In the Kitchen!!

In the kitchen is where our girls LOVE to be, that is for sure! Over the past several months Emily has thoroughly enjoyed "cooking times" with Mommy and/or Daddy! She loves to add ingredients, mix, roll dough and, of course, taste!! She's a natural in the kitchen, that is for sure!!

High Atop the White Flour Tasting!!

Daddy and His Girls enjoying making Christmas Cookies!!

I told you, this girl LOVES to taste!!

But we also wanted to capture her day in this CUTE Christmas shirt!! We thought the saying was SO APPROPRIATE!!

Haley's First Snow!!!

Yesterday, December 16th, we had SNOW in VA!! It wasn't a dusting, it wasn't a blizzard. It was powdery and only about 3 inches!! The perfect snowfall (in my opinion)! Plus due to the time and weather predictions it was great too, because Micah was able to come home at about 11:45 and he was home for the rest of the day!! And it was our 5th Anniversary and to make it even more fun....it was HALEY's 1st Snow!!
We didn't take her or Emily out in it yesterday because it was SUPER cold and it was either snowing or blowing snow for most of the day. But we did want the girls to have a chance to get out and play a little, since it was the "perfect little kid snow", so I took them out this morning just before lunch!
I was a little nervous about taking them both out in the snow by myself ~you know, the cold, the possible meltdowns, getting them snug as bugs in a rug, etc.~ but I finally psyched myself up and we got all comfy cozy and off we went to the back yard! And we all had so much fun! The only meltdown occurred when I announced that after 25 minutes it was time to go back inside:)

Haley checking out all this cold white stuff all around her!

This was her stance most of her time outside!

Not sure what to think!

Emily was really enjoying herself!

Emily really liked eating the snow too!

Another shot of them enjoying the snow!

Emily was trying to make a snowball and Haley was trying to figure things out!

Gotta love the self-timer!

Last shot of the trio before we went back inside to get warm!

Our Adorable Little Haley at 9 Months!!

Haley turned the ripe old age of NINE MONTHS about a week ago, and since we had a snow day in Charlottesville yesterday (and Micah came home early from work) we were able to finally do her 9 Month Photo Shoot.
But before we get to the pictures, let me tell you a little bit about Haley at 9 months of age:
~She is officially a crawler as of this month! She has gotten really good at it and is ALL OVER THE PLACE! And she has taken a special fascination in our Christmas Tree:)
~ She has Puffs for the first time this month (just little pieces of a really soft but solid baby cereal) and she LOVES them!
~ She tried Cheerios for the first time! And unlike Emily, Haley has been a pro with them almost since her first taste!
~She can also wave and clap now! She is also really good at modeling actions ~sounds and physical movements!
~Just a few days ago she discovered that she can pull herself up on things and ever since then she has really been itching to explore this world around her!
~Being a mover also comes with more bumps and bruises, which she has already begun to experience. Nothing major, just a few small ones. But throughout our lives it really is the bumps in the road and the bruises that come that help us grow and develop more fully! She is such a great little girl and it is so fun to watch her grow and experience the world at this stage of her life!

She also had her 9 month well visit at the doctor's office on Monday. And here are her stats:
*Height: 27 Inches, 25-50th Percentile
*Weight: 17 Pounds 13 Ounces, 25-50th Percentile
* Head Circumference: 44.5 Centimeters, 50-75th Percentile

She said she is healthy and beautiful. The only thing she suggested we work on is getting her off of her middle of the night feeding. She has been waking up every night any from 3am-5am and wanting to eat. The doctor suggested letting her cry it out for a few nights. We were worried about that at first, because Haley can really cry for a long time if you let her. Well the first night she cried from 3:45am-5am and then the second and third nights for about 15 minutes! She is a quick learner!! We love you Haley Boo! And are so glad that you came to our family when you did!!

Our 9 Month Old with her Pink Bear!

I love this expression!

She LOVES to play!

Sister Photo Time!

A Close Up of Happiness and Fright!

Me and My Littlest Princess!

Daddy Loves his Haley Boo!

Too Great for Words! Man, they look alike in this picture!

Family Photo Op, Take ONE!

Family Photo Op, Take Two! Not Bad!

Every Chef Needs a Uniform!

And lucky for us Emily has a super Aunt who has saved just about all of the fun stuff from when her little girl was Emily's age and she looked through those things and found this adorable little apron and chef's hat for our cute little Emily! We got the package late last night, just before bed, but Emily was SO EXCITED she had to try it on! And if I do say so myself, she makes a perfect little chef! (And she even loved the singing Christmas Card too!). Now to decide what to bake with my well dressed chef today???

