Christmas Pre-game

Thought I would share some pictures of what me and the girls have been up to in the week before Christmas.

Been pulling this little girl away from the tree.....alot!

Been taking walks around the neighborhood (when it's not raining!).

Been watching a lot of Christmas Praise Baby.

Been taking a lot of photos in front of our Christmas tree.  These ones were after church.

 

Been breaking up a lot of head locks when I ask McKinley to put her arm around Piper.

Been baking sugar cookies....

.....And eating them too.

Snow Days

We finally got our first snowfall a couple of days ago.  Infact, Dadda was so excited, that he took the day off.  Immediately after the girls woke up, we bundled McKinley in her cold weather gear, and then Dadda took her for a walk around the neighborhood.  Piper stayed indoors due to a runny nose.

Our first snow didn't last very long.  By lunchtime it had melted.  So, today we decided not to wait for the snow to come to us, we drove to it.  We woke the girls up at 6:30 am and hit the road for Mt. Hood.  Our first detour was breakfast in Sandy at the Tollgate Inn.  Their breakfasts are amazing! Benji and I shared a six-egg omelet and the girls shared some pancakes with strawberries and whipcream.  Afterwards we stopped at Government Camp and decided that there was enough snow to avoid driving up to Timberline.  McKinley and Piper loved the snow.  But we quickly realized that McKinley needed some snow pants and better snow boots to stay outside longer.  As soon as the girls got rosy cheeks, we warmed up in the van and drove back home. 

A New Do

After a couple bang trims and mini-haircuts, it was time to call in the professionals.  Goodbye mullet and hello bob!  So, we went to Perfect Look, to get the perfect look.  McKinley sat so still and followed the hairstylist's directions; I was so shocked.  Especially since she has ants in her pants even when we read books on the couch.  To be completely honest, I'm not happy with the length of her bangs, but they'll grow.  I wasn't expecting to get emotional, but as she beamed with excitement after the hairstylist had blow-dried her finished do, she exclaimed, "I'm such a big girl!" And she was.  With one little haircut, she had graduated from baby to big girl.  They even sent her home with a First Haircut Certificate and a lock of her hair taped to the corner.

The Before picture.

The After shot.

Decade of Dominance

The 113th Army-Navy game was last weekend.  We (Navy) won.....again.....for the 11th year in a row! It's the only time I'll wear my Naval Academy class ring.  I also don my beloved blue-and-gold jogging suit that was issued to me during my four years by the bay.  But this year, I had two little cheerleaders to get in the spirit with me.  Go Navy, Beat Army!

USS McCampbell, DDG 85.....represent!

When I brought out Bill the Goat....

It was love......

At first sight (Piper going in for a kiss).

During halftime, McKinley rocked Sheepie to sleep and read him some books.

USNA class of 2000.....represent!

Back in Business & The Big Reveal

Finally, after considering suggestions from friends, I had a couple more ideas of my own. I thought that if I went back and re-sized all my photos from extra-large to small, it would free up space.  But all it took was one post for me to come to the conclusion that going down that road would take forever.  Plus, I didn't even know if it would work. My second idea was to google my options. That lead me to a forum based around the question, "Ever run out of storage on Blogger?" In following the online conversation, I found a thread that recommended hosting pictures on Photobucket.  And that's just what I did.  I started a Photobucket account that includes free, 2 GB photo storage.  That's double what Blogger gives you free of charge, so I'm already calculating that in approximately four more years, I'll have to quit blogging or find another online host to upload and store my photos for free.  In the mean time, we're back in business! 

Now.....drum roll please.....I give you, our freshly-painted house.....aka the house with the yellow door.  To be honest, we're still in the process of painting the back of our house (i.e. trim, gutters & eaves). But we met our goal of finishing the front before my parents came to visit.  We totally took advantage of Sherwin William's Labor Day sale and bought our paint at 40% off.  Our color palette is Gauntlet Gray and Citrus with Pure White for the trim.  I am loving the way it turned out!

Benji and I, circa 2007, after we bought our house.

Ta-da!

Still need to replace our front porch light and hose reel with something more modern, add an American flag, and re-hang our address numbers. 

At a loss

I don't know what to do.  I need help. First, I erase my shabby blogs background and second, I can't upload any more picture because I'm currently using 100% of my 1 GB picture quota.  I've tried to re-enter the background code and re-adjust the layout widths, but it's not working.  Anybody reading have any pointers?? I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.  And the picture thing is throwing me for a loop. I don't want to pay money for more picture storage, but is that my only option???

The final countdown

For the past twelve months I've captured the essence of Piper each month.  I used the photos to create a monthly birthday banner for her party.... an idea I found on Pinterest.  It's so interesting that from month to month, she doesn't always look like the same baby. Well, we did one final photo shoot and included her handmade blanket from Ahmma.  My favorite shots of Piper were taken with the same blanket when she was a month old (see this post).  She also had her one-year well check last week.  It had been a while since we had her weighed, so we were anxious to discover her measurements. Again, Dr. Briggman said she is the poster-child for height and weight proportion, as she weighed 20 lbs, 14 oz and measured 29.5 inches long, which placed her in the 50-65%tile for both.  We discussed her allergic reaction to tomatoes, and as it turns out, she's not allergic, her skin is just highly sensitive to the acidity. That explains the inconsistency with the hives around her mouth whenever she would eat tomatoes or tomato-based foods.  We also discussed some major transitions like weaning and sharing a bedroom with her sissy.  All in all, it was a quick appointment, and Dr. Briggman was pleased with her growth and development.  In the past month Piper had two more top teeth poke through, and the number of steps she has taken by herself has increased to six. Her latest trick is blowing kisses.  She still needs two naps, and loves dancing to music.  Her curiosity and temper has lead to some parental correction (can't wait for our Christmas tree to go up).  She loves following and copying McKinley, and recently they've begun to play nicely together.