Playdate Pal

We know it's been a whole week since we've posted, but we've been a bit under the weather recovering from our trip and Mommy got this nasty stomach bug that just came on suddenly, so we've been laying low for a while. Now, we're back!

We had the pleasure of having a marvelous playdate with one of our friends, Ava early last week. She is just about our age and we have so much fun together!
Here we are, all eating lunch together:

Felicity: I let Ava have my high chair (so don't think we were rude and made her eat on the floor), but then she didn't really want any food, so Elyse and I thought--let's make her feel more at home and give her one of our toys to play with! Then, after hanging out in the exersaucer, she was happy and ate lunch with us too! Cheers, Ava! Eating finger food is really the way to go!

Yes, Felicity, this was a great recommendation! Eating babyfood from the exersaucer is more comfortable than the high chair. You should try it sometime!
Felicity: Okay, Ava. This is Pooh. He is mine. But I would like to share him with you. But after you play with him, then you have to return him to me. Do we have an agreement? Good. I just want to be clear. Daddy (he's a lawyer, you know) tells me that posession is nine tenths of the law...I would hate to lose Pooh.
Ava: Oh, Felicity! Don't be so serious! I have so many good toys at my own house that I promise I won't keep Pooh. Besides, I've got this particular lamby blanket that, well, I'm not really interested in sharing :0)
Thanks for all of the fun, Ava! We miss you already! Good luck back home in Nashville! Maybe we can come visit soon.

Our last stop!

Our last stop in the Midwest was at our grandparents' house in Madison, WI. We had yet another Christmas celebration, visited more great-grandparents, and met lots of new people.

We did get a bit of a cold by this point in the trip, so we were sad that we were unable to see Mom's friend Jess and meet her little boy Sam. We were also really sad we weren't able to see our friends Adam and Andrea. If you're reading this, we send our love to you from afar!!

Elyse: Mom's always putting silly things on our heads! I definitely think pink is my color!
Here we are with our Great-Grandma and Grandma. We were sad we had to visit our Great-Grandpa in the hospital, but we hope he's feeling better soon!

Great-grandpa and his ladies! Of course the nurses thought he was one lucky guy to have such cute girls visiting him!

Our final Christmas celebration with Grandma and Grandpa was lots of fun! We had presents to open and a very furry friend to play with. We're pretty sure their puppy was quite happy to see us go home (he wanted his house back!).

By this time, we'd opened quite a few presents. Here we are showing Grandpa what experts we are!

Overall, we had an excellent time visiting friends and family in the Midwest. But after 2 1/2 long weeks, we must say, however, that we are sure happy to be home in our own beds, with our own toys, and enjoying our quiet little lives! As Dorothy would say, "There's no place like home!" And it sure was fun to see Daddy again!

More Family Adventures

If you thought we had already seen a lot of people on our holiday trip, that was only half of the adventure! After Daddy flew home, Mommy took us across Wisconsin to visit lots of Daddy's relatives. First, we went to the farm where our great-grandma and great-grandpa live. We had so much fun hanging out with all of our cousins!

This is the Breakfast Club that Great-Grandma and Grandpa go to. They were kind enough to let us join in the morning coffee and chats (minus the coffee). Felicity: I gave Great-Grandpa a run for his money. You can't catch me, I'm as fast as a bumblebee!

Why, Uncle Bill! You have a very interesting nose. I'm sure you won't mind if I pull it, do you?

Elyse: Why yes, Great-Grandma, this is a fabulous party!

Here we are eating dinner with our cousin Jovie. Some people thought we looked like triplets, but Mom is glad that there are only two of us!

More fun at the Breakfast Club. It sure was fun to get lots of attention!

Elyse: Great-Grandpa and I had a nice time watching football together. Too bad the Vikings lost...so sad!!

Elyse: This is Jovie's dad, Travis. He is a very cool guy, just like Daddy. Here I am showing him my mad dancing skills!

And here we are with Grandma and Grandpa. We got to see them at the farm and at their house!

This is Jovie's mom, Brenna. She's our very good friend and we had so much fun playing with her and Jovie. And let's just have a little shout out to striped tights! We love them too!

This is Matt and Lesley, also our Daddy's cousins. They just had the cutest little boy, Braeden. Don't they look amazing for having survived many sleepless nights with a newborn? We think so! We can't wait until next year when Braeden will be able to play with all of us!

Happy New Year!

We were lucky enough to get to spend New Year's Eve and New Year's Day with our very fun grandparents! We spent a quiet evening at home on New Year's Eve and rang in the new year sound asleep in our beds (ahh...that's the life!). Then, on New Year's Day, we spent the day at the Mall of America and shopped till we dropped! Here we are enjoying dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp:

And before dinner was even over, we were both sound asleep with Grandma and Grandpa. Who knew ringing in the New Year was so exhausting?

Here's to another spectacular year of growing strong and healthy!

