December!

We, of course, had a home celebration for Dani's 6th birthday.  So much fun.

 School Christmas concert...our fearless Tori had a case of stage fright!

 Not Dani!  She had a blast!

 For the first time we went to the Schenectady PBA Breakfast with Santa.  (Wes never mentioned it before this year, but it is, apparently an annual event.)  Dani meets an elf.

 Tommy was in awe of Santa!

 Another Tori oddity...she wanted no part of Santa.

 Until she got a present, then he got a hug.

 Celebrating Great-Aunt Virginia's 99th birthday at Teresian House.

 Tori had a haircut and asked for a blowout.  She loved it!

 And CHRISTMAS!

Of course, Grandma and Grandpa came!

We hosted a Christmas Eve party and the kids wanted to dress up!

 Posing with Grandma.

 Christmas morning! 

What a smart Santa!  He wrapped each kid's present in different wrapping paper!  Way to go Santa!

 Santa is apparently unfazed by the term "some assembly required".  It took Grandpa and Mommy about 45 minutes to put the trampoline together!  (So worth it, though!)

 No, it's  not KISS or the Insane Clown Posse, Grandma bought facepaints for the kids.  All Grandpa needs is a black star on his eye, and we'd have KISS.

 A balloon animal kit from Grandma.  (She didn't realize we were already pros at these types of balloons!  She tried to get Grandpa to blow them up, and then I broke out the pump!)

 New Years!  We rang the new year in at 8:00pm so the kiddos could participate!  (We also did it at midnight too!)

What a super fun December!

Another month.

Another month with no posts (sorry Dad!).

Blame the smartphone.  I so rarely get out the real camera these days, that I don't have pics in the computer to post.

Dani got a new 'do.

 Tommy and Tori confirm that who needs toys when you have a piece of string.  It instantly turns you into a puppy.

 Tori enjoying the most comfy seat in the house.

 And the hubs, wearing his *ahem* new bifocals.

But totally stylin' in his Lennon frames!

So big-a-big!

Dani has always been insistent that she wants her hair to be like Mommy's.  For about the past year or so, we've been taking her to have her hair professionally relaxed, but it is still so curly.  The relaxing makes it managable for day-to-day, and means fewer tears while we comb and style haphazardly put it into a hair tie or two.

The day we go to the salon, she gets a blow out, and looks just so grown up.  This weekend we did layers, and, except for the bangs (which she begged for) she actually looks like Mommy!

 Everyone at the salon was amazed at her ability to sit still.  She LOVED the dryer chair, and was just as polite as can be.  Tori, who carried on the last time we took her, had insisted that she did not want to go.  That was until we were leaving, at which time she insisted that she needed to go.  She screamed at the top of her lungs as I got Dani's shoes and coat on.  Then she sat at the picture window as I loaded Dani into my car, wailing at the top of her lungs.

On the way home, we stopped and got her some puzzles.

 Tommy had his 18 month baby visit last week--he weighs 31 pounds and is off the charts.  I don't think Dani weighed that much until about age 3.  Thank God he can climb the stairs.  Wes and I may need rotator cuff surgery if he isn't potty trained soon--lifting the little dude's legs to change him is a killer.

 Dani was happy to pose with me post-haircut.

 Tori and Tommy have made a game of chasing each other around the living room pillars.

In other funny kid things....

Tori has taken to nibbling everything she eats.  The simplest little goldfish cracker must be nibbled.  Last night at dinner, Big Man had grilled some burgers, and we were enjoying them with some salad and tater tots.  I look over at Tori towards the end of dinner, and she is hunched over, holding a tater tot with both hands, nibbling on it.  I motion to Big Man--he says, "Tori, you're not a mouse." 

Tori's reponse was to look up and say, "Squeak, squeak, I AM a mouse."

In the car the other morning, Dani told me, "Mommy, I wish I had two daddies."  When I asked her why, she responded, "So I could get twice as many hugs."

Missed my calling.

I should have totally gone to cosmetology school.  I give rockin' good kiddie haircuts.  Tommy's was last week:

 And Tori's was today.  Tommy's a little dude, so I can cut his hair--Tori I figured would go back to the salon with Dani and have some hair texturizing with the cutting.  I mentioned it to her and she was insistent that NO, she would not be going back to the salon.  So, I cut it this morning.  She seemed pretty happy about it.

Shorter hair will make life SO much easier!  We spend tons of time just combing it out every day!

After dinner, the kids played in bins.  Tori and Tommy were train cars, and Dani was pushing them around the house.

They had a blast!

*Sung to the tune of Thomas and His Friends 

They're one, they're two, well almost three, and four years old is our Dani 

Running 'round the house,being silly all day

All with different roles to play

Thomas and his friends.

 

Tori, she's the cheeky one, loud and silly, and lots of fun;

Dani really knows her stuff, she's the big sis so she huffs and puffs;

Tommy, cutie baby boy, runs around and plays with toys,

Thomas and his friends!



Big girls.

 The girls and I took a trip to the salon today.  Dani needed to relax her re-growth, and Tori was scheduled for a bit of texturizer--just a bit of curl loosening to make it easier to comb.  They were so excited!

Dani had been to the salon once before...it was Tori's first haircut.  Dani was poised and excited.  Tori cried and wailed, quite loudly at times, every minute the stylist was near her and she was in the chair.  She did end up with a cute new haircut though!

 

And Dani had a blowout after the cut--it will never be this straight again but she loved it.  I swear, she looks about 5 years older with straight hair!

 Here's Tori's new cut.  A layered, shoulder length bob.  Cute!

Thought this was a great shot of the just-got-home energy burn.  Dani had been still and good for so long, that the instant we got home she was a little banshee!

In other news, Tori is walking around saying, "You disgust me," because I let them watch Looney Toons last night and apparently Daffy said that a few times.  Nice, huh?  Thankfully she didn't tell anyone that at the salon, but she certainly enjoys saying it.  They literally watched the show for 15 minutes....so what gives?  When I was a kid we used to watch that crap all the time and we never said crazy stuff....she has a few minutes and is telling people off?  Damn you Daffy!