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Due to the snow, we spent Boxing Day at home playing with new toys. Leah got some fun salon toys, so the girls had to play with them as soon as they got up.

Molly and Leah enjoy playing Angry Birds on the iPad and iPhone, but now they can play a physical version too. G'Mom and Grampa tested it out with the girls.

Molly got a bunch of early reader books, but Leah loves them too.

Molly had to try out her new roller skates inside since the weather outside was not cooperating.

After things calmed down, Molly got to watch Brave for the first time. What better way to watch it than wearing a Rapunzel dress, reclining in a snow sled, eating popcorn?

We had a nice visit with G'Mom and Grampa. They were able to capture a rare still moment with the girls on the couch.

Santa brought the girls a bunch of dress up clothes. Leah immediately had to put on the wedding attire, including veil and heels, which she wore for the entire time opening presents.

Molly was excited to finally get to see Brave thanks to getting it on Blu-ray from her sister.

This looks like a big present.

It's a scooter!

The girl's 1st cousin twice removed, Ann, restores very nice dolls and makes clothes for them. When Molly was younger, she gave her a very nice American Girl doll (also named Molly) which she continues to love. This Christmas, Leah got this very nice Madame Alexander doll, Wendy, along with a few very nice outfits to go along with her. It looks like she'll be a prominent figure in our house for years to come, too.

After opening Wendy, I made the girls close their eyes for an unwrapped surprise gift. Matching doll nightgowns!

After finishing opening presents at our house, we headed to Grams and Pop's house to open presents there. This music box from Aunt EA was a big hit for Leah, and we've been hearing It's a Small World over and over since she opened it.

We always open one present at a time, going around the room from youngest to oldest. So, Leah spent a lot of time waiting patiently for her turn to open another.

There were lots and lots of dress up clothes this Christmas - for the girls, for their dolls, and even for Molly's bear.

Grammy was in town to partake of the Christmas festivities too.

EA's boyfriend, Scott, loves all things bacon. So when I saw this recipe for Candied Bacon Fudge I had to make it for him. It got thumbs up from all who tasted it. Chad even said it was the best chocolate-bacon combo he's had!

Grams is shocked at the ceramic trivet with custom artwork created by Molly we gave her.

The blanket I made got a thumbs up from Pop.

Of course, Minnie Mouse is always a hit.

The one gift Molly kept talking about getting were these Unusual Unicorn Stompeez Slippers. When you walk in them, the eyes pop up due to the force of your foot pushing air from the bottom up into the eyes.

Nice pearls Aunt EA (given by her boyfriend Scott).

For Pop, EA (with help from several of us) put together a video montage of pictures throughout his life.

After seeing the video, the girls wanted to see some of Pop's Navy stuff, including his sword.

The girls tried on some of Pop's Navy hats. Before Chad took this picture, Aunt Caroline told them to make the biggest smiles they could. She apparently has not learned that you don't tell little kids that, as it will inevitably result in these faces.

Commander Sellers and Aunt Caroline got in on the hat fun as well.

Our Christmas visitors were flying to see us, so the girls decided to make their own plane to go for a flight as well. Of course, there are lots of passengers on the plane.

As always, G'Mom and Grampa arrived with lots and lots of new books to read.

Even though the girls made Christmas cookies with Grams, Molly insisted we make some at home too. She wanted to decorate them with icing, which she proved to be very good at.

I may have had just as much fun decorating!

Leah has heard Molly singing Gloria so many times that she knows it now too. So when the carol was sung at our Christmas Eve service, Leah knew just what to sing.

Per tradition, we opened one gift on Christmas Eve. The girls got these fancy snow boots from Grammy, which came in handy since it snowed on Christmas Eve.

I think the boots go very well with Molly's smocked dress.

The girls had fun tracking Santa as he circled the globe on G'Mom's iPhone.

The girls were excited to pick out the perfect cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. They were also thrilled to finally wear the Christmas nightgowns I made for them.

Editor's note: The title of this post was inspired by the song Christmas Is Coming on Laurie Berkner's new Christmas album. We are huge fans of Laurie Berkner and her new album does not disappoint!