Visiting Friends

With a 2 1/2 week visit in the Midwest, we had a chance to see lots of friends and family. We were pretty tired after all of our fun visits, but it was well worth the trip to see everyone!

Elyse: This was the last morning we got to play with Daddy for 10 days! He had to go home to work (someone should) and we stayed with Mommy for another 10 days of traveling through the Midwest.Kate!!! We miss you already!! Kate is our Mommy's oldest and bestest friend and she was the very first one to see us in the hospital a whole year ago. We were so excited to see her new house, play with her, and just hang out. She is a natural at the double-baby-holding technique!

And you want fabulous? Our friends from California are just the ticket! We had a great time seeing the famous downtown Macy's 8th floor exhibit, eating lunch together, and shopping downtown. We were so lucky to see them in MN! We know, Campbell, we can be pretty crazy sometimes! You must be thinking "Mom! Help me! There's two of them!!!"

Then we got to see our spectacular friends, Marianne, Ryan, and Ben. We drove to their house through our first snowstorm...oooh! so pretty! Ben is very fun and was nice enough to share all of his toys with us. What a guy! We can't wait to see you again soon, Ben!

Felicity: Here I am with Ryan and Ben. Ben and I hit it off right away. He even shared his favorite toy, Jumpy, with me. I can see a long friendship blooming...

Here's a BIG hug and thank-you to all of the wonderful friends we were able to see throughout our first Christmas. We love you all!

More Fun with Our Family

Here are a few more pictures of all the fun we had with our family at Christmas!

This is our stylish Aunt Lindsay. She gave us cute cream sweaters from the Gap (one of our fav stores) for Christmas and here we are wearing our sweaters and jammies on Christmas morning. Apparently cream cable-knit sweaters and pjs is all the rage for opening presents!Felicity: Ahhh!! I am so crazy for Christmas!

Elyse: One of our favorite parts of being in MN was seeing our cousins. Gracie read me books and played farm with me and we had so much fun!

Felicity: It was great to have other kids to play with. Here I am with Emma, the very responsible, spectacular oldest cousin. She is responsible for making all of us girls fabulous!

Felicity: Come on, Grace! Enough of this picture stuff. We've got things to do and toys to play with!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Even though we were born in Colorado and there was some snow in Denver, we haven't really had a chance to play in the snow until now.  One day when it wasn't a million degrees below zero, we got to play in the snow with our cousins.  We couldn't exactly move with all of our snow gear on, but we still had a great time!

Here we are on the toboggan with our twin cousins.  

Did you guys know that this stuff is cold and wet?  It's kind of neat!

Elyse: Our other cousins built me a chair out of snow.  I was happy to sit there until Olivia decided she would bury me under snow...that was a little cold.

All of us in front of the older girls' snowman masterpiece.  Seven girls!  We are quite the sassy bunch!

Even though we live in a mild climate, we know deep down that we are meant to be ice princesses in the frozen north!

Fancy Christmas Partying

On Christmas day we got dressed up for a fancy Christmas party at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  

Elyse: More pictures? I'm feeling a bit jet-lagged.  Can I take a nap?

Grandma made a fabulous Christmas dinner! Too bad we're not old enough to eat it.  Oh well, it just gives us something to look forward to for next year!

Elyse: My new best buddy!  Grandpa and me are definitely pals for life!

We had so much fun playing with our cousins!

Christmas Celebration

We had a wonderful Christmas with our family in MN!  After 12 hours of traveling and waiting in airports, we finally arrived in a chilly winter wonderland to celebrate Christmas at our grandparents' house.  We played with our wonderful cousins, opened presents, and got to enjoy our first Christmas morning in pajamas and new UGG boots thanks to our stylish aunt Lindsay (so comfy!).

Elyse and Aunt Lindsay: 

Felicity: Mom, can I take this silly bow off now?  I know everyone loves it, but it's cramping my style!

Elyse: I stayed up later than Felicity (I just couldn't sleep with all of the excitement going on downstairs!).  Here I am on Grandpa's lap (I really LOVE Grandpa!!) and my cousin Sophie is thinking about stealing my pacifier.  Be careful Sophie, my sister is a good paci stealer too, so I know just how to avoid the snatching fingers!

Elyse: Christmas morning with Great-Grandma in my UGG boots.  Ahhh...this is the life!

Opening presents?  We've had practice at this! We'll show you how it's done!

Felicity: We got ADORABLE new baby dolls from Grandma and Grandpa and were quite entertained playing with all of our new toys.

What a wonderful first Christmas it was!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

As we prepare for our cross-country trip to the Midwest, we want to take a chance to wish all of our faithful blog readers a very Merry Christmas! Even though we've had a fun first Christmas season so far with family, friends, and lots of presents, we must remember that the most important part of Christmas is celebrating the birth of Jesus! May you be blessed this Christmas with God's love.

Merry Christmas!

(And can you believe we are 11 months old today? Where has the time gone? Just one more month until we are officially 1!)