Turning 5

Rebecah celebrated her 5th birthday last week.  She knew exactly what she wanted to eat on her special day and didn't change her mind once she decided.  I usually ask a few times just to avoid any meltdowns or last minute menu changes the day of a birthday.

Rebecah loves wearing dresses but I don't always let her wear them to school.  I may seem mean, but we live in New York and leggings just aren't warm enough when it is so cold and she is out waiting for the bus.  Rebecah wanted to take ice cream bars for her preschool treat so I drove her to school so she was glad she could wear a dress.

Cheese danish for breakfast with milk in her new Frozen cup

Joseph ended up working until 7:00 but Rebecah was very patient and waited until Joseph was home for her treat and presents.

I think this is a cute picture of Kimball and Rebecah.

Being a goof!

Cinderella fashion doll.  She was so excited!  She got a Snow White for Christmas so
 she recognized the box so she wasn't too surprised about the princess.

More princess books to add to her Golden Books Princess collection.

Lego set which Kimball was happy to build for Rebecah.  Rebecah was very content to
sit and watch the building process so it was a win-win situation.

Rebecah wanted pumpkin dump cake for her birthday treat.  I guess I lucked out because it is such an easy dessert to make.  I'm not even sure if I would have had time to make an elaborate cake if she had wanted one.

Keeping her hair away from the flames...good girl!

We love Rebecah.  We are glad she is in our family.  She is fiesty and full of spunk, but our family wouldn't be the same without her.  

Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas.  Everyone was happy with their presents for the most part.  Joseph had this great idea to give the kids PVC pipes cut in various lengths with connectors so the kids can use them for forts.  The kids have had so much fun with them.  I was a little skeptical of the idea, but the pipes haven't been put away for over a week.  

Here is Rebecah in the fort that Joseph built to display the pipes Christmas morning.

Kimball and Rebecah enjoying the fort.

The kids were excited about their presents from Santa.  Rebecah really wanted a Frozen castle, but it was a little out of Santa's budget. When she saw her Elsa dress she said that the dress was better than a castle! Santa was relieved to be off the hook.  She wears it almost constantly.

Seeing what Santa brought.

Santa gave Kimball a World Atlas and flags from various countries.
He LOVES his atlas and just pours over the pages.  Kimball said it was his favorite gift.

Rebecah next to her Elsa play dress.

Santa brought the babies a play mat.  They love it.  The babies will actually lay flat on their backs and look at the toys.  They usually don't like being flat on their backs.

Lincoln trying out the play mat.

Modeling her dress while opening presents.

Kimball was so excited that Rebecah gave him more Nurf gun bullets.  

Lincoln with his new toy.  I thought the babies would be a little young yet
for these toys, but they really like looking at them.

Here is Annika with her new doll.  She slept through all of the present
opening, but we saved her present for her.

Rebecah with her princess books.

Wearing his new watch and Germany shirt while building his newest Lego creation.

Annika enjoying the play mat.

To be festive the babies wore Christmas sleepers.  I tried to get a few pictures, but by the time I got around to it Lincoln was a little grumpy.

 

Elf Annika

           

Elf Lincoln

Together...Lincoln needed the pacifier in order to make it through the picture taking.

It was a great day and we enjoyed spending it as a family reflecting on our Savior's love and love for each other.

Disclosure

Effective January 2015 we will no longer send birthday cards to everyone.  Life is just a little crazy with the babies and sending cards to over 60 family members throughout the year is a lot.  We will still try to send cards to immediate family members.  We still love you all and we will think of your families on your birthdays.

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve was quiet but nice.  We planned on going on a sleigh ride like we did last year, but we don't have any snow.  We live in "snow city" but we didn't have a white Christmas.  We were really disappointed.  Instead of going on the sleigh ride we visited an elderly woman from church and sang her some Christmas songs. We also had our traditional dinner and a short program.  For the first time we acted out the Nativity.  I thought it was the perfect opportunity since we had small babies to play the part of Baby Jesus.  Rebecah was Mary, Kimball was Joseph, Lincoln was Baby Jesus, Joseph was the Donkey, I was the narrator, and Annika was an angel.  Kimball, Joseph, and Rebecah were also the Wise Men.  The kids enjoyed acting out the story that we had to do an encore on Christmas Day.

Rebecah was SO excited to be Mary.  She had her blue dress planned out days in advance.  Somewhere she learned that Mary dressed in blue so she HAD to wear her blue dress.  I loved it!

At the manger

Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem.

Add in the donkey...I just chuckle thinking of Joseph as the donkey.
At one point Rebecah said Joseph could be a camel instead of a donkey.