We had a bunch of family up our way to celebrate Leah's 3rd birthday. For the first time, JJ got to join the fun at our house.

The girls had to show off their dance moves. Well, Molly and Emmie did. Leah sometimes danced, but sometimes told the other two that they were being silly.

Since Emmie was sleeping over, I made the girls matching nightgowns that coordinated perfectly with the party weekend.

JJ, sporting his snazzy Strawberry Shortcake glasses.

We don't have any babies on Chad's side of the family right now, but JJ was happy to serve as a surrogate grandbaby for Grams for a few minutes.

Aunt Caroline is hilarious.

Leah was kind enough to show JJ the fun of playing with Minnie Mouse. He got the idea pretty quickly.

JJ said hi to me, but seemed to be more interested in the camera and the uncle behind it.

Three cute cousins, ready for church, all wearing dresses made by G'Mom.

Molly showed off her reading skills several times to our visitors.

There are a lot more pictures from the weekend on Flickr. Go check them out!

What were the girls up to, you ask? My parents graciously offered to come stay with them while we were in the Bahamas. They had as much fun as we did!

They went to several different playgrounds…

Checked out the new Mr. Potato Head exhibit at Port Discovery…

Then spent an hour in the Wonders of Water exhibit.

Playing at the pool was another "must do" activity. They went twice over the weekend.

G'Mom worked her pool magic and Leah was finally willing to swim a bit all by herself!

And they popped in for a quick visit with Grams and Pop.

The girls did great without us for 5 days, with no tears or sadness about being apart for longer than ever before. That said, they were very excited to see us when we walked in the door. And we were just as excited to see them.

You can see more pictures from their days of fun here on Flickr. Thanks again G'Mom and Grampa for watching the girls. They loved every minute of it!

Since my sister is 9 months pregnant, my parents offered to bring my niece up for Molly's party. Emmie and Molly loved having a sleepover three nights in a row! The girls had to test the air mattress out shortly after it was inflated.

Of course, a new bed requires a little bounce.

After a fun party, it's nice to relax and read with Grampa.

Molly was of course excited to open up all her new toys and play with them, but she wasn't the only one. Emmie and G'Mom had to try them out as well.

With no desire to fix a meal after a busy day, we decided to get Chinese take-out. When Chad started using chopsticks, the girls all wanted to join in. Molly's been using chopsticks (with the help of a chopsticks holder) for some time, but this was the first time for Emmie and Leah.

After church on Sunday, Molly opened more presents. This time, they were all from G'Mom and Grampa, including this dress G'Mom made.

While Molly opened her presents, she was watched by an onlooker (Leah) who is apparently worried about rain and a member of the paparrazi (Emmie) who took lots of pictures.

All smiles for a fun weekend!

While at the aquarium, Molly started talking to the fish. Then Emmie joined in.

Our last morning in Gatlinburg a few of us headed to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies. It was literally down the hill from our lodge, so we decided to check it out. Molly and this fish appear to be seeing eye to eye.

Emmie and Leah enjoyed watching the seahorses.

This aquarium had a long tunnel with a slow moving walkway that allowed you to go under the sea. The tunnel was small enough that you really felt like you were right next to the animals.

Molly and Leah wanted nothing to do with these guys, but Emmie was up for petting this horseshoe crab.

The aquarium was full of little tunnels you could crawl in to get up close and personal with the undersea life.

Our last stop was to see the penguins, up close and personal.

Since we won't see my family in December, we posed for our family Christmas photo Friday morning.

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.

We headed to Gatlinburg, TN to gather with the Batson extended family for Thanksgiving. We arrived on G'mom's birthday, so we had to celebrate. Here G'mom is receiving her fantastic birthday hat Aunt 'Chelle made for her.

The morning of Thanksgiving we hiked up a mountain to see a waterfall (and burn some calories before the feast!).

Molly got a lot of extra time with G'mom and Grampa since we allowed her to have "special" days with no naps.

The girls are still not fond of big or active dogs, but Max is neither of these. Max enjoyed sitting quietly on Dot's lap, and Leah thought that made him the perfect dog to pet.

The house we rented had a pool table, which was lots of fun for adult and child alike.

The Batson clan (well, almost all of us).