Because that's how it is

 Since the majority of Christmas weekend was spent being sick, we've spent most of our break taking it easy. This is perfectly fine with me - I NEVER get to do this! 

We have had lots of pajama days. 

The girls have gotten to play with their toys and eat and sleep on regular schedules. 

I think this is what normal is supposed to be. 

I have loved every precious second of it. 

and they have taken simultaneous naps 
every day

for two hours each

bliss

So since nothing too monumental has occurred, I have just a few photos of our lazy week to share:

Emma thinks she is a big girl now and decided to start pulling up on everything! She is 7 1/2 months old and it terrifies me how quickly she progressed from crawling to standing. terrifies. 

 and now, Emma will attempt a graceful dismount . . .

not too bad (no worries - Lexi's foot didn't connect with her - she assured me she was just trying to help her sister get down) . . .

Nailed it.

Just a little bit of static . . . 

Santa thought glitter stickers made awesome stocking stuffers. 

Silly Santa . . . 

That's really all. 

While they've napped, I've gotten SUPER crafty - go check my Etsy shop to see all the newest stuff! 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MeganHolding

I'll Have A Flu Christmas

Since all has been so quiet on the Holding Blog front, I'm sure you are all so terribly curious as to what we've been up to! No, we didn't go on a fabulous vacation - we just all had the flu.

On Christmas.

It was horrible.

I might cry.

Again.

Friday started off well enough - The ENTIRE Dunaway family went to meet my brother and his wife at the airport. It was their first time home since their wedding in September and we have missed them like crazy. The little girls - Lexi and her cousin Chloe especially.

 Precious.

After this adorableness, we headed back to my parents to just hang out. The girls got to play dress up, Emma got to attack a new tree, and my nephew Trey was so disgusted by all of this girlishness he got to take a 3 hour nap.

 It was so much fun getting to hang out as a family of 12 (Holy cow! 12 people now???) and we left Friday night excited to do it all over again on Christmas Eve day.

But twas not to be.

Around 2 a.m Lexi and I both got sick. 

I could give details, but no one really wants that. 

Let's let the words STOMACH FLU suffice. 

gross.

By noon the next day, Lex was on the mend but ol' mom, here, took a little longer. I didn't get too long though because by that evening, Paul was feeling queasy. He took a turn Christmas morning and was down for the count by Sunday afternoon through Monday. He barely made it through opening presents. 

 We had an absurd amount of presents for the girls because we combined what is normally 3 different Christmases into one. 

absurd.

It took almost 2 hours to open presents because Lexi would want to play with what she had just opened. Normally we would have let her but Paul was really not looking too good at this point and we tried to rush her as much as you can rush a 3 1/2 year old.

a few highlights:

 puppy from Aunt Kelly

 the girls new soft sided wagon. 

Emma was pumped!

and the main event - all Lexi has wanted, all she has ever mentioned wanting for Christmas is a doll castle. 

Very specifically mind you, castle - not house.

She declared this close enough.

She hasn't come up from the basement yet.

Well done, Santa, well done.

 

Break It Down

 Can you tell I'm on Christmas Break? 

Three blog posts in 24 hours? 

That's crazy!

Well anyways, I am on break. And it IS lovely, thank you so much for asking! I got to sleep in until 6:30 today (yeah, I know it may not seem like sleeping in. But the alarm goes off at 4:50 on school days, so that extra 100 minutes is a very big deal). We spent our first day of break doing not much - and it rocked.

The next few days are going to be a blur of activity, so having a down day to kick it off feels wonderful.

Emma is crawling everywhere!

Everywhere, absolutely $%@#*ing everywhere - under the tree, under the desk, into the toy bin, up the stairs (!!!!), and into the laundry basket. 

I'd be upset with her, but she's too darn cute!

She's also an excellent eater. 

I'm sure you couldn't tell that by looking at her. 

Right, well, you can see - she's chunky. Now that she's crawling, we are hoping some of those rolls will roll right off her. 

We have also noticed that she likes to put everything in her mouth.

Everything, absolutely $%@#*ing everything - dog food, hair ribbons, toys, paper, and my ponytail when she can reach it. 

So I gave her some Puffs today (they dissolve about instantly, so her two teeth can totally handle them) so she could practice feeding herself something that was actually food.

She loved it.

She ate it all (not so shockingly).

I asked Lexi to give her a few more.

OK. Note to self: Lexi does not understand portion control.

And look who we found in our house: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! They made this adorableness at preschool and she wouldn't let anyone wipe the paint off her nose all day. It was fine except she really likes to give Eskimo kisses, so a few people got Rudolph-ed on Tuesday. She made us call her Rudolph this whole night.

Chanute Roadtrip

We went to visit my dad's parents in Chanute on Sunday. This was Emma's first time to see Nanny and Grandpa. 

Lexi hasn't always been such a nice person in their presence. I present the following evidence:

 wouldn't let Nanny hold her - 12-27-08

 needs no caption - 6/2009

 the closest she would get to a picture with Nanny and Grandpa - 2/2010 

 Looking clearly please - 12/2010

But this visit, she made up for it. 

