Milestones

Debbie is no longer in diapers! And Cosette took her first step today!

New Christmas clothes

Okay, first let me say that the kids never wake up before 7 am on Sundays (as least since we started 8 am church). We always have to wake them up to get ready for church. Well, because we live in a student ward, over the holidays they shorten church to 1 hour and combine all the wards because so many students are gone. So, today church wasn't going to start until 10 am and we were excited because that meant we could sleep in... Ha. Bright and early, 6 am, the kids are all wide awake! But because Chad is a saint (and he was already awake because of his church calling), he let me sleep in and stayed up with the kids. What a husband!

Anyway, all this meant that none of us were really very happy this morning. I knew that Chad's mom had sent the kids Church clothes and I thought that maybe opening presents might help lighten the mood, so I found the right presents and let the kids open up their clothes. And I think it did help us all to be a bit happier, because the kids were thrilled with the clothes!Debbie is always excited to get a new dress but Isaac's response was the best. He loves dinasaurs and when he saw the dinasaur on his vest he screamed out and grabbed it, he was so excited to see that dinasaur!

This is what happens when we leave the kids alone in the kitchen...

Debbie has found a new place in her room that she likes to sleep. Haha! She drives us crazy most days, but she can still pop out with the cutest things and ideas sometimes.

Snow!

We got some more snow this morning so I took the kids out and let them play! Debbie and Isaac loved it!But Cosette wasn't too thrilled because the snow suit we put her in was tight and then we didn't have any gloves that fit her so her hands got cold.
This is Cosette in her 'usual' pose. She likes going up on one knee like this. I don't get it, I've tried it before to see how easy it is to sit like that and it's not easy or comfortable, but it works for her somehow.

Isaac refused to wear a hat when we first went out and then after a while the cold suddenly registered and he finally let me put a hat on him. He looks pretty handsome in my BYU beanie, doesn't he?

I'm actually surprised that Isaac loved it as much as he did! It was so fun to see the kids out there playing and enjoying the snow so much. Then we came inside and had hot chocolate!

I saw this idea on someone else's blog and thought it was cute so I decided to give it a try. I put the mirror on the floor and let Cosette play on it and she loved it! It was fun to see her realize that she could not only see herself in the mirror, but that she could see me as well. When she first noticed my reflection in the mirror she got a concerned look on her face and looked up quickly to make sure I was still there, and then she looked back and forth between me and my reflection in the mirror a few times to make sense of it all. It's crazy how easily these babies delite us.

These are pictures of the first time that Cosette stood herself up without using anything to help her. Good job girl!

Santa Claus

The kids had their first experience (at least that Debbie will remember) with Santa Claus yesterday morning. You'll notice that there aren't any pictures, and that's because the experience wasn't necessarily a good one. First, I had been teasing Debbie a few days earlier and asking her if she was sure Santa was real, and telling her I didn't think he was real [bad mommy, I know!], and she got really defensive and claimed very vehemently that "He is real." So, at the ward party when Santa walked in, she stood there shocked, watching him and suddenly said, "Ha! He IS real!!" It was cute. I guess I had placed real doubts in her mind and she was glad to realize that she was right.

We went up with the rest of the kids to see him and the kids starting piling on his lap. At first I think Debbie was okay with sitting on his lap, but then he kept reaching around her picking up all the other kids. Soon she came over to me and said that she didn't want to sit on his lap, but she did want a candy cane and I told her that was fine, [I have no problem with my kids not wanting to sit on a strange old man's lap] she should just tell him that she didn't want to sit on his lap but could she please still have a candy cane. So she ran up to him to tell him that and I guess he didn't understand what she was trying to tell him because he continued to ignore her. So then she came back to me even more bummed and I encouraged her to try again, so she went up a little more timidly and waited for him and then tried to talk to him again and he nudged her out of the way so he could get another kid. [Needless to say, by this time I was a little irritated with Santa] So she ran off crying and didn't want to have anything to do with him, but she still really wanted that candy cane. After waiting for everyone else to be done, I took Isaac up and waited in line again and physically took Isaac up to Santa [Isaac didn't want to sit on his lap either] and asked him to give Isaac a candy cane and could I get one for his sister too. I gave Debbie her candy cane and then told her that she needed to go tell Santa 'thank you' but she didn't want to, so I carried her up there, kicking and screaming, and she refused to even look at him by this time, not that I blame her. So, it wasn't the best experience but I was okay with that.

I realized that Santa is really a stranger to the kids because Chad and I don't ever talk about him. When we ask what they would like for Christmas we don't mention Santa, we don't have any pictures of him up, and we haven't made a big deal about him coming. Honestly, I've told Debbie in the past and I'll tell her again, that it doesn't matter if she's good or not, she's going to get presents on Christmas morning. Chad wants to straight up tell the kids that Santa's not real, but I don't agree with that. The reason we haven't made a big deal of Santa is because we want the kids to not forget the true meaning of Christmas. But I want my kids to enjoy the magic of Christmas, and the idea of Santa is magical; and he is real in a sense, because it doesn't matter who Santa is, just that he is.

And don't worry, last night Debbie had already forgotten her bad experience with Santa.