Emily enjoying the Singing Christmas Card! Her 2 Loves: Cooking and Music!

Being Fun!

Showing off her whole ensemble with cooking tools too!

Ta-Da!! I LOVE it!

Cookie Making Date!

Saturday Micah and I decided that while the girls were napping that we wanted to do something Christmasy and fun together! We thought about it for a minute and then we had it! We could make Christmas Cookies! We both like to bake, we needed to make a Christmas Dessert for our Ward Christmas Party and the girls were both snoozing away, so we thought it would be the perfect time! And since our family's FAVORITE Christmas Desserts are Cookies, and since Christmas Balls and Chocolate Roly Polys are 2 of our FAVORITES! We set to work! We made the Christmas Balls first because they take longer to cook and the Roly Polys second because they take longer to prepare! We both had a great time ~ prepping, rolling, baking, tasting and of course snapping pictures! I mean you need pics in the memory books of the parents doing fun things together too, right?

We both enjoyed every minute of it! And the girls co-operated so nicely, and slept for 2 hours while we baked! Haley didn't wake up until we were packaging the cookies and Emily slept until we had to wake her up to go to the Christmas Party, that girl LOVES TO SLEEP! We had fun and since it is the Christmas Cookie Baking Season we are hoping to get to do it again very soon!

Aprons on and Ready to get Started!

Micah getting ready to melt the Chocolate Chips!

Watching the Mixer do it's job!

Gotta taste, during each step along the way!

Making our Christmas Ball Cookies look "Christmasy"!

Our Little Recipe Holder ( the only misprint in this recipe is that there is supposed to be 3/4 tsp. of salt NOT 2 tsp.)

Putting the Roly Polys in the Oven....I had to be super careful...these cookies are famous for rolling!

Our little recipe holder did a great job and the cookies turned out great!

Our Christmas Ball Cookies Ready to be distributed and enjoyed!

Time to See Santa!

We got to attend Micah's Company Christmas Party last night!! We had a GREAT time! There was lots of yummy food, door prizes and fun people to catch up with, but perhaps the most exciting part for us this year was for our girls to see Santa! Emily was too uninterested last year, so we didn't even bother standing in the line. But this year, we talked about it, and she started saying words like Santa - Lap - Blue - Purse - own. She has been excited FOR DAYS about getting a blue purse from Santa! So we though she would enjoy telling him what she wanted for Christmas!! And Haley, well she is a "go with the flow" type of baby so we thought she wouldn't really mind seeing Santa either. WRONG WRONG WRONG! The closer we got to Santa in line, the more frightened Emily became. However, Haley did manage to sit on his lap peacefully for a moment until she actually looked up to see who was holding her! The pictures really tell the rest of the story! But after we got them away from Santa and his elves gave them a gift....they were both back to their happy cheerful selves again!! Maybe next year they will love Santa too!

Haley looking at Santa's White Gloves!

Then she looked UP!

And here is Emily's Santa Experience!

Haley with her Doll Baby from Santa (I LOVE the expression on her face! Priceless!)

And Here's Emily Sporting her New Blue Purse!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

We finally decided to go out and get our tree on Monday night! For the past few years we have tried to support the Boy Scouts by buying one from one of their lots and this year was no exception:) Thanks to Mommers and Dooders they gave up a little bit of their Monday evening to meet us at the Tree Lot and throw it on the back of their truck and bring it to our house! It was a HUGE help!
Micah and Dooders had to do a little make-shift business with a shim and the tree stand to make the tree stand straight, but other than that it went up easily and so far it has been a nice tree! I will have to admit, that when I first saw it (once we brought it home) I was a little disappointed in the look of it, but once we decorated it, personalized it and allowed the branches to "fall"a bit, it fits rather nicely and makes our living room look quite festive! I LOVE real Christmas Trees, there really is nothing like them in my opinion:) I love the smell, I love the look, and I LOVE the fact that when Christmas is over.....NO STORAGE!!!
Emily had a blast decorating with us this year and Haley has been having fun crawling to the Christmas Tree and seeing just how far she can get before I snatch her up and turn her in the other direction!! A perfect game for a 9 month old to play!

Micah and Dooders Getting the Tree Set Up "Just Right!"

My Handsome Husband Finishing Up the Lights at the Top!

Haley really enjoyed trying to eat all of the decorations!

And Emily had fun Being in the Midst of all of the Excitement!

And she loved putting the ornaments on the tree too!

Even reaching up "high"!

She needed Daddy's Help with some of the ornaments!

And even Haley's Supervision a time or two as well!

Ahh! Both Girls Under the Tree! It's All Fun & Games Until Mommy and Daddy Discover you!

You can see, Haley is teaching Emily about the Branches!