One of our annual Christmas traditions... making a gingerbread house... (we were especially proud of the marshmallow snowman this year - complete with tophat and scarf).
Kaira and Lokei helping to decorate the tree. I took both of the girls with me one day and let them each help pick out some ornaments. We found a letter "K" and a letter "L" one for each of them, a Cars ornament they picked out together - and put on the tree together (each had one hand on it), several other ornaments, a snow globe, and a few other assorted Christmas decorations. They had a blast helping with the decorating.
On Christmas eve, Kaira helped me make gingerbread and chocolate chip cookies to leave out for Santa. While the cookies were baking, I gave her a paper for her to leave a note for Santa on. [Quick little side story - my boss at work had a cat that he was watching at his house for some of his wife's friends that worked for an animal refuge, and was trying to find a home for it. He had mentioned this fact to me several times in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and finally only days before, I had agreed to adopt it, knowing Kaira would love it. He had offered to bring her by at the crack of dawn on Christmas day before Kaira woke up.] After cleaning up a little in the kitchen, I come out to check on Kaira and see how her letter for Santa is coming. She had drawn a picture of a cat and told me "I forgot to ask Santa, but what I really want for Christmas is a kitty." She was a little distraught because she had forgotten to tell Santa when we went to see him, and she was afraid it was now too late. But of course, unbeknownst to her, I had a kitty for her already that was to be delivered only hours later... funny how things work out. She was thrilled the next morning when magically there was a kitty waiting under the tree for her just like she had asked. (Though sadly, of course, Santa gets all of the credit. Oh well). Here are some pictures of the cookies and the letter for Santa...
And then here are some pictures of our newest member of the family. She has changed names a handful of times since Christmas, but I think Kaira has finally settled on calling her Minnie (short for Minerva, a name of a character in a kid's book we borrowed from the library, and Kaira decided she liked).
Kaira opening presents on Christmas morning. She had been sick all that week, and was still feeling a little under the weather Christmas morning, so the present opening process was a bit more subdued that it usually is. In fact, she woke up and saw her new kitty, which she was briefly excited about... then she decided to curl up on the couch and not move for about an hour. When I asked her if she wanted to open presents, she told me maybe in a little while. Poor thing! Once she got up and going though, she starting feeling better and had a pretty good day overall.
When it got cold enough, we fired up the fireplace for the first time. Kaira loved it... especially the part where we made s'mores over the fire! The other two pictures are of the fort Kaira & Lokei made one day (notice our puppy, Doyle, tucked in under a blanket in the fort also). They played under there for a couple hours!
New gymnastics pictures - from their end of the semester show. They started with their floor routine, which included forward and backwards rolls and cartwheels. Then came the balance beam, where they start by straddling the bar, then extend their legs forward into a V-sit, then they stand, twirl, do a small hop, and do an arabesque (standing on one leg, other leg extended behind), and then a big jump to dismount. Then on to their bar routine where they jump up and start in a front support, then some of them are learning to throw one leg over to straddle, then follow with the other leg over to face the other direction, then a front flip to dismount. The moves they are doing are getting progressively more impressive each semester. And then at the end they each got to step up and get their medal and certificate.
