22 months old!

Well, the girls are well on their way to becoming 2-year olds! AUGH!!!! They love playing and saying new words and ignoring their parents :) Here's some video of them playing with some new Christmas toys (love the tutus and bibs, Aunt Linda). There will be more video soon of them dressing and feeding their baby dolls (!) and playing their new instruments - it's going to be loud around here, but always fun. Notice how we were not even paying attention to the Bowl game that was on - who needs tv when you have hilarious girls like these!?

Christmas in Seattle and the Grinch

We got back to Seattle Sunday morning, and that afternoon, my whole family came in to celebrate with us! Not only did we play in the park, open presents, and watch football, but we also got the BEST-EVER performance of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas....

Macie, before the show, wearing mom's 6month-dress (ok, ok, I know, I was a HUGE baby!).

Jon, the Grinch, and Gabe, as Max
Gabe, switching to Cindy Lou Who

Gabe, in a wardrobe malfunction, while Ama keeps the show going!
The whole family! Sarah, Eric, Mike, Caroline, Cheryl, Macie, Gabe, Susan, Tony, and Jon

Big Kid Kate

The day before we headed home, we got to see Daddy's high school friends, Matt and Julie, and their daughter, Kate. The girls LOVED chasing big kid Kate around and exploring her playground outside!

Ho Ho Ho!

Who's at the Door?

Christmas Morning!

Macie

Caroline

Playing with the presents and Aunt Melissa
Who needs to go to the mall for Santa pictures, when he comes to your door!?!?! Mike, Macie, Santa, Caroline, Sarah

Melissa and Matt with the girls and Santa

Getting pretty comfortable....

Sarah, Carol, Mike, Santa, Macie, Melissa, Caroline, Matt, and Clint

PRESENTS! Clint showing Caroline how to play the drums!

M and C with Gigi!

We miss Uncle Brock!

Here is an absolutely beautiful (!) rendition of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" to Uncle Brock, who wasn't able to make it in for Christmas this year. The girls really, really missed you!

On Christmas Eve...

We went to a beautiful, candlelight service at St. Peter and St. Paul and then, headed over to Grand-Aunt Brenda and Grand-Uncle Buddy (aka OLD GOAT) for dinner with the family! The girls stayed up almost late enough to catch Santa...

Heading to church after waking the girls up from their nap....

Anna Kathryn, Kathryn, Sarah, Macie, Uncle Clint, and Caroline

Anna Kathryn, Macie, Mimi, and Caroline with their new ears!

On the Fourth Day of Christmas....

We went to Vickery Creek for a playdate with mommy's roomie's, Shannon and Kristen....

The four "big" kids playing on the tractor - look at Caroline's excited face and Owen's scared face that Annabelle is driving!

Macie gets a BIG hug from Annabelle!

The coolest house ever!

Then, Shannon had an idea - let's decorate cookies! Well, Caroline misheard her and thought she was supposed to decorate the floor with green sprinkles and her mouth with frosting! Everyone went home with green feet :)

All the big kids checking out Baby Sam - so stinkin cute!

On the Third Day of Christmas....

We went to the Lake House for a little relaxation! The girls learned some new words - lakehouse, dock, careful, boucy, lawnchair.... They had so much fun and got Papa to be super-silly!

Hug!

New seats!

Mike, Macie, Caroline, and Papa Charlie

Macie helping Papa get the mail....

Visiting Gigi in her new place

The girls loved getting to go see where Great-Grandmother Mary B. (now called Gigi) lives! She had a wagon for the girls to get towed around in, a Santa to see, and even an elevator!

And, on Christmas day, with our Gigi!

On the second day of Christmas....

We rode the PINK PIG! A Christmas tradition from when Carol (Mimi) was a child in Atlanta - the original train used to hang from ceiling in Rich's (you can see it in the background - I wonder why they stopped using it!?!). The girls were so serious the whole ride and then, when it was time to get off, Caroline kept yelling, "Again!" They haven't stopped talking about the Pink Pig Choo Choo Train! And, my good friend from Oak Ridge, Leah, came to meet us with her baby, Mazie Ruth, who the girls loved!

so focused!


AGAIN!

Look, Caroline can crawl, too!

Making Mazie Ruth laugh!

On the First Day of Christmas....

We made it to Atlanta and started playing with Mimi and Papa immediately! We visited Mimi's kindergarteners and even brought some toys of theirs home with us to play with. We took a trip to the Georgia Aquarium, which was AWESOME (but, I forgot the camera) and the girls are still talking about the fish and wa-doo. And, of course, we went to the playground a lot!

Macie decided that the green car was hers and didn't like sharing it with ANYONE!

In the play tent with Mimi!

Playing with Aunt Melissa baby strollers (from when she was a baby!) and taking the bows off presents under the tree in order to wear them and become BOW HEADS!

Getting ready

Caroline pretending to be Fanta (Santa), saying Ho HO HOOOO! She's going to bring you some TOYS!

And, our decorated tree!

While mom and dad are away, the girls will PLAY!

What Macie and Caroline did in Bellingham without us - looks like they really missed their parents, huh?

visiting with Great-Grandma Lucile

lighting the Hannukah candles with Daco, Jon, and Gabe

SNOW! C and M walking with Daco

Caroline eating snow....

and Macie