First day of 'School' was a success!

All bundled up to go to school for the first time.


Who is this little girl? She is so grown up!

She was spinning in circles before we left- she was so excited.

Today, Mairead went to 'school' for the first time. The local Early Intervention program includes playgroups for toddlers who receive services for development, and these playgroups include 2-3 'community children' who are typically developing and who serve as role models for the other kids. We have been on a waiting list for a while, but Mairead started today and she loved it!

She will go every Thursday from 1-3 for 10 weeks. If no one is on the waiting list for this particular spot, she can continue-- I hope that will be the case. I drop her off there and they play in the gym, do crafts, have circle time, snack time, and clean up time. This is SUCH a great thing for her since she has become a bit overly attached to me since I stopped working to be home with the kids. Also, you may have noticed that she is not so great at following directions when she wants to do something else, so being part of a class is exactly what she needs.

It was hard to leave her there-- when we first walked in to the classroom, she LOVED the place. I said "Bye bye, Mairead," and she hid because she thought SHE had to go bye-bye. But when I actually left and closed the door behind me, I could see through the glass part of the door that she came running after me, and I could hear her crying. I wanted so much to turn around and reassure her, but I had to just keep walking since I knew this was what she needed.

When Dave and I picked her up, she was so happy to see us. She came out of the classroom holding hands with Mary, the teacher. Holding hands is not a strong suit either, so I was so happy to see that!

She was sad to leave and said, "Bye School, Bye Mary, Bye Scott (no idea who that is), Bye everyone!" I am thrilled that it went so well. At the same time, though, I am a little sad at how quickly she is growing up. It's all going by too quickly!!!

X (tra) Mas and fun in the snow

First, a random picture of Lily from last week... at her appointment today, she was 9lbs- a very healthy, growing, girl!


On January 1, we had an 'extra' Christmas dinner. Our Christmas dinner is traditionally Beef Wellington, prepared by my dad. He does a fantastic job with it, and we look forward to it all year! This year, things were a little different since we didn't know when Lily would be coming, and we didn't want to plan the meal (Katie's favorite) without the Crowders. So, we scheduled an x-tra-mas for New Year's Day.

Another family gathering meant getting all spiffed up, so we tried a new trick- washing the twins in a laundry basket in the tub. It worked, but we still have a few kinks to work out. The idea is that one person can wash both babies since they can sit in the laundry baskets for support. I'm not sure I can pull it off alone, but we'll see!

Brian spent some quality time with his nephew.

I had bought matching pajamas for Lily and Mairead. Lily's barely fit her, so we had to get a picture in quickly!

The boys had on super cute outfits. Jack's outfit was a gift from Jen (his godmother) and Ben's was from Aunt Ry.

Ben was introducing himself to Lily.

That night, we dressed them in some new pjs from Jimmy and Jessica. I think they could be little Calvin Klein models... as long as they were not required to sit still...

This one is pretty cute- I wish they were not biting the heads off of little people, though. But bribing them with a toy was the only way to get them to sit and face me for two seconds!

This past weekend brought about 6 inches of snow, so Dave took Mairead out to enjoy it. What a great dad- he shoveled for hours and then still braved the snow to take his little girl out to play. Mommy safely took pictures through the window!

She LOVED the snow! She didn't care at all that it was cold. She and Dave went sledding down the hill in the side yard and she didn't want to stop!

After sledding, they warmed up with some hot chocolate.

Today, Mairead came downstairs in the morning to find that the tree was gone. She was a little confused so I told her that Christmas was all done and we had to say bye bye to the tree. She said, "Bye bye, Christmas!" And that's all the Christmas pictures I have, so bye-bye to Christmas posts, too!