Cracking the Safe

This safe is in an undisclosed location. It just so happens that 2 stethoscopes are stored right next to the safe. I think it is to encourage cracking it. We have not cracked the combination yet... but give us a little time. I think we are getting close!

Santa and Christmas

Santa came to our house. I guess the magic reindeer dust worked! Emma was the first one up at 8:00 am. She walked out to the living room, and looked completely confused. We asked her what was going on and she told me that she did not know. She looked at all of the toys, but did not touch anything. It took a few minutes for her to realize that Santa had left her toys. About 10 minutes later, Elle woke up. She just started playing. Since my brothers spent the night, they were already here. My parents, aunts and grandma arrived about 8:15.

This is kind of what the living room looked like....


The girls got play vanities from Santa. They really like them. Both sat down and started putting on their play makeup.
























Here the girls are cleaning out their stockings























We then went over to Gram and Pops' where Santa had also stopped. They got some new babies with lots of clothes. They also got dress-up clothes.
























Just opening gifts..
























Emma in dress up with her new baby.. Darlyne Fonda- I know it is horrible, but she is a 25th anniversary Cabbage Patch, and I think they busted out the old names. Santa could not find any better names. Elle's is Stephanie Ofelia.

The Grinch

Your a mean one Mr. Grinch... We watched The Grinch a couple of weeks ago and the girls really enjoyed it. The girls demanded that we get a grinch tie for their daddy. Scott, Nate, and Logan all had grinch gift bags at my mom's house. When the boys opened the bags, they found grinch boxers! The girls had to try them on. They found them to be the perfect accessories for riding horses!

Horsey, Horsey on your way...

So we always open one present on Christmas Eve. The girls picked the biggest presents in their pile. They just so happened to be from Aunt Linda. When they got them opened, they hopped on the horses and ran around the house, singing horsie horsie on your way, we've been together for many a day.. and Pony Girl. They had so much fun!























Even Pops got into the Cowgirl spirit! He looks so excited to be on the pink pony.

Great Aunt Linda's Salon

After bath, the girls have been getting full salon services. Since their Great Aunt Linda is in town, they are getting their hair styled after bath. She claims to be on vacation, but, the girls are enjoying the extra attention. Thanks Aunt Linda!

Chirstmas Eve Bath

The girls requested a Christmas Eve bath. Since we were at Gram and Pops, they wanted a bath in the big tub. After we were done washing their hair and bodies, they asked for the jets. We turned on the whirlpool tub, and the bubbles started forming. The girls had a great time making Santa beards, and getting bubbles all over Uncle Nate.

Magic Reindeer Dust

The Winterhalters shared some magic reindeer feed with the girls. We took time on Christmas Eve to spread it out in the yard. It was a mixture of oats and glitter. The oats were for the reindeer to eat, and the glitter was to draw their attention to our house. I think it worked! The girls had a great time spreading it out. They were not sure if we had enough, but the reindeer found it...with Santa in the sleigh!

Holding Baby Aydan

We went over to Kendra's House for a Christmas party. It was the first time we have visted Aydan. The girls both wanted to hold him. Emma was first, and seemed to enjoy it. Elle held him next, but momma Emma was there next to her the entire time. The girls have been doing a lot of role playing lately. Usually, Emma is the momma and Elle is her baby. When I hear them say momma, I have to ask if they are talking to me or each other. They even play house with Uncle Nathan. He is always baby.

What happens when the girls play quietly?

On Monday, I was working on laundry after a weekend away, and the girls were playing really quietly. I never seem to notice the quiet until I get that feeling of fear...and the thought of "Oh Crap! What are they into now." I started hollering for them, and there was no answer....then the lights were not on in their rooms. I found them in the bathroom playing.

Giddy-up! YeeHaw!

The girls have taken new interest in my boots lately. They like to put them on and sing "Cowgirls, Cowboys won't you come out tonight, and dance by the light of the moon!" (It is a Backyardigans song) They have perfected walking in them, and I have found my boots all over the house!

Tasting the Goods

I have been making lots of Christmas goodies lately. I got this picture of the chocolate devil! It was so funny...She was eating a peanut butter blossom, the peanut butter cookies with Hershey's kisses on top.

Dance Mini- Recital

The girls had their Mini-Recital at the Christmas Party. Here are a couple of links so you can watch portions of the recital. The girls are in the black leotards. Emma really enjoys dance, and tries real hard to to the steps. She even practices at home. Elle on the other hand is not as dedicated.

Blue Bubble Gum


Hula Bula

Santa!