The Wise Men bringing gifts.

Annette with Lincoln.  I don't have many pictures of the babies and me so even
though the background isn't great I have a picture of myself holding Lincoln.

Hanukkah Wishes

For Social Studies this month Kimball has been learning about different holidays.  I believe his class talked about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Christmas.  As part of the Hanukkah holiday they made a paper menorah with the names of family and friends that Kimball would bless.  I thought it was sweet that Kimball included all of his family members.

Here is a brief run down of the wishes for everyone:

Rebecah:  happiness
Annika:  to get over her cold
Mrs. Ryan:  happiness (this is his teacher)
Lincoln: good health
Friend: to be nice
Dad: time to be home (Kimball loves his Dad and really struggles when Joseph's work schedule doesn't allow them to be home at the same time.)
Mom: time to relax (this really touched me and also let me know that Kimball is aware of just how busy I am with the babies.  I feel guilty that I can't give Kimball and Rebecah more of my time because the babies need me so much, but it was sweet that he would wish for me to have more time to relax.  Goodness knows I haven't opened a book in 9 weeks and I only occasionally turn on a movie Friday or Saturday evening when I'm holding babies so I feel like I'm spending time with the older kids too by watching a movie with them.)
Fish: to find food  (I had to ask Kimball about this one...He said he wanted his fish that we let go in the lake when we moved to be able to find food.  It has been over 2 years, but I guess he still thinks of his fish every so often.  I guess it hasn't dawned on him that they were probably fish food themselves shortly after we let them go!)

I loved this project that Kimball did and it is definitely a keeper!

Two Months Old

On December 16th, the babies turned 2 months old.  The last two months really have gone quickly, probably because I'm SO busy.  The babies are wonderful.  I admit that I never wanted twins, but I wouldn't give either of them back.  They are precious.

Yesterday they went to the doctor for their well child visit.  Lincoln weighed 8 lbs 12 oz and was 21 3/4 inches long.  He is almost in the 5th percentile for weight and his height is about the 7th percentile.  Lincoln loves to be held.  He will take a good nap in the morning in a bouncer or even on the floor.  In the afternoon it is a different story.  In order for him to take a good nap he likes to be held!  If we try to lay him down on the couch or floor he will literally wake up about 30 seconds later.  He will cat nap in the bouncer or swing, but not sleep nearly as well as he does in the morning.  He sleeps great at night.  Usually he will get up just once at night, but a few nights a week he'll want to get up twice.  He is starting to smile at me and there is nothing like a smile from a baby.  He melts my heart!

Annika weighs 8 lbs 10 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long.  She is in the 5th percentile for weight and the 10th for her height.  Apparently boys are supposed to be bigger babies so that is why Lincoln is only in the 4th percentile even though he weighs 2 oz more than Annika.  Annika is still "Joseph's baby" since he cares for her when he is home.  I still hold her a fair amount when Joseph is at work.  She sleeps a little better during the day than Lincoln does, but she also wakes up more at night than Lincoln.  She will get up just once a few nights a week, but she usually gets up twice.  Not a big deal when Joseph can help out, but on the mornings he works early then I care for both babies and then I get pretty tired.  Annika is smiling too and I love winning her smiles as well.  

Last week I transitioned them to 0-3 month clothes and we are using our last package of newborn diapers.  The size 1 diapers are still huge on them, but we need diapers that hold a little more.

Here are quite a few pictures of the babies...mainly for my mom and sister who like a lot of pictures, but feel free to scroll through them all.

Annika

Lincoln...to me it looks like he is saying "Hello!"

Rebecah and Lincoln

Kimball finally got in on the baby action!

Lincoln

Lincoln

Annika looking very worried about something.

Looking thoughtful.

Annika 2 months

Lincoln 2 months

A trip to the Nutcracker

Tuesday evening Joseph took Rebecah to the ballet to see the Nutcracker.  Apparently, the Moscow ballet comes to Syracuse every December for one performance of the Nutcracker.  After Rebecah's ballet camp in August she and Joseph got really excited about the ballet so Joseph found some tickets so they could go on a special date together.  It was great for Rebecah to have this special evening with Joseph.  Joseph and Kimball have gone on quite a few adventures together...Monster Jam, Watkins Glen and Oswego Speedway...so it was definitely Rebecah's turn for a special dad date.

They had a lot fun at the ballet and seeing the pretty dancing girls.  Rebecah did get tired at the end so they snuck out a few minutes early.  I have decided though that next year it is MY turn to go on a special date with Joseph to the ballet.  I would have loved to have gone, but the babies are just a tad too young to leave them with a babysitter.

Their ballet pose by the Christmas tree.