This New Phase.....

It happened so quickly, overnight, in the blink of an eye, etc, etc, but somehow, someway our baby turned into a full blown toddler. And our toddler seemed to turn into a little girl. 

Wahhhh wahhh sob tear wahhh wahhh. 

And although it is a very strange feeling to see them growing up so quickly, there is one really fabulous thing that is coming out of the deal. 

They play.

They play TOGETHER. 

It is so very fun to watch. 

They are becoming such great little friends. Legos, play dough, and the wooden blocks are big hits with the sisters these days. They will get started and just have a ball for the longest time. And they laugh....like down on the floor belly laughing. Its great. But the playing together is just icing on the cake. My favorite part is that they look out for each other. If one kid gets a waffle/sucker/sticker/hug from a little girl at the library, they always, always ask for one for their sister. Its pretty sweet. The other day Hollis was playing and her baby stroller get falling over. She didn't call for Mommy. She called for Marin. I could hear Marin saying, "I'm coming, Hollis. All better." It was sweet. 

Now, it's not all sugar cookies and lollipops over here. They can fight over the 10 cent Pilgrim figurines   I got a yard sale just like any other normal kids. :o) But for the most part they share and play so well together. It is fun. Really, really fun. 

A Lego session. Look at those cute legs. 

For Thanksgiving, I decided, with the help of Pinterest, to make little Thankful Baskets with the girls. I love the Blessing Trees idea but the girls are still a bit too young to be able to tell me things they are thankful for. So we made little pockets out of paper plates and put pictures of family, friends, toys, our house, church, etc. in them. They pull out a picture and name who or what is in it and we say "Thank you, God for...." It has been fun. And its been funnier to see what they recognize/notice from the pictures. Marin seems so grown up some days because she really remembers trips and things we've done and can tell me stories about them. And Hollis' favorite person to find in her pictures is her Daddy-O. Lights up every time she sees him. So sweet. Definitely thankful for their Dad.

MVI 7795 from Stacey Brednich on Vimeo.

MVI 7797 from Stacey Brednich on Vimeo.

And this is their Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Natalie. She would probably die if she knew I put this on here but I took a picture of her and class for their thankful baskets. She does a great job with them and the girls are so fun to watch participating in class. This is the "you're a pretty little girl and God made you....you'll serve him faithfully.." song. :o)

Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet

We had such a fun Halloween this year. Several times I meant to take pictures of our neighborhood because people really decorated for Halloween. It was so fun for the girls to see pumpkins and spiders and ghosts and flying witches everywhere. It was pretty cute. And we have been warned  told that our street and neighborhood really go all out for Christmas. Can't wait. But we had some of our neighborhood friends over for pizza and play and then headed out to go Trick or Treating. First, costumes. Oh. My. Word. So Marin loved talking about her pink Dancing Kate (ballerina) costume all week long but when it came time to wear it. No way. Big, big tears. In fact, she didn't want to wear ANY costume. At all.  So she went as a little girl in pumpkin shirt. :o) Hollis usually does whatever Marin does but we had found this Dora outfit at a yard sale a week before. It was about 5 sizes too big for her but it is EXACTLY what she wanted to wear. I so wish I had gotten a video of her pointing to herself when I asked "Where's Dora?" Big grins. Adorable. So she was Dora at the last minute. Costume or not, ringing the doorbell and saying "trick or treat" was the absolute best for these littles. Marin LOVED it. When all our little friends went home, she wanted "more Halloween". So we went to a few more houses before we went home to pass out candy to the goblins and gremlins that stopped by. And, of course, the candy part was a big hit. We just let them eat whatever they wanted that night to get rid of it faster. The funny thing was they were so excited about it all, I am pretty sure they didn't finish one piece. They just had a little sample of it all. One bite here. One bite there. They maybe ate a total of 2 pieces. I, on the other hand, finished off the 500 pieces they tossed after one bite. :o) I love Halloween, too.

So here are some videos and pictures of the night....

MVI 7744 from Stacey Brednich on Vimeo.

MVI 7754 from Stacey Brednich on Vimeo.

MVI 7757 from Stacey Brednich on Vimeo.

Mrs. Susan reading a Halloween Dora book. 

Burke kept saying she looked like a basketball player with the oversized outfit. :o)

The Halloween crew...

Graham and Baby Taylor.
We love our neighbors. 

On a mission to get candy. 

On a mission to cause trouble. 

Rewind...OCTOBER!

So our computer was having some problems and we had to get it repaired. We have it back and it's working now. As Marin would say its "all better".  Now I have about 300 posts to catch up on. So let's start with our trip to Alabama. My mom's birthday is October 23 and the girls and I flew in to surprise her. And...she was SURPRISED. It was pretty fun. My sister invited her up to her house for a little dinner celebration and then Marin came around the corner with a "Happy Birthday". My mom was stunned. It took her a minute to figure out what was going on. You know, old people. But she was pretty excited to have all her grandkids in one place. (Hollis would have said Happy Birthday too but I am pretty sure at the time she was chasing the dog.)

But before the birthday surprise we stopped by my Dad and Carole's house to say hello! It was a great little visit and the girls always have such a good time with Carrot (aka Carole). :o)

This is the best picture I got of my dad. Because if he knows you are taking a picture he will do this...

Or this...

See. Pointless. He's crazy. 

Might as well join him. :o) 

Carole has lots of little toys that the girls play with every visit. They love it. 

Here they had some sticky bugs. They thought it was hilarious. 

Now a tea party...:o)

 It was a great visit and we were so happy we got to see them for a little bit. Then we headed up to my sister's house to get ready for the big surprise. I wanted to get a family photo of my sister and Tim and the boys. But my nephews have a little of what my dad has. NO COOPERATION. Once I threatened Will and told him I would put them on Facebook, he started acting a little normal. Just a little though.

Marin never wants her picture taken but she wanted to be in the family photo. 

The best one. I love them. 

Marin needed to sample the icing flowers. 

Drew helped out. 

MayeMaye's glasses. 

Will, he is getting way too old. Which means I am getting way too old.
But one great kid. I mean teenager. :o(

And Drew. Who can't love this kid??? Crrraaazzzzyyy funny and so very sweet. 

 Cissy, I didn't add the pictures of you and the boys because you know....the angle and the triple chin thing. ;o)

My mom does this thing with the girls where they reach their arms out and say "I love you, BIG!"
Its pretty sweet. 

Singing Happy Birthday!

MayeMaye is a rock star in the eyes of Marin and Hollis.
My sister and I joke and say she is the grandkids favorite "toy".
And she is. A big toy. A they have her wrapped around their finger.

Another post is coming about how fun the girls are right now. They play and play with one another. It is the best!
Loving it. 

We found a couple of parks to play at and the girls had a ball!

It was a fun surprise trip and so glad we got time with everyone! Happy Birthday, MOM! We love you!