Yay Madelyn!

Ok... so this is long overdue but both girls are now walking! Madelyn doesn't like to do anything when/how she is expected to. The other day during storytime at the library Madelyn stood up and walked away. Everyone was sitting and singing and there she went. I tried not to squeal but she was just too cute. After about 10 or so steps she stopped and turned and grinned at me and she has been going ever since.

While I was trying to catch Madelyn walking, someone got a little jealous and tried to steal the spotlight... hahaha.

Merry Christmas!

haha! Ok... so I'm just a little late but Merry Christmas everyone! We had a mostly fabulous (and very busy) Christmas season. The only imperfect part was that the girls were sick with croup the week before Christmas. Yuck. Such a nasty cough. They were starting to feel better Christmas Eve so we ventured out and went to church to celebrate as a family before all the busyness and traveling began. I'm so glad we decided to venture out (thanks Craig... I told him they weren't up to it). Our church does a Christmas Eve service that focuses mainly on worship. This year the Grand Rapids Symphony played so I'm glad we didn't miss it. The girls did great since they love music and had fun clapping and dancing along. They were still holding on to the sickies for the rest of the week and were a little crabby and sleepy but we made the best of it.

Since our family is all from out of town we had lots of different Christmas celebrations. It was so great to spend some quality time with our families.We want our girls to grow up rich in relationships with the people who love them. Our families may be spread out but that doesn't make it impossible. I hope we can keep this as a priority as they grow up.

They didn't completely understand the concept of unwrapping presents at first but warmed up to it and had lots of fun.

I seem to remember a photo like this from last year... do I see a trend emerging?

I just had to look these photos up from Christmas last year...

Georgia has learned how to smile on command. haha I love the cheesiness!

Kris is helping Charlie unwrap the most AWFUL dog toy that was actually intended for their dog... this thing makes the worst high pitched squeal and has since been confiscated.

Grandpa and Georgia

The girls enjoying their table from Grandma & Grandpa Douglass. Their goal is emptying the top of the table and then pick up toys and put them back on the table. Silly girls.

 We also had my brother Kris & his wife Chezney and little Christopher David over for a week. I'm so happy they made it all the way from Arkansas but sad that we didn't happen to have any snow for the week :( Of course after they left we've had snow everyday.

Christopher David

Chezney & Kris

They look like trouble...

It looks like Georgia is sharing but it was kinda borderline force feeding.