Christmas is coming

The girls think Santa hats are fun...




Elsa L, Lily R

This one is for Uncle Erik . . .

but first a posting of recent events. All for of us have had colds, so we are a little behind in updating.


Last weekend we had a great visit with the recently married Stanley and Siobhan. They came all the way from Seattle. We've known Stanley since our dorm days in college. But, it was great to finally meet Siobhan and wish them well. As you can see, they are naturals twin-holders. (Lily L, Elsa R)


Remember my sweet, sitting-down, bookreading Elsa from last week? Now, she's a daredevil standing on the ledge, sometimes on one foot.


And my darling Lily pretending to be a puppy.


And here is Lily sporting some IU colors courtesy of Uncle Erik and Uncle John. Uncle Erik has been wanting to see pictures of these onesies for weeks.



The girls sharing their exasaucer wearing their IU onesies. (Elsa L, Lily R)


Elsa sitting on the doormat. (another one of her favorite spots).


Putting their heads together. (Elsa L, Lily R)


What happens when Mommy turns her back for just one second? Lily discovers the joy of the kleenex box. Its like magic. They keep coming and coming . . .

Get ready...

the girls are coming to Indiana for Christmas. We are really looking forward to spending the holidays with our friends and family. The girls will also get their first taste of winter weather. Brrrrr.



Elsa has been really into sitting on things lately (including her sister's head). Here is Elsa in her new favorite spot, the little ledge that runs around our floor. She's so cute. She likes to sit there and flip through her books.


Another picture of Elsa sitting in her spot. And Lily taste-testing a block.


The girls have discovered the aquarium and spend many hours talking to the fish.
(Elsa l, Lily r).



In anticipation of our trip to actual winter weather, we bought the girls their first pair of shoes yesterday. They are little slipper-style booties for wearing around the house. We let the girls pick out their own colors. Elsa (L) picked out a yellow and green pair with a bright pink tulips. Lily picked out pink shoes with red cherries. Very stylish. While, Elsa really enjoyed picking out her shoes; so far, she has not enjoyed actually wearing them.


In case you missed her expression the first time, she was really quite horrified to find something attached to her feet.


Lily, however, thinks the shoes are pretty cool. But, she tends to be a little ham when it comes to getting dressed up and primping. She, especially enjoys picking out her own clothes in the morning. She's really into the colors and textures. She's also more likely to leave her socks and shoes on her feet. She holds her feet up for me to put on her socks, while Elsa goes the opposite direction.

In other updates, the girls are brilliant and entertaining as usual. They chatter and laugh all the time. Now that they are getting older, Mark and I are trying to expose them to less TV, so we've been turning on the music instead. They are into dancing to music and singing songs.

They don't keep still EVER. The girls have an especially cute trick of using each other as a chair and for standing up. They are not walking yet, but close. They can pretty much circle the entire apartment by hanging on the walls and crusing. They haven't taken independent steps, but they can stand on their own for a few seconds unassisted. Considering our floor is ceramic tile, I don't blame them for taking their time with walking!