A Day with Family

Aunt Kim, Tim's sister, is home this weekend from Phoenix. The whole family gathered for the day at Tim's parents' home. The cousins got to play together, color, make cookies...they had a blast!

Aunt Michelle holds two babies!

Pepa, the girls' great-grandpa

Viv in the hat Aunt Michelle played in as a little girl.

Papa, Tim's dad, had eye surgery the day before. His daughters thought he looked like one of the three blind mice.  He's with Roger, Tim's brother-in-law, who thinks the cameraman is pretty funny.

Coloring!

Miriam's 1st on-her-own iced cookie...she used a toothpick. Every bakers tool of choice.

Making cookies is fun and tasty!!

Aunts Kim and Michelle, Tim's sisters, got all dressed up for a 40th birthday party!

Nana even got Vivian to take a quiet moment for a quick cuddle.

52 Weeks of Joy: Week 4

Something that makes our girls very joyful: bath time. And truly, in a world where everyone doesn't have enough clean drinking water everyday, we are grateful and privileged to have warm water for a bath whenever we'd like!

Two clean heads.

Wrinkled baby feet with a turtle...maybe we've been in too long.

She's certainly not ready to get out. Santa and Aunt Nichole brought bubble bath for Christmas. That makes it even more fun! The girls don't like getting out of the tub because they are so cold! Always a lot squealing and squirming. We diaper them quickly and tuck them into blankets.

  Cuddling together to keep warm on Miriam's bed before lotion time.

What do you think Miriam is telling her sister? When we were pregnant with Vivian, Sarah was just certain it was a boy, but we didn't find out for sure what we were having. When Baby #2 turned out to be a girl, Tim said, "I am so happy for Miriam to have this sister so close in age." He was very right. While the girls' personalities are completely different and they don't always get along, they are two tiny peas in a pod and love love love each other!

52 Weeks of Joy: Week 3

What made us smile this week? A Trivia Night fundraiser at Sarah's high school. Our team theme was the Wizard of Oz and we won the prize for best decorations!

The Lollipop Guild, in particular, were joyful! Actually, everyone's costumes were great!

We dressed up as Dorothy and the Scarecrow. As a bonus, we're pretty much ready for Halloween this year. What do you think the girls should be to go along? I've got nine months to come up with costumes so be creative!

Craft Time...and recommendations...

We'll do the recommendations first. Sarah's family HIGHLY suggested that we read The Hunger Games Trilogy. Sarah read them all in about a week. They were that good. Tim said he was a book widower. Now he's into the second book. And Sarah is the widow. Thanks to Becca for another little entertainment tip that has taken over Sarah's life...Downton Abbey. It's a FABULOUS PBS Masterpiece Classic series set in England in the beginning of the 1900's. First season is on Netflix right now. Second season is happening on TV on Sunday nights. It'll suck you right in.

Yesterday was a little craft time with Mommy and the babies. Some VERY basic craft time. Mom cut out the "snowflakes" and helped the girls glue them to the paper. Then we colored and traced hands. They loved it!

Vivian got pretty bored with the whole thing after a while...which led to a little crayon eating every time Mommy's back was turned. Poor innocent crayons didn't stand a chance against a kid who's cutting three molars.

"Who, me?"

52 Weeks of Joy: Week 2

We're getting a little snow here!! Which makes Tim, in particular, very joyful! He really enjoys taking his car out in the snow. But this morning, he got to take Miriam out in the snow. Vivian was pretty disappointed that she didn't get to go out, too. But the girl has TINY feet. Seriously tiny feet for her age. She's 14 months old and wearing a size 3 shoe. That's the size for most 3-6 month olds. They don't even make boots her size! Vivi Mouse will grow someday...then we'll strap her into Miriam's last-year boots and send her out to play with the big kids. Until that day, she can hang out with Mommy inside.

Can you see her in there? She was actually pretty content to watch Miriam and Daddy from the window. When Miriam ran over to rub some snow on the window for her, Vivian was thrilled. It's the simple things in life, no?

After Daddy and Miriam shoveled (Daddy with his Daddy-sized shovel and Miriam with her old blue garage dustpan), Miriam made a couple snow angels. Snow angels make us all especially joyful.

