Santa, He brought everything I wanted-- even the chapstick!

Here are some pictures of the kids on Christmas morning/day.

Apparently Kylie was a good kid because she got her coveted Dora Snow Princess.

Kylie, Pegasus, and Snow Princess playing shortly after opening.

Anika/Shay playing on Christmas morning. (Kylie opened all their gifts, so no pictures of the wee ones opening presents- sorry!)

Kylie in her new chef outfit, ready to help Chris make the Ham and dessert!



After dinner and sporting our new Dora Snow Princess PJ's.... And not to mention the wonderful Dora coloring poster too she is holding. Do you see a theme yet?

And Anika starting early.... We do anything to keep them happy somedays!

Ahhh...

No excuses besides.....
The kids have been sick-- they just keep sharing it-- colds, coughs... I think its been three weeks by my count.
Then Amanda had the knee fixed and that has been SOOOO much fun for everyone- Not. Chris has pulled double duty as he had to do everything since I was unable to walk, carry a kid, bathe the kids, etc.. it was a mess..
Then the kids passed their lovely cold and cough to us, and we ended up getting it 2x as bad. So much so, that Chris and I both lost our voices. The kids thought it was great. The timing sucked since we were scheduled to head to IA over Thanksgiving weekend, but we were all miserably sick and stayed put... good thing, cause not sure any of the Donovan family really wants this...

SO..... excuses yes, but I we are trying to play catch up and this is about as good as it will get until we get things back on track, well, attempt I should say.

The Crew-- all caged up!

Need I say more?

In case you cannot tell the little girls apart-- Left to right---
Shay, Chris, Anika, and Kylie

9 months and counting

Here are the latest couple of photos-- Anika and Shay are now 9 months old and Kylie is a "crazed" 3 year old. We still have our "moments" but all in all, they are good kids, but we are biased!

Kylie in the leaves (don't worry we picked up the dog crap)

Anika stealing Kylie's rake

Shay attempting to eat the leaves

Kylie raking the leaves

Kylie diving in the leaves

Kylie getting rained on...

Local Adopted Grandma

I never thought moving into this neighborhood 3+ years ago we'd be so lucky to have such great neighbors.... really. Its almost like a dream.

Lee is our local adopted grandma. She rocks. This woman is amazing. I am not sure how else to describe her. The woman used to come twice a week to feed the twins their bottles- in rain, sleet, snow, anything, she'd be here and the twins LOVE her. Now, she comes twice a week to feed them the "big" time stuff- baby food. She has even come to sit with the kids while I run the sitter home, I mean, she is awesome.

Today she was feeling rather ambitious-- she came to the doctor with me.... two screaming little girls in the office for an hour plus and she was a trooper. Calm and collected, Lee kept the girls happy inbetween the doctor poking them and the nurse giving them shots.

Just wanted to let you all know, this woman is really amazing. You could only be so lucky to have a neighbor like her!! THANKS A MILLION LEE!!

Below are some pictures of Lee with the girls a couple months ago... mental note-- need to update these pictures of the girls with you Lee!

Kylie, Kylie, Kylie...

Sorry its been so long, but somehow or another we got busy!

Here is a short story from today. I was picking up Kylie at school and she was telling me about her best friend.
"Sydney would not tell what she was thankful for today."
" Why not, Kylie?"
" I think she is shy mom but she is really nice."
"what are you thankful for Kylie?"

"PUMPKIN PIE!!!"

Enough said!

Halloween

Halloween 2008---
The warmest Halloween that we can remember. Kylie loved it... too bad so many people were not home. It was actually pretty depressing seeing that over half the houses we stopped at were not home. In fact, we had NO trick-or-treaters! Can you believe it!
Chris' office will have plenty of candy for awhile.

Heading out trick-or-treating--- no coats, but yet a month ago when we went with her school to get pumpkins, we had hats on- go figure! (and yes, Anika and Shay were not in their costumes- they wore them once and we were doing everything we could to keep them happy!)


Kylie in her school halloween parade.


Shay hating her costume-- this was a couple weeks ago at the Fall Festival at school. (she's a cat thanks for a friend for passing on the costume)

Anika in the dog costume (again, thanks for a friend for passing it on!)

That's all on our front. Time is limited and I didn't want any crap for not putting up the pics!!