Post-Christmas Clean-Up

I think we're drowning in new toys here! All of us were blessed with great gifts from family, and the kids have been having a blast playing with all of their new things. From Santa, Cara and Nora each received what they requested - a train track (C) and a reindeer toy (N). They were sad that they didn't get to see Santa and his reindeer, though. They were hoping he might stop in. ;) Santa brought Fiona several good books that all of the kids have been enjoying.

Cara and Nora have both been loving their new LeapPads from Mimi and Grandpa. Nora often calls hers an iPad, just like her iPad at school. Fiona isn't too jealous since she has so many other fun toys to play with. One of her favorite pastimes this week is stealing play money from Cara's new cash register. You can imagine how pleased this makes Cara!

We spent several days in Wichita Falls visiting family. The weather made us come home a little early, but the kids still had a lot of fun with their extended family. They are still asking to see them. I expected little terrors destroying Grandma's antiques and Christmas decorations, but they were surprisingly good. Cara and Nora also slept in their new sleeping bags for the first time and although the first night was a big sleepless fail, the next night was fine. Fiona isn't a huge fan of pack 'n plays, but I can't say I blame her! They don't look too comfy.

All in all, the kids have had a great couple of months between their birthdays in November, Thanksgiving in November, and Christmas festivities in December! They went to 4 different Christmas parties between each of the twins' schools and a couple of playgroups we are in.

Almost 4

It's hard to believe, just as every milestone is, but Cara and Nora turn 4 in less than a week! Yesterday they had a great birthday party at Gymboree. They both loved climbing and sliding, and Nora enjoyed the music and dancing their instructors provide. Cara got to chase a few favorite friends all over the place, and they both loved finally getting to eat one of the monster cupcakes they helped make. Kirby is still working on uploading pictures, so I will have to add those soon.

Last weekend I went to Houston to visit an old friend from high school, so Kirby got to spend lots of quality time with his 3 girls. Other than that, we've been busy with the usual things lately - school, therapy, gymnastics classes, church, and a little Christmas shopping, of course. I'm almost done shopping for everyone on our list, and I have most of the gifts wrapped already. December always seems to fly by far too fast, so hopefully shopping and wrapping ahead of time will help!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from our family to yours! The kids have enjoyed an extended Halloween season so far. Last Saturday, we went to a local church's Trunk or Treat. This is the church where Cara attends Mother's Day Out, so Cara got to see her teacher and a few classmates there. Her school also had a costume day on Tuesday, and my local playgroup had a Halloween party on Sunday afternoon that all of our family went to and enjoyed. That makes for lots of opportunities to wear their costumes and be photographed! The only problem now is all of this candy in the house that the kids keep begging to eat. And who am I kidding - I keep wanting to eat it, too!

The next few weeks should be very busy, too. Cara and Nora's birthday party is less than 3 weeks away, and they are already very excited and asking about it often. It's hard to believe they are almost 4! They are so grown up and opinionated already. They are very into cars, trains, dinosaurs, and Squinkies. Nora is a huge book lover, and Cara loves arts and crafts. They also love playing with their MegaBloks and Duplos, so maybe they're ready for a real Lego set or two. We'll see! :)

Now on to the part you all care about anyways - pictures! 

Picture Dump

We're all going a little stir crazy here. Cara and Fiona were sick last week, but everyone was healthy all weekend, so I thought we were safe. Wrong! Nora is home sick from school today, and if she has the same virus the other girls had, I'm sure we'll be home sick the next few days. Boo!

The weather has been so nice lately, so we have been enjoying it and taking lots of walks and tricycle rides. There are some pictures of our tricycle ride as well as some other random recent ones below.

A few weekends ago was the Autism Speaks walk in Austin. It went so well, and we are so blessed to have so much support from our friends and family. There's a great team picture below!

Blogging, Renewed

I'm attempting to blog about our mundane yet busy lives yet again. I hope this will help all of our distant friends and family, and I hope my attempt this time is more successful! I always have the best of intentions, obviously. ;)

Cara and Nora will be 4 in November. Nora attends preschool 5 mornings a week, which she loves. She loves her 3 teachers, but especially Miss Sonya, and she loves reading, so she especially loves visiting the library. She will bring me books to read for her for hours if I let her. Her favorite books are about bugs and dinosaurs. She and Cara love swinging in big girl swings and riding their tricycles. Nora really loves Dinosaur Train, Barney the Dinosaur, Shaun the Sheep, and Elmo.

Cara just started a 2 day/week Mother's Day Out program at a local church. She loves getting to go to her own special school, and she is very opinionated while I'm getting their lunchboxes ready for the day! She is also in a gymnastics class one day a week for the first time, and her review is mixed at this point. She loves gymnastics, but she doesn't love listening to her teacher. I feel her pain; we've all been there! ;) I think she'll end up loving it, though. That girl cannot sit still and is always running and climbing on something. She enjoys playing with trains, and she and Nora both are obsessed with these tiny toys called Squinkies. When a particular favorite disappears, it is the end of the world for the D house. Cara is into Thomas the Tank Engine, Word Girl, and Wonder Pets.

Fiona is 17 months already! She has a lot of words, and when those don't work, she is quick to scream quite loudly to get what she wants. She is very, very attached to Mom and Dad, and she is not fond of being left anywhere without us, although she will tolerate it at our gym daycare. She won't tolerate it at our church, though. Hopefully this phase is short lived. I'm constantly torn between thinking she is the most adorable toddler ever and also the most annoyingly frustrating toddler ever, but that can probably be applied to every stage of parenthood. Fiona loves, and I do mean LOVES, babies. That is her favorite word, and she loves any chance to see them! We have watched the Babies documentary more times than I care to think about. Her favorite books are Goodnight Moon and Goodnight Gorilla, plus any book she can rip away from her sisters when they are looking at it. She has a homemade custom green and pink tag blankie that is her lovey, and she looks for "banket" when she's ready for bed.

Here are a few recent photos of the clan: