Christmas

First things first, because it looks like I missed the month of November here are few pictures from school and Thanksgiving!

These were taken at school. Yes, we do get a lot of questions asking if they are sisters, lol.

Wish we could get them to stand this still for pictures.
We MUST SHARE!!

No doubt about it Astoria LOVES her Pops. Anytime he's around she's got close tabs on him. She loves to get up in the chair with him and just sit. Sometimes longer than she's ever sat with me.

Yep, she's going to be a lefty!

Coming and going. The girl is NEVER still.

DECEMBER

In December we went to our first live show. The girls are in love with Yo Gabba Gabba! They danced the ENTIRE show! I know there is no educational value and the show is a little creepy but Astoria is all about the music of any show she watches. Even on Elmo's world she'll sit and listen to the songs, but once they are over she's up and moving. Oh, and Elmo Live comes in March, we'll be there :)

Nana made their amazing outfits and Astoria, when asked where Foofa was, knew exactly where she was, on the front of her shirt.

Christmas was a blast this year. Astoria totally understood what it meant to unwrap gifts and of course know that they were hers (or in her terms "MINE"). Next year I have a feeling Santa will be a little bit more understood. The first time visiting Santa this year was horrific. The next time she saw Santa her and Olivia 'talked' to him from afar. The next time her and Olivia went and sat on his lap like he was an old friend (of course this would be the day we were wearing NOTING cute and Christmasy). Most of her Christmas gifts revolved around Elmo. She has quite a bond with 'Melmo' at the moment. She also received a play kitchen, lots of bath paints, music CDs, and a few baby dolls.

The rest are just really cute random pictures from December :)

Yeah, we're still working on this biting thing.

We went to Aunt Paula's church and decorated gingerbread houses.

Concentrating really hard.

We visited Santa's Village in Richardson and saw lots of pretty lights.

Getting around with my monkey on my back.

Got a bike from Nonnie, Grandpa, and Uncle Scott. We are currently riding in the house, by spring I have a feeling she'll have it down.

At Nana's house there is always something fun to do...here they are playing in 'snow' from a box. She loves to be naked and seems to always be missing a shoe!

Helping Nana.

Making cookies with sprinkles (once again using that left hand!).

And what are cookies without a bit of icing?

Astoria still isn't really into dolls but Olivia loves all baby dolls. So when Olivia found one of Astoria's Christmas gifts, a doll with a 'packpack', aka backpack, and put it on Astoria needed one to match. Thanks to Aunt Meredith we found a solution.

Elmo microwave from Aunt Meredith.

She really doesn't like to sit still at all... and to be held, well that doesn't work out too well either.

Ball from Pops. She loved this thing!

Olivia's hippos...eveyone's a winner!

Christmas a Granny's is always fun. She donned the name Cindy Loo Hoo for the evening.
The gift that will last for years to come...A KITCHEN!!

A tea set, she knew exactly what to do and even made drinking noises as she drank from the cup.

All of the cousins!

Hmmm...

Even through all of the bickering, hair pulling, biting, hitting, and shouting, in the end they do truly love one another.

Thank you all for making our Christmas so wonderful!

October in Review

It's amazing how fast a month has gone by yet again. I look back and wish I'd blogged more but instead you get a whole month in review, maybe in November I'll be better! Enjoy!

We did a photo shoot and got some good pictures of the girls in their costumes in the beginning of the month.

For as much as you guys fight you also love one another.

You finally figured out if you moved the stool Granny made you over to the sink you could wash the dishes, you've been 'helping' ever since.

Cowgirl day at school.

Nana and Pops came down and we headed off to the Arboretum wearing shorts in the middle of October, crazy.

Cousin Love

Nana and Pops

Pops whispering something.

Nana chasing you, what we did most of the time at the Arboretum.

Hugging the BIG pumpkin.

Sweet pigtails

Pops and his girls

Us.

