"If you don't see the book on the shelf, write it." ~ Beverly Cleary
The year before last, we made ridiculous turkey cakes with Caroline and Nicole and this past year (2014) we had to follow it up with another baking project. We turned cupcakes into trees and it was actually a pretty fun baking project….and Nicole was a miracle-worker with the frosting, so we were all happy. Here are the pictures from that day waaaayyy back in December.
My girls both have Little Mama hearts and have been in full mothering mode for a few months now. For the most part, it is very sweet to see them rocking, wrapping, and loving on their babies. Maggie has had New Baby since her second birthday, a garage sale find from my mom that has always been deeply loved by Mags, and Audrey has really loved Dollie, a little rag-muffin red haired doll. It’s really quite fitting.
That said, I keep noticing that Audrey is developing a keen interest in New Baby. Maggie is definitely not done being a mama to her baby, not really ready to sign the ‘adoption papers’ over to Audrey. Most of the time it works out just fine and they can figure out a way to compromise and mother both the babies with just enough hugs and kisses doled out.
It wasn’t until I uploaded a recent batch of pictures that I noticed a few sets that I’d taken a few days apart. In the first set, Audrey is watching Maggie get New Baby ready for bed and quietly sitting nearby. But in the second batch of images, taken while Maggie was at school, Audrey is doing it all on her own and copying everything that she quietly watched her big sister do.
Monkey See, Monkey Do. A good reminder that my actions, choices and behaviors are being observed by the two of them….
OBSERVING:
DOING:
For the first time, maybe since we’ve owned our home, we stayed home Christmas Eve and woke on Christmas morning to a visit from Santa. The tone of Christmas this year felt much more relaxed and having this time together was really sweet and exciting. Maggie is at the perfect age for everything Santa and got right to work on putting together a Lego toy from opening gifts the night before. Audrey really, really loves New Baby lately and Santa brought a small wooden cradle and she spent quite a bit of time being a Little Mama by herself. Barry and I drank like 4 pots of coffee.
Earlier in the day, on Christmas Eve, we went on a walk at Richmond Beach and then had an early and quiet dinner at home before exchanging gifts between the four of us. The following pictures loaded backwards, I don’t care enough to fix it. If you’re a chronological person….start from the bottom.