New Year's Eve 2011

We had a little New Years Eve celebration this year at home with good friends...but other than the number of people there was nothing small about it! The table was all laid out with Tim's grandmother's china, we got dressed up, and polished off a plate of gourmet cheeses (straight from Wisconsin). Miriam was especially fond of the blue cheese! After whipping up a delicious meal, we put the girls to bed so we could eat like "adults" and have "adult" conversation. That's a pretty big treat by itself in this house.

stuffed mushrooms

All Decked Out salad

sourdough toasts with fried cheese

pasta with tomatoes and shrimp

After clearing the table, we got to work. Everyone brought a game and a corresponding drink.  The games were all very fun...

 ...but this little guy won for tastiest drink of the night: Old Blue Eyes. With a blueberry garnish, no less. Yum.

We pray that you all have a blessed, healthy 2012!

52 Weeks of Joy: Week 1

Each week we'd like to share something with the world that brings joy to our lives and will hopefully put a smile on your face, too.  This probably means you'll see quite a few pictures of our girls...but we'll try to change it up! We're doting parents...what more can we say?? Already a week behind, so you'll be getting two this week. Extra joyful!

Miriam and Vivian love the help Mom with the laundry: tear the clothes out of the dryer and climb into their little hideout.

Happy Birthday, Deacon Ben!

Today is our good friend, Deacon Ben's, 30th birthday. Now he's finally an OLD MAN. (Like Tim.) 

He had the good fortune (???) to get to celebrate a bit at our house this weekend. Which gave him the opportunity to wear our special Birthday Hat and hear Sarah sing happy birthday off-key.

Your goddaughter wishes you an extra Happy, Blessed Birthday. And we all look forward to your ordination with JOY!

Our Holly Jolly Christmas(es)

Christmas isn't just one day at our house... 

We started on the 23rd hanging out with Aunt Sue and Uncle Ron. Bryan (who has been friends with Tim since they were kids) and Liza were in town, too. So Miriam and Vivian got to meet their new buddy Eli. Miriam, in her normal fashion, wanted to be RIGHT NEXT to Eli as they got to know each other. 

Just as a warning, the girls had colds over Christmas. Thankfully, they are over them now. However, you may see some runny/crusty noses...despite the many, many, many Boogie Wipes we went through.

Santa comes to our house Christmas Eve morning. The girls asked Santa for toothbrushes, toothpaste, coloring books...oh and Miriam wanted a hotel. 

He left fruit snacks and toothpaste in their stockings, as well as plenty of toys under the tree.

They both especially liked the Mr. Potato Head.

After naptime, we went to Sarah's parents' home for their traditional Christmas Eve get together. All of Sarah's siblings were home for Christmas, as well as Grandma Kramer and Michael's girlfriend Abi. So we attempted to get a family picture with Tim's fancy camera. At first we tried an outdoor picture.

There were A LOT of pictures like this one.

And several like this. Bridget and Maria took turns closing their eyes while Miriam and Vivian wanted OUT of the pictures. In the end, it was windy and cold and we all ran back inside to try again.

SUCCESS!!!!! (???????)

We ate a very yummy/huge supper and opened presents.

There is some very true saying about kids enjoying wrapping paper and boxes more than the gifts.

Aunt Nichole gave Miriam a Princess tent. Huge hit. After all the gifts were unwrapped, we ate some more (Miriam and Vivian's snack of choice were gummy bears from Uncle Michael). And then took the girls home for bed. Aunt Sue and Uncle Ron came to watch them, while we went to Mass. Afterwards, we collapsed into bed...

We spend Christmas Day with Tim's family. When we showed up, everyone was still in their PJs.

It is a wonderful morning of coffee and Kringle, gift opening and toys, egg casserole and wassail....everyone plays until it's somehow the afternoon. And we need to eat and drink some more.

 

Nana made Miriam and Vivian playdough. It was edible, if not the tastiest stuff. So Vivian, of course, gave it a try.

 
Miriam and Sophie were both pretty worn out after all the presents and food. So they had a little cuddle.

Thanks to everyone who makes our Christmas so fun and special. We are truly blessed by so many family and friends.

Day 1

Not day one of the year...just our blog.

So that friends and family far and near can keep up with these two cutie pies. And sometimes their parents may make an appearance.