Miss Kim & Kindermusic

Music Makers is walking distance from our house! I took the girls for a free trial and they loved it! Miss Kim is a fantastic teacher and the girls fell in love with her right away! We signed up and finished up the session with her. At the end of the session there was a party. Mary & Rachel were sad that it was over. We signed Rachel up for the next session of kindermusic. She will go with mommy on Thursday morning while Mary is at preschool. We signed Mary up for the Imagine That class. She will go by herself for 2 hours on Friday's. It will be fun when that starts for them!

Rachel actually says in the beginning of class "I'm Rachel Pratt and I am 1 year old." She follows every instruction and it is really amazing to me!

Sickies

For awhile there was always someone sick at our house and it was miserable! It just felt like we were always in the pediatricians office. We had weekly playdates with Dr.Horner the girls pediatrician! We actually gave her a Christmas present! There were some terrible viruses that went around our preschool group, children at church, children at kindermusic and children at ballet and tap. It is safe to say it was everywhere! If our friends had it we caught it! Since I am catching up on posting this blog I am happy to say we have been well for an entire month (please, please, please stay this way!). I have been giving the girls probiotics with their vitamins in the morning. Maybe that has helped. Dr. Horner asked me everytime we were in there if I was giving them probiotics. I couldn't face her again and say "no". Also, we have been staying home and taking it easy! I have decided that I actually really like staying home!

The Nutcracker

One of Murray's patients was dancing in the Nutcracker. We got some really great tickets and were able to go see it while my dad watched the girls because he was in town visiting. It was a beautiful performance and the stage, settings and costumes were really amazing! It reminded me of visiting DisneyLand when I was little. It feels like you really are somewhere far from real life. It is always nice to ditch real life for an hour or so. I read that the cost was several million dollars to put the performance on. I loved it and hope we can make it a tradition to start taking the girls when they are 4 or so and can sit for that long easily and really enjoy the show.

The Leaves Are Falling Down

We are fortunate to live walking distance from a great park! There is a lot of open grass area to play on and fun equipment and swings for the girls. We have been walking over there quite a bit to play. We noticed large piles of leaves down by some trees and the girls were off and running into them before we knew it. We had a lot of fun playing in them with them!

Eye Exam with Dr Bacon

Murray just finished his second of three rotations before he graduates! His second rotation was with Dr. Lewis and Dr. Bacon in Chandler. Murray enjoyed working with the patients, staff and saw a lot that he learned about in his first three years of school. Dr Bacon was really nice and gave Mary an eye exam during Murray's last week in the office. While they were doing a puzzle Dr. Bacon said that Mary was very smart. If you know Dr Bacon this is a true compliment because he doesn't mince words! Mary also took it upon herself when alone with Dr. Bacon to tell him that "Mommy is sick because she is having a baby." That was great! Dr. Bacon and his wife even offered and tended the girls for us and sent us out to dinner at a great mexican restaurant, Abuelos. I have really been loving mexican food. It was so delicious and a very nice gift they gave us!

Mesa Temple Lights

On a Sunday night we packed some hot chocolate and candy canes and went to see the Temple lights. There was a nice concert and we also went in the visitors center and saw the beautiful Christus. The spirit there was wonderful and it was nice to have the girls with us and remember what Christmas really means to us. If you ask the girls what the true meaning of Christmas is they quickly say "Jesus". It was getting confusing for them to keep straight the birth of the Savior and all the fun of Santa Claus. The lights were beautiful and we even got to see a few friends there too.

Family Picture Time

We went and had our family pictures taken. We actually drove to a photographer in Maricopa that another mom in Rachel's kindermusic class told us about. She was nice and fast. Taking pictures wasn't very fun for Mary. Mary can sense peoples emotions SO well and I was a little stressed and when I am stressed I'm not really patient and Mary tells me that I am "not very nice" and it makes her "sad". Murray got some great pictures with the girls but I seriously considered photoshopping myself into the family picture this year. I was happy we got one I felt we could send out to the masses in our Christmas card. Our girls are adorable! I will remember to trim their bangs before next years pictures!

I love how the girls are good friends and this picture just shows them how they are!

Rachel loves my hair and it is a challenge to keep her fingers out of it! I even cut off 3 or 4 inches hoping it would help but no luck!

Rachel's 2nd Birthday

Rachel turned 2 years old on December 15th! We thought it would be fun to invite a few of her friends from nursery over to celebrate Rachel's special day. Mary called it her "baby friend party." Rachel asked to invite Aiden, Becca and Kate and requested a snowman cake. We had a few little games and cupcakes. Rachel had fun with her friends and they were all very cute!

We didn't get a ton of pictures at the party because we were videotaping it and every adult in the room was tracking their two year old. Trust me they were cute and had a good time!

This is the next morning when she asked for a cupcake after her oatmeal breakfast. I went ahead and let her have it.

Gingerbread House

We made our traditional gingerbread house and the girls had a great time munching on the candy as they decorated. This is one Christmas tradition we are able to keep up with thanks to the kits that come with everything you need. It is always a hit and a fun family night activity.

