Christmas 2015

What a great Christmas season! We have had so much fun celebrating the holidays this year. We decorated the house in early December, putting up our tree, hanging our stockings and putting lights outside.




The night we decorated Jennie, our Christmas Elf, showed up!

She has had some fun adventures at our house.




The girls got new Christmas PJs



Tim's parents joined us for Christmas this year! Ellasen loved baking and decorating cookies with Grandma!




On Christmas Eve Jennie, our elf, went back to the North Pole. She left us a little message for her last night.

On Christmas Eve we put out cookies and chocolate milk for Santa, and Ellasen read Twas the Night Before Christmas to everyone.


Then it was time for the elves to get to work...

Christmas morning was magical! The girls loved seeing all their gifts from Santa, and opening others from family. Stockings were a big hit too! Santa ate the cookies, drank the milk and even left a note! 















Gunner even got a stocking! It was also his birthday!


There were yummy treats throughout the day too...
The Christmas Feast

The beautiful bird

The eggnog


It was a great day spent with family...





We hope your family had a wonderful Christmas this year too! Happy New Year! 

Eden and Everly's 2nd Birthday Party

We started out Eden and Everly's birthday morning by finding that our Christmas elf, Jennie had hung up the girls' birthday banner and brought them a giant #2 balloon! The girls were super excited to see their birthday party decorations!


When Daddy got home from work we opened some gifts!




After gifts we sang Happy Birthday and had cupcakes!





Eden wanted to bring her new Minnie and Mickey to bed with her...

The next morning we opened some more gifts from my parents. They got the girls scooters and helmets. Eden and Everly loved them! 







After riding scooters for a while it was time to get ready for their party! We just had a few friends over. I made their favorite dinner (ravioli) and afterwards we opened a few more gifts, sang happy birthday and enjoyed chocolate cupcakes! The twins got their own smash cakes with a giant #2 candle each! 



Awesome new car from the Hornbys!













The girls had a great birthday I think, and it is so clear how loved they are by all of our family and friends! A big thank you to everyone who helped make their day extra special!

Eden and Everly are 2!

Eden and Everly are 2 years old! We are so in love with these girls and all the fun and joy they bring to our lives. They are really turning into little people with personalities and opinions of their own. We love watching them interact with each other, and while they do fuss at one anther from time to time they really are best friends. These two have never known life without each other and watching their relationship grow and change is one of the most fun parts of having twins. They have a lot in common, but as grow up their differences seem to shine through more and more.



At 2 Eden has a pretty easy going personality. She is pretty confident in herself these days. She has fun jumping at the trampoline park with the big kids or climbing high at the playground, but she is just as happy at home watching a Disney movie.  Eden pretty much goes with the flow most of the time, but she seems to have a few rules that go against her nature: Rule 1. All food is poison. Eat only what you have seen at least 15 times and watched sister eat without dying. Rule 2. All toys are yours. Especially toys your sister is happily playing with currently. Assume your sister's screams are ones of encouragement in your endeavor to return said toy to its rightful home. Eden has the cutest little smile and she finds the best things funny. Her belly laugh is so genuine and shakes her whole body. She is strong and independent and just lights up our whole world.



At 2 Everly has two personalities. She can either be the sweetest, happiest, cuddliest kid ever or the most angry, frustrated, mad kid ever. There is no in between and it can change on a dime. Her personality switches seem to lack rhyme or reason, but we get to see each many times throughout the day. When Everly is happy she loves to be held, she loves to snuggle, she loves to give kisses and play peek-a-boo. She loves to be silly and make people laugh. She loves to sing and tell you all she knows. When Everly is mad she is a ball of angry fire causing destruction wherever she goes. She often throws tantrums, stomping her feet, arching her back and yelling loudly. She spends a lot of time in the time out corner. "Sorry" is a word she says many times a day.This girl has a wide variety of "feels" throughout the day.  Everly has a few rules she lives by too. Rule 1. Hitching a ride on someone's hip is a way better way to travel than walking. When possible ask "Up pease" in the cutest voice you can then sit back, relax and take in the view as you travel in style. Rule 2. All things in life need careful and complete examination before engaging. Hitch that ride on someone's hip (see above) and check out the scene for no less than 10 minutes before engaging in any way. Exception: food. All food is safe to consume immediately. Everly is a ball of energy and so aware of everything around her. When she smiles her whole face glows and it is impossible not to smile back. She loves her people fiercely and we love her right back.



Here are some things we notice about the girls together:
*They sleep from 7:00-7:45 and nap from 1-3:30
*They love Mickey, Minnie, Frozen and Elmo
*They are in size 4 diapers
*They can sing most of the ABC's
*They can count 1-10
*They can name many animal sounds
*They are learning colors and numbers
*They love books
*They love to color and use stickers
*They don't like to be apart
*They take turns following one another around
*They both like routine. They like to do things in the same order every day
*Their favorite song is "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"
*Their favorite movie is "Frozen"


 




Here are some things we notice about Eden:
*She is 33.5 inches tall
*She weighs 22.5 lbs
*She is a picky eater, but loves pasta, applesauce, yogurt, muffins, turkey dogs and sausage
*She can use at least two word sentences
*She LOVES tv
*She wears size 18-24 month pants...and they are a little big
*She still takes a paci in her bed
*She has a lot of energy and seems to always be busy with a plan in her head
*Her favorite book is "Wheels on the Bus"




 




Here are some things we notice about Everly:
*She is 33 inches tall
*She weighs 25.5 lbs
*She is not a picky eater but loves pizza, chicken, cereal bars, cheese, broccoli, green beans and chocolate chips
*She is starting to string three words together into a sentence
*We think she might have a good memory (like Tim's). If we read a book that rhymes to her a few times and then leave out the last word of each line the next time she can remember and say the words. She did this with the whole "Twas the Night Before Christmas" book the other day.
*She wears 2T pants, but they are a little small.
*She needs her sleep and food
*Her favorite book is "The Lady with the Alligator Purse"


This is our last monthly post for the twins! We will do another update on what they have been up to in 6 months! We are having a little party for the girls tomorrow so I'll put that in separate post, and of course we will still have a family update every month.