well girls, we made it. we made it through all the holiday work hours, holiday visitors, parties and gift wrap, the holiday meals and lack of sleep. you did splendidly! i could have used some of your energy and optimism but i'm learning from you.
it was a smaller party of visitors this year. your aunties, Joy and Christia, just bought a house and are preparing for a move so they stayed home. your Nanah and Um B stayed about a week and your Uncle Robert made a 4 day guest appearance over the main event.
we had a series of storms come through just before Christmas which didn't really affect our plans but somehow Nanah got delayed so that she arrived at 330am. it's times like that when i'm ever so glad i don't fly anymore.
there was enough snow that Papa shoveled a big mound for you to slide down and another one, he hollowed out so that you had a little igloo to climb in. you had the best snow playground in the neighborhood. Your Papa would have spent all day outside perfecting it, if i would have let him.
Christmas morning you all had a blast ripping through the paper. Vivi woke first and did a very good job of patiently waiting for Beatrice to wake up. You almost never have to wait for Phoebe since she wakes almost as soon as you go to move out of bed. it's as if she just knows she may miss out on something.
so, V, you were the main present presenter. i'm convinced that you were just looking for the 'V' on the tags but you did a very good job of getting the gifts to their proper owners. you and B both did well helping others open their gifts. i still need to work on paring down the numbers as you all don't slow down and enjoy what you get, but after barely acknowledging a gift, you move on. the big hit for V was definitely the dresses. you got a frou-frou dance dress which is supposed to play the nutcracker when you twirl but you instantly figured out how to take the music box out so it only twirls. i'm not sure you even know you could make noise when you dance. some things are a blessing.
B, you like almost everything that makes noise and i'm glad that most of it has an off switch. the biggest hit i think may be the alphabet toy that sings the alphabet song and when you put a letter in place it will sound it out. right now you just like carrying it around singing the alphabet song. (as does Phoebe) i'm hoping you will get more into the individual letters later.
art stuff has been big lately too. V and B can sit for fits and burst creating big masterpieces all day long. V is especially into mixed media and B loves to paint. you both like to make a mess. Phoebe is kind of sad at these moments since she is not big enough for the art table yet. soon Phoebe you will be sitting up there with them.
i think you did a good job entertaining your guests. although one can argue that you watch too much t.v. your Papa keeps saying he was raised by a t.v. and it didn't hurt him. i'm a bit more into keeping a balance but i do have to admit that the winter time is rough on me. i just don't last long when the temperature is below freezing. we did manage a trip to the grotto (swim pool) right before Christmas and you all seemed to love the water even more this year. B was a bit apprehensive at first but then figured out how to work the lifevest and was happy to splash about with little help. V was happy to be all on her own, quite a change from last year. and well Phoebe just loves being a part of it all. Last year P was too small to go in the water since it was cold. i did have to pull P out for shivering but she loved every second in the water.
back to entertaining your guests....not sure if it was you doing the entertaining or the Uncles. Robert played this tickle game with you that involved tossing a coin and the person who called it right (heads or tails) got to be tickled. He brought you "Horton Hears a Who" and "Wall-e" and i think you liked them quite a bit. at least you still ask to watch it. the big Christmas hit this year was "Chipmunks Christmas" which i'm sorry to say i picked up in a moment of weakness. what was i thinking? watch it as an adult and you will know what i mean. Uncle B did a good job of keeping you girls clean and cuddled. all of you may have fallen asleep on him at some point and we all had a good chuckle watching him try to keep up with the "tornadoes of mess" that you seem to be. good thing he doesn't have you girls as his own. he would go crazy trying to keep it all clean.
as far as i'm concerned the biggest gift was to see you all through their eyes and have a little help appreciating your unique talents. it's hard to spend almost too much time alone with you. not that i don't love you. it's just that sometimes it can be too easy to stop loving the little things and start obsessing over the big messes. i sometimes feel like all i do is pick up one mess while you make another...and all to a chorus of 'give me'. i try to teach you to pick up after yourself and say 'please and thank you' but i never see it happen. when others are around i sometimes hear the please and thank you (not always :-{ ) and the best is when you are besides yourselves to show them something and share with them what you think is cool. and it's nice to be able to take a 15 min. shower without someone wanting to jump in and play in the water.
i put together a little brag book for the Grandmas this year and it's crazy to see you all growing up in pictures. V is becoming quite the young lady. and Beatrice is definitely not a baby anymore. Phoebe, I still claim you as my baby even though more and more you want to do things yourself. (you are getting the eating thing down with the spoon or fork almost better than V.) but you still don't have much hair and that makes you look a bit younger than you are. it's okay. people still tell me that i look younger than i am, and i feel it most days. i still can't believe i'm in charge of raising 3 wonderful daughters.
this year i started what i hope to be a new year's day tradition. a family photo on the steps. we gave it a good try. about 5 pictures and the results were to be expected. some of them were a bit blurry, very disappointing. you all were good sports especially your Papa. we still need to work on looking at the camera without fingers in our mouths.
