Last week, I finally decided it was time to take Jillian for her first haircut. It just needed a little shaping and Meredith had been dying to get hers cut too, so off we went.

Here are a few pictures of the before...

Jillian was excited to hop into the red car, watch a little Elmo and hold tightly to her sucker. She really did great!

Ruffles and Paci were of course there to help
First snip!
Still holding tight to that sucker!
She looks like such a pro!
The finished product! We didn't lose much hair, but it looks so cute!
Meredith, on the other hand got quite a bit cut off and it is super-cute too!

Christmas Day around Arlington

After finishing up with all the celebrations at our house on Christmas morning and getting a little play time in with our new toys, we headed to Bubbie and Grandad's, where we had lunch and more present opening! I was a little thrown off because somehow we left the house and I never even considered taking the presents with us, I mean I hadn't even taken them out from underneath the tree or anything - what the heck? So after we got there and unpacked the people from the car, I turned it around to go home to get the presents packed up and in the car. This is my only excuse for only having taken one picture of Christmas there. And that isn't a very good one, but oh well. We had lots of fun - the girls loved seeing all the things that were wrapped up from Bubbie and Grandad and some of their Alabama family too!

The lone picture that is proof we saw Bubbie on Christmas Day! The girls helped her open her new watch from Grandad!

Later in the day, we head back to Gigi and Papa's since Santa likes to visit them with surprises for all the kids too.

I think Jillian was satisfied stopping at the Hershey's Kisses Santa put in her stocking

Meredith was of course super-excited to see that Santa left her not-only the Robot Dog she wished for, but also a Pillow Pet! Jillian got a cute little baby doll that walks and a dog Pillow Pet. Couldn't find two happier girls.
Taking her Robot Dog, who still does not have a name, for a walk

We took a break from nibbling on snacks to have Happy Birthday Jesus cake. Meredith and I made our first one last year, and she chose to top it with a milk cow since "there were cows in the stable with Jesus." This year, she initially wanted to stick with this theme. She sifted through a box of plastic toy animals we had, picking out a dog with brushable hair and snap-on clothes. The day of the cake making, however, she decided to be spontaneous. She wanted to make a manger. Luckily for me, my friend Krista, who is an expert cake maker, happened to stop by to drop something off as we were starting to try to figure this out. She had lots of ideas, most of which, we couldn't execute without a trip to the store. We settled on molding pre-packaged Rice Krispie treats into the shape of the manger and baby Jesus! Meredith added a mini cupcake liner to his head because he would probably need a hat to keep his head warm in the stable.

Not bad improvising, I suppose!
We all sang to Jesus and then the big kids, of course blew out the candles! Happy Birthday Jesus!

Sphrunkles

Somehow throughout the entire Christmas season, I never posted anything about our Elf, Sphrunkles! He was such a big part of our family and Christmas this year (as he was last year, when he first started coming to our house) so I can't believe this is the first time he gets a post!

Meredith was very excited to welcome Sphrunkles back to our house. She started out asking him to go to certain places throughout the house and then she let him choose for the rest of the time. One night when he chose her room, she randomly woke up around 3 am. I tucked her back in and then had to quiet her uncontrollable tears as she caught sight of him! She was very upset he was in her room and wanted him OUT! We asked him if I could, just this once, carry him somewhere new since she was so upset, to which he obliged (if you don't know the Elf on the Shelf tradition, you can't touch your elf or he won't come back). The next day, I asked why she didn't want him in her room and she told me "I don't want him to see me throw fits in case he tells Santa!" Tricky, tricky girl! Luckily, she got over this and he did end up visiting her room a couple of times. She would also talk to him all the time, reminding him things she wanted, asking questions about him, Santa, etc. And every morning, she would search the house until she found him, then would run into our room to drag us out to find him too - often telling us how silly he is for the spot he found.

