The Harper on the bus...

Giggles a lot, apparently busses are the funniest. You see, I have been trying to get to Pikes for about 2 months to get Beckett a piggy bank for his bday, and since its tomorrow, we decided we should go this weekend. Since Sawyer and I were sick yesterday, Ryan and I thought it would be fun if I took Harper on a date today, Ryan stayed home with Sawyer and watched all the pre-game football stuff, he is watching the game now, you can cut the tension with a knife in this house. Any who, Harper, Mickey and I grabbed a bus and headed downtown.  She seemed a little overwhelmed, I think her favorite part was the escalators going into the bus tunnel.  Harper did learn some good city lessons...

1.  Don't listen to the crazies... they don't make any sense, also don't give them any money, also don't stop and wave when they try to tell Harper how cute she is.
2.  Those birds everywhere are called pigeons, they go ccccrrrrruuuuu (you try typing the sound a pigeon makes)
3.  Sometimes you have to wait a long time for the right bus, also probably 6 buses will come and go in that time.
4.  Mommy can't go to Pikes without stopping at MeeSum for Pineapple bread  (usually also Mr. Ds for a gyro, but those are messy and we were in a hurry)
5.  Walk around tourists, they take too long
6.  The best fruit stand is inside Pikes, not the ones on the outside, they are still good, but the one down the middle on the left is the best.

She was pretty excited while we were waiting for the bus, Mickey was a little nervous about his first bus ride.

We sang "The Wheels on the Bus" I think the dude behind us enjoyed it. 

Pretty much she was done with getting her picture taken already

Enjoying some Chicken Humbow

There was a pigeon stalking Harper while she was eating (pretty much the bird form of Griz), this is not that pigeon, I didn't take its picture because I was trying to be ready to defend my child in case the pigeon decided to attack, they scare me a bit.

Obviously you can't go downtown without giving some money to one of the many street musicians

We found the pigs!!!

We considered getting some dried flowers to bring home, but then figured Sawyer would just eat them.

She wasn't so sure about the crabs I made her stand by, at least it wasn't fish.

She really liked the pig, you can't tell in this picture, but I'm pretty sure she wanted to bring it home, but it wouldn't fit on the bus.

And doing some more eating while we waited for the bus home.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Alright people... I'm a bit behind, and my excuse is pure laziness... so let's get caught up!

I really wanted to somehow ingrain in Harper (and Sawyer) from a young age, the real reason for the season, but at the same time, let her experience the magicalness (its a word) and wonderfulness and givingness (also a word) of Santa.  So I thought hey, I'll do an advent kind of calendar, and every other day, we will read part of the Nativity story out of her children's bible and then on the other days do something else Christmasy... hahaha... I'm so funny, it got stuck on day 22, so I did really good for those 3 days.

Luckily, Harper did go to toddler bible study and we did try to do some Nativity reading, also we made a birthday cake for Jesus, and Harper and Lincoln blew out the candles Christmas night as we sang "Happy Birthday" which was cute, and pictures of this would have been special... but I did a serious photo fail this Christmas, I don't know what happened.  Also I think Harper was a little scared of Santa, we went to see him but neither girl would go near him, we did leave out cookies, which Santa ate, and 2 carrots for his "reindeer", which they enjoyed eating, hopefully they won't catch on that Santa only has 2 reindeer, kinda like we have 2 dogs.

Our Christmas was pretty low key, which was nice, for the first time we stayed home and woke up with just the girls and opened gifts, then later that afternoon we went to my brother's and had Christmas with them and the Baker's.  Really though, as seeing how special Christmas is through our girls' eyes is, we are glad the holidays are over because Ryan worked 6 days a week and we never saw him. 

And if you are wondering what crazy shenanigans we got into on New Year's Eve... Ryan worked, and I let the girls stay up until 9:30 (because Whitney came over and we were working on some small group stuff and I just didn't get around to putting them in bed) and then I was in bed by 10:15.... WooooHOOO!  We live the crazy life.

Kennedy and Harper made a gingerbread house the weekend before Christmas, Harper discovered a love of marshmallows, and a sugar high happened

She kept forgetting that you can blow to make a noise and she'd put her mouth on it and squeak

The adults playing with Lincolns toy

Harper got a doctor set, Tet-Tet needed a check-up

Sawyer thought her new Owl from Aunt Heather was delicious

Harper reading the directions while helping me put together their new table

"I don't need to read the stinkin directions! I got this!"

The finished table and the kitchen Santa brought