What the girls are up to lately....

Hard to believe it is almost the middle of January! We just got our second snowfall overnight last night which meant a snow day for the kids (and no dance class for Lauren). We were in Nashville last week (that post is forthcoming!), and we finally got our Christmas decorations down last night. Time to get organized for the new year for sure. The girls continue to make me smile most of the time. They are both sweet, funny girls and I am so lucky to be able to stay home with them. Looking forward to a great year this year, and I can't believe we have lived in New Jersey for almost 6 years. That's pretty amazing.

Lauren's Top Ten for January

I can't get over what a big girl Lauren is becoming. She is really starting to become such a polite, yet feisty girl. It is so much fun to listen to her playing and using her imagination! I never know what she is going to come up with next!

1. Performing...this girl loves to make up songs about whatever. The other day, she went upstairs and put on a dress, jewelry and fancy shoes and stood at the top of the steps and sang her song called "Flannel."

2. Mail Lady...Mum Mum made up this game when we were at her house last summer, so Lauren loves to write letters and "mail" them. We don't have the fancy mailboxes like Mum Mum made though!

3. Writing her letters....Lauren has gotten so great at writing all of her letters. She can write her name really well, and also Alison. I had her write all the letters of the alphabet today and she can write almost all of them.

4. Drawing family pictures....she has also gotten really great at drawing family pictures. My favorite part is that she gives Brad spikey blond hair with a yellow crayon gives herself and Alison blond hair as well.

5. Barbies...she received several Barbies for Christmas, and she loves to play with them, and she got a Ken doll as well and he is always the Daddy.

6. Asking questions.....very inquisitive! She hasn't asked anything too tough yet like where babies come from or anything like that. She did ask me what it meant to be a drama queen, which is hard to explain.

7. Reading...she loves to read books and she has started to like the Bearenstein Bears, which is so fun because I loved those when I was little, too. It amazes me how she is starting to recognize words in books.

8. Cleaning...for some reason, Lauren and Alison love to help me clean! It's great, I can give them a wipe and they will clean themselves and the cabinets or whatever. And they also love to help sweep the floor.

9. Playing in the cabinets..they still love to go in the cabinets and play peek a boo.

10. Princess castle...she got this princess tent for Christmas and she loves to pretend that it's her house and go in there and play.

11. Two braids....Lauren's hair is now long enough for two braids, and her hair looks so adorable with her two braids, and it makes her look so grown up.

Alison's Top Ten for January

Little Miss Alison is definitely a toddler now. Her temper is starting to come out every once in a while, and she can get really mad if you take something from her that she really wants. She is really starting to talk more now. Her latest words are please, hat, hot, ow (like when she looks at her really red thumb!). She still loves to cuddle with her Mommy, and she is a great hugger and loves to give kisses.

1. Cookies..Mum Mum brought some little white cookies for Alison, and she is now addicted to cookies! She would point to the Tupperware they were in, and get really excited to get one. Good thing I have a cookbook with lots of recipes for egg-free cookies.

2. Lollipops...she loves lollipops, she just calls them "pop," and it is a great way to keep her occupied while shopping.

3. Light switches and Climbing to get them....she loves to climb up on the chairs and play with the light switches, and she is always so proud of herself when she pushes the chair up against the wall and climbs up.

4. Phones of all kinds..she loves to play with all phones and she will pick up any phone (play, home, cell) and say "Daddy!" She loves to talk to her Daddy on the phone.

5. Dishwasher..loves to climb in the dishwasher

6. Eating...this girl can EAT!

7. Napkins and wipes...whenever Lauren asks for a napkin at the dinner table, Alison has to have one as well so she can wipe of her hands and face. She actually does a pretty good job of it, too!

8. Saying please...she has started saying "pease" when she wants something. I just love the way she says it, it's so cute! She will tap her hand on her tray and say "pease!"

9. Hiding her hand..she has started playing a game where she will hide her hand in her sleeve and then she gets so excited when we "find" her hand.

10. Playing in the fridge...loves to sit in the fridge and take everything off the bottom shelf on the door. I had to move stuff around because everything that was on that shelf was either glass or Sirachi sauce. She probably would not have been to happy to get a mouthful of that!

11. Running...she has started running to keep up with Lauren. She does fall every once in a while, but she almost always gets up with a smile on her face.

12. Cheesing for the camera....whenever I get the camera out, Alison immediately says "Cheese!" Which is great because it makes for really great pictures!

13. Jewelry....she loves to put on all the jewelry, necklaces and bracelets. So funny because it reminds me so much of Lauren!