About a week after Sphrunkles arrived, we were surprised when walking by him with Jillian, to hear her say "HI, Sphrunkles!" She loved him so much too, that she learned his name very quickly! We would often even entice her to go home from somewhere fun so that she could go see him. The day after Sphrunkles went back to the North Pole, Jillian went to the tree (where he was last) and said "Sphrunkles, go?" I told her that he had to go bye-bye. Then we had a long conversation, that went something like this. J: "Sphrunkles, go?" Me: "He went bye-bye" J:"Sphrunkles, bye bye?" Me: "Yes, Sphrunkles went bye-bye." J: "Oh" Pause, pause. J: "Sphrunkles go?" (I think you get the picture to how this loop went!) Even now, you will catch her in mid babble telling you that "Sphrunkles bye-bye" Needless to say, our whole family will miss our Elf until next year! Have a good vacation at the beach with your wife and family Sphrunkles! :)

Our Family Christmas Day

After heading home from Gigi's on Christmas Eve, Meredith very excitedly put out the homemade donuts we worked on earlier in the day. A few months ago Meredith started asking how to make donuts and when we could make some at home. She then decided that when we made donuts, we needed to make extra to leave for Santa. With some juice, of course. He probably gets tired of cookies, you know! So, I found a fun little donut maker on sale and brought it home! We experimented with a recipe and frostings and of course added sprinkles! For Santa, she made some special green iced donuts!

So proud of her donuts for Santa!
Yum!

Meredith had visited Santa several times and decided that she would like a "Robot Dog" (which she decided she wanted him to leave at Gigi's house when he visited her) and also a Talking Jessie doll (for Toy Story). I tipped Santa off to these really cool bikes for Jillian, called Striders - they don't have pedals, so they are made just for toddlers to help them learn to ride bikes without pedals. When I told Meredith that I was going to suggest this for Jillian and if that was ok with her (didn't want her to be upset that she wasn't getting a bike since she already has a traditional bike) she told me "That's ok mom, I can ask Santa for a horn for my bike instead!" Too cute! However, I couldn't bring myself to not give Santa another idea for something that would be a little more in line with her sister's bike for our house!

Must have been some pretty good girls at our house! And it looks like Santa came up with a pretty good surprise for Meredith. (Don't worry he also left a bike horn for each girl in their stockings!)
Santa also left this note thanking the girls for his donuts. Meredith carried this note around all day and was so excited to show it to everyone - especially the added green icing he left on it!
Look how excited she is to get out to see what Santa brought!
Even more excited now that she sees it all!
The Surprise Jeep from Santa was a big hit! She did have a moment where she asked where her Robot Dog was, so I had to remind her about her request of Santa!
Jillian grabbed a few of her stocking stuffers and jumped in the Jeep while Meredith was distracted with her stocking! They both are having fun with it and sharing it nicely!
Each girl also got a "pointer" in their stocking. Meredith mentioned liking these at her school book fair and Santa must have overheard! They were both sticking up out of their stockings, but when Meredith came out she couldn't see hers because of a little baby bottle blocking it. She started laughing and said "Silly Santa! He got ours mixed up! I bet that pointer in Jillian's is for me and the bottle is for Jillian!" She was even happier to find out that they both had them (so was Jililan!)

Meredith was also pretty excited to see Jessie in her stocking!

After breakfast, we headed to our tree and opened a few presents that we had gotten for each other. Meredith was excited for Jillian to rip into the present she got for her first - a baby doll with all kinds of accessories!

Jillian with her Baby Cinderella from Meredith and the girls' matching Bilibo's
Meredith testing out the Bilibo
Remember how I said that Jillian loved hooded towels in my Christmas Eve post? Well, that was the inspiration for this present - Jillian does an adorable Cookie Monster impression, so I couldn't resist. She loves it!

After we opened all the presents, we headed outside to test out what Santa left!

Jillian was happy to try out her bike, but she is going to need a little longer to get the hang of it!
Sissy on the other hand got the hang of her jeep right away!
Our family in our Candy Cane themed PJs! What a great year and a fantastic Christmas Day. We are incredibly blessed!