Our first Christmas

I never thought I would say that I enjoyed watching my 2 girls open up their gifts MORE than I enjoyed opening up my own gifts! Even though they are only (almost)6 months old, it seems like they knew that these things were for them! At one point, Addison shook her arm uncontrollably at one of her toys because she was excited. I took SO MANY pictures and TONS of videos, but its a moment that I want to remember forever so I felt like I had to catch a shot of everything. Here are some of my favorite ones...

A picture of the family before we open up our gifts



Addison enjoyed eating paper until it was her turn!



Addison was excited to see her new rattle(and so was I)!!!



Addison and Ashlyn looking at their new stuff



Our new overnight bags from MomMom (my mom)



Addison all wrapped up like a present



Our new Dr. Seuss books from Cousin Beck...with Daddy's eyes cut out--OOPS!!



Ashlyn wasn't too excited about the new clothes from Grammie (Ryan's mom), she liked the toys the best....actually she was crying through most of the gift opening!!!



Addison looking at the new flamingo puppet that the dog thought was HER toy!!



Addi checking out her new Glow Worm....I used to LOVE mine as a kid!
Then things turned really bad, very quickly!



Ashlyn taking a ride on her new pillow pet lion


Overall it was a great Christmas. I can't wait until next year when the girls will know a little more about what is going on. I didn't even put up the Christmas tree this year because it seemed like a lot of trouble for a lady with twins!!! LOL, I plan on doing it next year though! Throughout 2010, I hope the girls are really good so Santa will bring them even more loot next year!

the many attempts of a family picture

1. Ashlyn found her feet...RETAKE

2. Trying to take the attention off Ashlyn's feet, the hand of the make shift "rattle" got in the photo....RETAKE!!

3. This one is blurry...RETAKE!!

4. We weren't ready...RETAKE!!

5. Back to the feet for Ashlyn! RETAKE!!!

6. We finally get a good "blurry" picture of everyone--except me....RETAKE!!!

7. HEEEELLO FEET(again)...RETAKE!!

8. Here is the end result--when we accepted that we weren't going to get a good shot of the 4 of us! BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME!!
*Ashlyn's bow went "Rambo", Addison is not looking, and Daddy is smiling like a big goof...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

First Christmas is a white christmas

I can't believe that we got this lucky!! It is so rare that we get snow in Texas, nuch less on Christmas Eve!! I think it is so special that the girls got to experience snow for the first time on the same day that they get to experience their first Christmas celebration! I took them out to "play" for a second(literally a second because it was SO cold!)








My little snow babies...they look like little Russian girls!!


The hat was too big for Ashlyn's head!

BIG changes...

I'm not going to lie....these last several weeks have made a BIG difference in the way I view twins! When the babies were younger I could just let them sleep and continue on with my daily routine(which consisted largely of getting on facebook). These days, my day is consumed with entertaining 2 babies that want to do completely different things!! I cry almost everyday out of frustration. I feel like I'm not doing enough to help them learn the things they should be doing(like rolling over, eating cereal, etc.) I'm just alone all day and its hard to teach 1 baby those things, much less 2. Addison is so patient and she can entertain herself, so I feel like I usually just leave her sitting by herself all day long while I take care of the high maintenance diva I call Ashlyn!! I keep telling Ryan to hold onto his hat, because Ashlyn is going to give us T-R-O-U-B-L-E!! She is so nosey and she never sleeps during the day. She wants to be with me no matter where I go or what I do. She sees EVERYTHING that goes on in this household. She stares at strangers intently. She makes friends no matter where we go...as if we need any more attention when we go out in public! As of the babies 5 month birthday...THIS HAS GOTTEN HARD--VERY VERY HARD!!

It is getting close to Christmas. When they were first born my goal was to have them rolling over(from tummy to back) and eating real food. Neither of which has happened yet. Addison has rolled over about 5 times but I have yet to see it. They still arent really laughing yet. They chuckle here and there but I am just dying to hear a real belly laugh! Addison has also eaten a little bit of cereal and sweet potatoes but Ashlyn screams when the spoon comes near her face. I bought them jumpers for Christmas and I put them together a few days ago...then I spoiled everything by letting them play in them(they won't remember!). Anyway, their poor little legs are still about 3 inches from the floor so we can't even use those yet! I just laugh about all of this. I know all of these things will come with time and I have to consider their corrective age(which is really 3 1/2 months). I think I stress myself out too much about things.

I am going to try to get better about blogging, but I don't want any of you to count on that! Ryan is taking from mid December until the new year off, so I am hoping that it will help having someone here 24/7 to help and give me some free time to do stuff like blog and facebook! For now(as I listen to Ashlyn screaming for attention in the living room) I just type really fast and hope they stay asleep for another 5 minutes so I can finish typing this sentance!!