A little help from your friends

Everyday I am amazed at how well my children play together.

Everyday I am amazed at how much my children fight while playing well together.

Well, this was one of those adorable moments. Adorable playing moments, not adorable fighting moments. Both of the girls got new scooters for Christmas. They haven't learned how to ride them just yet, but I am pretty sure they will be blazing trails by Spring. Right now, one of them will hop on the scooter and ask the other one to push them. It's adorable. My kids are adorable. Not that I am biased or anything. :)

Baby, it's cold outside!

Well, winter came in like a freaking lion this year. Seriously. COLD. The highs this next week aren't supposed to be over 20 degrees. The lows are, well LOW, like below zero. It looks like we will be spending lots of time indoors this winter. Nothing says, "I live in the midwest" like pasty, dry, and itchy skin.

And snow. Good Lord we have had our fair share of snow. In fact, it's snowing again right now. As if the 14 1/2 inches we got for Christmas wasn't enough. Really, it's enough already! I would love to take the girls sledding, but it's just too cold to be outside for more than a few minutes. Spring, please hurry!

Hey Dogs, it's not a good idea to go meet and greet the neighbors dogs when we have over 9 inches of snow on the ground packed under a thin layer of ice. Especially not a good idea when your legs are maybe 6-7 inches long. And Bailey, that doesn't count you. You are a low rider. I am pretty sure you will continue to visit the neighbor's dog and I will continue to slap on my snow boots to rescue you from a snow drift.

Blizzard winds = huge snowdrifts on the front porch Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas!

What a lovely Christmas we have had this year. We decided to spend Christmas here in Kansas with just the kids. All alone with all of our family celebrating back in Texas. It was the beginning of our new traditions for our new family. A beginning of many lovely Christmas's to come.

We started the Christmas tradition of reading Twas the Night Before Christmas. Luckily I was able to find a duplicate copy of the book illustrated by Grandma Moses on Ebay last year. My father would read the same book to us every year. Once we were older, we took turns reading the pages and looking at the art illustrations. We also opened the traditional gift of Christmas PJs. And since the girls are gaa gaa over Shrek we also let them open a new Shrek DVD. Aren't ogre's supposed to be scary? Not to my two little girls. They love ogres! After bath time we got dressed in our new pj's, read The Night Before Christmas, and watched a few minutes of their new DVD before bedtime.

Christmas morning ushered in about 7 inches of snow. Lovely. It was picture perfect. I love the peacefulness of a fresh layer of snow. Magical! The girls woke up at their normal time - 7am. We brought them downstairs to see what Santa had left. As soon as they rounded the corner their faces lit up! To see the excitement was priceless. We spent the morning opening our gifts and removing all of those crazy toy safety tags. It was difficult to get the girls to open all the gifts because once they opened one, they immediately wanted to play with it, forgetting the 20 other wrapped gifts under the tree. That afternoon, we feasted on the traditional Christmas dinner : turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, and fresh bread. This year was peaceful and lovely.

The snow continued for a few more days dumping over a foot of the white stuff. What a wonderful holiday to be snowed in.

We were under a Blizzard Warning Christmas Eve. Here is Katelyn watching the snow!

Katelyn sporting her new high heal shoes on the scooter.

Santa, what were you thinking when you brought the Shaw girls a 58 piece tea set? I will be tripping over cups and spoons for months now.

The girls were running around with a plastic candy cane filled with hershey kiss's. I didn't think they would figure out how to open it. Silly mommy. In the midst of washing dishes, I realized that the kids were VERY quiet. Never a good sign. This is what I saw when I found them. Jill, did you eat any chocolate?

Kate napping with her new Ariel barbie!

Jillian has been inseparable with her Dora Talking Backpack. Here she is napping with the map, compass, and video camera.

Rub a Dub, Don't poop in the tub

I have to say that it has been a while since the kids had an accident in the tub. Thank you kiddos! They recently wanted to take a bath in the big tub so I decided, what the heck?! Just don't poop in the tub please. :)

Say cheese please? They can be so goofy together. It makes all the fighting, hair pulling, and screaming melt away. Almost.

I love this picture of Kate. She is up to something, I am just not sure what.

As a side note, don't be jealous of that lovely floral tile gracing the master bath. It shabby crappy chic. Totally not our style and it has been added to the renovation list.