We need a little Christmas, Right this very minute...

Christmas is almost here and we're having a blast getting ready for Christmas. It is especially fun to buy myself Christmas presents. This one actually made it under the tree.



Here is our family room all done up. After much debate I finally settled on a fake white tree this year. It makes me happy.


Eva's favorite thing to say right now is, "I scared! Santa!" I think this guy might have something to do with that. (You better not pout, I'm telling you why... so why is Santa pouting? This can't be the first kid to resist sitting on your lap. But the lap thing is kind of creepy if you ask me so I can't blame her.)

I finally wrestled her into a photo with St. Nick.

Sophie was easier considering she was asleep. Santa looks a little freaked out by the whole arrangement. Maybe he's not sure how to fulfill the order for diapers and breast milk- the only items on Sophie's list this year.


Tacky Lights Tour. Richmond is famous for it's Tacky Lights Tour. We've gone out a few evenings now to see some of the houses on the tour. We just have to follow the stream of tour buses and Limos to these amazing houses. You can see a special on TLC this Tuesday (7pm) and Wednesday (2am). It's called "Crazy Christmas Lights" if you want to DVR it.




Enjoying our Hot Chocolate. Apparently we don't own a mug that doesn't bear the mark of a former or current employer. It brings back happy memories. Too bad my blogging days started after XANGO. Those years would have provided endless blog fodder. Maybe I'll start blogging in reverse once my life gets boring.

White Elepant Scraps

Scraps- Thursday night gathering where all the girls get together and scrapbook... except that the scrapbooking stopped about 5 years ago and now everyone just gets together and yaks it up 'till the wee hours of the morning.

It's one of the things I love about living here. There is never a shortage of outlets for my social energy and when Thursday nights roll around, I'm usually ready for some good quality girl time. Every so often Scraps has a theme, a purpose higher than talking each other's ears off. Last week was the annual White Elephant Scraps.

I put a lot of pressure on myself to have a funny White Elephant gift. When I was young, my parents would always throw big New Year's White Elephant parties. They would plan out for the entire year the gifts they would give-always on the look-out for the perfect gift. This party kind of snuck up on me and I wasn't prepared. The only thing I had was a gift so good that I wasn't quite prepared to part with. I'm saving it for the mother of all White Elephant parties, the Palmer Christmas Cousin party that I will someday attend in Calgary, Alberta. So for this one party, with two days to go, I ran over to Goodwill where you can always find something decent.


So here's what we ended up with. A pair of LLBean mom jeans (you have to watch the link to think it's funny) and granny panties (which are always funny in a pinch, especially if they are from a thrift store).


Jenna and Katie. The lucky winners.


This would be me as a mom in the 90's. Being a teenager in the 90's was bad enough.

Jackie and her hommie snowman cookie jar. That joy was soon wiped right off her face when I snatched up the prize and went home with him.
All the girls and our loot. It just isn't the holidays without a good White Elephant party.

Announcing... Sophie Joan

Thanksgiving and the Nat-a-tat-tat

I love having a sister that is single and rich so she can come out and visit me. My sister Natalie was here a couple weeks ago and it was good times. I never should have let her go. We went out to Charlottesville (Monticello and the apple orchard) and the leaves were amazing. It is rare that I'm lucky enough to hit them at their peak.

Auntie Nat and Sophie. Eva's always finding glasses to put on. Trying to get a picture of Eva in the wormhole.


Pretty leaves at Monticello. Can't have enough pictures with Natalie!


A couple from last year's sister tour. Note the thunder thighs on Eva. I never realized what a sumobaby she was!



