Christmas 2009

Our Christmas was a little crazy this year. Aubrey ended up coming down with a fever Tuesday morning. She missed her Christmas party at school (which she cried about) and had to go to the doctor, where we found out that she had an ear infection. I had the doctor check Chloe too even though she was showing no symptoms of anything. She was fine. The rest of my family came in Wednesday, and we unpacked everything. Wednesday night Chloe started running a fever, and I took her to the doctor Thursday (Christmas Eve day). After waiting at the doctor's office for over an hour, we found out that she had a sinus infection. She was given an antibiotic too and continued to run a fever off and on until Saturday. She was pretty crabby. Besides all of this craziness, we had a great Christmas! It was so fun to watch the girls open their gifts and see how excited they were about their new things. It was also fun to spend time with family!

Aubrey all dressed up before her school Christmas musical

Making Christmas cookies with Grandma

Family Christmas picture

The girls

Opening the presents from Santa

Passing out presents

Trying out her new binoculars

Chloe had to open all of her presents while sitting in the stroller.

The girls in their matching pajamas.

Opening presents with just the four of us

Aubrey shooting baskets

The Wagner grandkids

Chloe riding her new tricycle.

Aubrey and Clare with their double strollers.

Chloe and Clare in their matching aprons and hats.

Exploration Station

A couple weeks ago we got two free admissions to the Exploration Station. I had never taken the girls there and thought it might be fun. So this past Wednesday, when it was snowy and windy, my friend Renee and her three kids met us up there. The kids had a great time! There was so much to do. We were there for almost four hours (including lunch time), but could have probably stayed there all day to play. There was only one other mom there with her two small children, but she was gone after we ate lunch and we then had the place to ourselves. It was great! We didn't have to worry about losing our kids and we could be in a central location while they played. Renee and I decided that we would definitely have to do go again.

Driving the car

Shopping in the store

Playing at the water table

Looking at the bunny

Doing a puppet show for us

Putting together a puzzle

Going to milk the cow

Eating food at the diner

Together

I am so thankful for my two girls! Why anyone would only want to have one child is beyond me. It's so nice to have two who can play together and entertain one another. Not saying that they don't fight, but for the most part, they love to be together and play with one another.

Reading books together

They both insisted on trying on their snowpants and then wore them around the house the rest of the night.

Grandpa's Girl

My grandparents came for a quick visit last Saturday night on their way to my mom and dad's. We hadn't seen them since my cousin's wedding in July, so it was so nice to see them. Calvin and I had gone shopping all day and by the time I got home from picking the girls up from my in-laws, Grandpa and Grandma were here. The girls took their coats off and then went to say hi. Aubrey gave Grandma a hug and then immediately went to Grandpa and sat on his lap, where she stayed for the next hour until supper. She was Grandpa's girl the rest of the night. She insisted he sit beside her at supper, she played catch with him after supper, and then they read books on the floor. She and Grandpa have a special bond that I've never seen her have with any man before (besides her dad). She is just drawn to him, and I love watching them interact. When he's around, there's no place she'd rather be then with him. She loves and adores him so much! I'm so glad I got the pictures I did of them together. We really enjoyed having both of them here and being able to catch up with them. We're so glad that God has granted them good health to be able to travel.

Aubrey got Grandpa to sit on the floor and play with her.

Playing catch with Grandpa

The two Chloes :)

Reading books with Grandpa on the floor

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Things have been really crazy lately! My sisters have told me many times that I need to update my blog, so here's some pictures of things we've been doing lately . . .

I babysat Calvin's cousin's little boy. The girls loved playing with him. Aubrey got her basket of books and a chair right away to read books to him.

Clare and Chloe didn't want to be left out, so they read books to Levi too.
Chloe's been really into puzzles lately. She loves to dump out Aubrey's 48-piece puzzle and try to do it.

We celebrated Calvin's 30th birthday on November 19th. The girls were very excited about it!

Clare, Aubrey, Chloe, & Sophia posed for a picture at Grandma's house.

Last Saturday, we went and cut down our Christmas tree. The girls had fun looking for a tree.

After we got home, we decorated the tree and Calvin helped Aubrey put the star on the top.

Our finished tree!

Being silly for the camera.

Giving hugs.

Cheese!

Playing in the Leaves

Calvin raked up several piles of leaves this past weekend. He didn't have time to take them to the burn pile, so I started doing that today. The girls went back and forth between playing in the leaves and helping me pick them up.

Pumpkins and Halloween

We finally sat down to carve our pumpkin for Halloween last Friday. I tried to get the girls to scoop out the insides, but neither one of them were interested in getting their hands slimy. Instead, they watched me do it. After getting everything scooped out, I decided to let Aubrey draw the face on and then I would cut it. Her version was cute, but very small, so I had to make it a little larger. After getting everything cut out, Aubrey wanted to save some seeds to plant next year, so we had to separate the seeds from the pulp and then wash them. The girls did that part for me!

Trick or treating was fun. Aubrey was a cheerleader, while Chloe was a cowgirl. We normally just take the girls to the relatives, but this year we decided to take the girls around town. We took them around a couple blocks and they got tons of candy and loved it! They both got the hang of saying "trick or treat" before they got candy.

Checking out the pumpkin insides

Drawing on the face
Aubrey's face

The finished pumpkin

Separating the seeds

Washing the seeds

Halloween outfits