The girls got to visit with Santa last Sunday at their Daycare Christmas Party. The party was so nice. They had crafts for the kids, everyone brought food, and the Tippi Toes dancers performed! The reason that Elle is the only one in the picture is because Emma is still afraid of Santa Clause. Last year, Scott had to hold her int he picture with Santa. This year, he held her again, but not close enough to Santa to get a picture. The funny thing is, as soon as Elle spotted Santa, she went off in a dead sprint towards him! She did not care about lines, she needed to sit on his lap! She told him that she wanted a big Winnie the Pooh Pooh. (Since Uncle Logan AKA Swiper the Fox stole her other one-- at least that is one of the newest stories that she is telling.) Anyways.. the Big Winnie was news to me, good thing I have a few days before Christmas!

Madisyn Kodi's Party

Sunday was Madisyn Kodi's 3rd Birthday Party. The girls were so excited. Madisyn turned 3 years old. She is in the girls' class at daycare, and lives across the pond from us. Madisyn Kodi is in the pink shirt. The girls call the girl in the white dress "big Madison" because she is older and taller, and the girl in the purple dress is named Emily. She was so sweet. They girls ate cake and ice cream and Madisyn opened her presents. She really liked the Princess backpack with sleeping bag that we brought, along with the Ariel New Beginnings DVD. The girls have the same backpack, and I thought it might be neat a sleepovers!

What happens when you take Elle in a shoe store?

She has been a mess in shoe stores since she was about 9 months old and could say shoes! I made the mistake of taking her and Emma in Rack Room Shoes on Saturday. She took her shoes and socks off in a flash, and was "trying them on!" Her favorites were a pair of size 5 light up flip flops! Size 5! She wears at least a 7. Her heel was off the back a good inch! The worst of it was the flip flops were $20! In December??? Even with the Buy one, Get one sale, it was ridiculous. Needless to say, there was no buying only trying! Here is a picture of her trying on some size 1 or 2 girls shoes. She wanted them too! I had to snap a picture, because I figured in a few days it would be funny. It was not at the time. Good thing Gram appeared to save the day, otherwise, I don't know that I would have gotten out of the store without a pair of flip flops for each of them.

Wednesday Night at Joe and Buffy's

We like to go to Eskimo Joes on Wednesday and eat their $1.00 little joes along with an order of cheese fries (especially with Gram...don't tell Pops!). The Tree was up at Joes, and the girls were very impressed. It was really pretty. You might be able to see the reindeer at the bottom of the picture. The orange one said "Pete" and had a black cowboy hat on, and the black one was "Joe". Elle kept taking the hat off of "Pete" because "Deer don't wear hats!". She did have a point. But, I do not know how to reason with a 2 1/2 year old. I just said "your right" and put the hat back on when she was not looking,

My three (little?) elves

On Sunday, the girls and I went "shopping" at Walgreens. They begged and begged for these Santa hats. Once we got home, they had little to no interest in them. No interest until another elf showed interest in the hats.

The girls are really excited about Christmas. Emma runs around saying "Its Christmas Time", and Elle is convinced that it is almost her birthday. Scott was trying to explain that she gets presents on Jesus' birthday too, but I don't think she is quite there yet.

We also went around looking at lights last weekend. The girls were really into the "deers" and the "Santas" . They were pretty sure we needed deers and Santas in our yard too. We have some work to do to improve our light display to their standards.

Last warm day...as it is now snowing

Monday was a beautiful day. When the girls and I got home, we played outside with daddy for a little while. Scott switched out the baby swings to "big kid" swings about a month ago. Emma loves the new swings. With it being so warm on Monday, it was hard to believe it was snowing and so cold today.

Dancing at the Butter Bean

A store in Stillwater had what they called a

"Mom's Night Out". It was where mom's were supposed to take their kids to the store so they could do Tippi Toes. It was more like "Kid's Night Out", but that's a technicality, I guess. Anyway, the girls got to dance on Tuesday night too. They had a good time, but it was more work that I was expecting. They did not kid-proof the store, and it was hard to keep the kids off the toys and out of the cookies. The girls wore their dance outfits with puffy vests over them. They looked so cute!

Thanksgiving Travels

Sorry it has took so long to report on Thanksgiving. We had a great time, just not too much sleep for me and Scott. We left on Wednesday midday, and stopped at my best friend, Abi's house. We stayed and played with Rick, Abi, Mari and the dogs Bunny and Sarah. Mari is about a year younger than the girls, and they all had a great time. From there we went to St. Joe and had Thanksgiving lunch and dinner. We stayed with my cousin Heath and his family (Dawn, Maddie, and Kaleb). Dawn and I braved the Black Friday Shopping, and met up with my mom and Aunt Linda about halfway through. I LOVE shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Even though it took me 15 minutes to get from the front doors in the St. Joe Walmart to the Electronics department, and another 40+ minutes to check out!

You wanna hear about my cats?

So both Elle and Emma have been really into hearing stories lately. Stories about when the girls were little, or about Scott, or me, their uncles, or anyone else they think of. One of the funniest was a couple of weeks ago, Pops came over to help out one night that Scott was gone. He gave the girls a bath, and was asked to tell story after story about their mama. He told the mole trap story (a family honored fable) and a story about how I used to steal his money, and a couple others. I think I rescued him right before he ran out of stories!