She was giving hugs and kisses and telling everyone all about everything - most of which was embarrassing.

And she loved playing with Nanny's electric organ - as have all the grand kids for the past 30 years, I might add. It's super fun!

It was great to see them - hopefully it won't be so long between visits next time!

Getting Our Picnic On

 Saturday morning, Lexi brought me a blanket and asked if I would spread it out for her on the floor. Being the wonderful, obliging mother I am - I agreed. 

I asked her what she was going to do. 

She replied:

"I'm going to get my picnic on!"

no joke.

true story.

for reals, yo!

My Lexi Lulu, age 3 1/2. She's a pretty cool kid.

 Roxy got her picnic on as well. Please notice and enjoy the placement of the cup and dish.

Just Clip It

Lexi found my old hair clips. 

And clearly misunderstood their purpose. 

 She decided that they made much better "bear backpacks" for the teddy bears on Emma's swing mobile. 

All on her own.

Once I told her the clips went in her hair, 

she created this fashion wonder: 

Emma, of course, thinks she is ridiculous. 

Wordless Wednesday

Bow-tiful

 So with the start of my ETSY shop (shameless plug: please visit http://www.etsy.com/shop/MeganHolding) I have realized that I am not as crafty as I thought. In fact, I would call myself craft-less after seeing how talented the rest of the population is. Nevertheless, I shall persevere and endure. 

I realized that my meager boot socks 

(http://www.etsy.com/listing/87953396/boot-sock-leg-warmers) 

and sweater pillows 

(http://www.etsy.com/listing/87270700/cable-knit-pillow?ref=v1_other_2) 

that I upcycled from sweaters were not going to cut it in Etsy land. 

SIDE NOTE: I never wore the sweater(s). Most of them I bought while I was pregnant thinking I would somehow give birth and magically become a size Triple Zero Extra Small. 

So that's what size I bought. 

Never worn, naturally. 

Just thought you oughta know. 

LIKE I WAS SAYING, though, my craftiness paled in comparison. I needed to up my game. 

It started with fort kits (http://www.etsy.com/listing/87976214/fort-kit). These I found on another blog and borrowed. It's not stealing if it's on the internet, right? Right? I wouldn't say they are going like hot cakes, more like the syrup that comes with the hot cakes. I've sold 2 in the 4 days they've been listed. 

but it wasn't good enough.

I needed to be more Etsy-ing Fabulous! 

Hello hair bows. 

Even if these little delightful confections do nothing, teaching myself how to make them is going to save me a bundle - a heap - a ton of cash. I really love putting gigantic bows on my baby girls. 

I really really do.

Hello, my name is Megan and I am addicted to hair bows.

Now I can make them, not buy them for $15 a pop (serious?) and Paul will stop shaking his head at me. 

Maybe. 

Ok, probably not. But it's a step in the right direction. 

You lost your walls and windows

FYI - these pictures have nothing to do with this post - my babies have just grown since last you saw them. 

I have always known that God would give me a child that embarrassed me. I know this because I did all sorts of (hilarious!) things that embarrassed my mother when I was a child. 

I think I still embarrass her. 

Hi, mom! I love you! Don't fall into the Christmas tree this year! 

See?

told ya. 

I earned it. 

Well, last week we were driving home from school and pulled up to a stop light. The gentleman who stopped next to our car was (clearly insane) driving a convertible with the top down. 

My darling three year old girl decided this just would not do! She pushed the button to roll down her own window (I do normally keep that function disabled, but on this particular afternoon it was not) and LOUDLY shouted to the driver of the convertible, 

"HEY! You lost your walls and windows! Just thought you should know!" 

I have never prayed for a green light so hard in my life!

Walls and windows, indeed! 

Lulu enjoying her breakfast

Lexi also tasted Orange soda pop for the first time last night. I do not usually let her have pop or anything sugary. She is a strictly milk, watered down (sugar free) juice, and water kind of gal. If you have ever met her you understand - she needs no extra sugar. She's sweet (and hyper) enough, already. 

Well, after one giant sip of that sugary drink, her face lit up like Christmas and she declared,

 "Oh! This makes me feel so nervous!" 

Not a clue what she meant. But I told her it made me nervous that she was drinking pop, too. Paul did inform me that Orange soda is a gateway drug and I have now pushed our daughter onto the path of sugary destruction. whoops.

More delightful thoughts from a three year old: whenever Lexi doesn't like something, she tells us "This is NOT happily ever after!" 

Emma update:

Emma is almost 7 months old and she just started crawling this weekend. She's been on the verge for ages! She's still a little shaky, but my baby is mobile! 

She is also sitting pretty well by herself and sleeping (finally). 

She's an excellent eater. 

Her eyes are still blue.

Isn't she a hunny? 

(yes, that was misspelled on purpose. I like the way Pooh bear spells it better, thank you).

Message from Santa

One of the girls at work showed me this website and of course it was the first thing I did when I got home. You upload photos and information about your child onto the website and then Santa sends them a personalized message! 

Amazing!

I don't think Lexi blinked for 3 minutes. 

you can view Lexi's video here: http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/mEKVtMG5p8DsXRXs62ykFxQ

    

 Make your own at http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/home