This is one of Scott's favorite things to do with our babies...rock with them. Especially in front of a fireplace. It is the one place he can get Erin to sit still, and Izzy loves to watch the flames dance while being snuggled. If he can swing it he'll put the legs up and snooze with them. However, that is a near impossibility with Erin. That girl never sits still. ONCE and only once since she passed infancy has she fallen asleep rocking with Daddy. I came downstairs to have him nod his head toward her. She sleepily opened her eyes and asked me to put her in her bed.

Izzy has started on solid food! She wasn't too sure of it at first, but she has really warmed up to the idea. Once she got the hang of not pushing it all out with her tongue that is!

I like to make my own baby food. I think it is fun, inexpensive, and I know there aren't any weird things in it. I just made sweet potatoes today and Izzy adored them at first bite. I put a little on a spoon, and into her mouth. She just looked at me and smiled and opened her mouth wide for every bite after that.

I steam the veggies/fruit because it leaches vitamins and minerals the least. Then I put them in the food processor and add as much liquid from the steaming pot as needed to get the right consistency. Once it looks good to me I pour it into ice cube trays, freeze, then pop them out into freezer bags. I just have to nuke one or two cubes and it's ready!

Erin was under the blanket, and when she came out this is what I saw! She had snitched one of Izzy's pacis and was checking it for quality control.

Erin has always been weird about toys. She hasn't and doesn't really play with traditional toys that much. Instead she grabs onto the most interesting things and decides they are her play things. Like this pop-up hamper. She LOVES this thing. She uses it like you would use a sack in a sack race, jumps into it, and . . .

puts it on her head and runs around in it.

Izzy's "I'm not so sure about this solid food thing mommy" face.

So far she seems to be a more energetic eater than Erin was. Let's hope it stays that way!

Matching outfits from Christmas. They look adorable in them.

I like noticing how different they are. Erin has white, very sensitive skin. Izzy seems to have a perma-tan and has barely had any diaper rash at all! Her skin tone is a lot like her Uncle Ben's. Must be the Croatian coming out.

If you can't tell...Izzy loves her big sister like crazy. She watches her all the time and want to grab her and gnaw on her. Erin handles is all pretty well, sometimes getting annoyed, but overall does really well with Izzy. I'm proud of my girls!

Christmastime 2009

Our first Christmas as a family of four! Erin was at the PERFECT age this year for Christmas. All that she learned and now believes about Santa Claus came from TV shows that she watched. At first she decided that Santa was going to come out of the fireplace just to give her hugs and kisses. Eventually presents got added into the story.

She was, however, disappointed on Christmas morning because Santa didn't wake her up to give her a hug and a kiss. The presents made up for it I think.

Izzy had a good Christmas too. She just loves being around us and her sister. She got a lot of clothes for Christmas and is going to be headed into 6-9 month fashion in STYLE!

Scott and I didn't do presents for each other this year. We have been trying to save as much money as we can so we can save up to do the roof this spring, pay for our lawnmower, among many other needs/wants.

We did get this great game for Christmas from Scott's sister called Cook or be Cooked! Food Network put it out and you get to cook things on the Wii. We have had a lot of fun with it.

Another great Christmas present is that we refinanced our home and locked in at 4.75%. We had to get the house appraised again and the appraisal came back $50,000 more than last year!!! So we got to drop our mortgage insurance which was costing us $143 a month! Total savings from our refinance $279 a month! Merry Christmas to us and to our roof!

Our Christmas picture. There were some Christmas decorations in the direction that Izzy was looking. I was doing the picture with the tripod so there was no one over there to get Izzy's attention.

Daddy and Izzy during the decorating of the Christmas tree.

Erin's favorite spot to hang the ornaments. There were many in that spot!


We let Erin stay up a bit later to keep decorating and this is what happens when she is getting tired. Meltdown City!

We were able to get her to smile one more time before we put her to bed. She had such a fun time discovering all the different kinds of ornaments to put on the tree.

Mr. Snowman. . . rolled up on Christmas Day. Erin was adamant that he have a carrot nose!

Batches and batches of spritz and Russian Teacakes. . . I'm still eating them! Someone help me!

I like to try new things in the culinary area so I tried my hand at truffles. They really weren't that hard and these were mocha and so very yummy!

The cookies we left out for Santa. Erin made a smiley face with the cookies.

She was so enthralled that the milk and cookies were gone the next morning!

Bowling set from Izzy.

Having kids around for Christmas makes is so so much more enjoyable. She just unwrapped her inflatable trampoline!

Balls to go in the trampoline.

Izzy on Christmas morning, isn't she gorgeous with those sleepy eyes.

My brothers playing video games on Christmas Day. It reminded me of the Christmas that we got our Nintendo. . .the original with Super Mario Bros. Now THAT was a great Christmas. When we were learning to play and we would jerk the controller around to help Mario jump. . . ahhhhh memories!

Uncle Ben and Katie holding the Izzy baby. . . who is tired and crabby. But she warmed up to everyone after she had a nap. A good Christmas had by all!