Christmas Eve

Ho Ho Ho! Its Christmas Eve. The kids are both asleep and I am taking a break from building toys as Mike labors over building an art table for Santa. Tonight we took the girls on a drive to look at lights. They didn't like it as I had hoped, so we didn't get to enjoy many, but it was still a good time.

Before we took off, Reilly put together a plate of goodies for Santa with fudge and milk and cereal for the reindeers. Here is a picture of the plate, and Reilly sampling the fudge...and one of the girls in front of the tree. Back to building - Merry Christmas!

Florida Ice Skating

We went Ice Skating at the Light Up UCF this weekend with Reilly's friend Carson. The girls had a great time and did surprisingly well with the skates.







After we went skating the girls had a good time running on the lawn...Brooke chased them as much as she could, then took a break on this bench while they ran in the back.

Meeting Santa

Neither of the girls really liked the idea of meeting Santa - so here they are next to him -- and they caught Brooke between cries!

8th Night

For the 8th night, we hung out with the Gold Family. Layla and Brooke had a great time playing, and so did Mason and Reilly. Reilly and Mason have grown up so much and have really taken on the role of big sibling. Its fun to watch the 4 of them together, even if we sit and talk about how much easier it was when it was just 2! :-)

Reilly's Class Hannukah Party

Reilly's class had a Hannukah party for the last day. They had a nice lunch, sang songs, lit the candles and made candy dreidels - it was a lot of fun!

Hannukah Night 4

Hannukah Night 2

We just finished up 8 crazy nights and now I am taking a few moments to catch up here on the blog. The girls have had a great, but very busy, Hannukah. Reilly performed on the 3rd night in Winter Park and on the 6th night at her school. We also were lucky enough to have Grandma Lina and Aunt Wendy visiting from California.

On the 2nd night of Hannukah, Grandma Trudy, Aunt Lauren, Uncle Zoe and Cousin Ben came over.

Aunt Wendy

Here is another great picture of Aunt Wendy with Brooke.

Brooke is Walking

Brooke has been dabbling with walking for a couple weeks, but on Thursday she took off overnight and we haven't been able to stop her since then!

Visit from Grandma Lina and Wendy

Aunt Wendy and Grandma Lina are here visiting. The girls have been having a great time. Today Reilly stayed home and went to the movies and baked cookies with them. She just loves having them here.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

While Nana was here, we put up our tree. Reilly and Brooke had a blast.

Reilly & Brooke with the lights


Brooke helping Mommy


Reilly putting the star on, we have decided this is the tradition of the oldest, so I guess Reilly gets to do it every year. And it was her favorite part!


Brooke says, "Me too!!!"


The girls had fun with the ornaments


Brooke wanted to taste them though ;-)



Reilly putting up Brooke's new ornament from Nana

Nannnnnna!

Nana just came out for a visit and boy, did the girls love having her here! They had lots of playtime with her, we put up our tree and we went to see Santa. Here is a cute picture of them together!

Early Thanksgiving

The girls both had Thanksgiving celebrations in class. We didn't make it to Reilly's - but she had a great time and talked all about the different foods they tried. We were also greeted by this Thanksgiving greeting from her - what could be better???



We did make it to Brooke's class. They played games and feasted on turkey, corn muffins, sweet potatoes, green beans and applesauce. The teachers put on a great party, it was a lot of fun. And watching the kids at this age, in their element is a lot of fun. They know how to sit with their friends and eat like big kids. Super cute! We also caught a little video of Brooke taking a few steps!

More Walking

Here is a picture of Brookie taking a few steps! She looks like she is realllllly concentrating.

Just a cute picture :-)

Random Updates

It has been a whirlwind lately - sooo busy! I have had a bunch of stories I have wanted to blog about with accompanying pictures. But now that we are moving into the holidays, I figured it was time for one big post just to catch up. We had a fun weekend full of lots of family time. Brooke is coming into her own and is developing such a great personality. Tonight I was trying to pull something out of her mouth and she bit down HARD on my finger (boy...her teeth are SHARP!!), as I screamed she laughed so hard!! And all while she was laughing, she kept chomping down. She laughed so hard that despite the pain, I couldn't help laughing. And while my finger was in there I discovered two new teeth and what feels like a third coming in!

As I said in my last post, I love the age of three. I feel like I can communicate and joke with Reilly and a whole new level. Tonight she reminded me of my childhood a couple times. She built a fort this weekend for her and Brooke to play in, and we talked about how cool it would be to sleep in there. I remember my sister, Wendy, and I doing that.

Then just now as I was starting this blog post, she kept coming out of her bed to "tell me something." I went back in with her one time and in her bed was Ariel, flounder, a picture of her and cousin Ben and her pink sheep lovey. She told me she was pretending the picture was the ocean and flounder had to stay on the picture because he lives in the ocean...and so does Ariel, but she is too big to stay on the picture. hahah! So, then we decided the carpet would make a better ocean so they should all sleep down there. And since Sebastian was missing, her lovey was pretending to be him. As I was leaving her room, she made me swim out!

I know this sounds like a ramble, but I think parents will appreciate the joy this night brought me :-) And Wendy will know why I thought it was fun that Reilly made the carpet the ocean. Because when we were kids...our carpet was blue and we used to jump from bed to bed pretending they were boats and the carpet was the ocean.

Without further rambling, here is a collection of random photos from the last two months. They don't go together, they are all just special events and moments that I wanted to capture on the blog.


Daddy showing Reilly how to cut a balloon out of the fan -- oops!


Reilly riding a pony


Reilly and her class as "Shabbat Stars"


Reilly's soccer coach trying to convince her to kick the ball


Reilly and Grandpa spending quality time at the gazebo



Reilly and Cousin Holden at the park

Diva in Training

I LOVEEEEEE 3 years old! Reilly is a little person who notices everything and wants to do and try new things. Lately she has been very excited about "mommy things" like painting your nails. So, I decided to take her with me...and despite the fact that I was only able to get a pedicure because she ran out of patience...we had a great time! I will give up my manicure anytime for that precious time together doing "mommy things!"