Christmas Break has come and gone

Sadly, the break is over. But I completely enjoyed my time with my sweet babies and family! We enjoyed our lazy days (even though they still started around 6:30 AM) and days of just being silly. I learned a little more about what Benjamin's cries mean, like he gets really fussy right before he falls asleep. And the second after ME turned 2, she completely grew up and turned into a 10- year-old. We pretty much didn't go anywhere except for the holiday events, but I never got bored because I all of a sudden could carry on somewhat full conversations with ME. I was blown away! We watched lots of Dora, Diego, and Christmas movies like Dora's Christmas Carol (aka in our house as "Pretty Dora") and Disney's Once Upon a Christmas (aka "Big Goofy" in our house). I don't think we're ever going to be able to delete those from our DVR either. We also had several art times with water paint, crayons, and paint from Santa. What fun! I think the most exciting thing for me, though, was that ME teeteed on the potty the day after she turned 2! The best part was that she initiated it all on her own!!! I cheered and cried after she did it...I know that's pathetic! She hasn't done it again, but we're making progress!!!

Below are pictures of ME's arttime. I put the cardboard down so she wouldn't "make a mess" with the little snowman picture. After I saw that she was doing a good job, I walked away to put the clothes in the dryer. When I returned, this is what progressed...

She gets to paint with her feet and hands at school so she decided to do that at home, too.

She was so messy that the bath water changed colors!

We had so much fun doing this and making the mess, that she did it a few other times during the break. One day she got creative and used 2 colors. I love it!

Beware! Postings are below!!!

I finally got a chance to blog about Christmas. I was planning on just blogging about one thing, but I got in a groove and couldn't stop. There are five new postings below. So scroll down and start at 2009 Ornament Painting Playdate.

Find more presents

OK, I know that Christmas isn't all about opening presents, but after ME's birthday and several family Christmases, it started to seem that way to her. We spent all day on Christmas at my parents house and the day after at VeVe's.

Christmas at VeVe's

VeVe used to have a floor in her Living Room...then Christmas came. This picture doesn't do her floor justice. You practically couldn't walk in the house without stepping on a gift.

Drew reading his new book while me and the kids are opening all of their presents.

D-dub's daughter reading while me and the kids are STILL opening their presents.

Me opening the kids' presents. I had to start telling ME that we were looking for Dora in every present. I think she caught on, though.

VeVe and Ben watching me and ME open the kids' presents.

Did you catch a theme? The kiddos weren't spoiled at all this Christmas! :) And I predict that they won't be in future Christmases, too. Ha!

Find more presents at LaLa and Dandy's

Christmas at LaLa and Dandy's:

ME's favorite new book..."Dora and My". This book has ME's picture on a character's body and according to ME, the girl's name is "my".

And you are??? McKenzie's not so sure about her Uncle Drew.


I had to show off Benjamin's too small outfit. It fit him just fine 2 days before and then I think it kept shrinking as the day went on.

An attempt of photogging Benjamin, ME, and McKenzie. Don't they all just look so happy? :)

Papa doing his train whistle for Benjamin.

Christmas wore McKenzie out...

...and Benjamin too.

Here comes Santa Claus...

ME woke up around 6ish Christmas morning. Here's our conversation before we opened presents:

Us: "Did Santa come?"
ME: "No!"
Us: "Do you want to see what Santa brought you?"
ME: "No!"
Us: "Do you want to open presents?"
ME: "No!"

But once she saw walked into the living room and saw all of the presents, she completely changed her mind about Christmas!

Notice she already had her Dora backpack on and then wore it for the rest of the morning.

It's amazing how she already knew what to do with all of her toys!

Benjamin enjoyed getting to open his presents, too. I think ME got a kick out watching him, too.

After ME realized that Santa Claus really came and what happens when he comes, she went to the tree for several days later to go find more presents. And everytime she heard squirrels or anything on the roof, she would tell us "I hear reindeer" or "I hear Tanta Taus." Sadly, we had to tell her that Santa and his reindeer are sleeping.

Ahhh...the joys of watching something through your child's eyes! Oh how next Christmas and the years to follow are going to be so much fun!!! And I can't wait for them to truly understand the meaning of Christmas. For now, it just consists of ME loving her Little People Baby Jesus like a baby, naming everyone in the nativity scene, lining them all up in a straight line, and making her Sesame Street toys watch the Christmas tree.

