Merry Christmas

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We did. It was a lovely holiday. We did a little something different this year. We traveled to Oregon to visit some old friends. We certainly missed seeing our extended families this Christmas, but did at least have the opportunity to call everyone on Christmas morning from our hotel room in Oregon.

Christmas, and all holidays for that matter, are so different now with children. It's like every emotion, every experience is magnified in its own wonderful way! Everything seems so much more enjoyable, meaningful and special now that we share it with kids!

Paige and Taylor were so sweet and cute to watch this Christmas. They loved every minute of their Christmas in their hotel room (from setting out snacks on Christmas Eve for Santa, sleeping together in a big bed in their very own hotel room (apart from dear ol' mom and dad's room), to waking up Christmas Day to discover that Santa had followed them all the way from California to Oregon just to make sure that they would have plenty of presents to open)!

The twins were thrilled with all their gifts! Thank you to all of our family who gave so many wonderful things to Paige and Taylor this year. And, of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't also say a BIG THANK YOU to the family for all the presents given to Paige and Taylor's mom and dad too!!!

Mommy & Me Day

It is December 23rd and our Christmas shopping is all done, the hustle and bustle to get ready for Christmas is done and now it's time to just enjoy the Christmas season. As a treat, Mike gave all 3 of "his girls" a gift certificate for lunch to "Cheesecake Factory" today. Having little girls is so much fun and the older that they get, the more I enjoy them and their company. Today, they were absolute angels at the restaurant, and I even noticed that they copied me when I put my napkin on my lap before the meal (it was the first time I observed them to do that all on their own and without any prompting from me; and let me tell you, that moment of good table manners from the twins made mommy so very proud.) It was truly a delightful day and I couldn't have asked for better company at "Cheesecake Factory" than my 2 beautiful daughters...

A fun mommy-and-me lunch in the city.

We also grabbed a little cheesecake to go for the Christmas holidays!

Day Trip to San Francisco

We drove to San Francisco today, a city we probably only visit once or twice a year even though it's nearly a stone's throw away. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, I think the last time we were in the city was in September when the twins' grandparents and great aunt were visiting from the East Coast. We went to San Francisco today to show the twins the "big city Christmas lights" because we'd already toured the lights of our town earlier in the week. San Francisco's Neiman Marcus and Macy's were both pretty spectacular with their displays of holiday lights, Christmas trees and wreaths. We also spent part of our afternoon at Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. A fun day, however, it was cold....even though I thought we'd all dressed warm enough, by the end of the day we were freezing!!! Highlights of the day: Crazy windy afternoon in San Francisco, clam chowder soup in a sourdough bread bowl, spotting my favorite street performer at Fisherman's Wharf, and the twins running around the boardwalk at Pier 39.

Love this guy! Every time I've been to Fisherman's Wharf, he's always playing in the exact same spot. Of all the street performers I've seen there, he's got major talent, tip-worthy talent!

Mike grabs hold of the girls - a warm welcome hug - at Pier 39 on a cold, windy day.

The twins give mommy a "break" from pushing their stroller.

Swing, swing, swing Taylor...

Swing, swing, swing Paige...

Enjoying the view.

Taylor gets the best view around, from the top of daddy's shoulders.

Enjoying the view.

Merry Christmas from Pier 39!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at our home, and as I sat down to write this post tonight, the song that kept running through my head was the Christmas classic "It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas". Whether you like the version by Meredeth Willson, Perry Como or Johnny Mathis, whenever the song comes on this time of year, if you're like me, you can't help but get in the spirit of the season. I took a few liberties here tonight to tweak some of the original lyrics to fit the photos that I have uploaded and to have just a little fun with a classic holiday tune. So if you've got the tune in your head, well, then you're ready, set, go...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go...

...there's a tree on the grand refrigerator (by Paige)...

...and one on the other refrigerator door as well (by Taylor)...

...Yes, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go...

...the prettiest sight to see will be the holly on our own front door...

...Take a look at the windows in the den, glistening once again...

...And string lights all aglow...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...books that will talk...

...is the hope of Taylor and Paige, and Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...soon the bells will start; and the thing that will make them ring is the carol that we sing right within our heart...

