while daddy's away the girls will play

Randall met up with his friends from New Orleans in Nashville for a weekend of fun, including the Saints/Titans game. That meant it was a girls weekend at home! Unfortunately, I had been sick with a sinus infection all week and the girls weren't feeling great, but we still managed to have a great time. On Saturday we took it easy. We went for a walk and ran some errands, but other than that we "relaxed" at home. The girls discovered a new favorite snack - spinach artichoke dip, and perused toy catalogs pointing out Christmas wishes - with "choo-choos and babies" being at the top of the list, pausing for some spontaneous sister hugs.





Sunday on the other hand was a busy busy day. When the girls woke up on Sunday and I told them that we were going to 2 parties that day, Lexi decided she wanted to have her nails painted. She brought me the "Piggy Paint" and pointed to her toe nails saying "peese preety" - of course Kenzie chimed in. Here they are after their manis and pedis. So serious. It's hard work being beautiful :)



On Sunday morning we were honored to get to join the Schlegel's for the celebration of Maddie's baptism. As I sat in the chapel with Kenzie and Lexi on my lap watching Maddie get baptised, I had tears in my eyes. Tears of joy over the 3 blessings that God had bestowed on our 2 families within the past 2 years. It was such a joyful celebration!



After the private baptism ceremony, Kenzie & Lexi went to Kids Club while the adults attended church. They were both excited by all of the new toys when I dropped them off, but when I went to pick them up after church Lexi had a blotchy red face and had clearly been crying ... hard ... and long. Apparently after about 15 minutes the newness had worn off and Lexi decided that she missed her mommy. Kenzie on the other hand was happy go lucky the whole time.

The girls had a great time at the party following Maddie's baptism. It was right during their typical naptime so I wasn't sure how it would go, but they were happy and had fun ... loving "Moooose", Maddie's cousins, and the yummy cupcakes!

After the party, the girls did take a brief nap, and then played with their baby dolls ... one of their favorite things to do at the moment. They now change their babies diapers and really care for them. It is so precious.



Then it was time for our neighborhood holiday party. On the Mt Lookout Luminaria night they always have cocoa and treats down in the circle, and then Dan & Marni who live right on the circle also open up their home for the festivities. Given that it was quite cold and we were going to be outside I was planning to dress the girls in jeans and their uggs. However, when I opened their closet the girls spotted their fun Christmas dresses and insisted on wearing "this, this!" Oy - is it starting already?



They did look quite cute! And they had a great time at the party ... playing with all of the neighborhood kids (and Ayla's toys). Kenzie LOVED the white chicken chili. Can you tell? I love our neighbors. Such a fun group! We did a wine exchange this year, where everyone brought a case of wine and then we exchanged and all left with 12 different kinds of wine. Fun!



While we had fun, it was a pretty exhausting weekend as the girls are both very much into mommy right now ... and they each want mommy to themself at times. Which makes it challenging when it's just me. We all also really missed Randall and were so excited that he made it home from Nashville just in time to pick us up from the neighborhood party. The girls were so excited to see their Daddy and loved the red cowgirl hats that he brought them!



WAAAHHH! Unfortunately my camera somehow broke at the party .... I think it is just the lens, but still, it is less than 6 months old and I didn't drop it or anything and there is literaly a large metal piece suddenly floating around in my lens:( Must get it fixed before the holidays!