Sorry Sofia...

I'm sorry Sofia. I just couldn't help myself.

Dolehanty Christmas

*Warning* This post has an obnoxious amount of photos, but hey... it's Christmas so it's ok, right?

The Dolehanty Christmas was more of a marathon of Christmas celebrations this year. My brother Kris drove up from Arkansas with his family, including their newest addition, baby Liam.

Cute stuff, right?

It was so nice to meet him (and snuggle him)

We hosted everyone at our place for Christmas eve and let the kids open some presents.

Sofia was totally into opening presents. She didn't actually care about what the gift was but she liked ripping papers.

Aunt Chezney assembled a rice/sensory box of fun for the girls for Christmas. I simultaneously love and hate her on a daily basis as we enjoy this gift. I love it because it keeps all 3 girls entertained for a decent amount of time and all the dumping, filling and sifting is great for their fine motor skills. I hate it because well, it's a rice storm. Although, the constant vacuuming has given me some mighty clean carpets :)

The sewing bug bit me and I made Chistopher a Spiderman robe.

The girls shared their new dress up shoes... they even matched his outfit. :)

There were some serious giggle coming from the "kids" table. I'm amazed they ate anything at all.

 Don't worry Sofia. Some day you can sit at the kids table too :)

After dinner giggles we made Christmas trees. It was fun until Georgia had a meltdown because she got frosting on her hand.

After celebrating Christmas morning at home we headed out to Grandma and Grandpas for some more Christmas fun. Santa was home sleeping, so Sofia filled in.

More cousin time.

More gifts.

Sofia has some serious reach. Nothing is safe. Lucas was desperately trying to avoid her grabby baby hands all over his new toys.

Some love for Grandma's fish.

and of course some more baby love for Mr. Liam.

Before we went home the girls, along with Christopher and Liam donned their new superhero pajamas. We felt very safe!

As I post these pictures I am feeling a little homesick for Christmas. We had a fantastic time catching up with family, sharing stories and jokes while watching the kids play. It's amazing how much had changed from the previous Christmas and I can't wait to see what the next year brings all of us. 

Ballin'

Ok, some day I WILL tell the girls the correct term is bowling, just not yet. This weekend we took the girls bowling or ballin' for the first time. If you can't guess... they loved it! They didn't have shoes small enough for them (bummer, right? I was SO hoping they could slide their feet into some stinky bowling shoes and swap sweat with strangers) instead I had a smarty pants moment and brought their slipper socks along.

We started off with the ol' slide/push/roll method.

Georgia was entertaining, as always. Whenever she missed a pin she would look up at me full of disappointment and tell me "we left one!" but the funny thing to me was she wasn't disappointed in her/our bowling abilities, she seemed angry at the pins that one stayed behind. When do we learn to judge ourselves?  Do we teach our kids to judge themselves? Most importantly, how do we teach them to judge fairly? A little bowling alley epiphany to ponder...

We quickly latched onto one of these metal doo-dads known as a bowling ramp.




Cheese! Obligatory sisterly-love photo. Luckily, they really do love each other.

Nice work girls! For the record, Craig also had the bumpers up for his turns. Not judging... just stating :)

A trip to the bowling alley would not complete without an unhealthy snack... enter in some fried cheese sticks.

Sofia as always tolerated the entire thing very well.

Squished giggles was as close as I could get to a smile for the camera.

On the way out the girls spotted the arcade. So we spent a dollar in tokens to smash some spiders, pretend to drive cars and play basketball.

I have been thinking/hearing/learning a lot about "happiness" lately. It seems to be popular New Year topic and popular "where is our family headed" topic in this house. One consistent idea that keeps popping up is that the little things in life cause the biggest impact on your happiness. Fun little excursions, coffee dates, walks to the park... whatever. The consensus in research seems to say that making the effort to get out and live life matters more than the stuff you own or even the big vacations. It makes sense, they are not things you stress and plan about they are a little more organic and fit naturally into your day, life and routine. 

This was a perfect day to test that theory. We were lazing around, trying to decide what to do with our day. It would have been easier to stay home and maybe even put on a movie but I guarantee you I had more fun taking my kids bowling and even stopping to stomp spiders. I think this is an especially difficult concept to remember as a parent of small children... it can take a lot of effort/time (blood spit-up, sweat pee and tears) to get everyone from point A to point B and back again BUT you're probably going to have all those messy bodily fluids at home so why not experience some fun (and fried cheese) along with it? 

Bet you didn't see all that ballin' info coming.... did you?

While We Were Out....

Shortly after Halloween we suffered some technical difficulties and then we got caught up in some busy-ness. But hey, we're back!

Here are some highlights of what you missed over the past couple of months:

We cooked a giant turkey for Thanksgiving...

Craig's parents and his grandma (Grandma Peanut) helped us eat the giant turkey and put up with me taking photos...

 Sofia slept through turkey time but woke up just in time for pumpkin pie... coincidence? I don't think so.

The girls love Craig's grandma dearly. To be honest I think they have softened her heart a little :) 

The next day we busted out the Christmas decor and added some festive touches to this home.

 They love their little people nativity but Maddy was very concerned that Mary couldn't hold baby Jesus, since he was stuck in his little bed.

A few weeks later we made some Christmas cookies with "Stephy" and Ang

 and this handsome little man! Sofia's baby-boyfriend Owen, Ang's little man. Cute stuff, right?

Over the past 2 months Sofia gained 6 new teeth and subsequently fell in love with brushing her teeth. She also took her first steps! She has been toddling around a bit but still prefers crawling... I can't say I blame her, she's quick! She has also mastered stair climbing and finds the word "NO" absolutely hilarious!

When you have teeth you get to gnaw on pretzels... and hang out sans pants?

We went on a Christmas light tour, complete with hot chocolate, PJ's and snuggly blankets.

In the middle of December we attended the annual NICU Parent to Parent Program (PPP) volunteer Christmas party. They put on a fantastic party for NICU grad parents who currently volunteer in the NICU. Complete with crafts, singing and even presents from Santa.

Madelyn and Georgia were crazy for Santa this year. I have heard the words "I love Santa!" so many times over the past couple of months.

Sofia, not so much.

Just to make sure... ok. We believe you now.

The party was manned with lots of GVSU occupational therapy grad student, volunteeers. They were so much fun, playing and crafting with all the kids. Georgia is obviously smitten.

I couldn't help but think how far they have come since their NICU days.

Sometime in December we also got a little nutty with smelly markers... thanks Aunt Pat!

So, there you have it. Our lives in a nutshell during November and pre-Christmas December!