Hopefully, we'll be able to teach them a little more about the love of our Lord and His amazing story by next year!

Christmas Eve

This year for Christmas Eve, due to the downpour, we took a "canoe trip" to Batesville to spend Christmas with VeVe's side of the family. The trip was probably the most stressful carride I've ever been in considering that drowning in a car is my biggest fear and we saw water up to pinto-sized car doors. At one point I was in tears for what seemed like hours, while Drew was laughing at me rather than comforting me. Ha...I can't wait to chase him with an oak branch (he's badly allergic to them)!

Once we made it to shore, though, we had a good time. ME rode up with VeVe and D-dub earlier in the day so she could play with all of the cousins. Aunt "Mom Tom" and Uncle "Big Mac's" house always provides for a good time for the kiddos with the horses, playhouse, and everything else.

Maybe she'll get to ride the horse next year.

Can I touch?

Mom Tom has a ton of those dancing/singing characters. ME loved them all as well as the ornaments!

The kids thought that a dog and horses weren't enough, so they brought a hamster, too. ME loved watching it! Hopefully, that's as close as we'll ever be to owning one.

Benjamin even got to join in on some conversations. Benjamin's telling VeVe and ME all about our "float trip" on the way up to Batesville.

2009 Ornament Painting Playdate

Since the majority of the moms from our playgroup are school teachers, we're always off for the holidays. So during Christmas break, we had a playdate with our group of boy-friends and Megan (yeah for a girl!), which happened to be on ME's birthday. Kerri cooked the ornaments and the kiddos painted. They were all true masterpieces. Here are a few pix of the day. Of course, there's not a picture to show off all of the kids together, or their artwork.

Benjamin behaved the best! :) All of the kids loved patting his head for some reason.

Mason at work. For some reason, a few of the boys opted to go sans apron or sans shirts!
Here's ME being shown how to paint her ornament...

...and here she is showing everyone how to do it correctly!

Once again, poor Benjamin! Maybe he'll get to paint next year.

What a great day!

Our baby girl is 2 years old now!!! So I guess I really can't call her a baby anymore can I? And I had to change the title of my blog from "Two Under Two" to "The Best of Both Worlds".

Because I am determined that ME never get jipped with having a birthday so close to Christmas, she basically gets to celebrate all week long! Or at least she thinks she gets to anyway. A week later, and I'm still hearing "find more presents", "eat tupcake" (cupcake), or "my party". It doesn't help that her birthday Christmas tree and birthday banner are still up, too.

Since Mary Elizabeth is obsessed with penguins, we had a penguin-themed party at The Wonder Place. Drew takes her there everyone once in a while and she loves to play with the water table. As soon as we pulled up, she literally screamed on top of her lungs "Water! Water! Water!" Needless to say, she had a great time as I'm sure everyone else did too. Here are some of the pictures from the fun day:

Sign on the front door @ TWP.

Another year...another candle...

Play time:

ME showing Will how to play with the water table "correctly".

Maybe you'll get to play next year, Benjamin!

Mason and ME probably getting into trouble.

ME and her puppy that she took everywhere.

" I don't wanna grow up!" ME decided she wanted to sit in the baby's table instead.
Weee!

Art time:

Is this a kid-project or is it for the adults?

" We want to make a penguin, too!"

A true work of art soon to be worth millions!

Present time:

Cake time:

" I am soooo not impressed with your 'Happy Birthday' singing!"

Night-night time:

It's my party and I'll sleep if I want to!

The birthday princess on her actual birthday.

Thank you to everyone that helped us celebrate Mary Elizabeth's birthday throughout the week! She is so lucky to be loved by so many!!!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

We hope that you all had a Merry (and dry) Christmas. And that you were able to take the time to celebrate Jesus today.

Our babies are well

I took both of the kids for their well-baby checkups this morning and I'm happy to say that they are well! I'm very thankful for this after hearing so many sad stories about babies recently! I'm also happy that I didn't have too much of a struggle taking them by myself either considering I haven't really ventured out by myself with both of them too many times. ME and Ben waiting on "my doctor" according to ME. She's telling Ben that it's otay

Mary Elizabeth's 2-year-old stats:

• Weight: 29.2 lbs. (80%)
• Length: 34 3/4" (75%)
• Head: 18 3/4" (54%)
• Vision Test: Passed!

Benjamin's 2-month stats:

• Weight: 13.9 lbs. (82%)
• Length: 24" (79%)
• Head: 16" (59%)