Our Christmas Story

We had a beautiful Christmas visiting family, playing games, eating and drinking way too much! I am going to dust off the treadmill today and run off the eggnog, cookies, mashed potatoes & gravy, and all the other goodies that have clung on to my caboose!

Speaking of food...we had Surf and Turf on Christmas Day. Piper and Lucy weren't too sure of the menu, so they played it safe with the broccoli and baked potatoes. My cousin Evelyn was getting ready to break into her crab legs when Piper says "What? You're going to break off his leg?" she covered her eyes and shook her head "Oh, I can't even watch"!

Santa did bring the Cupcake Machine and Baby Alive Doll!!!
Piper whipped up a couple batches of delicious cupcakes for us to share...Mmmm! Lucille played mommy for about two hours - giving the doll a bottle with real water, feeding it real baby food, racing to get it to the potty chair, cleaning up real accidents, changing diapers, tickling, hugging and rocking the baby - phew! Then once she got the baby to sleep- she sighed, looked at me, and said "Ugh, next time she needs her diaper changed, you do it!".

Santa Cluas is Coming to Town...

Piper and Lucille have been marking the calendar and counting the days till' Santa comes to town. They've baked him cookies and have made their wish lists. When they met Mr. Claus face to face the other day, Lucille asked for a Real Live Baby doll that Pees and Poops, and Piper asked for a Cupcake Maker for kids that makes REAL cupcakes with frosting!
They have lots of questions about what his house looks like, and where do the elves sleep, and do reindeer eat snow, and...

It is so beautiful to watch the girls sing and dance to Christmas Carols, decorate the tree with ornaments, make homemade cards and gifts for friends and pick out a little special gift for our cat. Watching and listening to them instantly brings me back to memories of my childhood ~ Laying under the Christmas tree, looking up at the lights making wishes. Having a slumber party Christmas Eve with my brother and sister -too giddy to sleep, and waking up at 5am ready to burst. Watching my mom and dad drink hot coffee in their robes and slippers trying to wake up and thinking "yes, this is something really special".

To all our family and friends,
I wish you all a Magical Christmas and a New Year filled with Peace and Prosperity.

"Firsts"

When the girls were born I was diligent about writing in their baby books. Once the baby books were complete, I started jotting down their "firsts" on post-it's. Well good bye post-it's, hello blog! At some point I'll probably transfer all my scribbled post-it notes into the blog, but for now I will start with the most recent "First".

Saturday 12/06/08
Piper and Lucy went to the movie theatre for the 1st time!
The girls have "Good Listening Charts" to earn special things. So far they have earned giant lollipops, a trip to the ice-cream shoppe, a shopping spree at a store called Candy Land and now...Madagascar 2 at the movie theatre!
The girls were so cute all folded up in their chairs (literally folded - they weren't quite heavy enough to hold the seats down - too cute!) sharing a giant tub of popcorn and the biggest cup fruit punch I've ever seen.
It was a super fun time and we all enjoyed the movie - Trent and I were belly laughing through most of it!
And yes, Loose Juice sat still for the entire movie - can you believe it!!!!!!

Pumpkin Pickin'

Trick or Treat

Princess Stories II

Piper is learning to read and write! On Thanksgiving she wrote Happy Tarke Da all by herself. I asked her how she knew those words and she said "I just wrote the letters that make the sounds". Then on Sunday, she was making her Christmas wish list and wrote Krismis - all by herself!. I was telling Trent's mom about this, and she said "well ya know Trent was such a smart little boy, he was so smart. I don't know about you, but if she's anything like Trenter..."! Nice :-)

I woke Lucy up last Monday and said "good morning sweety it's time to wake up time. There are only three days of school this week". She mumbled with her face still in the pillow "then it's Turkey Day?" I said yep. Then she mumbled "then Santa comes?". I said "well we will decorate the Christmas tree and get ready for Santa". She mumbled "then it's Easter?". I giggled and said "yes honey". She rolled over and put her hand to her head and said "Oh, there's so much to do"!

Lucille's Artwork

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Piper's Artwork

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Princess Stories I

Piper - 4 1/2 years old.

Favorite colors are pink, rainbow and sparkle.
Favorite foods - strawberries and cream oatmeal, chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, broccoli & fruit.
Least favorite food - nuts.
Interests - Drawing, coloring, writing words and learning how to read, singing, playing dress-up, watching princess movies, playing with Lucy and friends.

Piper has a "thing" about the seams in her socks. They must be aligned just so, and then carefully eased into her shoes making sure not to disturb the perfect line across her toes. This morning, after several attempts to get her socks to cooperate, she came to me in tears and said "I've lost my magic. I've looked and looked and looked and I can't find it anywhere! And now my heart hurts and when my heart hurts, it hurts God because he lives in my heart". After a big hug, she sat on my lap and we put the socks on together. Then she slowly put her shoes on - looked up at me with a smile - and said "oh my magic was in my shoes"!!!! __________________________________________________

Lucille - 3 1/2 years old

Favorite colors are purple, blue and rainbow.
Favorite foods - waffles, fish sticks, mac & cheese, nuts, green beans, & fruit.
Least favorite foods - anything mint.
Interests - Coloring, writing the alphabet and learning how to write words, dancing, playing school and mommy with her dolls, helping mom & dad with cooking and cleaning, playing with Piper and friends.

A couple weeks ago Lucy asked me to teach her how to snap her fingers. I showed her which fingers to use, she watched me do it slowly, and we practiced the motion a couple times. I told her "practice make progress" and sent her on her merry way. 2 days later she runs up to me and says listen...and snaps an actual for-real snap! We high fived a bunch of times and then she said "maybe I should be the big sister now because Piper doesn't know how to snap"!

Mr. and Mrs. Stern

Trent and I have been busy with work and keeping up with the girls.

Trent is great! He's still a Project Manager for CRE Construction and also doing some Cable Guy stuff. In his "free time", he loves hanging out with his three favorite girls, working on projects around the house and tries to sneak in a round of golf here and there. This is starting to sound like a "Dating Game" bio - "and bachelor #2 is from Shakopee MN, he has brown hair, brown eyes, and loves long walks on the beach - say hello to Trent Stern". Anyway, he's the best and I love him!

I'm Super Duper! For those of you who don't already know, I have changed jobs this year. I am no longer with Illume Candles and now work for the Bloomington School District. I work with Targeted Services Programs (K-8 at risk students) and our Galaxy Youth Centers for middle school students. I love my job! When I'm not working, I enjoy relaxing and having fun with Mr. Stern and our little princesses.

1st Post EVER!

Well, here we are - blogging.

The little ladies are growing up so fast, and with so many things to do and places to go, I thought starting a family blog would a great way to keep in touch with all of you.

We will have monthly updates with fun stories and cute pictures, so stay tuned...