I decided since I was telling so many stories, I would ask the girls to start telling me stories. Emma has not gotten into yet, but oh has Elle! Her first story she told was when we were on our way back to Blair last month. She started with "Let me think"...(Dramatic Pause)..."Ok, I've got one". And I think the first story she ever told was about "her kids". Don't worry, that is how she refers to her friends at daycare.

Recently, the stories have gotten longer and more detailed. The most popular one that she is currently telling is about "her cats". If you ask for a story, she will say "you want to hear about my cats?". The story always starts with "I have 2 cats" and goes on from there. When she says 2 cats, she holds up her thumb and pointer finger, and at that point she raises her eyebrows and leans in bobbing her head on the syllables. It is so funny! After she tells you how many cats she has (some times, it grows after the initial 2), she will go into where they live (at Grandma and Grandpa Mickey's) and other important information. We will have to take some cat food with us the next time we go down to Blair!

The stories are so animated and so funny! I'll try and record one and post it later!

Nanny Nanny Nanny!

Well, we have had a couple of new things happen. The girls and all of their words are hysterical almost all of the time. Some of the newest things are....

• Emma kept telling me she wanted a big one when I was getting her more to drink. At first, I thought she wanted a different cup, but NO! (that was not it) I finally figure out "a big one" means I want it full! We have been working on full, but she likes her own words better.
• Over the holiday, we were traveling, and someone (Scott) had a bit of flatulence and Elle yelled "FROGS!" It was priceless.
• Lately it has been an issue with the girls on who gets put in the car first when we are leaving, and it can only be one at a time....so to be fair, I have been taking turns. On Monday, it was Elle's turn, and after I picked her up to carry her to the car she said....nanny, nanny, nanny to Emma! I could not believe it! I tried to explain that that was not nice, and tomorrow she would be put in the car after Emma. So this morning, I put Emma in the car first, and Elle broke down on the stairs in the garage. When I came back for her, she still did the nanny, nanny, nanny! Like, I got my way! Oh I am going to be in so much trouble in the future!

Introducing Emma Ketchup Yates and Elle Mustard Yates

The girls have really been into full names lately. They want to know everyone's first, middle, and last names. They also keep track of the duplicates. They have the most of the family down, and are delving into friends. The other night they demanded that I call Madisyn Kodi Lowe's mom (their friend from school) and ask what Madisyn's dad's middle name was. They were so adamant that I tried, luckily, Amanda did not answer so I did not look like I was stalking her husband. It is really cute to hear them say the really long names like Redelsperger (Scott's sister's family) and Winterhalter (their friends). When I first told them that Dylan, Ryan, and new baby Aydan's last name was Winterhalter, they laughed and said "just kidding momma!" like I was joking. I think they were amused that it was so long. Now they rattle off the names like they have known them forever! The new amusement comes from changing people's names. That is where the Emma Ketchup and Elle Mustard come in. They have friends named, Dylan Hamburger, Ryan French Fry, and Aydan Coke.
Logan Nicholas Herr with Elle Madilyn Yates or Logan LaLa with Elle Mustard
Emma Kathryn Yates or Emma Ketchup, or Pancake, Raindrop, Mud Puddle......

Emma has been changing her name a lot lately. Above are a few of the regulars!

New Hairdos

I took the girls to see mom Kim on Friday. I had her cut a lot off. The girls won't let me do much with their hair anyway, so I figured, why not keep it short. These pictures were taken by Gram after Gram and Pops had given them a spa treatment. Gram on the hair and Pops on the nails! (I am not kidding! Toes too!) These are the girls' attitude pictures! I think they are pretty cute, and I love the flipdos. If I had straight hair, this is exactly the haircut I would have!

Horsie Ride

We were in Blair, OK on Thursday for Scott's Grandpa Marvin's Funeral. It was very sad, but he is finally resting peacefully. The girls were really excited to get to see their cousins Reagan and Ryan and their Grandma and Grandpa Mickey. They also told me that they were going to ride Pesky, grandpa's horse. They could not wait for the horsie rides! Luckily Grandpa Mickey made time for a few laps with all of the granddaughters on Pesky's back! They all had a great time!

Breakfast at the Little Bakery

The girls were a part of a moms and tots study, and we had to go to the OSU Child Development Lab on Tuesday. The girls were so excited to get to go to mommy's school!

We were a bit early to the appointment, so we stopped at the Little Bakery. Although it is not in exactly the same spot, as when I was at school, it is the same concept, with a lot more options. They each had their favorite...donuts with sprinkles! It was definitely the highlight of the trip. I found the study a bit of a bore. They played with the girls and took some notes, and I answered about 5 questionnaires. Oh well, we had a good time at the Little Bakery.