Snow Day - No School!

Kara had her first snow day on December 15th.  It wasn't really that big of a snow storm (we ended up getting maybe 6-8 inches of snow), but the rate at which it was falling and the wind made for very dangerous driving conditions, which Dad experienced first hand on his drive into work.  Kara didn't do anything too exciting on her day off.  She and Emily played out in the snow and were greeted at the door with hot chocolate.  They also watched a movie and enjoyed watching the snow fall from the warmth of the house.

Dad sported a righteous goatee and mustache for a couple of weeks at the beginning of the month. Emily enjoyed Dad's "whiskers", but the general consensus was that Dad should never grow facial hair again.  I guess it's not a great look for everyone.

Kara is enjoying more and more advanced games and puzzles.  One day, she and Mom got out Scrabble and played a game.  Kara didn't follow the rules exactly, but she did spell real words and actually beat Mom in points.  She's also learned checkers, Uno (which is her favorite game), dominoes, and Dino Math Tracks.  In addition, Kara has been working on some pretty complicated puzzles lately.  She recently completed a 200-piece puzzle all by herself.  She tried a 300-piece puzzle but got a little frustrated after a while (there was a large black area with very few features to help figure out where the pieces went).

We converted Emily's bed to a toddler bed the first weekend of December.  We were a little concerned that it would mess up her sleep, and we'd hear her wandering around her room all night long.  So far, however, she hasn't figured out that she can get out of the bed when Mom and Dad aren't there, so we haven't heard her after bedtime.  In general, Emily is a very happy, sweet little girl; however, she is definitely into the terrible twos.  She is very quick to cry and scream at Mom and Dad if they don't do what she wants to do exactly when she wants it done.  Hopefully it's just a phase...

Link to pictures
 

Christmas 2015

Christmas was a lot of fun this year.  We got the season kicked off right by attending the Christmas party that was put on by Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood.  They had cookies, dancing, horse-drawn sleigh rides, and even Santa and Mrs. Claus.  Kara definitely was playing along with the Santa thing this year.  She sat on Santa's lap at the party (Emily watched from a safe distance), but she made sure Mom and Dad were aware of the gifts she was asking for from Santa.

 Kara has learned most of the Christmas carols and had a great time this year belting them out.  Dad earned himself some serious cool points when he helped Kara finish the Batman parody version of Jingle Bells that Kara learned at school ("Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg...").  What do they teach kids at school these days?

Mimi and Papa were not able to travel out here this year, so we Skyped with them on Christmas Eve and opened their presents then.  Kara exploded with happiness when she opened her Lego Scooby-Doo Mansion, and Emily spent most of the day playing with her new doll furniture.  We also Skyped with them again and Uncle Trey on Christmas day.

It was a pretty small crowd at the house for Christmas day.  Grandma and Grandpa S. and Aunt Amy showed up early in the day.  We were able to get the girls corralled to eat some breakfast before they (mostly Kara) just had to open some presents or they would burst!  Kara ran through her gifts, but Emily still wanted to play with each gift after opening it.  It took her quite a while to get all her gifts open.  Later in the day, Laura and Jared, friends from Dad's work, stopped by for dinner.

Kara's favorite gifts this year were probably a tie between a remote controlled car and her Scooby Doo Spooky Castle (860 pieces) Lego set.  Kara had fun for days after Christmas putting together her Lego's and racing her car around the house.

Emily really enjoyed her baby cradle and changing table.  She thought it was really fun to rock her baby and put her down to sleep (Emily is a nurturer).  She also got a cool Mickey Mouse train lego set that she enjoyed.  Some fairy wings and a glow stick wand from Aunt Amy were super big hits too!

Link to pictures