This was taken first thing when I got the kids up yesterday morning. They, as long as they’ve been home, would not get out of their beds until someone came and got them up. Even when their cousins visited, they’d sit up in their beds and watch their cousins get up and leave the room or run around the room and play, while they sat there. I’ve been begging them for months to get up on their own. At first it was nice and felt safe that they’d stay in their beds. But, I didn’t like the idea of them laying in bed, awake, waiting for me. And Lena is typically VERY LOUD and awake first. We talked a ton about getting up and getting a book to read, or playing in their room. We acted it out. But, they wouldn’t do it. Finally, the other day, I talked to Reed one-on-one about it and the next morning, I came up to find them each with a book in their bed. Perfect!

Today we broke out the Christmas playdough that, I think, Aunt Nicole made. It looked and smelled like a candy cane… yum!

This entertained them for TWO HOURS. It was really fantastic for all parties until we shared a meltdown over the little star cookie cutter. One kid grabbed it and cried when she had to give it back. One kid lied about it and refused to share. And one mom was just really exhausted by that point!

Today was another beautiful day in Kansas. It was in the 60s! We met our friend Danae at the dog park. We had a nice long walk, then Reed wanted to play “boy under the bridge”. There is a little bridge he likes to go walk under and play in the mud, so we “princesses” sit on top. We princesses were enjoying our regular old business when a man walked by and handed us a puppy.

Okay, that’s really not true. He more like strolled up and chatted with us about the puppy, THEN said “here, you should hold it!” This is point when I thought he was going to walk away quickly, but fortunately, he just wanted us to cuddle it and have a photo op, before he took it away. Phew, that was a close call. Danae pointed out that this would be a great Day 5 photo, and snapped it for us. Thank you!

Lena said that the puppy was “brown and gray.”  I asked her if she meant “great” and she said, “yeah, great!”

We spent two hours outside walking today. I remember to bring my real camera and put it in my pocket. But, I forgot to take it out. OOPS.

I took this because they both picked out their clothes this morning, perhaps the first time I let them do whatever they wanted with no guidance. I love all the stripes. Lena wore the gloves all day today. He has an apple and she has a clementine. Very typical breakfast around here. Reed usually wants a banana, apple and a clementine.

P.S. Cast your vote, should L grow out her bangs or not?