And for Thanksgiving this year we went to Teresa's house in Chapel Hill, NC. That way I didn't have to cook. :) Thanksgiving and I have a very unfriendly relationship. Let's just say that Thanksgiving hates me. The first year I tried to do Thanksgiving I ended up turning the potatoes into glue and the rolls were black and smokey and my apartment almost caught on fire. Last year I made a bunch of stuff for a potluck that nobody really touched except for the pumpkin pie that had no taste whatsoever. This year I tried to make my mom's famous apple pie, which has no measurements and no recipe, and I turned it into applesauce pie. I forgot the cranberry sauce which didn't set up anyway. But I will say the stuffing was a hit. (Thank you Ina Garten). But lucky for us Teresa pulled through and we had and awesome meal. (Check out the pumpkin cheesecake with gingerbread crust... it was divine.) Eva spent the entire time trying to keep the twins away from their own toys. The little stinker. But it's much harder this time since the twins are walking now! Congrats, girls!



And for fun: Eva adores Sophie. The first thing she says in the morning is "See Sophie! See Sophie!" Then she giggles and squeals in her face. (A couple days ago Devin held Sophie's face over Eva's and Sophie puked right in Eva's eye. Eva started yelling "I stinky!!!" Holy cow it was hilarious.)


Here are a couple comparison pictures of Eva at 2 months. Sophie in the first one, Eva in the second two. What do you think? Sisters?

Happy Two Months, SophieGirl!

Isn't she a beaut? I just love this little thing. I can hardly believe she's already two months old. Sophie is growing a ton but still seems smaller to me than Eva at this age. Sophie is baby Eva 2.0 with a bit smaller cheeks. Sophie gave me her first smile at 5.5 weeks but used them sparingly. Now she is a smiley little baby and lights up whenever she gets a little attention. Her colic is calming down considerably. She naps quite a bit-- but no set schedule since we're always on the go. We put her to bed at 8pm and she wakes up to eat around midnight and every 3-4 hours after that. There was a point where she was sleeping from 8pm to 4am. Then I had the bright idea to "dream feed" her at midnight, hoping she'd then sleep from midnight to 8am... No such luck. Now she eats a ton at night and I'm not quite sure what to do about it. But she's a great little cuddler and nuzzler so I don't mind too much. We love you, Baby Sophie!

When will my face go back to its normal size?

Guess who's six weeks old today... Yep, our Sophie Girl! She is starting to fill out and get some of that chub chub that her sister had. I'm wondering how it is possible that she is getting bigger and I'm getting... bigger?? At least it feels that way. With Eva I didn't lose a pound after the initial hospital drop until I stopped nursing. I just have to remind myself I'm not one of those lucky ones (like my sisters) that turns into a stick after a couple months of nursing. Oh the joys of motherhood, right? At least I have this little chunker to show for it. We just love our Sophie girl. She sleeps a ton during the day, screams at us for a couple hours at night before dropping off to sleep. I should probably keep her up more during the day but I'm so busy that I let her snooze and then pay the price for it later. It seems to work out fine for everyone so far.


This actually works...


Eva and her dolly, "Sophie". First she does this...

Then she does this... I think I'm being watched.


One of these days I will get a good pic of the two of them together. I think I need a professional... or lots of candy.

Eva in her costume from last year. She's grown a ton since then!

Halloween 2010

My little love bug...



Teresa and her cute little duckies. Eva in her princess costume. I finally got the dang thing on her.


This is a classic example of Eva's mad face, finally captured on film. This face is usually accompanied by throwing of something and sometimes a giant Godzilla roar. It is so hilarious to me but I try not to let her know that and give her my best fake mad face back. This time the pumpkins were the target of her anger and got tossed off the porch. Don't you love 2-yr-olds?

Gracie's description of Eva to my mom: "Eva is such a grumpy girl, but she is SO much fun." Ha ha. I think Gracie got the mad face a few times.

Family pic before heading out. Sophie was swaddled so we just slipped the costume over her blankets, hence no arms. She fell right asleep. I think I found my solution for a fussy baby.

Cousin Gracie and Sophie. She said this was her favorite part of the trip. She was so fun to have visit us and we're also excited she forgot to pack her Halloween candy.