EIGHTH Birthday Play-by-Play!

Since the girls' first birthday, I've done a play-by-play of their birthday happenings.  My pictures are a little more sparse these days, since I have to share my birthday girls with the public school system...but I still manage to document my darlings.  My newly-minted EIGHT YEAR-OLDS had a great day!

Our annual first-thing-in-the-morning pics!

Baby A!

Baby B!

And the girls soon piled up together...they said they were posing like they were in Mommy's tummy.  HA!  I think they should swap places for that to be more accurate, though.

Sillies!!!

Since the girls' birthday fell on a Thursday, we decided we would have our family celebration the following Saturday.  I still surprised the girls with a few little treats.  Waiting on them at the breakfast table were these little guys...a nod to their Serbian nicknames, which mean "little duck" and "little bird".

After breakfast, we had some play time with the fur babies.

Baby A with Miki

Baby B with Alex

And then I attempted our annual birthday picture.  The girls weren't super excited for that activity, but I did get this one in their new kitty shirts.

I took the girls to school (and then began my whirlwind of a day, buzzing around doing birthday stuff!).

I took the girls lunch from one of our favorite bakeries...chicken salad sandwiches and white bean chowder.  YUM!!!

Mommy with her birthday girls!

And after a short visit home for me, I was back with donuts and lemonade for their classmates.

I picked the girls up from school and headed to the library.  We were long overdue to get new books.  That's usually a weekend activity, so it was a treat to be there in the middle of the week!

In the hot air balloon basket at the library!

I made the girls' traditional birthday meal, baked shrimp scampi over mashed potatoes, and then we enjoyed their traditional birthday dessert, chocolate molten lava pudding cake.  YUM!  We sang "Happy Birthday" -- twice, of course -- and dug into the sweet goodness.

After supper, I had another surprise for the girls...the Game of Life board game, and some new astronaut pajamas.

These precious baby girls had a great day, for sure!

My sleepy 8 year-olds after a full day of celebration!

The Countdown Begins!

Today starts our countdown to Valentine's Day.  It's not much...a little treat for each of seven days, including V-Day.  Today's confection is two dark chocolate-covered almonds, something small that will fit in the countdown pill box.

The girls haven't said anything about it this year, so I imagine they'll be super surprised to see what's waiting on them at the breakfast table.  And of course I can't wait to see their faces and hear their glee!

And of course the anticipation of the holiday makes me think back to some of our fun holidays past.  The girls were two in this first real Valentine's Day celebration.  Look at those adorable faces and their "Peace & Love" onesies!!!

Baby B

Baby A

And beyond the special Valentine's Day breakfast, we celebrated further with dinner downtown, the girls decked out in some of my favorite dresses ever.

Nose kiss for Sissy!

Three ladies on a mission!

I love any opportunity to celebrate with my loves...and any opportunity to take a trip down Memory Lane!

Thank you, as always, to the marvelous Cheryl at Twinfatuation for the Way-Back-Whenesday inspiration!!!

Christmas Fun!

Christmas Day was full of family and fun.  Ahead of our traditional Christmas tree-shaped fruit tart, we went ahead and let the girls open their stockings.

They were excited to get "real" yo-yos.  They've had a handful of yo-yos here and there, but never ones that were very stable.  These held much more promise...and it didn't take any time for the girls to master them...at least far beyond any skills their mommy ever dreamed of.

In addition to their yo-yos, the girls got balsa wood airplanes, a little wooden fish craft kit, some sweets...and...MUCH to their surprise: WALKIE-TALKIES!!!  They were giddy!!!

Our precious girls were as tickled as anything to give us the goodies they'd made.  The very best gifts of all were the heartfelt notes they wrote, proclaiming why Mommy is the best mommy ever...Daddy is the best daddy ever...Miki and Alex are the best black kitties.  What precious hearts these girls have!

The girls got some plenty of books, and their *big* gift was a fort building kit.  We made a fort right away in the den.  Draped with a couple of sheets, it made the perfect place for them to cuddle their walkie-talkies and read their new books.

We experimented the day after Christmas with building a tent-shaped fort.  It's super cool (for all of us!)!

And Christmas morning was made all the better by seeing our fur babies enjoy the hoopla.  They enjoyed their new toys, of course...but equally as much, they enjoyed the stockings and wrapping paper.

Miki on his stocking :)

Alex with his new monkey :)

A Merry Christmas was had by all!

December to Remember

Wow...I knew it had been a long time since I blogged.  I winced to see it's been THREE MONTHS.  Wowza.  I missed it, for sure...and I know I'm going to kick myself one day, too.

I guess there's no time like the present to try to catch up a bit...so I'm going with a few snapshots to try to recapture some of what I missed.

December was, of course, full of holiday cheer.  And woven in and around the festivities, we had our usual fun, too...

Easy Bake Oven fun!  Watching anxiously!

Baby B...give her a book and a warm fire...she's set!

Baby A made herself at home on a blanket...and Miki was quick to join her!

Black cats are hard to photograph, I'm often reminded...but I got a good one of Miki in the sunlight.  Meow!

We had some fun school adventures, too...

The girls did "money posters" for their math class...Susan B. Anthony and the two-dollar bill.  They did a great job!

Roller skating field trip!  Thankfully, no casualties this time!

And then there's our countdown calendar, which held many fun activities...

Decorating the tree!

Making gingerbread houses (thanks to my most amazing friend for hosting!!!)!

New fuzzy Christmas pajamas!

Painting a canvas...Baby A chose a reindeer!

Baby B painted a snowman!

This holiday will stand out for me in a few sweet ways...ones that I hope I always remember...

The girls were so helpful in the kitchen this year!  In particular, they did a great job of making sand tarts and sugar cookies...rolling the dough into little balls.  Be still my heart...it was so much fun for all of us.

The girls surprised me with a countdown calendar of my own!  Each day had a treat of some sort, usually a chocolate they'd pack in my lunch bag.  What precious little hearts these girls have!

And the girls' countdown calendar ended with their very favorite activity, one they look forward to all year, it seems!  The now-famous candy cane hunt!

They did a great job taking turns with the clues, too!

It was a whirlwind month, packed full of fun!