Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas!  We were in Dayton the Wednesday before Christmas through Christmas Eve night.  We had fun visiting with everyone.  Here are some pictures of us opening gifts on Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

 Bella checking out what Ari got.

 Jack modeling his new shirt.  It says, "Most Eligible Bachelor"

 Bella looking sweet as she opens a gift.

Bella tearing into her gifts.

 Jack opening his gifts.

 Jack looking sweet opening his gift.

 Ari and Bella checking out what's inside the box.



And in typical kid fashion - Jack and Bella rather play with the empty boxes than with their toys!

We went home Christmas Eve night to get ready for Santa to visit our house.  When we got home Jack and Bella found that Ollie the Elf had left them matching Christmas pajamas.

After we got them ready for bed, we put out milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

Bella eating some of the reindeers' carrots.  What a healthy choice - carrots over cookies! :)

We woke up Christmas morning to find that Santa left Jack and Bella a lot of gifts including their very own pretend kitchen.  Enjoy these pictures of them opening their gifts.

Christmas Day afternoon we went to Gigi's house to celebrate Christmas.  I unfortunately forgot to take any pictures, but Jack and Bella had a great time with everyone there, especially Vinnie and Gabbie.

 Hope you had a Merry Christmas!

See you tomorrow!

Working Hard or Hardly Working

Today Jack and Bella went to Aunt Cathy's work.  Here they are working hard at her desk.

See you tomorrow!

Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake

Today we baked Christmas cookies for Santa.  Enjoy these pictures of Jack and Bella!

See you tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Gabbie!

Today was Gabbie's fourth birthday. We went to Dave and Buster's for lunch to celebrate.  Enjoy these pictures of Jack and Bella playing some games.

Bella wanted to drive all the cars there.

Jack and Bella playing Dance Dance Revolution.

See you tomorrow!

Scrub, Scrub

We had a fun day today!  We went with Jen, Wyatt, Sam, Cameron, and Gracen to Galaxy Golf and Games to play and have lunch.  Jack and Bella loved climbing through all the tunnels and going down all the slides.  It really wore them out because they both took really good naps this afternoon.  I actually woke Jack up from his nap because I was afraid if he slept any longer he wouldn't fall asleep tonight!  I had to take a nap while they were sleeping today because I have been feeling so tired.  So I didn't get anything done that I needed to today, but there's always tomorrow.

Here are Jack and Bella in the tub tonight getting all clean after their day of fun.

See you tomorrow!

One and a Half!

Yesterday Bella turned 18 months old and she had her well check up this morning.

 She is 35.5 inches tall.  She is still off the charts for height!

 She weighs 28 pounds.  Dr Riccardio said she is the weight of an average two and half year old!

 Dr. Riccardio was also impressed she can say things like, "Stop it!" and "Come on!"  I think it helps to have a 16 month older brother! :)

Where was Jack during Bella's check up?

He sat with us in the exam room eating his Cheerios like a good boy!

See you tomorrow!

Baby Its Cold Outside

It snowed 3 inches yesterday and the temperature dropped down into highs in the twenties with wind chills around 0!  Here are Bella and Jack all bundled up when we left our house this morning.  So cute!

See you tomorrow!

Christmas Cometh Early

When Jack and Bella woke up this morning they found Ollie the Elf sitting under the Christmas tree with a letter from Santa and a gift for each of them.  Each year "Santa Claus" (a.k.a. Aunt Cathy) sends Jack and Bella each a letter about what he has observed during the past year and a little gift.  This year they each got a book.   Here they are opening their letters and gifts. 

What lucky kids they are to have such a thoughful aunt!

See you tomorrow!

Season of Giving

Today we took Jack and Bella to our local fire station where they were collecting new toys for kids in need.  Here are my little philanthropists holding the toys they donated.  Jack chose a Curious George stuffed animal and Bella chose Barbie dolls to donate. 

After we did our good deed for the day we went to the mall to visit Santa Claus.  Jack was all smiles for jolly ol' St. Nick.

Bella, on the other hand, was terrified of him. 

Poor girl!  Maybe next year she will warm up to him :)

See you tomorrow!

Its the Holiday Season

To get Jack and Bella excited for Christmas, I broke out their Christmas place mats and sippy cups,  The place mats have a countdown calendar on them.  Here are Jack and Bella checking out how many days til Santa.  (18 if you are wondering!)

Jack all smiles with his Santa sippy cup.

 Bella, on the other hand, says, "Bah-humbug!"

Lately, Bella has been all about Elmo as evidenced in this video! :)

See you tomorrow!

What.A.Day.

Today was not a good day.

  We went to COSI and met our friends Jen, Wyatt, Sam, Cameron and Gracen.  Bella was an angel.  Here she is pushing the baby dolls in the grocery cart at COSI.

 Jack on the other hand - not so good.  He pushed Wyatt and Sam, he took toys away from kids, he pouted every time I told him to do something, and  he ran away from me when it was time to go home.  I'm not sure what got into him today.  Here he is playing at COSI.

When we got home he wanted to tell Ollie all the things he did naughty at COSI.  Here they are having a "talk".

Here's hoping that Ollie talked some sense in to him for tomorrow.

See you tomorrow!

Brrrrr!

Last night it dropped 20 degrees and the highs are only going to be in the 30s all week.  We woke up this morning to the season's first snow flurries.  Here is a picture of Jack and Bella checking out the snowfall while I let Kiefer out this morning.

See you tomorrow!

Love Them!

Look how cute these kids are!  Enjoy these pictures of them in the bath tub tonight.

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See you tomorrow!

Thankful

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend.  On Thursday we woke up to the door bell ringing.  Santa Claus sent one of his elves to stay with us.   We named the elf, Oliver - Ollie for short.  He flies back to the North Pole at night to report to Santa what he observed Jack and Bella doing that day.  Each morning he is in a different spot.  They are so excited to find him in the morning.   Here are some pictures of Jack and Bella opening up the box Ollie came in on Thanksgiving morning.

Then we went to Gigi's house for Thanksgiving.  Jack and Bella had a great time playing with Vinnie and Gabbie.  We also celebrated Vinnie 6th birthday.  Here are Jack and Bella with Vinnie getting ready to blow out the candles.

Thanksgiving afternoon we went to Dayton to celebrate with Grandpa and Grandma.  Jack and Bella loved playing with Barbie and Shum.  After they went to bed, I drove back to Columbus so I could go shopping on Black Friday while Aaron and the kids stayed in Dayton.  They had a great time with Grandpa and Grandma and I got some great deals!  They came home Friday night and when we woke up on Saturday morning we found Ollie sitting on the chalkboard.  He wrote Jack and Bella this letter...

So after we watched Ohio State beat Michigan (Go Bucks!) we set up the Christmas tree.  Here are some pictures of Santa's little helpers.

Since we had a busy holiday weekend, we took it easy on Sunday. Here are Jack and Bella watching a little TV together on the floor.

See you tomorrow!