The beach in January

That's right folks, the beach in January.  I was so excited to get there and it was a perfect day.  The girls didn't run towards the water nearly as much as they usually do when wearing the appropriate clothing and, amazingly, didn't get upset when they weren't allowed in. We did take them to the indoor pool the next day to make up for it.  They love it!  Their most favorite part is jumping into our arms.  Poor Catherine gets so cold that we take her over to the hot tub.  I sit on the edge with my feet in and she sits on my lap.  Just the steam is enough to warm her up and I splash some warm water onto her suit and she stops shivering.  I would say she really needs some meat on her bones but I have a feeling that she's just like me and is always going to be chilly.

Drawing with shells.

Oh the talking going on in this house!  Catherine tries so hard to say everything you do.  Samantha does too if you ask her, and when she does talk she is so serious about what she says.  Catherine, on the other hand, runs color commentary to herself.  We're also so proud of all the new things they can do since Christmas.  They can go up and down the stairs without help (downstairs makes us so nervous but they insist on trying), they point to all the correct letters when you ask and they can name them too, and their attempts to draw straight lines with crayons are getting better.  They love to color and often do it with both hands.  Samantha is mostly right handed and Catherine mostly left handed, but often Catherine will color with both simultaneously.  

Sea foam!  It must be the little Mermaid.

We pretend cook and eat, shaking and stirring in ingredients, rolling and cutting cookie dough, and they make the silliest slurping noises.  More and more they play with each other, read to each other, get each other toys, and one of their favorite things still is to chase each other around the house.  They make us smile and laugh more and more every day!

Christmas 2012

Yes, this was our tree.  We were going to Nana and Grandpa's and didn't want the fuss of a tree this year, so we got out my Gram's LED tree and got a wreath and brightened the house up.  Every time we turned it on the girls would say "Oh WOW!"

We couldn't believe how generous everyone was for Christmas and the girls had a blast playing with their new toys and seeing family.  It was a wonderful break, we wouldn't have changed a thing!

This is our new kitchen set that fits INSIDE our new tent!  It is 5 feet tall and Mommy and Daddy can lay down inside it.

Mmmmm!  Ice cream is so yummy, especially when shared with Grandpa.

Nana helped us play with Heidi, she's still a little too strong for us to play tug of war by ourselves.

We went to the park with Aunt Mary Anne and got to play on the slide, one of our favorite things.  We also got to wear our new hats, which are so cool!  Mommy has a matching one, too.

Samantha was chillin' in the car on the way home from visiting more family in Wilmington.

Then we came home, relaxed, and went to the science museum, woo hoo!

This is one of our favorite exhibits; the sound garden, where we get to bang on all sorts of things and make lots of noise.

There's a butterfly on my jacket!

Bye bye, see you soon!