Some Christmas Memories

With the Christmas break nearly over, we thought we'd take the time to share some photos from the holiday weekend past.

As you can see, Braelyn and Gwendolyn spent their Christmas morning with Mom, Dad, Grandma McKee and Nana Castellano at home this year.

All in all the day was quite a hit for our little twincesses:

On Christmas morning, the girls wore the cutest Santa pjs we saw this season (not that we're biased or anything)

Braelyn got a Mini-PillowPet in her stocking... Maybe she should have got some hair ties in there as well

Gwendolyn just knows there's got to be one gift left in her stocking

Out of our pjs and into our reindeer shirts for gift opening. Ooooooo... It's a Minnie Mouse doll!

Gwendolyn gets some unwrapping tips from Daddy

Braelyn opens a new doll from Mom

Nana shows the girls how to play their new MobiGo electronic games

Grandma McKee opens some holiday socks

Nana shows off a new wall hanging featuring photos of her four favorite subjects (Braelyn, Gwendolyn, Ava & Anthony)

The Holiday's Right Around the Corner

Well, the holidays are so close we can just taste it!

The resulting time off from the office has given Mom and Dad some extra time to spend with Braelyn and Gwendolyn.

Of course, there are moments that the additional time together has been a little more productive then others.

Gwendolyn is continuing to make great strides in her development. She spent her P.T. session earlier in the week walking back and forth from the living room to the end of the hall without much fuss. Dad was even called into service for this exercise session as he baited Gwendolyn by helping to hold items for her doll's dress up. Each time Gwen needed a new item of clothing for her doll, she'd have to walk to Dad on the opposite side of the house to retrieve it.

Unfortunately, her new braces aren't quite fitting as well as we'd like. Mom's packing her up and bringing her back to have them looked at today so hopefully they can be adjusted.

Nana and the girls made some more holiday cookies earlier this week... Needless to say, Dad was quite excited with this turn  of events while Mom joined his waistline in disgust.

The approaching holidays have also meant a few extra trips to the store than we'd normally make. Much to their credit however, the girls have pretty much taken this interruption in stride.

As a result of that corporation, we are proud to report that all the holiday gifts have been purchased, while physically wrapping them of course is a different story. Even more importantly (to Dad that is) is the fact that the ingredients for our Sunday feast are at home and ready to be called into service.

With that said, we'd better scram...

But before we do, we wanted to thank everyone again for all the support you've given us this year. We feel more and more blessed as our two girls grow and mature. Friends like you are a big reason for that! 

A Busy Weekend of Tears and Smiles

Braelyn and Gwendolyn had quite a busy weekend.

It began on Friday evening as Nana came for a holiday visit from Florida. The girls were instantly excited for obvious reasons... Although one of the least obvious was because it meant that there was one more person on hand to read them books.



Poor Santa's going to get a complex soon



Before Nana arrived, the twins decided to give their good buddy Santa another go at the holiday party Dad's work threw... And predictably, things did go much differently than they had in the past. Here's hoping that he doesn't take it personally next weekend!

On Saturday, we celebrated our McKee Christmas. It began with breakfast at Grandma McKee's. After that, the girls joined their cousins at Build-A-Bear for a holiday treat complements of grandma.

Braelyn picked out a pink Hello Kitty as her plushy of choice while Gwendolyn went after a "Happy Feet" penguin with a light up bow tie.



Grandma McKee helps dress Braelyn's new Kitty



Gwendolyn loves her new penguin

After a brief pit stop for some Zzzzzzzzzzs, we went back to Grandma McKee's for our holiday dinner and (most importantly) to open gifts. Pretty much everything they received was a hit... Especially the toy blender (which Braelyn immediately used to "blend" her sister's arm with) and toaster for the girls' play kitchen.

Now how can I turn this blender into a weapon?



Mmmmmm... Toast

Well, we'd better get going... There's still a lot of tasks that we've got to get taken care of before next weekend.

Talk to you soon.

Sweets by the Sweeties

While visiting with Grandma McKee this past weekend, the girls had their first-ever opportunity to frost holiday cookies. (And since Twinkle, Twinkle is one of their favorite car ride sing-a-long songs, we decided it would be appropriate if those were the cookie shapes they used.)

