From last week's trip to the bakery...

Liv couldn't resist cleaning her plate,



there were blueberries all over "tiny munchkin",


and I can barely believe it but this little darling will be 1 year old very soon.

I had a little visitor at the office while Chris changed the tire on my car. She charmed everyone.

Enjoy a handful of pictures from our busy weekend. I'll update with more pictures very soon.

We've had a busy social calendar full of gingerbread house decorating parties, birthdays and a wedding! It's been lots of fun.
And Violet's big news is that she got her first tooth and took her first step this week! For her first step she was playing with her walking toy lion and got so caught up in things that she forgot she wasn't holding on when she took a step back and to the side. She didn't fall, she just grabbed hold of the lion again.

Some funny quotes from Liv:
"This is a stable so Santa won't poop in his panties."
"Mommy I swallowed my teeth." Clever, sweet girl was telling me her throat hurt.

This wonderful pop up book by Robert Sabuda is what we read for our advent activity tonight.

We set out our advent calendar (a three dimensional house with drawers for the windows) while Liv and Violet were sleeping last night. When Liv woke up this morning and saw it she ran to Chris and said "Daddy, there's a Santa house in our living room! Who did it? Was it my decorating friends?" I have no idea who these decorating friends are but I wish they'd come around more often.

I was inspired by a few blogs on the internet to do an activity advent calendar instead of putting treats in the calendar. Today's activity was to drink egg nog out of our Santa mugs. Liv decided she'd rather have hot cocoa so we did that instead. We enjoyed our drinks out on the front porch with our large tree covered in white lights. And Chris told a great story about "Doropede" the dinosaur and how she drank cocoa with her mommy and daddy. Liv has been a big fan of the Wiggles and Dorothy the dinosaur all year long. Here are some pictures of Liv and Chris making the hot cocoa.

Here's the note we put into the calendar.

Something nice to know about 3 year olds.

All year long Olivia has been asking me to fly her kite with her. And all year long (with exception of our trip to the beach) I've said 'it's too hot' or 'there's no wind' or 'we don't have time right now'. In regards to the time excuse here's what I had in my mind for kite flying. Get the girls and myself ready, pack snacks and water for a 2 hour trip and get out the door (a monumental task when you have a babe that still naps 3 times a day), drive or walk to a park and keep Violet protected from energetic dogs/kids while I help Liv fly a kite.

She asked again a few Saturdays ago. And since we were sitting on our front porch and her kite was handy and the wind was gusty AND Violet was taking a long nap I figured sure! Let's give it a go.

So Liv got her kite, put her shoes on and we walked down the porch steps to the front yard. We tossed the kite into the air (Daddy showed up about this time), Liv ran around giggling, I took photos and after 10 to 15 minutes of pure 3 year old joy at watching a kite fly and fall to the ground repeatedly she was satisfied and we all went back to the porch.

Well here's the thing to know about 3 year olds. Sometimes they are happy with so little that it does you a lot more good (think good karma) to say 'sure, why not?' than to keep telling them 'no'. If I had known how little it would take to make Liv happy I would have flown a kite with her for 10 minutes many months ago.

These toes need a good cleaning!

It turns out that chubby little baby toes are perfect traps for all that extra soft fluff in little socks. And it also seems that 3 year olds' fingers are just the right size for getting fuzz out of those chubby little baby toes. Who knew?!

Some pics from Halloween

Pony rides...









Yes, that's Violet on a pony. Notice my grip on her arm and leg; she wasn't going anywhere!

Here is Olivia trying on her Dorothy the dinosaur costume that mom and I made. Violet was very curious.

What makes Violet laugh...
anything goofy that her sister does
zerberts on her belly
Liv twirling her around in a shopping cart

What makes Violet upset...
Liv closing the door to her bedroom; especially when Violet is scooting down the hallway toward the bedroom
Mommy trying to put her to bed without a bed-time story

Violet's milestones update...
Violet's been saying "da da" for a few weeks now.
She only says "ma ma" when she's really upset and she started that around August. I've only heard her say it a handful of times.
She's become very interested in books and actually looks at them closely while I read them. She keeps flipping back to the front cover as if she's making a note of the book title so she can find it again later.

Halloween at the bakery...

After I saw Liv petting the mummy I decided we really should have a picture. Too bad I couldn't get video.

At the bakery today Violet made some funny faces...


and Liv admired some big girls at the next table.

While picking out pumpkins...


Livy ran from pumpkin pile to pile in search of the best pumpkin...



and tripped over an Oak tree root that poked above the ground. It was her second busted lip in 3 days.

Many people comment on how beautiful Violet's eyes are. We agree!

Violet in the swing...

On our walk last week, Liv presented this magic wand to me.

Lunch with ladybugs...

Olivia’s already showing an interest in driving. A few months ago she asked me if I would buy her a pink tinkerbell car and she wasn’t referring to a toy folks; she was asking for a full-sized car. I know, I know, I can’t believe I’m already having car conversations with my child. Ah well.
Today she also asked her Daddy if he would show her how to drive when she gets older (at least she’s figured out this isn’t going to happen anytime soon). He said yes and then she asked “Will you show me how to t urn on the lights and the radio? And will you draw me a special map to where the ice cream cones are?” Yeah, I want that map too. I wonder what else she would like on her map…parks, pools, candy shops, any tinkerbell tourist hot spots and fairy doors. Oh the wonderful, magical world of childhood. I wish I could bottle it up and give her doses of it as she grows up. Just to spread the magic out over the years.

Liv's auntie requested more funny quotes. They happen daily but for some reason this is the only one I can think of right now. "Check it out at dot com mommy."

Getting three babies out the door is enough to wear a momma out. She's got Bart, Emma, babydoll, a diaper bag and the purse has food from her kitchen.

I don't have a good photo of Violet for today's post mainly because every picture I take of her is blurry. The girl just can't sit still. If we put her on the ground on her bottom she acts offended and rushes to the nearest piece of furniture to pull up on.

She hit two big milestones this week. She took her crawling beyond the tentative one or two knee scooches forward to crawling a foot or two. But she still prefers scooting on her belly when she's got to be somewhere in a hurry.

And the other milestone... she stood up without any help! It was for about three seconds. I was getting Liv ready for the bath and I turned to check on Violet and there she was- standing with her hands in the air. I had to look up and down to make sure I wasn't missing something like a stool she might be leaning on. But there was nothing, just Vi and her solid little legs holding her up. She didn't even wobble; she calmly put her hands back on the stool in front of her and went on about her business.

What Violet likes:
blueberry muffins
Cheerios
doing the robot dance in daddy's lap
bedtime stories with her sister
baths
naps
sucking on the two middle fingers on her left hand
anything her big sister does, especially dancing and singing
and her sister's room

What Violet doesn't like:
teething
getting dressed and undressed