Blossoms of Light

We bought a membership to the Denver Botanic Gardens this year, and with our membership we got free admission to their holiday lights. It was quite cold, everyone was a little under the weather, and it would put us out past bedtime, but we decided to make the trip downtown to see some beautiful Christmas lights. With the help of cookies and hot cocoa we had a pretty good time.

Amazed by all the pretty lights

Chris got this shot of Elizabeth with her nickname

Videos

We've been taking a lot of fun videos lately, here are a few of my favorites from the last couple of months...



Alright, it was more than just a few.

Stair Play

The stairs have become a pretty popular place to play in our house. It began a few months ago with pretend naps on the bottom steps. Emily and Addison would lay down on a "step bed" and play "night night" or they would lay their babies down on the stairs to take naps.

Stair naps still happen, and a new game of laying a toy on each step has evolved. I'm not sure what exactly is happening during these games, but the placement of the toys is always very precise and seems quite purposeful.

Santa!!!

Our twin club held their annual Christmas party the first weekend in December, and Santa came! He started the festivities by reading Twas the Night Before Christmas. He was a very jolly fellow and his happy "HoHoHo" rang out several times throughout the morning.

Listening to the story...

Telling Santa what we want for Christmas...
Addie: Tinker Bell
Emily: Tinker Bell and a toothbrush

 

 

There were craft stations set up where the girls got to decorate stockings and make little reindeer

Santa's elf gave the kids bubbles, and after crafts, it was bubble time. Addie was pretty excited!

 

Before Santa left the party, he walked around a bit to say goodbye and God Bless. Elizabeth got a special goodbye from Santa.

HoHoHo Merry Christmas!

Oh Christmas Tree

Getting ready for Christmas was really fun this year. The girls are old enough to begin anticipating future events, and they were really feeling all the buzz and excitement that comes with the Christmas season.

We put our Christmas tree and outdoor lights up the weekend after Thanksgiving, and we had a couple helpers this year! Addie helped me put the tree together while Emily helped Dad with the lights.

Addie must have been worried the tree was getting cold, so she covered it with her doll blankets.

Those of you who have had two-year-old helpers know that sometimes things take even longer with help. We were lucky to get the tree entirely set up on day one, but didn't get around to stringing the lights until the next day.

 

 

After the lights were up on the tree, we brought out the nativity set. Emily and Addison were very excited to help set out this new set of "toys."

 

Mary became known as "Mama," and she was very loving during imaginary play, always giving out kisses

Emily and Addison each have a girl in the set, and this year another girl joined the family for Elizabeth

 

Little baby, I am a poor boy too. I have no gift to bring that's fit to bring our king. I played my drum for him, I played my best for him, pa rum pa pum pum

It was day three when we brought out the ornaments. Addie and Emily got to help hang the ornaments, and when Elizabeth woke up from her nap, she got to come admire the finished product.

 

 

 

When Dylan and I were little, we got one ornament each Christmas. Santa put the ornaments in our stockings, and they were always very special because they represented something we were currently into. When I was 10, I got this precious teacup ornament with two little mice having a tea party inside. As a little girl, I always enjoyed a good tea party, and I was also very into tiny things, and the little details in this ornament sure are tiny and cute. This year, Addie took a liking to this ornament, and after realizing there was a blue mouse and a pink mouse, I started calling the little mice Addie Mouse and Emily Mouse. I love that this ornament was special to me when I was little for so many reasons, and now it's special for me all over again for new reasons.

JoJo the elf began visiting at the start of December. He first showed up on top of DeeDee's painting in the living room. It was really fun to watch the girls look for him each morning. Often the search was accompanied by loud shouts of, "JOJO! Jo! Where are you?"

The first time I asked the girls what they wanted for Christmas, Addie's immediate response was, "Tinker Bell!" Emily, on the other hand, needed a little help brainstorming...

Special moments with Elizabeth by the tree...

  

 

 

After a play date with the Rices in Fort Collins, both girls were even more sure that they wanted tinker bells from Santa. Rose has lots of little Tinker Bell and other fairy friends action figures. Addie brought a contraband tink home in her pocket that got some hugs and then needed to be returned to Rose...

Hugging Tink

Playing by the Christmas tree....

Addie was nice enough to hold very still for me by the tree so I could take some slow shutter speed pictures...

Elmo Show!!!

So, about a year ago, Emily and Addison fell in love with Elmo. They watch Sesame Street most mornings, and Elmo is by far their favorite character. When my mom's work was offering discount tickets to Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music, she snatched up tickets for Callie, Annalea, Addison, Emily,  Britney and me.

Here are some HAPPY girls before the show...

We were in the front stage, pretty close to the stage!

The show's about to start!

 

With intermission came perhaps the best part of the show...COTTON CANDY!

 

 

 

Thanks for taking us to the show, DeeDee! We had a blast!