The start of something new...

In January, both girls started new things. Caroline started Sunday school, ballet class and swim lessons and Hannah started fast crawling and pulling up on everything!! Both things have kept us very busy. Caroline really loves ballet class and it is so cute to see all the girls running around in their leotards and tights doing their little "ballet" moves. She also really likes Sunday school though it took a little bit of getting used to and swim lessons inside has been a great relief during her rainy days! She is still a full time doctor and we consistently have Dr. appointments at our house. She even told me the other day that when she gets bigger, she wants to have "broken hair" with a little on each side like her pediatrician (her Dr. has a bald spot with hair on the sides). It was everything I could do to not crack up laughing!

Hannah has such a sweet personality and loves being able to crawl everywhere to try and chase me and Caroline. She is fast too -- she loves being at the park and crawling in the sand and it is my favorite when she wakes up and is standing at her crib waiting for someone to come and get her. What a sweetie!

Gaga and Papa come to town!

Gaga and Papa came to visit in January and the girls were very excited to see them and Caroline kept asking, "when is papa with the mustache going to be here?"! Very cute! We spent one of the days at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach which was pretty amazing and the girls (and the adults) really enjoyed themselves. We spent some time in Santa Barbara and then we had a rainy day so Gaga and Caroline made cupcakes with Caroline's next baking set from Gaga and Papa. It was a great visit! Enjoy the pictures of all the beautiful fish (and the kids too!)

Christmas in St. Louis

This year we spent Christmas in balmy, sunny and warm St. Louis -- ha ha -- it was 25 degrees for the most of our trip!! But we had a great time! My cousins were visiting from Switzerland, Chicago and Kansas City and we definitely kept the kids busy. I was able to visit with my friends from college and their kids which was really fun. Caroline discovered how great a basement can be (thanks Maggie!). We had a cookie baking day at my Aunt Linda's along with a chili supper. We visited Main Street in St. Charles with their Santas from around the world, had Xmas at my sister Katie and her husband Kevin, Xmas Eve at Aunt Rita and Uncle Wayne's and a crockpot dinner at my cousin Tim's with his family. All in all, it was very busy, festive and so much fun. We even ended up with a white Christmas!

Hannah got her first tooth for Christmas and Caroline learned to sleep in a big girl bed so those were events in themselves!

Polar Express

Before we left for St. Louis for Christmas, we took the kids on the local steam train renamed the "North Pole Express". It was very cute as the girls were dressed in their Christmas pajamas and boarded the train to the North Pole to pick up Santa Claus. They had elves on board who led carols and told stories and the girls were all eyes. I think the most exciting part at the beginning was just riding on the train as Caroline has been fascinated with them for a while and then the big excitement came when we arrived at the North Pole and Santa was outside waiting for us! He boarded the train and gave all the kids candy canes and then they had the opportunity to sit on his lap after the ride was over. Hannah was happy to sit on his lap but Caroline wanted nothing to do with it. She just ran up and said, "I want a big girl bike " and ran away! Didn't make for great pictures but it was a great experience none the less!

Disneyland

To celebrate my birthday, we took Caroline to Disneyland (so it was more like HER birthday!) but we had a great time. She loved every minute of the rides, the train, the people, the balloons, everything but the characters -- she didn't want to even get close to them which was fine with me. It was all decorated for Christmas which was beautiful as Disney doesn't do anything halfway and we were able to see the Christmas parade and the lights at night. They even had it snow on Main Street which was so much fun. All in all, it was a great birthday for me getting to see Caroline enjoy it.

From push ups to almost crawling

Hannah has always had great abdominal muscles. Ever since she was 3 months old she could hold up her head and legs and just hold that position for a number of seconds. It goes to show that all of that ab work does pay off. She can do a full male push up and hold it -- it is hilarious and she loves to do it. From that she has learned how to coordinate her hands and knees to get to where she wants to go. You can see the evidence in these videos...

Day at the Wineries (with the kids of course!)

After Thanksgiving, we took the kids and Laurie and Crispin to the Santa Ynez Wineries -- mainly for the parents, of course, but the kids (meaning Caroline) loved it just as much! There were big open fields to run in, lakes to throw rocks in and wine for the adults so it was a great time. We were in the midst of potty training Caroline while we were there so that made for some interesting situations but I won't go into those details. It was our chance to enjoy the type of fall that comes to southern California and it was great!!