this is one of my favorites, Autumn was quite disgusted there was a poop in the bag:)
 

Dominic almost 1 Autumn 2.5 last year:)
 

Miss Autumn signing "I love you" we wave this to each other when we drive away or a guest leaves.

Handsome Dom is going to be 2 on the 3rd!
 

Dom telling on sister? Santa got an ear full from both!



The Holidays are here!!! Our tree has lost most of its' lower ornaments due to a strong tail on Molly and two sets of busy hands. Most of the ornaments on our tree are from Dana's family. He receives one every year from his Aunt Jeanie and Grammie Jo helped to decorate our first tree in our Phoenix house. We have one for sweet Gemini, our shephard that we put down our first year here and we are on the prowl for a black lab with wings for our sweet Bean. We also have a snowflake from Lala and Papa that brightened up our day when we received it while we braved our desert Christmas that seems like a life time ago.
 

Autumn in her first church program, she had just noticed Dom in the front row and waved and said "Hi Dominic!"
 

Little Bit the cutes
 

The second night of the church Christmas Program
 

He could be this happy because he is naked or because he didn't have to go to the Christmas Program and sit still for an hour;)


We have presents for the kids stashed in our basement waiting to be wrapped. Lack of late night motivation and questionable afternoon naps have made the wrapping process a chore. We are very excited for the kids to open their gifts this year. We had to get creative and choose gifts that they could both play with rather than buy two of everything to minimize arguments. Dom is hip to Autumn climbing on the "big chairs" to play her Polly Pockets and Kindle. He now climbs up all on his own. His shins show us that it is still a lot of work for him! He is growing so fast and talking so much that we try to just keep up with his questions and watch our mouths so that he doesn't pick up anything...inappropriate for a nearly two year old.
Dominic's favorite shape to say is "octagon" and his color for everything lately is "yellow". He follows sister like a puppy and when he acts like a puppy she calls him "Buster". Last week, Dana was putting a very tired Dominic to bed. Dom was not ready for bed. "No go to bed, DANA!" In a little bit of shock Dana asked him what he just said and Dom repeated it with more emphasis on the "DANA". He could hardly hold back his laughter as he tried to tell me. Our little man has quite the personality and he isn't afraid to raise his voice to be heard! On Jan.3 he will be our light eyed two year old ready to take on the world! He is finally to a point that he doesn't mind clothes as much as he did a month ago. We used to bribe him with visits to Papa Bob. The problem with that is the second he was dressed he wanted to go out the door. He became the very last to be dressed as we walked out the door. He has started to sing his ABC's while playing alone and sometimes he will bring a random number from a puzzle and ask "What number this Mom?" Another favorite question, "How you going guys?" We don't correct him, we just answer "we are going great, thanks!"
Today, during Daddy D's lunch we popped in 'The Lorax' and tried to cut his hair. I say "try" because the clippers crapped out 3/4 of the way and he was left with chunks of sweet baby locks. Since I know how to cut hair because my mother's schooling somehow transformed to my hands through osmosis, I grabbed her scissors and a comb and went to town on a moving, crying little bundle, covered in finger paint from this mornings arts and craft session. It turns out, like I have shared from past bad haircuts I have given this little man, that I can not cut hair like my mother. Whether he is sleeping and still for hours on end or squirming and crying while watching a show, I leave jagged cut lines and long strands blowing in the breeze. I won't take full blame for this bad trim as Dana was the one that was going to hold his head still while I used the clippers. Note to other Moms thinking of using beard clippers, don't. They take forever and they are gutless.
He survived and had an extra juice for his troubles, an afternoon bath and his lunch was served while he soaked. We even carried in the laptop so he could keep watching the "Lorax". Did I ever mention that our lives are not directed by these little people;)

Autumn is the forever faithful sister. Today she sat next to him while we butchered his hair and kept saying "you are doing great Dominic, good job brother". I think she also knows that when he gets a 'treasure' for his troubles, she will get one too.
Last Sunday and Monday evening, Autumn joined her little friends from Sunday school and they sang in Celebration Church Christmas Program. The little ones were only up there for a few minutes but it was so touching and so neat to see her among some incredible singers from different churches in town. The kids used sign language (or as much as they could remember) and it was absolutely precious. Our next event is the 29 when Autumn (and Dana) will be in the Nutcracker Production by the Dance Syndicate, a local dance studio for all ages. Did that just sound like a commercial, because it felt like one. Autumn has a really neat dance instructor, Miss Janet. In Autumns class she instructs about 12 toddlers. I have a hard time with two.
This year, Dana has been asked to be Mother Ginger again and he and Autumn will be alone on stage for just a few minutes and then another little girl will join them. I will try to post a video clip on here...I will try.
Autumn has amazing computer skills. We both thought that we would try to keep her away from gadgets and games but it really is inevitable. She plays abcmouse.com on our laptop, and her Papa Bruce got her a Kindle Fire a month or so ago. She had to show us how to turn it on.  Usually she plays learning games but a favorite is Angry Birds. Just watching her play it Dana and I became interested and downloaded the dang thing to our phones. Now it's a family addiction;) Dom is right behind sister in the computer world as he has taken a liking to her Leap Frog that she got from Lala and Papa last year. I can't imagine what they will be doing when they are in high school. What crazy new toys will be in their hands?

So, we are still plugging away at Insanity. Dana has two weeks left and I have 6 days. We have had a few setbacks this month but we will get it done. Dana has now lost almost 35 pounds and I have capped out at 15. We sometimes get lazy with our eating but for the most part we stick to a "cleaner" diet. Little to no processed food, hardly any sugar (unless a totally needed), no soda, and easy on the breads and pastas. Our "clean" Thanksgiving was a disaster, so we are both looking forward to good ol Turkey and stuffing on Christmas. The only recipes I didn't totally bomb on Turkey day, the gravy and the cranberries. This pie, green bean cass, and the turkey were a NO GO. At least we tried eh?:)

December has been a whirlwind. I am actually quite ready for it to be over. I love Christmas and I love the meaning of Christmas. We have just had a very busy, very emotional month and I'm ready to "turn the page" as Dana says to the kiddos and they in return say it to him. They also tell him to "calm down" and "give me a sec.". Yes we have little copy cats and sometimes it is quite shocking what we say to come back at us from their mouths:)
I think I am almost ready for a weekend with just Dana. We are thinking of gifting ourselves with a little trip after we finish Insanity. I'm still making sure wherever we go is "kid friendly", just in case I get cold feet:)

Merry Christmas my friends and family. Have a safe and wonderful Holiday! Hopefully the New Year brings you all everything you command;)
(I'm reading a new book, Command your morning, I love it!)

Cheers!!!