Aunt Mere found a bounce house on Craigslist. You and Olivia have bounced everyday since we've had it. The laughter coming out of that bounce house is amazing!

Does it get any better than this?

Nana decided you guys needed to make Halloween cookies.

You liked the sprinkles best.

Haunt the Dallas Zoo, feeding the giraffes.

Aunt Mere getting a little too close.

Olivia danced with the vampire and you decided you needed to be center stage as well.

On Halloween we went to Firewheel Mall. They had ponies there to ride. You liked the ride but refused to touch the horse.

Nonnie and you

Petting the goats.

Picking a duck at the duck pond.

Checking out your candy loot. You wanted to take everything out of your bag. By the end of the night however you knew you were supposed to open your bag to the people and a few times you even said 'thank you'.

Nana, Olivia, and you

Looking at the Halloween cemetery.

It's been an amazing month and I cannot wait to see what November brings!

18 Months and a New Cousin!

I'm not sure which is better, 18 months or 1 1/2 years old. I'm thinking 18 months, the other sounds so old. I can't believe another month has passed and I've not blogged once since that month. So a little recap of our month:

-You couldn't be any cuter. You are however the master of temper tantrums. You can throw them over the smallest things.
-For a long time I was worried you'd never walk, now, now you RUN and fast. Your favorite game right now is chase, you love to run as fast as you can when Daddy and I say "I'm gonna get you...."
-You love to be sung to. Your favorite song is If You're Happy and You Know It and the theme song to Yo Gabba Gabba which I also heard you say tonight for the first time. You pointed to the TV and said what you wanted to watch and I understood completely. I was shocked, you just smiled.
-We're working on identifying things still. You can now point to animals in your book and easily recognize and say cat, dog, and duck. The duck came about after a trip to the Cottonwood Festival in Richardson, you LOVED the ducks. You've also picked up 'uh, uh' or 'no' and then you throw your arm up and the air and down again to REALLY make your point. You've also picked up on the word ball.
-You now follow many simple step instructions. "Shut the door, open the door, put it in the trash, bring it to Mommy", etc...
-I still think you're going to be left handed :)
-You still love your baths. Even in the middle of a tantrum if asked if you want to take a bath you stop crying and head to the bathroom.
-We went to the doctor last week for pink eye, it was a mess. It seems when you get sick you really get sick. You weighed 22.6lbs at that time.
-Your eye teeth are now coming in, the bottom ones have already broken through.
-This past weekend we went through a paci detox 'program'. You are now paci free. I thought it was going to be harder than it was. After day two of a five day program you were done with them. I think it's been harder for me and your dad than it really has been for you.
-Nights have been the hardest to get you to sleep. Two nights ago you didn't go to bed until midnight. I finally took you to your room, turned off the lights, laid down and fell asleep. You continued to play, at midnight I woke up and you were asleep with a pair of shoes in your hand. The next night you slept in your sandals. Tonight a pair of house shoes. You are CRAZY about your shoes.
-We stopped in and visited your old babysitter, Debbie, the other day. She couldn't believe how much you had grown. I don't think you really remember her but I could tell you remembered her house a little bit just by some of the familiar places you went to in her house. It was a fun visit and we'll go back just to stay in touch.
-You started a new daycare today. You are now going to school with Olivia. I'm able to watch you on the camera at school and it looked like you had an okay day. A few tantrums here and there but nothing too bad.

You are growing so fast and you've mastered so many things this past month I can't even keep up (shame on me). I love you and the little girl you've become.

Love,

Mommy

P.S. You're no longer the youngest cousin on the Hardgraves side. Austen Gibson Aylor was born on October 3rd. Christmas should be lots of fun this year!

Plano Balloon Festival last year.

Plano Balloon Festival this year.



Carnival at Firewheel Mall

First ride on a ferris wheel.

Chasing the duck at the Richardson Cottonwood Festival.

Best of friends, sometimes :)