My Girls: Twice The Fun: Happy New Year

We celebrated Christmas with my family on New Years Day. Olivia & Violet had stayed at their Auntie Jill's the previous week, so we were happy to be reunited with them. Olivia wanted to be attached to my hip and kept saying "my mommy" over and over. I guess she must have missed me! Violet didn't really care a whole lot, all she wanted to do was color with markers at Granny & Grandpa Thronson's house.

We had a blast celebrating Christmas with the Thronson's. There was a lot less chaos than expected due to having eight kids in the house, especially considering seven of the kids are age 4 and under. The kids were all very good and played well together. Olivia did not want to have her picture taken with the cousins so she threw a little fit; otherwise, the girls were pretty good and enjoyed spending time at the farm. We played some games as a family - The Not-So-Newlywed Game, cribbage, and cards - which was a lot of fun. We all stayed overnight and spent the next day together as well. It was a very relaxing day; the girls didn't even change out of their pajamas!! It was very nice having the extra day to just hang out.

Now we are in "reprogramming" mode to get the girls back to their normal routine again after the craziness of the holidays and their week at auntie's. We've encountered some crying at bedtime, constant asking to watch movies, and some new phrases ("I tooted") but slowly these things are disappearing again. Olivia has been doing really well with going potty. She has been wearing "big girl panties" in the evening, and stays dry from when we get home until bedtime. She gets a chocolate chip as a reward when she goes on the potty, so she has gotten to the point now where she says "my chocolate chip" right away after she does her duty. Violet likes to sit on the potty, but is not nearly as consistent with going as Olivia is. In time, in time!

Thronson cousins (Alex-4, Evan-2 1/2, Emma-4, baby Owen-6 mos, baby William-7 mos, Maya-6, Violet-2, Olivia-2):