Please wear a soot...

I found this...

on my pillow. (don't you just love phonetic spelling?) :)

Brooke and the twins planned, and prepared and made lists, and colored place mats, and on and on and on... for days.

You can tell Tom started out super excited...

But he came around...

And this is the dessert Brooke made for all of us...

Guess who?

Couldn't quite make it to the top of the stairs...

Sam really is doing very well, but we have some days where she literally just lays down where she is and rests a while. A little sad, but makes for some great pictures. We feel like her best now isn't quite as good as her best maybe 8 months ago, but it is subtle and she is happy and progressing and learning. She has quit growing again... She grew 4 1/2 inches in the first six months on her vitamins, and not a millimeter since then. Apparently her body only does one thing at a time. Her speech is still doing great as are her eyes. She still has some left side issues, but they are better. She'll use her left side, (if you hold down her right arm) she just doesn't use it well with her right hand. So we're working on that. She got a sweet Strawberry Shortcake remote control car as a result. I think she knows how to work the system... :) We sure love this little girl and know that you do to, so thus the little update...

Change...

Sob. Siiigh. Sniff. Whine. Beg. Plead. Bribe... All things I tried to get the girls to keep their matching, long, beautiful hair...

Guess who won?
Alix now has bangs and Erin's in much shorter. They are super excited because they look "totally different". I'm glad they are happy, but it was hard for me to let their last matching thing go... Oh well. I'm happy if they are happy and everyone at church thinks we should have done this years ago...

Quote of the Day...

Brooke was mad at her sisters for not helping clean the playroom adequately, so she bopped one of the on the head... (and she looks so sweet, doesn't she?) So, she got in trouble and this was her defense...

"Mom. It's easier to talk with fists than words!"

Later she told me she learned that quote in school from Martin Luther King Jr. I might have to do some research on that one...

And it begins...

Ski season, that is...

Lunch time with Grandma

Brooke after her lesson

The twins and Sam

Lost...

Erin's first tooth.

The day after Christmas she was eating a chip and it hurt her tooth and we noticed it was a tiny bit wiggly. So she fiddled with it. Wiggled it. Jiggled it. Worked it. Until she walked up to her dad and asked him to pull it out. (this is only about 4 hours later - this girl works fast!) So he put his thumb on it and pulled it forward. And into her hand.

Isn't she cute? And so brave. I was majorly impressed!

And this is how Alix felt about the whole deal...

First milestone they haven't reached at exactly the same time...

Almost there...

Here are the last of the Christmas pictures that I'll put up now that it's the middle of January... Lame.

Baking our Christmas cookies. And I'm not sure why we have chairs, the girls really only like to sit ON the island...

Christmas Eve Pajamas. Even Tom got some super, manly footie pajamas...

Gotta love Christmas pajamas....

And as a final Christmas note - We believe! This is the girls coming down the stairs Christmas morning. I just love that feeling of excitement and anticipation.

I realize these last few posts haven't been as funny as usual... I really just want them for my blog book, so thanks for sticking around... :)

Christmas Extravaganza!

Better late than never, right? And I've got to finish blogging about 2010, so I can move on to 2011... And we really did call this night our "Christmas Extravaganza!" (Christmas sweaters optional...)

Started the night at my friend Shelby's house to decorate giant gingerbread men

Best friends ever. I really love these guys!!

Then we went caroling...

And Brian only backed into our car once...

And since there was no damage, it was totally worth it for the mocking that went on the rest of the night... Then we had Kahlua pork for dinner at our place, then dessert and presents and the Smith's. What a great night!