the holiday pictures!

Gingerbread House

Laura took a nap this morning and we decided it was time to bring out the Gingerbread House Kit. Daley loved making this creation. I was in charge of the icing, Danny was head of construction, and Daley was the decorator. I think it came out pretty well. I wonder which child will be the first to attack it??

Hope everyone is having fun while preparing for Christmas. I went to Wal-Mart last night after work thinking it would be a great time to shop (9:00 pm), but it was a mad house. I tried to remain patient and focus on the real meaning of the season. It worked for the most part. That reminds me though of my trip to the mall yesterday afternoon. It was packed and we were on a mad hunt for gold shoes to match Laura's dress. In the middle of the mall they have carts set up to sell certain items. We walked past the "Moon Sand" cart one time and I quickly put my hand up and said "no thanks". After cruising through a shoe store we had to pass this same cart again. This time Daley was in front of me and this little twenty-something girl bent down and said "would you like to try Moon Sand". Of course Daley said yes. I bent down and told Daley not today then stood up, looked that little girl right in the eye and said "you should ask the parents before you ask the child to do anything!" What was she thinking. We will be making several trips to the mall in the next few weeks. If this happens again her and I will be having a looooonnnnng conversation. I think that is completely inappropriate. WHEW...I'm off that soap box now. Merry Christmas!

More Christmas Fun

The girls are ready for Christmas. It was so cold last night they had to wear their matching Christmas jammies a little early. The picture of Laura and I is one that Daley took with my camera. She loves taking pictures and will be getting her very own Fisher Price digital camera this year for Christmas...don't tell her though. The girls are both doing great. Laura has hit a significant milestone this week. She's learned how to blow her nose. For any parents out there you know that is a big deal at 16 months. Most kids only suck that stuff in, but Laura has mastered blowing everything out of her nose!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Here is a picture of my Uncle Dana and his daughter Courtney. He was THE Santa in Chicago's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He is a professional Santa and I honestly have not seen a better looking one ever! www.SantaChicago.com

Dress up

Here are a few more pictures from the last couple of weeks. This is Daley in a new outfit she picked out. She all of the sudden loves to pick out her own clothes.

Laura basically just likes to accessorize. She didn't get that from her mother. Here she is actually in the process of climbing on top of her sisters rocking chair. Another action that will most likely result in injury.

I've also posted a picture of Danny, Daley, and Wesley (along with some random girl) riding an elephant. We went to the Renaissance Festival with Larry, Jennifer, and Wesley a couple of weeks ago and had a blast.

High speed internet!

Well we have come out of the dark ages! We now have high speed internet. This means that I can get twice the work done in the same amount of time AND I can start posting more pictures on the internet.

Here are the girls hanging out on Laura's toy box. Daley loves to teach her how to do naughty things like...climb on top of her toy box. It is fine when we are in there, but now Laura will stroll into her room and climb on top of her toy box. If she makes it without hurting herself then she'll usually stand up on it. If she manages to do that without hurting herself she will then dive off of it. This always results in some kind of bump. Oh well...