My father keeps calling me to tell me everything we bought today would have been significantly cheaper because he just found the crazycoupon lady! Hilarious!

Bonding time with my dad

My sad and I are headed out on a shopping trip to furnish his house in Florida and I get a much needed despite from the crazy girls! I need to pick up pajamas for Stella, I have never seen a child grow so fast! Amelia would sit in the same size for months while Stella has grown out of three month size in about a month!

Beginning of the end!

Today marks the beginning of the end of grad school! I can't believe I have made it this far and I'm excited to get my thesis moving! I think now would be a good time to figure out my schedule so I can get all this raw arch done!!

Preschool

Amelia started preschool on Thursday and it was incredibly stressful for me! I was so afraid of how she would react or not react and that she would have potty accidents and ask us not to come back! Oh my! She ended up doing really good with one potty accident which I knew would happen since she was thrown by the wee little potty they have there. I'm not sure how to convince she needs to use it!
My little girl is getting big and it's both fantastic and terrifying!

Christmas

Christmas was lovely and low key around these parts.  Amelia really doesn't grasp the whole Christmas idea so she got some hello kitty boots, the Cinderella movie and a few other odds and ends.  Though, the big of the day was getting Jingle the dog.  She loves him so big score on our parts!  We spent the morning as a family and then joined my mom and stepfather, brother and new fiancee and niece for brunch.  Later, we had my mom and step dad over for a seafood dinner.  The rest of the family left for Florida and my mom and step dad leave this weekend.  We are looking forward to our trip this coming February, especially after today's snowstorm!

Potty Training

Potty training is the one thing they just don't tell you about when you have kids!  This is the most frustrating, mind-boggling thing I have ever done!  I thought it would be so easy, just take away the diapers, show her the potty and rock on!  Oh, no.  Not my stubborn child! 

We are on day two of potty training and today is slightly (by a miniscule amount) better then yesterday.  She pees and then tells me and finishes on the potty.  Which, hey good step in the right direction, but my house now smells like pee!  I think I'm going to start potty training Stella when she's two! ;0) 

It's a shame kids aren't like dogs and you couldn't just pay someone to do the potty training for you!  Course I guess daycare is sort of like that in some respects!  One more of the many joys of staying home with your kids! 

Santa

As you can see meeting Santa went over really well.  At least she didn't scream like the first time she met him and her baby sister did a much better job, but then Stella is much more laid back than Amelia!  Amelia had a fantastic time running around the country club with her little friends and eating too much sugar.  We aren't doing too much for the girls this year, mainly because they just don't need anything!  I would much rather give back to the community and teach them about giving to others than filling their already overflowing toy boxes! 

I think teaching about giving is one of the most important presents we can teach our children and probably one of the most difficult!