Christmas at Grandpa's

Last night we did the Paradise family Christmas. After getting to open presents in the morning, the girls have now gotten the hang of this whole present thing, especially Abby.


Abby opening the BIG present - a drawing table/bench combo. Perfect! She eyed this box all night!

Abby helping Anny open her Potato Head - Anni LOVES Mr. Potato Head! And Dana and I discovered neither one of us had these when we were little, so we're having fun with them too!

Abigail discovered bubble wrap last night. It was a BIG hit!

Anni trying on the Christmas wrappings

Abby helping Anni unwrap her new books. The ball one was an extra big hit!

Anni's new books

Abby's pretty new Christmas dress

Anni checking out Abby's present before opening her own

Abby opening another present - she got some really nice new clothes this year. The kid won't stop growing!

Christmas Exchange

Sunday morning, the girls, Dana and I went over to our friends Riley and William's house to have a little Christmas present action. Lisa was nice enough to host the event and even had an activity planned for the bigger kids. Here are some photos, although horribly out of order:

The goodbye hug
Going in for the goodbye hug

Princess Abigail (on Queen Riley's throne)

Queen Riley after some quality time with the frosting

The finished throne

Anni's Christmas cookie

Riley's Christmas cookie

Abby's Christmas cookie

Riley checking out her decorating options

Abby perusing a table full of frosting...ohh, the possibilities!

Dana and Mike attacking their morning project...Riley's Christmas present from the girls

Riley waiting patiently while Abby and Anni open their presents

Sir William in his 9-month glory

Anni opening her present

Two presents sitting in front of them and they'd rather play with the Foxes toys

Vindication!

A few weeks ago, I posted about some incidents between Abigail and myself; the incidents revolved around my vacuum cleaner and Abby working with me in the laundry room. To be perfectly honest, neither incident was particularly pleasing to me, but it's what's actually happening in our house right now, so what can you do, right?

Well, yesterday before we left the house, Dana was outside shoveling. Abby asked where Dana was and I told her he was shoveling the sidewalk. Abby said, "Like Mommy!"

YES!!!

Dancing to Christmas Carols

SIT DOWN!

Anni has a new favorite game. She climbs up on her chair, or someone else's chair, or a turned-over basket, or pretty much anything she isn't supposed to stand on and stands on it. Once up, she shouts "Sit Down!" and looks at me, or Dana, until one of us tells her to sit down. Then, she laughs and sits down.

Goofball kid.

Potty Time

So, we're in the midst of potty training. Here is this morning's episode:

Mom: Ok, Abby time to sit on the potty.

Abby: Why?

Mom: Because it's potty time.

Abby: I don't want to.

Mom: Abigail, it's time to sit on the potty.

So, we truck off to the bathroom. Abby discards her underwear and parks it on the potty.

Abby: Mama, I want story.

Mom reads Lucky Puppy to Abby. A few minutes into the story, a certain smell emanates from the potty. Mom looks over, sees Abby is a little red in the face. Mom keeps reading. Upon finishing the story, we all check out the potty.

Mom: Abby! Great job! You pooped in the potty!

Abby: I did a BIG one!

Dad: I'm outta here.

Dirt in my Nose

On our way home from the farm on Sunday, the girls were chatting away in the car. Both girls have been dealing with runny noses for the past couple weeks. Abby hasn't had too much of a problem, but on the way home, she discovered something new. Here's essentially how the conversation went:

Abby: My nose (points to nose)

Mom: Your nose? What about your nose?

Abby: I got...my nose (now pushing on the outside of her nose)

Mom: You have a runny nose? You need a Kleenex?

Abby: No, no runny nose. I got dirt in my nose! (now pushing quite a bit on her nose)

Mom: You've got dirt in your nose?

Abby: Yeah!

Dad: That's not dirt. That's a booger!

Mom: Not a booger! Dirt is just fine, thank you very much.

Silence.

More silence.

Abby: I got dirt in my tummy!

Ba Pa!

Anni officially has 4 favorite men in her life; number one is her daddy, of course. She shrieks like a maniac every time he comes in the door. The other three favorites, in no particular order, are her grandpas. Anni calls them Ba Pa.

On Thanksgiving, Anni got to see all three Ba Pas. We started off with Dana's dad. Anni went right to him when we arrived at the Dahlquist Thanksgiving dinner. Then, we made a quick stop to see Grandpa Dan. Anni saw him through the car window and started shouting, "Ba Pa!" Next, we had a visit with Papa at my mom's house. While Abby stood outside the front door and yelled, "Nana!", Anni pushed everyone aside, shouting, "Ba Pa!"

Over the weekend, Anni got some extra special quality time with Ba Pa Schmidt. We went out to the farm this past weekend and Anni woke up every morning shouting, "Ba Pa!" It took both Dana and I to pin her down for the morning diaper change, she was that excited to get downstairs and see her Ba Pa.