Emmie is so intent on using her computer that she has no idea Molly is about to give her a trim.

Grampa was appointed head book reader at bed time.

Emmie was insistent on having a flower party, so Aunt ‘Chelle got creative with the flower theme.

Naturally, Molly and Leah were eager to assist with the present opening.

Time for cake!

It was finger lick in’ good!

Leah took a quick break from the party festivities to assemble the alphabet with G’mom.

Emmie also got a kite, which was then of course flown. Apparently it’s just as much fun to run after someone flying a kite as it is to fly it yourself.

Molly flying with Tate chasing. An image of timeless childhood.

Leah thought the flower balloons needed a bit of love.

The girls were finally all together to wear the Christmas jammies I made them. It was like Christmas Eve in January.

Emmie may be one of the few kids her age that knows what a chalkboard is. For those who don’t, it’s an upright display you write on with chalk while you stick out your tongue.

Baby rings can turn into steering wheels when you get older.

And the post the baby ring comes from can become a microphone.

On Christmas morning, Chad took video of the girls opening their stockings. The girls also enjoyed playing with their new toys.

When wearing one particular pair of jammies, Leah always calls herself Dr. Leah. So, when I saw this doctor kit at a consignment sale, she knew it’d be perfect!

Whenever Leah was opening a present and Molly wanted to open it, Molly would tell Leah they should use teamwork. She figured out this was a way to get to open someone else’s present without being told to back off since it was someone else’s turn.

Here’s Molly opening some books from G’Mom and Grampa while sitting on her new floor cushion.

Over at Grams and Pop’s, Molly was nice enough to push Leah in the rocking chair before they did a little dancing around. Watch that video here.

Leah got some wings and a tutu of her own from Aunt Caroline, which she of course loves. And we love that the girls are no longer fighting over the one set we had before.

Molly, Leah, and Aunt Caroline had fun playing with some fairies (specifically Tinkerbell, Vidia, Rosetta, and Silvermist).

We had Christmas crackers before lunch, a tradition Chad’s family picked up when living in England. As always, they include crowns which we all don for the meal.

Aunt Caroline and Aunt EA played Mario Kart with Molly for the first time (as well as some other Wii games). She did ok, though Molly does much better with the Kinect as she’s not used to the abstraction of the controller.

The girls had fun playing with their Aunts all day. Here Aunt EA and Leah had to wake up the sleeping (not really) Molly. On the count of 3, say cock-a-doodle-do!

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This was our first Christmas Eve service without Molly by our side. This was because she and the rest of her Cherub Choir were very involved in the service. This video is of the song they sang towards the beginning, Mary Had a Baby. Note that Molly appears to be the only one doing the hand motions they were taught. Later in there service they briefly appeared again as reindeer and then appeared as angels singing Gloria toward the end.

This was a cut-your-own tree farm, so Chad cut the tree down before lugging it up toward our car.

After dinner, we worked on decorating the tree. Nice antlers, Molly!

While decorating the tree, we listened to the score from The Nutcracker. Leah had no interest in putting ornaments on the tree, but instead just wanted to dance with this nutcracker ornament. She loved it and was happy as a clam, other than getting annoyed that we kept interrupting her to ask if she wanted to put an ornament on the tree.

Chad acted as a ladder to prevent all the ornaments from ending up on the bottom of the tree.

Molly did great putting ornaments on the tree, but during certain scenes of the score from The Nutcracker, she had to take a break to dance with a nutcracker ornament like her little sister.

After everything else was done, Leah finally agreed to hang her nutcracker ornament on the tree. This was the only ornament she hung.

The tree, decorated and lit.

We then headed inside and exchanged gifts with G’Mom, Grampa, Uncle J, Aunt ‘Chelle, and Emmie. Molly is shocked by these socks.

She was also very excited to get a Belle doll.

Chad sometimes sticks a little Lego man on his camera to give the girls something to focus on. After using it for the pictures, Leah wanted to play with it. Even after getting a bunch of Christmas presents, she kept coming back to playing with the Lego man.

I love this picture of Leah opening her ornament from Grampa.

Emmie had to check hers out from all angles.

After the gift giving had concluded, Leah took a minute to teach Grampa a bit about how to use the iPad.

Grams made the girls these Halloween dresses. Leah wasn’t sure about hers, but Molly wore hers 4 days in a row after receiving it.

This is what happens when Molly gives Daddy bunny ears behind the camera.

On Halloween, our first stop was to trick-or-treat at Grams and Pop’s house.

Molly is dressed as a princess (Cinderella to be precise) and Leah is a pea. So, we had The Princess and the Pea.

I made Leah’s costume. Unfortunately, Leah repeated “I don’t yike it” over and over while crying when we tried to put it on. Eventually, we talked her into donning it by emphasizing that it would lead to candy.

Grams and Pop are known for giving out full-size candy bars, and Leah picked a Kit Kat bar. She loved getting it, and kept carrying it around exclaiming “It’s my Kit Kat” to us. After starting in a bad mood, the Kit Kat was what turned her mood around.

We then headed to Keira and Maya’s house to do some trick-or-treating with them and Simon and Matilda. Here are all the kids ready to go.

Molly’s now an expert trick-or-treater, so she managed pretty much on her own.

Leah needed a little help, but did great and lasted the whole time (though she did dump her candy in Daddy’s backpack half way through to lighten the load).

Lined up and waiting.

Despite usually saying I don’t do it, Mommy is capable of carrying on shoulders. Leah is clearly enjoying the ride and her animal crackers snack.

The pea costume was stuffed well, which meant Leah sometimes lost the bottom part of her face in it.

After we got back, Matilda played calmly with a tea cup.

I’m sure that’s what all the kids are doing, right…

maybe not. The older kids were pretty wound up (as you might expect).

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Leah didn’t want to be left out of the singing, so she joined in the fun.

“Whee!” said D to E F G
“Are you coming to see
the coconut tree?”

Chicka chicka boom boom!
Will there be enough room?
We’ll find out when you RSVP!

When Leah consistently started choosing Chicka Chicka Boom Boom for a bedtime story, I knew it would be the perfect theme for her 2nd birthday. The party started with making Boom Boom shakers. It takes a lot of concentration to fill a shaker with beads.

The kids then sat for a reading of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and used their shakers to go boom boom!

To the surprise of many, I did not make the cake this time. Chad convinced me to focus on the rest of the party prep and have it made by Oh What a Cake. It was great decision and a great cake.

The basic story of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is about the alphabet climbing to the top of the coconut tree. So, naturally we had to have one present.

Thanks for inspiring silly ways to play with balloons, Uncle J!

Leah was so excited for the birthday song that she even sang it to herself!

To fully appreciate the taste of the cake, Leah thought it necessary to close her eyes. Though, when you do that you must open your mouth as wide as you can to make sure it gets in.

Who needs a fork? Icing, finger, tongue.

Then it was present time and the kids were definitely present.

Leah’s very into baby dolls right now. This one came with a bottle, which was a big hit.

She also enjoyed reading a fun, new book.

And as a party favor, guests left with colorful alphabet cookies.

Skit skat skoodle doot.
Flip flop flee.
Thanks for coming
To Leah’s party!

Two candles can be tough. It helps to call in some reinforcements.

She had singing birthday calls,

practiced tearing open gifts, a skill necessary for her party,

then played with some of her new toys.

Happy birthday big girl!