It was all her idea...promise!

I told Savannah I was going to get my hair cut on Tuesday and from that moment, she started begging to get hers cut too. Actually, the begging started about 6 months ago when her friend got her hair cut in a bob. She thought it was really cute and wanted her hair like that too. Doug and I tried to avoid the subject because we loved her long hair. Well, the day came for my hair cut and she was sick and she ended up not going to school that day. So she came with me to get MY hair cut.

And, hers too!
I made sure to explain how it takes a LONG time for hair to grow and that her hair would not be long enough for braids, buns or ponytails once it was cut. She was fine with that. She said, "I don't like braids. They hurt my head when I sleep." I know she loves her hair in braids, she just really wanted her hair cut. =)
I was a little worried when we took her into the bathroom to look at her short hair for the first time. To my relief, she LOVED it! She told me the next day that while I was downstairs, she was standing in front of the mirror in her bathroom looking at her hair and saying, "I love my hair, I love my hair." Whew!

Where's the other gate?

I was sitting on the bottom stair of our house the other morning talking to Doug and Holly was standing on the step above me. Next thing I know, she's climbing the stairs. Ugh. Until that day, she would just sit at the bottom of the stairs and pat the bottom stair with her hands, but never attempted to climb them. Well, those days are history.

All the way up! She can climb to the top fairly quickly now. Anytime we let her down, she makes a beeline for the stairs. "Doug, where's the other gate?"

Teach them while it's fun!

Savannah helped me sort the dirty laundry yesterday for her extra chore and had so much fun doing it that she wanted to do more! So, I took advantage of her enthusiasm for doing house work and had her switch loads from the washer to the dryer. I've never seen anyone have more fun doing chores!

She practically climbed into the dryer to empty the clothes out.

Still smiling! =)
Transering wet clothes to the dryer...without dropping them on the dirty floor. That was a little tougher.

She did it!
Loading washer with load #3. "Mom, are you sure this will all fit?" I think Mondays, aka "Laundry day" won't be so bad in the future. *wink*

First Dance Recital

Savannah had her first dance recital with her company "Dancin' Darlins last Saturday. She performed in front of about 200 people at the Lehi Legacy Center. I was worried that she would be too shy or nervous to really perform (that's what happens when I come to watch her at the end of class) but to my utmost surprise, she did GREAT! She was the most animated dancer up there and was right on cue. Doug and I just beamed with pride as we watched her steal the show!

Posing with her Nana. =)


Here she is with her class, waiting to perform.

Those hips shook like I've never seen!

She just couldn't have done any better. She was so fun to watch! Go Savannah!

Here she is watching the other performances. She wanted so badly to stay the entire 3 hours and watch all the other companies perform but it was snowing heavily outside and getting dark so we had to go.

Milestone

Until today, Holly hadn't really pulled herself up to a stand, which I didn't mind because it's a lot easier when they are less mobile. Well, this morning I was doing Savannah's hair in the bathroom and I turned around to see Holly standing at the bathtub. I asked Savannah, "Did she pull up by herself?", thinking maybe Savannah had helped her when I was looking. But, she had done it on her own. Well, one time was all it took to build up her confidence. She pulled to a stand about 10 more times today. I had my doubts about her walking by Christmas, but maybe she'll surprise me.

What's wrong with this picture? Little sis rocking big sis in infant carseat. Hmmmm...

She's up again!
And again! Way to go, Holly!

Silver Bells

Doug had these silver bells before we were married and man, have they been the highlight of our Christmas since 2003 when Savannah got ahold of them for the first time. Then, in 2004 when we were in our apartment in Utah, Savannah ran around in circles and up and down the hallway ringing the bells and singing her 18 month old version of "Jingle bells". It was hilarious! Well, we got them out on Sunday to put on the tree and gave them to Holly to see what she would do. It was quite entertaining!

" Hmmm...what do I do with these?"
"Maybe this will work...."
" Oh! Now I got it!" Ring, ring, ring!
Here is Savannah trying to figure them out in 2003.
We had the bows pulled out so the ribbon attached to the bell was nice and long for her to hold and ring away!
Oh what fun!

Attack of the Kleenex Box

Every baby has to experience the sheer satisfaction of pulling kleenex out of the box one, by one...by one. It's impossible to resist once they've discovered it. Holly had her go this week. We were sitting on the couch watching tv and since Doug and Holly have had constant runny noses, the kleenex was sitting on the couch next to us. Holly got ahold of one, pulled it out of the box, and that was the all it took. She couldn't help herself.

"Hi!"
"Just look at this mess!"

Here is a comparison, as close as I could get, of Holly (above) and Savannah (below) each covered in kleenex.

IT'S FINISHED!

It's tradition in my family to make each child a Bucilla stocking (at least that's what my mom did for us so my sister and I are carrying on the tradition). Of course, my mom kept ours when we moved out because she wanted them for her mantle at Christmas time.

Okay, fine!

