And Dani is still mommy's helper. Sunday she helped me frost cupcakes, and then happily ate them.
She adhered to her rule that cupcakes are best eaten by licking off all of the frosting. Dani's rule was slightly modified today, as she dipped popcorn in the frosting, and seemed to think that was a great nosh.
She was on the young side, so we stuck her in the 1-3 year old only farmland bouncer. For the first few minutes, she was the only kid in there, and just kind of walked around trying to figure it out. Then a more experienced kid came in and started leaping around, and that was all Dani needed to get rolling.
Tori was too little for much, but we bounced her on the wall of the toddler bounce house while Dani was playing. She was screeching and waving and saying hi to everyone and everything.
Dani insisted in going in the "Go Diego Go" bounce house. She was alone for about 5 seconds, and then an older toddler came in. Of course, they bumped heads in less than a minute, and two crying toddlers rolled out of the bouncer.
Undeterred, she continued to play and eat and have a blast!
Okay, plaaaaaaaaaaaaaytime! 
Time for climbing on chairs! 
And spinning! 
And since we're not posing for you mommy, we will be sure to smile!
Anyway, they even have different art, that you can modify to add text and pictures. So, for Dani's buildasign.com project, I chose Van Gogh's "The Scream."
Stay tuned for Tori's project. It's for her birthday and it's awesome--even Big Man was impressed. We will definitely be back to buildasign.com for more cool projects soon!
There are snow angels to make! 
And snow hills to slide down! 
And snow to eat! Yay!
Tonight, the girls got to sit on the changing table and watch daddy snowblow. Dani wanted to "help daddy shovel".
The cutest "help" she provides nightly is sneaking into the kitchen to feed the cats. I never see her do this, but usually once I've put her to bed, I find this in the service stairwell: 
Apparently, my talented cats can open cans of food all by themselves. But that's Dani's way of helping, and I think it's adorable.
We finally had the ancient, original door and side lights replaced, well technically it's still a work in progress. Having a new door and more insulation makes a huge difference in warmth in our downstairs. And, with an ancient house like ours, every little bit helps--especially when we spend so much time on the floor.
Dani has been enjoying her "drumsticks" and has been banging out solos since the project started!
Today, I went potty on my froggy potty. I told mommy I had to go, and she put me on my potty and I just did it, like a big girl. It was a little scary at first, but mommy just told me to relax and take my time. Then, mommy gave me a lollipop and clapped for me. I love lollipops! I hope that I can remember to tell mommy when I have to go again, tomorrow. She said I could have a lollipop every time!
She had so many toys I never saw before. She had this stuff called Play Doh. It was squishy and you could make shapes with it. Mommy played with it too! It was really fun. I tried to eat some, but it tasted really salty and yucky. I asked mommy if I could get some Play Doh for our house. She said maybe we should wait until Tori is older. Sometimes I like to feed Tori. I promised mommy I wouldn't feed Tori Play Doh, but I still have to wait.
I've just been sitting here at my table coloring while you were feeding Tori. Really, I have.
Well it's not exactly my fault you left the baby powder on the changing table. In fact, it's your fault. You created like an attractive nuisance or something. That's what lawyers call stuff that people should know better than to leave just lying around because grown ups should know that kids will want to play with it. So really mommy, it's your fault. I was just giving in to my toddler impulsiveness. But I'm 2, you should expect that. You're 37--shouldn't you know better by now???
Pleeeez, don't be mad mommy! Pretty please?
(Heh, heh, the cuteness wins every time!)
I guess I'll have to use my powers of distraction--babies are so easy to trick.
Got it. That was totally easy, and mommy didn't even seem to mind.
I am like, the smartest 2 year old, ever.
I promised her that we'd go out this morning, and overnight a few more inches fell. I think we had about 6 inches total. I pulled her on the sled, she ran around, happily falling, eating snow and clapping her snow-filled hands so snow would fly everywhere.
It wasn't great packing snow so we couldn't make a snowman, so we took a sled ride down the street, and then a short walk.
I wised up when I wanted to go inside today. I mentioned that if we went inside she could have a lollipop. 
Here's a short video of Dani that ends abruptly when I realize she needs help getting out of the sled, and I didn't want the camera to get snowy.I'm already looking forward to the next snow storm!
I would like to learn how to walk, though. That can be my resolution. Sometimes when I stand up, I try to walk but my belly is all wobbly and I fall down. So, I am going to learn to walk.
I also resolve to keep working on my one handed push up. As you can see, I've almost perfected it. 
And the cat. I'm going to catch him one of these days. He always comes close, but then runs away before I can hug him. He and I are going to become good friends this year.
So, I think those are all my resolutions.
Mommy said I should add a few more. She says I should also resolve to sleep later in the morning, and not to cry in my sleep. I think she should just learn to get by on less sleep.
With Skype, we're able to have a live video chat a few times per week, so that really helps Dani and Tori stay close.
Tori looked absolutely adorable as a mini-Santa.
It was a weekend filled with lots of laughs and hugs, exactly what a holiday should be.
It was a big hit. Tonight, she was even letting her stuffed animals have rides down the slide.
She's just getting so big. I told her that we were going to have another baby, and she kissed my tummy and said "hi baby". We also drove around to see holiday lights tonight, and she really enjoyed it, shouting out colors and saying "Santa", "snowman" and everything else she saw.
Oh, and lest I forget, the other one...Tori. She has decided that at less than 8 months old, she can do this:
Yes, that would be pull herself up to standing without help. She's trying so hard to catch up to Dani. Every minute the two of them are together is laughing, squealing, screeching and just chasing each other around. It's adorable, even if it does induce mommy-headaches.
