Deck the Halls

We are getting all ready for Christmas and the girls loved decorating the house and putting up the tree.  Lily and Juliet wrote adorable letters to Santa, which we took to the North Pole mailbox, and then they got to meet the man himself!  They sat on his lap and told him what they wanted for Christmas (Lily went into great detail).  They loved the fake snow and naughty-or-nice meter in Santa's Village.  We also went to a tree lighting ceremony, where daddy got big kisses from his girls.

Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving at home this year, watching the parade, football, and doing crafts with the girls.  They made a list of things they were thankful for and came up with quite a lot (at the top of Jules' list was Dora).  We made a big, traditional Thanksgiving meal and ended up with so many leftovers that I doubt we will ever do it again!

Our Little Gymnast

Lily is still taking gymnastics and just received a medal for completing another session.  She has a lot of fun with it and has improved a lot since she started a year ago.  The hardest part for us is keeping Juliet out of the gym during lessons!

Trick or Treating

After being cooped up in the house during the storm, the girls were very excited to be able to get out and trick or treat on Halloween.  Lily dressed as Supergirl in her cape and Juliet was Rapunzel, complete with a long blond wig!  They had fun glow necklaces and we all went out trick or treating together.  They were rather greedy about it and Juliet said she needed lots and lots and lots of candy.  They especially liked seeing  people's dogs dressed up in costume.  It was quite an adventure for them!

Celebrating Fall

We celebrated fall this year by going to a festival with hayrides and games for the kids.  They even got their hair sprayed orange!  We have had very mild weather this fall.  It was only after Hurricane Sandy that we really started to get cooler, more seasonable weather.  We fared very well during the storm and didn't even lose power this time.

Juliet's a Big Girl Now

September was a big month for Juliet - she learned to use the potty and started sleeping in a big girl bed!  I think seeing her sister go potty helped a lot because she picked it up pretty easily.  We never even got out the little potty, but skipped that step and put her right on the toilet from the beginning.  Because pull-ups really didn't work, Jules wore panties early on and that definitely sped up the process.  More messes to clean up, but it's worth it to have the whole thing done with so quickly.  Our big girl got a Dora certificate to make it official and said "I'm so proud of me!"

Shortly thereafter, we moved Juliet from the nursery into what used to be the guest room, painting it a soft purple.  She's in a twin bed and was so cute the first morning, running into our room at the crack of dawn saying it was wake up time (a gate did go up at her door after that).  The downside is that she no longer naps every day, and in the beginning she would sometimes cry for her crib, saying she missed her baby bed.  She's doing great now though and feels very grown up.  We're so pleased that she's reached these milestones.

Lily's First Day of School

Yesterday was Lily's first day of school.  She is in a preschool program for 4-year-old kids that meets three afternoons a week.  She was so excited about it, when she woke up in the morning she wanted to make presents for her teachers.  She made a mosaic heart and a flower, which she hid behind her back and then presented to her teachers when she met them.  She said she plans to make seven new friends, all girls (the only boys she likes are her cousins).  I think the structure of school will be very good for Lily, and she is also starting gymnastics and swimming lessons again.  It's nice to get back into a routine with the kids!

Juliet's First Haircut

Juliet had her very first haircut last week, just a tiny trim because we love her curls.  She was quite serious about it, sitting very still up in the barber's chair.  She looks so grown up in her after shot!

Trip to Fort Wayne

We had a really nice trip to Fort Wayne a few weeks ago.  We got to see all of the grandparents, as well as extended family, and the girls were thoroughly spoiled.  Lily and Juliet are getting much better at handling the long drive, and we plan to continue visiting twice each year.