Mattress

The day my mom came into to town Murray being the wonderful husband he is came home during his lunch break to move our mattress up into the guest room. Murray and I didn't sleep so well that night because air mattresses don't work so well when on tile. I figured out that by putting a blanket under me I stayed warm but that was around 4:00am. My Mom wanted to get us another mattress. The next day we ran around trying to do far too many things with two young children in tow and didn't end up getting the mattress until 9:00pm. Murray ended up taking the girls home from dinner and my mom and I went to get the mattress. This seemed just fine until after buying it they expected me to tie it to the van and drive it home. I almost begged for them to help me at least tie it to the van. Once one guy agreed and helped I realized he had never secured a mattress to a car. Even I was making suggestions. This thing was hanging a foot off each side and was being held by the tiniest piece of twine you have ever seen and I had to get it home? I drove about 10 mph the entire way home and sadly had to make many left hand turns and was unable to see out of my rear view because of a giant box spring blocking the way. I slowed many left lane speeders down that night. I kept thinking "What am I going to do if this thing slides off the top in the middle of the road? I could never get it back up there! Was I going to call Murray to wake up the girls to help us pick a mattress up out of the road. As usual, my worrying was unnecessary. We were blessed and angels held that sucker up there for us, all the way home.

WAM

The girls received a package in the mail and it is always exciting to get mail! Carolyn sent them each a wallet with some WAM (walking around money). She gave them wallets so they would have a place to keep their WAM when she sends it. The girls LOVE these new wallets and take them with them when we leave the house. Oh how we miss having Ben and Carolyn across the street!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year! Grandma Mary came to visit and it was really nice having her here. My mom actually stayed a week because after Thanksgiving Murray

left to take the 3rd part of boards in California and was gone for three days. It was nice having her here to help with the girls, the house and keep me company! We laughed at the craziness quite a bit. Thanksgiving we were in the kitchen from breakfast until dinner. My mom showed me how she makes a turkey and stuffing and it was so yummy!

Mary wanted to check out the innards of the turkey. She actual touched them with gloves on for awhile at the table. I was surprised she wan't totally grossed out.

I only got picture after we ate. It isn't so pretty.

My mom likes arranging flowers. She was still working on them in this photo.

We have so much to be grateful for. It is nice to remember the wonderful blessings we enjoy this time of year. I asked the girls what they were thankful for...

Mary said "Mommy, Daddy, Rachel, Heavenly Father, Jesus and the whole world."

Rachel's grateful for " Mommy's hair, funny George, pacis, nursery and Mary."

Murray said "Wonderful family and a busy and happy life"

Margaret said "Wonderful family, the restored gospel, good friends and good health."

First Trip to the Dentist

Mary had her first visit to the dentist. I was so happy with the office, doctor and other staff! They were really nice, understanding and good with us. Mary thought it was a lot of fun until they wanted to look in her mouth. These pictures were all taken prior to that happening. I ended up lying down in the chair with her in my lap while they cleaned her teeth which she really didn't enjoy. Then the doctor came in and Mary really liked him and was happy to open up for him. I think he won points when he told her he liked her green shirt. They gave her a bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste, a timer for brushing her teeth, dental floss, stickers and a coin to use in the machine for a treasure on your way out. Rachel was going to be seen too but she was asleep so she will wait for May when we go back.

Basketball Star

Mary just finished her Itty Bitty Sports Clinic at the YMCA. Murray and she went on Saturday mornings and had sessions in soccer, baseball and basketball. Mary went with Murray to Target and saw this sweatband she is wearing and said she really needed it for her workouts. She was also really good about always remembering her water bottle because she said she really gets thirsty when she is working her body! I think Mary is really warming up to the camera as well!

Temple Lights

Saturday morning Murray woke up the girls (it was that early) put cereal in bags, milk in sippee cups and took them to the Temple to help put up the Christmas Lights. The girls love going on outings with Daddy and this was a very exciting one because it was the Temple. Mary still talks about marrying Murray and says she thinks it will be in the Las Vegas Temple where Sarah and Kyle were married. I stayed home and cleaned floors, did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, the girls room and the toy room because we had friends coming over to play at noon!

Art Projects

We have been doing quite a few art projects around here. I picked up a book from Lakeshore Learning Center with a lot of fun seasonal art and craft ideas. The girls finger painted a fall leaf, painted an apple tree, mixed colors to make grey paint and made a really cute elephant, made several dot art pictures that I will be mailing off to friends and Mary has even been helping make my handouts for my valiant 9 class!

Tappity Tap Tap

Friday is tap and ballet for Mary and she always looks forward to it! We signed her up for another month because she really enjoys her teacher, friends and practicing her dance moves! Rachel plays with her friend Lily in the child care. They usually ride cars outside or play with the baby dolls together. They like to chum around together and it is great because she is happy while Mary dances. A few of the other moms and I line up chairs outside where we can watch through a window.