Christmas Train Garden

Just before Christmas, my mom and I took the girls to a garden shop that sets up a pretty big model train display every year.  Papillon is a fan of trains, and the fact that there was a Snoopy Train, a Mickey Mouse Train and a Chocolate Train made it just that much better!

Hibou thought they were pretty cool too.

There were also a few of these coin-operated car/train things that the girls could ride on. Hibou thought it was pretty fabulous.

We even "splurged" on the 25cents it costs to make them move for Papillon. She was a little scared at first, but eventually wanted to ride on them all.

It was a lovely little pre-Christmas festive outing.

Spontaneous Visitors

TDuring Mon Amour's most recent (3-week!) trip, we were blessed with lots of opportunities to hang out with friends and family to make the time go by more pleasantly.   Near the end of the trip, we had some friends spend a couple nights with us. It was a very last minute trip, and just exactly what we needed to get through the last part of Mon Amour's absence.

Hibou and her little friend (who is 3 months younger, and currently the same size) had a lot of fun together.

Aren't they cuties!

Papillon loved having two babies to take care of. She was passing around pacifiers and toys all day long.

I love watching kids play together!

Here's a little video of Hibou and her friend doing some baby-playing.

Thanks for visiting, friends! You can come any time!

Hibou Loves Food!!

Until very recently, Hibou has been a very peckish eater.  One day she'll love eating. The next, she won't eat anything. It hasn't been a problem, she still nurses a ton, so it's not like she was starving. I just felt like I was always gambling with feeding her.

Then, we discovered avacados.


Sliced, not mashed, please.


I thought the slippery-ness would be problematic. But she doesn't have any trouble.
She will eat half an avacado at a time.  She love love loves it.






And with the discovery of avacados, Hibou has decided she likes lots of other things as well.  Bananas, Pizza Crust, Peas, etc now round out our previously boring solid food diet. (Crackers and Cheerios were the only thing she would eat consistently)
 

Christmas with Hibou

It's Hibou's first Christmas. Such a fun age for her first Christmas!  Here's a few pictures from a couple weeks ago when Hibou helped Papillon and I decorate the tree.  She thought it was grand fun!  (and don't worry, our ornaments are the non-breakable kind, so she wasn't playing with anything that would shatter easily...and she was closely supervised!)












Merry Christmas!

Cuties

Just a few cute pictures to share for this Christmas Eve.

Papillon and Margie.

Mon Amour and our Girlies

Papillon and a friend....they might be in love.

Holiday Randomness Kick-Off

A few random photos from kicking off the Christmas season (yes, still a few weeks behind in blogging)

Hanging out with Uncle A.


Decorating the Papillon-Sized Christmas Tree at my parents' house.





Smashing Candy Canes (see the third video in this post for more on this subject)


And, just to enhance the randomness, some wheat thins in a ice cube tray. This is how Papillon's mind works.

Exploring the City

Our Thanksgiving weekend continued with a day of exploring this city that we call home. My parents as well as my brother and sister-in-law came along to join the fun. 

Our first stop, was this awesome place full of reclaimed house-things. They have quite the assortment of things, including a large statue (sadly not for sale)

Sinks...

...in every color...

...imaginable!

As well as a fun playhouse with tiny chairs in it (Papillon has a weakness for tiny chairs)

Our next stop was a significant historic site which we have somehow managed not to visit yet, in our 2.5 years of living here.  

Somehow we managed to picked the coldest day of the weekend to visit all the non-climate-controlled locations in the city. This stop also happened to be open to the wind, so it was time to bundle up.

Tada - Historic Site of Famous-ness!

Informative video (it was actually very very informative)

O! Say, can you see...

Our final stop, before returning to our place for thawing our hands and eating some dinner, was, of course, this free-book book-place.   Uncle A. was a little bit in heaven here, so the little girlies waited patiently in the car once we had exhausted the children's section.

Then, finally, it was time to be warm at our house. 

Hibou practiced her standing with Auntie L.

And then, finally, dinner.  Chili. Perfect for a very cold day.

Thanksgiving #2

Actual Thanksgiving day rolled around, and it was time for more Turkey fun! This time with my side of the family.

First we had to set the table...

...and then, of course, eat the food.

And we played a little "Pizza Party"

And a little "Catch"

Hibou loves catch.

There was lots of time for just chilling with Grandpa.

And, some time for singing some Christmas Carols.

And, clearly, we had to take a picture of all of us, in our matching bakery hoodies!

All of this was such fun, that everyone got a little bushed.

Good naps are definitely a sign of good fun!