December Catch-up

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Since I am way behind on my blogging I have decided to skip right over Thanksgiving and just do a December catch up. We had a busy but wonderful month with lots of holiday fun. These first few pictures are from a photo shoot I tried to do by myself one morning with the girls. Lets just say I got a few cute ones out of about 200 photos! Two two year-olds are not the easiest to photograph and I never managed to get one of both of them smiling. Anyways here are a few of my favorites...look how sweet they are kissing here. They have really started becoming good little playmates and friends lately. They of course have their fights but they really seem to be looking out for one another a lot. So precious!
Renna holding our Merry Christmas sign on the front porch.
Reagan excited about seeing the outside Christmas decorations. That is pretty much it from my photo session. I don't think I will be leaving my day job for photography anytime soon.
We had a really fun playdate with three of my friends from college and their children. Shelly hosted it and we all had a great time. We made Christmas ornaments, had some yummy food, and just enjoyed watching the kids play. Amber got all of the girls matching shirts for Christmas and little Briggs (the lone boy) a new shirt too! What a ladies' man!
Here is Reagan, Shelly, and I making her thumbprint reindeer ornament. They came out so cute. Thanks so much for the fun crafts Shelly.
Here are all the kids eating. I had to post this picture because it seems pretty amazing to me that there are four two-year olds, a three year-old, and a 14 month-old all sitting at the same time! It is so fun to get together with girlfriends/roommates from OSU and see our children becoming friends as well.
Renna and Piper playing. The playdate was at Piper's house and her and Renna have become such good friends since they recently moved here. Her mom and I have known each other since high school and lived together in college as well. These two together can sure get into trouble fast! Renna definitely keeps this momma on her toes as she can find anything that isn't baby proofed and quickly get into it (even a lot of the baby safety stuff she has mastered). Never a dull moment with her!
Our next December adventure was to go see Santa. We put the girls in their Christmas dresses and met up with my best friend Sonya and her little girl. I had grand visions of beautiful pictures...how quickly I forgot my last photo session attempt. Here the girls are seeing Santa for the first time while waiting in line. They were so excited about seeing him this year but things would soon change...
More photo op attempts...Renna of course went right under the chain barriers and quickly convinced her sister to do the same. Don't they look so precious in their dresses? This is about the best picture I got of them together.
My best photo of Reagan. She was in awe of the big Christmas tree. Our little Pickle is such a sweet girl and is my little snuggler. She still loves singing about anything and everything and it is usually accompanied by some dancing as well. I love hearing her singing in her bed or when we are driving in the car...she makes up the cutest songs. It makes this momma so proud. She is very independent and enjoys playing by herself when we are in a large group.
Sadly my best photo of Renna. She was clearly annoyed with my pleads for smiling and multiple attempts at the perfect photo! Our little Pumpkin is growing up so much. She is beginning to have conversations like a 5yr old and never misses a detail of anything we discuss. I am also proud to announce she is now wearing big girl panties! What a huge accomplishment for her and us.
We went to see Santa with the girls' best friend Natalie. We had bought them matching Christmas dresses and Sonya and I of course wanted to get some cute pictures of the girls. Again, try taking pictures of three two year-olds. This one came out cute as they were so excited to look at the train.
Renna briefly sat on Santa's lap by herself. She seemed to like it until I tried to put Reagan down on his lap and Reagan began screaming which quickly resulted in Renna deciding Santa was scary too!
We tried to convince them Santa wasn't so bad. They had been talking about him for months but talking with him is something different entirely! They did both manage to tell him they wanted yellow presents with pink bows. Renna started this statement about a month before Christmas and Reagan also thought it was a great idea and began repeating it as well...I guess great minds think a like.

So...we all four took a photo with Santa!! Reagan would not quit covering her eyes in fear. So hilarious. She did manage to peek at him right before we left and quickly say "Thank you Santa" before covering her eyes again. Too funny!
We made Christmas cookies with Grammy. The girls really enjoyed it this year...and actually made a lot less of a mess this year.
Reagan was so proud of her cookie making.
Hard at work on the cookies...what fun!
Renna cheesing it up for a little Christmas cheer!
This was the first year we got to open Christmas gifts with my whole family and the girls!! It was so wonderful to see all of the cousins playing and opening presents together. Here they are enjoying a little couch jumping at Grandmas.
My parents got the girls their very own jeep!! Here they are getting in for the first time. They love it but still can't get the hang of the steering thing...they have the gas pedal down really well. I think I will be getting lots of exercise chasing this jeep.
Renna on Christmas morning seeing what Santa brought.
Santa brought a kitchen which of course was wrapped in yellow with pink bows!! It as well as the shopping cart with the babies was a huge hit.
Reagan doing a little cooking. You can see the shopping cart and baby are never far from their reach.
Renna opening her stocking and trying on some headbands.
Reagan digging in her stocking.
The girls on Christmas day at Grammy and Papa's house. They are watching this dancing baby that they got. It is so cute! We all had a wonderful December and were very blessed to get to do a lot of fun stuff and spend a lot of time with friends and family. Adam and I truly feel blessed beyond what we deserve. We hope everyone else had a great holiday season. I will try to blog more frequently now...sorry about the really long post.