Christmas Festivities!

Morgan kept asking us to go see Santa so we decided to take the girls mid December. We chose a new place this year and was impressed.

 The classic Santa picture! Poor Charlotte!

 Love how Morgan is looking over at Charlotte wondering what her issue is in the below picture.

 When I saw the below moment happen, I couldn't help but tear up. Morgan reached in to hug Santa and as she closed her eyes, you could see the magic she was experiencing at that moment. I was so happy the photographer captured it! 

 Daniel and I at my work's Christmas party.

Later that night, Daniel loved on Charlotte before he laid her down. He never looks more manlier to me than in these moments. 

Morgan and I made our first ever Gingerbread house together! I thought we did a pretty good job. :)

Fall Pictures!

Uncle Frank, Aunt Dusty and Cousin Chase came over Thanksgiving weekend to visit with our family! I asked them to bring their camera so they could take Fall pictures of the girls in our front yard!

  

After a few shots, Morgan no longer wanted to work with us.

 So we headed over to the park instead. 

Makes me happy looking at these photos.

Our Park!

One of the things we love about our home is that there is a park literally right across the street. We've gotten to spend a little time there already and I'm loving the feel of it. Every time we've gone it's been so relaxing, uplifting and enjoyable. I'm really not sure how to explain it other than to say I'm grateful for our new little park. :)

 Morgan never really got into much as a baby. We didn't even baby proof the house with her. I was well aware that this was abnormal and knew better to hope to luck out a second time. Our curious little Charlotte is showing us what's it's really like to have an inquisitive baby in the house. She pulled some glass mixing bowls down on herself. I swooped her up and brushed off glass while looking for cuts and blood. She went unscathed, however, I have a lot fewer mixing bowls now. 

How To Train Your Dragon!

Mid December, our family was blessed with free tickets to go see How To Train Your Dragon from a good friend of mine. This was a live show and it was amazing! It was so fun being able to take the girls to something like this. We really haven't done much in the way of live shows. It meant a lot to me that the whole family got to go! 

 Charlotte and Daddy played together while waiting for the show to begin. :)

 Our attempt at a self portrait before the show.

 At these types of things, I think I spend an equal amount of time watching the girls' reactions.

Morgan and I during intermission. 

  I was mostly worried about Charlotte getting scared since this show had real fire breathing dragons or at least ones that certainly looked real. However, Charlotte was absolutely fine. She'd even point at the dragons and yell as loud as she could at them. 

 Morgan spent the first 20 minutes of the show huddled on the ground between us. I was so relieved when Daniel was finally able to pick her up and put her on his lap. She sat on his lap while she warmed up to her surroundings and then she confidently sat in her own seat for the remainder of the show. 

This will be a great memory for us! 

Maggie is loved.

I love that our family gets gifts for Maggie too. My parents purchased a bed for her for Christmas. A couple of months before that, Grandma Linda bought Maggie a dog toy. This is the first toy she hasn't instantly torn up even though it would have only taken her 10 seconds to do so. She loves her gifts! On her behalf, we say, "Thank you!"

New House!

As I've mentioned before, our family recently moved to a new house in a neighboring city. We wanted something bigger, nicer, closer to Daniel's work, but most importantly we wanted great schools for the girls. We were able to find all of the above and couldn't be happier. As the year progresses I'm sure I'll post more pictures but I'll start with these.

I haven't actually purposely taken photos of our home yet. I still have lots of setting up, unpacking and decorating to do.

 The second weekend after we moved in, we were invited to a neighbor's birthday party. The little girl was turning 5! Morgan got a shot at a Pinata while at the party. 

 A view from our backyard.

 And our beautiful tree in the front yard! 

 Random shots of Charlotte.

 Nothing is cuter than footy pajamas.

 Charlotte on her first birthday, November 30th, 2012.