Oh, Aida

This girl gets SO messy at mealtime:

She sure is cute, huh?

An Executive Decision

So, I came home from the grocery store last Saturday and was greeted in the kitchen by my 3 favorite people. 2 of them were crawling around my feet, hanging on my legs, getting into grocery bags and doing their very best to make it impossible to put any food away. My sweet husband, on the other hand, announced, "I made an executive decision and changed one of our rules." What?! Changing the rules while Mom is gone...I'm not sure about this. Except look how much fun it is:

The rule had been this: No climbing into the wagon. This rule was created to maintain some semblance of sanity throughout my day; namely, limiting the number of times daily that beautiful toddlers tumble to the ground and hit their heads.

But the new rule has become this: the wagon is only out when Mom or Dad are paying very close attention. Otherwise, it gets shut up in the dungeon (aka Mom and Dad's room). Which was pretty much what was happening, anyways.

And, oh, life is so much more fun these days. So hooray for Daddy's executive decision and the abandonment of the rules. Let's just not make a habit of it. :)

Fun in the diaper box

Their newest and absolutely cutest trick is kissing each other! They are so cute, and they just think it is the best thing ever. Of course, we haven't been able to get it on camera - this is the best we've gotten so far.

Here's another shot we got when they were kissing each other - I think this is post-kiss.

Some cute ones...

I've had these pictures all ready to post for at least a week but between much shorter naps and two little girls all over me every minute they are awake, I haven't had much time to open the computer, much less put something on the blog. Aida and Sophie continue to challenge and bless us every day. They are silly and snuggly and getting big so fast!

Here is Sophie loving on her rocking horse:

Aida with a goatee (or black beans and rice all over her face - wish you could have seen her shoveling it in - at least half ended up in her lap, of course!)

SO CUTE! (Poor Sophie, though - you can see in her eyes she wasn't feeling good that day. Yep, another cold!)

Braun Family Christmas!

Okay, I promise this is the last post from Christmas in Santa Barbara...had to include these fun pictures from our giant Braun family Christmas gathering. It was so much fun to have EVERYBODY together. Here are all of the cousins (plus spouses and children).

My sweet family - I love this picture and the next because we were all posed, and the rest of the family (20+ people) were watching, and my cousin's son Kalix started wandering around in the picture. Here he is behind the back row...

...and here he is plopped right down in front of everyone.

We are so thankful for our family out there and here! Aida and Sophie are lucky little girls.

A few of my favorites

More Santa Barbara Fun

Aida snuggling with Nana:

Sophie playing with Grandpa:

Ice Skating in Oxnard (whoop whoop!) with my lovely siblings:

Wait, who are the twins here?  Uncle Jobie and Uncle Gary, looking cute and matchy-matchy on Christmas Eve while we were waiting for Santa to arrive...

Some Christmas Fun

Here's just a hint of all the cuteness from Santa Barbara...more to come soon!

Christmas morning:

Santa brought the girls baby dolls this year, and Elijah came out with Sophie one morning and announced, "Look who wants to be just like Mommy."  Sophie had both babies, which got us thinking - what does she perceive as normal?  Isn't it normal, according to her experience so far, for people to carry around not 1 but 2 babies?!  Sweet girl...

Aida humoring us:

With Aunt Ginny (I think that's a pretzel Aida's stuffing in her mouth):