[untitled rambles]

I don't really feel that I have a ton to post about today, but I did want to share some pictures.

The girls are doing well and I think leaving the Christmas tree alone for the most part.  Every morning, Lily comes out to the living room and if I've forgotten to plug the tree in, tells me that she is going to "wake up the Christmas tree" and goes to plug it in for me.  And at night, she has told me a few times that it's time for the tree to put it's jams on so it can go to bed, too, and goes to unplug it.  I love that in her mind, night time means sleep and sleep means everyone and everything needs to put jams on.  The sun and the Christmas tree needing pajamas have been my favorite so far. 

Emma is so easily excited that she just smiles and does a little dance when she sees the tree lit up, but she still doesn't grasp it, which is fine with me.  Lily knows that presents are coming sometime, and I think is trying to sort out what actually is going to happen, because we regularly have had discussions about her birthday and if it's time for presents yet.  Again, Emma just smiles and nods and gets excited when Lily does.

I do want to brag on my girls for a minute.  A month or so ago, Jesse and I were discussing what to get them for Christmas and deciding for Lily was no problem.  Emma, on the other hand, is just beginning to be very expressive about her likes and dislikes, but for the most part, we don't want to buy her what she loves the most.  Not that we don't want cows, ducks and other farm animals in our house, but we don't.  And getting her stuffed animals wasn't appealing.  So while we were at WalMart one day, I decided to go peruse the toy aisles for ideas for an 18 month old.  Their eyes got really big when they saw all the toys and started recognizing characters from shows or toys they already have that seem familiar.  Emma was standing in the cart, jumping around and pointing, and Lily kept asking what everything was.  She would point so excitedly to something she saw and recognized and would calmly ask, "oh, Momma, can we buy that?"  And after I answered, "no," that was that and we kept walking.  We were probably in the toy aisles for 15 minutes, just taking our time, strolling up and down and not once did I have to deal with a begging child, a tantrum or any tears of any sort.  I was so pleased that a) I didn't have to deal with begging, b) they both accepted my "no" without question, c) I didn't have to ashamedly tell Jesse I bought the girls toys because they "had to have it."  I felt the girls and I should both get gold stars that day.  I absolutely expect melt downs at the store in the future, but I'm glad it wasn't that day!  This is the kind of behavior Jesse and I are trying to encourage.  ...I'm sure I will look back on this one day and say "HAH if only they were 1.5 and 3 again and it was still so easy!"  But I am proud of my girls and am writing it down FOR that day in the future.  Take heart, future self.    

With that being said, I do feel I should mention that I have about sworn off shopping by myself until after this baby comes.  I reached this point when Lily was about this age and I was pregnant with Emma: I just don't have the energy to chase a child through the store!  Emma is getting to the wiggly age and just wants to be down walking/running through the aisles with Lily.  I did let her walk at one store the other day and she did great, but it was a small store and not crowded.  The look of pride on her face when I'd let her pick up groceries and throw them in the cart was priceless, because you could tell she felt like such a big girl by doing what Lily was doing.  It was totally worth the extra effort to walk faster to keep up and being that extra million percent on edge and paying attention that you have to be as a parent.

did I post this one already?  first sight of the tree lit up.

decorating with Daddy

carrying on tradition: cookies and egg nog (homemade this time!) while decorating

surveying the progress

of course we needed to bake more cookies!

Emma's face

and still more cookies!

Lily was thrilled to help me make "shape cookies"

And then this morning, we had all sorts of more fun.  With the colder/freezing temperatures, we have to be more conscious of our chickens water situation and replace their waterer daily.  Typically, I wait until at least Emma is napping so Lily and I can go down together, or wait until they're both occupied during a nap and Quiet Room Time.  Since it snowed last night though, we decided to all go and play in the snow on the way back.  As any parent will remember, and most kids will remember, it took way longer to bundle up for the temperatures than we actually spent outside.  After we checked out ladies and lone rooster, we kicked snow around in the yard for a few minutes before going inside.  Lily and Emma both attempted snow angels, and while they didn't quite grasp the concept, they had fun rolling around in the snow.

Once we warmed up, we started our painting projects.  Yesterday, we made handprint "ornaments," and we painted them this morning.  I use the term "ornament" loosely, as I'm not sure we'll actually hang it on the tree...but I've wanted to keep record of handprint growth over the years, so we needed something for this year.  Painting should also be considered loosely from Emma's side, but that's ok.  We moved onto finger painting, play dough and lunch afterwards, and now little girls are napping and having some QRT.  Which means I get a few minutes to blog, clean and if I'm fast, have a second cup of coffee!

Emma's nose had an itch, I think. and what better scratching device than a blue paintbrush?

keeping things neat. typical first born? she's "finger painting" with a paint brush.

 Pregnancy wise, we're getting there.  Obviously.  There's no denying it at this point.  I have my maternity jeans out and in circulation but I do also have 2 pairs of my regular jeans I can still button, so I wear those, too, to make myself feel good.  I don't feel "little" by any stretch of the imagination, so thank you to all my wonderful friends and family who try and optimistically encourage me that I am.  You're all precious.  I'm 32 weeks, which translates to 7 months and 1 week ish.

terrible picture.  I'll try for a better one.

this is with Emma, exactly 2 months before I had her (so also 7 months).

Guys.  I'm gonna be huge again.
But that's it for now!

Except to save on time and forgetting to send it out, here is the recipe I used for the dough handprints:
Dough Handprints
1/2 c salt
1/2 c flour
1/4 c (give or take) water
Stir to combine ingredients, then knead until dough is formed.  Pat into disc and press child's hand into the center.  Trim away excess dough with a knife and poke a hole for a hanger.  Bake at 200F for 3 hours.  Paint, seal and hang!