All-in-all, they both did quite well. Braelyn gleefully dove right in actually kept her patience long enough to complete the decoration process. However, it wasn't too long before she began to devour a cookie that seemed to be five times the size of her little mouth. Ah, the fruits of labor!

Gwendolyn on the other hand, first began observing both her sister and cousins to make sure she completely grasped the task at hand. (We know, not too shocking for her at all.) Once she was confident in that, she began frosting and sprinkling her cookie over and over again to make sure it was just right.

She must have been quite proud of the finished product too because she still hasn't even tried to eat her confectionery masterpiece. Instead, we had to pry it away from her and stick it in a sandwich bag so that it wouldn't crumble in her clinched fist. (Which, by the way, wasn't met all that enthusiastically by Ms. Gwendolyn. Apparently, she was concerned that Daddy was getting ready to eat her star... GASP!)

With each day, we get closer and closer to the holidays. For once, Mom and Dad have been on top of sending out our cards... This year, family and friends will actually receive them in advance of New Years, which is quite an accomplishment for us!

It's amazing what one can accomplish when you don't have a daughter making a December visit to the hospital (knock on wood).

Anyway, we hope you enjoy the week ahead.

Talk to you all soon.

The Cow Goes Where??

Another post from Mom!! :)

It's getting to be so much fun now that the girls are getting a bit older to start our own family traditions. There are a few that the girls are still a bit young for but that I really am looking forward to. For example, I'm going to be ALL over the whole "Elf on the Shelf" thing. I'm already planning places that the girls can find him. I also look forward to leaving cookies for Santa and finding a "dropped gift from Santa's sleigh" in the backyard. My dad did that one when I was little and I still remember it.

One tradition that we did start this year and the girls look forward to every evening is putting their sticker on their advent calendar. Nanna C. gave the girls cute little advent calendars and each night when we sit down for dinner the girls ask for their stickers. We show them the spot where it goes and sometimes the sticker lands on the correct location and sometimes.....not. :) 

It's kind of surprising because usually Gwen is the meticulous one between the two of them and has great attention to detail. But she really has her own opinion on where these stickers should go. There is currently a sheep where the lantern goes, a lantern where the shepherds go, and shepherds where the cow goes. But we don't think Baby Jesus will mind in the grand scheme of things. Braelyn's advent calendar on the other hand is just as it should be!! They never seize to amaze us. 

Rest & Relaxation For Once

For what seems to be the first time in recent memory, the Castellanos were able to enjoy some down time this past weekend. Braelyn and Gwendolyn even slept in until 8:00 AM on Sunday morning so there were extra winks to be had all around.

Braelyn has begun what Dad can only assume will be a life-long love affair with playing dress up. She even took it to a new level this weekend as she deiced to shove every crown and tiara in her wardrobe on her head at once. A little later, she was found sauntering throughout the living room wearing five purses on her shoulder simultaneously and telling us "good-bye" as she pretended to go shopping. (If you couldn't tell, we think she's been spending a little too much time around her mother of late.)

Gwendolyn's become our analytical observer (okay, maybe "become" is a poor choice of words since she basically popped out of the womb that way). She recently cuddled up to Uncle Kyle to get a good look at his latest toy... a tablet. In no time flat, Gwendolyn had pried the tablet away from him and seemed to be downloading apps at will.

Mom and Dad are trying to figure out exactly how the calendar seemingly went from August to December so quickly. Another holiday is nearly upon us and that just stymies the imagination.

One Scary Santa?

For those of you that have followed this blog for a while, you might recall that our girls still haven't reached a comfort level with Santa.

If you are new to the blog or if you would just like a good laugh, click here or here to see the fear on the girls faces during last year's visits with Santa.

Well, we took our first trek this season to see the Jolly Old Guy earlier in the week and sure enough, it wasn't pretty.

The good news is that Braelyn and Gwendolyn can now identify Santa and know that he says "ho, ho, ho!" But as soon as you put them on his lap and take a step away, panic ensues.

It will be interesting later this month when we have Dad's office holiday party to see the tears reemerge when we once again "abandon" them on Santa's knees!

'Tis the Season to freak out your children we suppose!

;)