Anyway, I finished Savannah's stocking before her first Christmas and I was so proud of myself for getting it done (unlike the cross stitch I've been working on for 5 years...=}) but since Holly was 4 days old for her first Christmas, I figured I could wait a year to make hers. I bought it about 3 weeks ago, but just opened it this past Monday and started on it. It probably took me 6 or 7 hours, but I finally finished it about 10 minutes ago! I'm so excited that it is done! I stayed up pretty late last night working on it, and tonight too (now that it's 11:52pm Ugh.). Holly was such an angel today while I worked on it. She ate cheerios and bananas in her high chair for a half hour, and then crawled around on the floor going from the family room to the kitchen and livingroom, just exploring for an HOUR AND A HALF! Not kidding. She didn't fuss at all until she got hungry. I looked at the clock and saw that I had been sitting at the kitchen table for 2 1/2 hours. I was so amazed and STOKED! I got so much done on her stocking. Anyway, here is the finished product! It's poinsettias and "holly", of course! This stocking pattern wasn't too labor intensive since it didn't have a TON of sequins to put on, and I didn't have to stuff any of the parts with batting. That can take more time. I just hope Holly likes it when she is older. It's kind of a more sophisticated stocking instead of a little kid pattern. But, I think it turned out pretty nice, if I do say so myself. =)

"Surprise" visit from Jen

Well, it was supposed to be a surprise, but when Jen got here and realized that I was NOT here, it kind of threw a wrench in her plans to show up on my doorstep. I got a message on my phone from her when I was in NC saying, "What are you doing in the woods, I'm at your house!" I was so bummed. Luckily, we flew in Friday afternoon and they were scheduled to leave Saturday morning so I told her she was out of the dog house as long as she came to see me before she left. So, that Friday night, she came by for a quick visit. It was SO great to see her. When she was here she said, "I'm home!" I wish. I miss my Jen. :-(

She often calls me from Arizona to tell me she needs a "Kacy's chocolate chip cookie fix". So, I knew I couldn't send her home without them. When she arrived, I had whipped up nearly an entire batch of my chocolate chip cookies for her to take home. She said she was going to stick them in her freezer and take one out any time she needed her fix and she wasn't going to share them. =)
We were comparing heights here. Look how tall Sam is! He isn't quite 6 months old but his height would make you think otherwise. Holly is twice his age. He is a growing boy...following after his Daddy who is 6'5", or something close to that. I think he looks a lot like his daddy too. He's such a happy boy and loves to smile for the camera! The mommy in the middle is Jen's sister Sarah and her 2 week old baby Savannah. What a beautiful baby girl! Say cheese! =) Brooklyn had to get her Holly fix too. Then, she changed baby Savannah's diaper like a good cousin. *wink* I need Brooklyn to live close to me!!!
Of course we had to get a picture of Savannah holding Savannah. ;-)

North Carolina Trip

We went to North Carolina for Thanksgiving to visit Charlotte's side of the family. Savannah and Holly were FANTASTIC travelers and hardly cried/complained at all. Even with our split flight and long layovers! We all managed to stay healthy throughout the entire trip (which was my biggest "worry"...having sick kids on the flight). We had a great time and have never seen such amazing/beautiful colors! Just breathtaking. I've posted quite a few pictures (just be glad I picked the best of the 177 I took)! =)

It was tight quarters on the plane so when Nana got up to stretch her legs, Holly immediately stole her seat. She felt like such a big girl in a seat of her own next to Papa.
Papa orders a complimentary drink and Holly tugs at his sleeve, "Hey Papa, I want a drink too!"

"I got me a seat!"
Blowing kisses
Holly: "I'm flyin'!" Holly did great on the flights. She cried a little on the first leg of our flight as we decended but I think she was just tired. Other than that, she was happy! Savannah colored the entire 2 1/2 hours on the plane. WOW!
Killing time in the airport...4 hour layover. Ugh. We arrived in Charlotte, NC at around 11pm. We got to our hotel at midnight (we drove around for nearly 45 minutes trying to find it because the hotel people were numnuts and gave awful directions). We got to bed about 1am. It was a very long day of traveling.
This is a squirrel that I caught in a dead run across the street. I thought it was funny so I had to include it. =)
We stayed at Charlotte's neices house in Raleigh for the first 2 days. The drive from the hotel in Charlotte to Raleigh was absolutely stunning! The colors of the trees were so incredibly breathtaking that I couldn't stop saying "Look at that!" Unfortunately, I only took video of the trees and didn't get any still shots. But, you'll see a little bit of the color in the next several pictures.
We found a Ward meeting at 1:30pm at the church just 3 minutes up the road from where we were staying. Doug and I had attended that Ward 7 years ago when we came. After church, I took lots of pictures of the girls and the family outside (the family picture will be on our Christmas card so I didn't include it). Savannah LOVED picking up pretty colored leaves and making bouquets out of them.

"I got a leaf!"
These doggie statues were Holly's favorite thing at Barbara's (Charlotte's Neice). She could not stay away from them.
More playing in the leaves. This is now in Morganton, NC behind Uncle Kenneth's house.
Savannah made piles of leaves and picked them up and threw them above her head about a million times.

Daddy's girls
The house in the background is Charlotte's sister Jean's house. Jean and James built this house nearly 50 years ago!

Monkey in the tree!
Nana and Mommy holding monkeys in the trees
Making "leaf" angels with cousin Kaylee. Kaylee is Doug's brother Dean's daughter.
"Unkie Dough" with Kara
Holly with Uncle Dean

Cute Cousins
Cute cousins...again
Doug and his brothers Dean and Shane
Brotherly Love
Mollers and Redwines

(check out all those beautiful girls!)

Happy Thanksgiving!