Family Photos 2013

I'm not sure how to describe this photo session. Let's just say both girls (especially Hollis) was NOT in a photography kind of mood. Yowzers. I was pretty sure our photos this year were going to be of Burke and I wrestling two fit throwing toddlers. But she managed to get some good ones that really do show our REAL life these days. :o)

1. If you only knew how many times a day I get this Hollis face....
2. I love that Marin is playing with my rings. We call them Daddy's special rings. 

And here Marin is in the process of putting her fingers in her mouth and sticking her tongue out.
And Hollis was pulling at my earrings ( I think) and laughing. 

Our family of 5...Curious George included.  I do love this one. Marin had brought her favorite dog (Pinky) and now I so wish I had put him in the picture too and had each girl holding their favorite stuffed animals. (They LOVE stuffed animals.)

I love Burke in this one. :o)
Hollis was recovering from a stage 5 meltdown in this one. 

And this is real life.... these girls make life fun. 

And just for fun...

2012

2011

Santa Pictures

We took the girls to see Santa today. I have our Santa pics from previous years hanging up as part of  our decorations. So I pulled them down and showed them EXACTLY what were going to be doing. Before we even left Marin was saying "Santa be scary." We pepped talked her by telling her was nice because he will bring her presents. Once she remembered that, she got a little more excited. 

Well....this is what we got. 

Hahahahahahahah! We expected Hollis' reaction. But Marin's...oh my. Cracks. Me. Up. I was busy trying to get Hollis happy when I heard Burke behind me laughing. Then I looked over at Marin. So funny. I have looked at these pictures all night and laughed. Love these girls!

December Begins!

We started decorating this week and the girls are having so much fun. 

All of our Christmas books.....

Hollis investigating the tree. :o)

Marin putting the star n the tree.

Loves it.

Marin took her tree decorating job very seriously.

She had two branches that were her favorite. :o)

I have had these hoops and this fabric forever.  So decided to do a little Christmas decorating with them. The pictures below are all of Santa Claus pictures. We will be adding this years photo with Santa soon! 

Our neighborhood really goes all out for Christmas. I really need to go around and get pictures and post about it. It's pretty funny. But here is one of our little outdoor decorations. A yard sale find, of course. I call it a candy cane tree. We will put some more lights up. 

Our little Elf. We just play hide and seek with her.  She brought some Santa pajamas and a couple of new Christmas books for our basket. But she just likes to hide while Marin is sleeping. Hide and seek is Marin's favorite game, so she thinks it's pretty fun. So far, Jolly the Elf has hid in the cups, our fruit drawer, and Daddy's stinky shoe. ;o) 

Non-Christmas related.....

Some doodle doodling....Marin drew a flag while she went potty. :o) Later came a balloon.  Did I mention she takes forever to go potty??

This girl loves some shoes!

Our neighbor friend, Makenna, came over to play. The girls had so much fun!

Thanksgiving 2013

This year for Thanksgiving we had Mary Beth and Aunt Betsy and Kate and Carson join us for a few days. The girls were beyond THRILLED to have time with their sweet cousins, aunt, and Mimi! It was so much fun watching them interact and play together!

All piled up in the bed to watch Curious George and the Christmas Tree!
(Seeing this brings back memories of my sister and I and my cousins on the couch bed at my Tennessee Granny's house each holiday!) 

Decorating a turkey cookie. 

Daddy-O made it home just in time to help with the cookies. 

This kid is AMAZING.

I love him a lot. 

I love her a lot.
Showing off her turkey cookie.
She just ate the "feathers".

Look at that face.
She is such a stinker. 

A big, big stinker!

Kate, with a big traffic jam!
She is such a sweetie!
She came up to me one morning and said, "I understand Marin most of the time. But sometimes I
can't understand what she is saying." Ha! That's ok, Kate, I am also a full time translator. 

Carsie and Marin playing hide and seek.
I love Carsie's little eyes in the chair. 

 Trying to get a group picture. Pretty difficult with little people. But here we all are!

Kate and Carson brought games to play with the girls. I was a little nervous that Hollis make steal the pieces and run off with them but she did amazingly well. Here is a game of Zingo. Marin LOVED it. And Kate and Carson were so patient with her! 

A little one on one time with Aunt Betsy. Marin was in heaven. She had been talking about Betsy all week! "I love Betsy."  

And then there was the butterfly puzzle. This is a kid's puzzle but it is hard. Here is the whole gang working on it...

Hollis got tired of butterflies and moved on to Mickey. I've got a funny video coming later.

And then there were two. 

 Some Ring Around the Rosies! (Btw, Burke and Betsy were still working on the butterfly puzzle.)

Cute video of this coming too!

And it is complete!

Sweet little girl cousins playing dinosaurs!

MVI 8070 from Stacey Brednich on Vimeo.

A few November Randoms

Here are just a few photos leftover from November....

Watching basketball with Daddy-O.
Daddy's girl times 100. 

Oh Hollis. I love you so much. You are going through some kind of crazy phase right now. Up and down you go.
You have a real love/hate relationship with me in particular. When you love me, you really love me and only I can make whatever sadness you may have at the moment go away. But when you "hate" me, whoa, you reeeeaaaallly hate me. :o) It's 90% annoying and 10% funny. Wait...I mean, 90% funny and 10% annoying.
Just for a little example, you got really mad at me because I didn't wear the shoes you wanted me to wear. :o)
You are such a funny and sweet (yes, sweet) little girl that keeps this parenting thing so much fun and so exciting!
Thanks for being you, little one. 

Marin, love, you take FOREVER to go poop. It's kinda ridiculous. We used to wait in there with you. But seriously, nobody's got time for that. It's funny because Hollis even knows when you say "I gotta go potty", she does her sisterly duty and hunts down your favorite Dora books or the iPad. She knows you're gonna be a while. :o) I think in this picture Marin had given a few fake "I'm dones" and so Burke just took a post. And hey, why not play a round of cards while you wait??/ 

A little snack time and a show. They love each other so much. 

Some camera timer fun! I love them so very much.