Swimming progress

Daddy usually takes Ben to swimming lessons each week but since he was traveling last week I took him and I was wowed with his progress since the last time I went last November.  During the fall, he really didn't want to put his face in the water, the teacher kept telling us to practice at home with him in the bathtub.  Now he doesn't seem to mind at all, he looks totally comfortable.  He is learning to back float with almost no assistance.  He is also learning to swim on his back, flapping his arms and kicking, he is doing great!  See the video below to see for yourself :)

Potty training x2

Potty training started mid-January.  The first two days were ROUGH!  Our philosophy is to go straight to the underwear so they "feel it" instead of the pull-ups that keep them so dry.  That first weekend we were giving them extra liquids so they had more opportunities to go to the bathroom but mostly they were just having accident after accident.  We kept them on the the hardwood floors so it was easy clean-up.  We played puzzles and games, but after doing that for a week it got really old.

Today is day 20, and we are averaging 0-2 accidents a day between both girls.  Not bad at all, and overall I think they are doing great and we need to be appreciative of how far they have come.  However, I am really ready for them to master this, I am tired of spending so much time in the bathroom helping them :(  Maybe by spring/summer they will be able to do it completely on their own!

A little bathroom reading

Sportin' the new training underwear....no pants for a few days.  Just more to get wet and change, and more to pull down when it's time to go.

Playing some games with daddy

Fall 2012 Family Pictures

Realized I never posted these pictures on the blog.  The kids did great!  We had a pretty nice fall day and we went to a nearby park with our neighbor Christina.  I am so grateful that she captures such wonderful pictures of our kiddos and family!

Happy New Year!!

For the 4th year we celebrated New Year's Eve with our neighbors.  The kids had lots of fun playing with each other, and do it so well we even got some good quality adult time while the kids played in the basement together.  We celebrated at 10pm and had a cheers with the kids (they had sparkling juice)!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning the kids actually slept in (must have been all the anticipation).  The kids found that Santa left them bikes in addition to the other requests they had made to Santa personally (the Polar Express train).  The kids had fun opening all their gifts and we had fun watching their smiling faces!

Later that day we had another family Christmas and the kids had another round of presents.  It took us awhile that evening to get everything put away and put back together after everyone left that night!

Testing out the bikes

Checking out what Santa left in the stockings

Blue Mountain Mystery movie...one of his requests to Santa

Two happy girls, they got "pink" and "purple" stuff from Santa in their stockings

Opening their first gift, Ben a little faster than the girls

Allison testing out her sleeping bag

Ben and Samantha testing out their new sleeping bags

Daddy getting an assist on his gift

The girls trying out their new Cinderella shoes


Moving on to the afternoon......

Need teamwork for this one...

A doll house for the girls :)

Christmas Eve

Still sifting through holiday pictures.....here is the next batch

Christmas Eve we gave the kids Christmas PJ's in the morning and had a PJ day!  It was a really busy month so it was a much needed day of hanging out together as a family and making yummy food.  I made some breakfast treats, cut-out cookies, and homemade pizza for dinner.

After the kids went to bed we put out their gifts, set up the polar express train(Ben's request to Santa), and Chris had to assemble one of the bikes.  Good thing it was only one bike, because things always take longer than you think they will.  The "simple 5 steps" took much longer than anticipated and he would have been up all night if he had to do 3!

Cutting out and decorating cookies!

Thomas the elf, his last night here until next year

All set up for Christmas morning!

Christmas #1

Our first Christmas celebration with Papa and MaryJo.  Ben knew exactly which gifts were his, they were in Thomas and Lightning McQueen wrapping paper.  Ben had the gifts unwrapped in seconds the girls did really well too.  Much progress since the last time they opened gifts on their 2nd birthday.  They had a blast playing with and trying on all their gifts!

Ben got to open the first gift

Allison unwrapping her first gift

Samantha opening her first gift

Samantha inspecting the pink contents of the box

Two cute little fairies!!

New dollies!!

Ben assisting daddy with his present

He likes it!!  Of course that is why he was already wearing the exact same shirt :) 

Backpacks from Uncle Nic

One pink and one purple of course :)