Bragabout Friday

I can't remember the last time I posted a "Bragabout Friday" blog, and since I'm in the mood to do a little bragging on Paige and Taylor tonight, I figured why not. The twins are growing up so fast (right before our very eyes) and somedays I can't believe what truly wonderful little girls they are becoming. Today, we spent some time sitting at the dining room table painting - painting a child-sized porcelain china tea set. I snapped a couple of pictures along the way just to capture the memories of our moments painting together, but what I really enjoyed far more than painting with the twins was just sitting back and observing Paige and Taylor. How they sat side by side, so quietly, in a state of deep concentration as they painted together. How they would gently dip their brush in and out of the various paint colors and then carefully stroke their china tea pot, cups, plates with their brushes. How they focused on their painting and afterwards, how they beamed with pride at their artistic creations. I could go on and on about how simple moments like this can make me marvel at Paige and Taylor, can make me appreciate their little lives so much, can make me so happy to be their mom and can make me just want to brag about them all the time...

Pediatrician Appointment Today

If the idea of 4 shots to each twin today doesn't sound like a lot of fun, well, you know what...you're right, it's not fun. Although Paige and Taylor are older now, and therefore don't require nearly as many pediatrician appointments as they used to, today happened to be their 4-year old well child visit and wouldn't you know it, for their 4-year old check-up, they each got 4 shots to the arm (completing their next series of immunizations). While the shots are never a pleasant experience, there were some good things that came from today's pediatrician appointment:

- Paige and Taylor are both doing great, no changes in their health or medical history.

- Paige is in the 25th percentile for her height and is in the 3rd percentile for her weight. That's right, she's still a petite little girl, but hey, at least she's on the charts now for her weight and we no longer have to use those customized, preemie, weight-adjusted/chronological age adjusted charts for her! YES!!! Success!!!

- Taylor is also in the 25th percentile for her height and is in the 25th percentile for her weight. Not much of a surprise there really. Taylor has always been the better of the two eaters and with Paige's history of GERD and her history of needing supplements and caloric boosts in her daily diet via her GI doctor's recommendations, the discrepancy between the two girls' weights is just what the pediatrician expected to see today.

So, good news today all the way around. No more immunizations shots until the twins turn 6 years old and both girls are eating, growing, thriving and doing just super!

Baking Christmas Cookies

No sooner do we celebrate turning 4 years old do we shift our attention to celebrating Christmas and all the fun stuff that comes with it, like baking Christmas cookies! I like to bake desserts - cookies, cakes, brownies, fudge you name it - and having the twins helping bake goodies with me gives a whole new meaning to baking during the holidays. Toddlers definitely have their own ideas about how to bake cookies, and the twins were also quite ambitious about the whole experience - they had their own ideas about rolling the cookie dough like this, placing the cookies on the baking sheet like that, etc. It was pretty hilarious to watch them in action. Perhaps it was those new gingerbread man aprons they now wear that gives them a newfound sense of commanding the kitchen and all the baking activities...well, whatever it may be, the twins were having a great time today as we were making cookies. I commend them for their ambition and their spirit of adventure in baking so many cookies today, but I gotta' say, there is still a little room for improvement in their patience levels when it comes time to watching and waiting for the cookies while they are in the oven.

Down on their knees, watching the cookies as they bake.

See what I mean - the 10 minute cook time for each cookie sheet was really trying their patience.

'Tis The Season

'Tis the season for holiday parties, cocktails, festive red dresses and black-tie attire. Last night, Mike and I spent the evening at his company's Christmas party. Here are just a couple of the pictures taken before leaving the house for the event...

Happy Birthday To Us...We're the Big 4 Today.

Snowy Day in the High Sierras

Yesterday, we loaded up our SUV and headed to the Sierra Mountains. With 4 feet of fresh snow fall this week, the twins, their "Momo" from Virginia and I bundled up in our warmest winter wear and spent the day enjoying a taste of winter at an elevation of 4,000+ feet. There were snow showers, snow ball fights, snow angels and snow eating contests! At the end of the snowy day, the twins were sound asleep by 6:30 PM and didn't wake up until 7:30 AM today. Talk about a fun day that totally wore them out...I can't remember the last time the twins were in bed that early or slept that late.

Side note: Our SUV was fantastic in the snow yesterday as we climbed through the mountains - we even got to use the 4WD at some points in our route!!! By the way, I'm happy that we chose to go yesterday and not today because the Sierras are getting another dumping of fresh snow as I sit here and type this posting, and I wouldn't want to be caught in a snow storm in the Sierra Mountains as it's happening at 4,000 feet...