December

We came home from our trip on December 1st. We got home really late and all headed straight for bed. We have a tradition of having the girls open Christmas pajamas and a Christmas book on Thanksgiving, but because we were gone, we waited until December 2nd. Lucy was so excited to open the gifts, and Dottie was really into the wrapping paper. :) 

 Now that Dottie can get around a little bit, scooting wherever she can, she and Lucy have been playing so well together. Lucy loves to read to her, play puzzles, show her how to play with her toys and whatever else. Lucy is for sure the best big sister, and loves Dottie so much!! Dottie loves having constant entertainment and is happy to put every single toy in sight, in her mouth. 

At Dottie's 9 month well check, she was only 15lbs, which put her in the 4th percentile for height and the 6th percentile for weight. She is just a tiny thing, but I wouldnt have her any other way! 

We took the girls to my grandmas Christmas party at her assisted living center, Lucy was terrified of sitting on Santa's lap, and told me very specifically before we even got there that she was NOT going to sit on his lap. Once the line died down and we were about the only people there, we convinced her to just talk to him. Once we got up there, Mrs. Clause had a little chat with Lucy and let her play with her necklace. She warmed right up and was happy to sit on his lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas (A Doc Mcstuffins Doctor Kit). It was adorable! 

Dottie is seeming so big lately!!

Lucy had her first dance recital!!! I think I was more excited than she was! She was absolutely adorable! I am so glad that she is not afraid to perform or to be up on stage in front of everyone- in fact she LOVES it!! I am so proud of her, and I can't wait to watch her shake her booty some more! :) Matt's parents came to watch her, and Matt gave her flowers at the end of the recital. She was on cloud 9! 

 We went to the Van Komens for a Christmas party, Santa came and Lucy had no problem hoping up on his lap to once again ask for her Doc Mcstuffins doctor kit! :) 

 SNOW DAY!!
We got like a foot of snow in one night in December- it was a serious PAIN to shovel, Matt was sick so it was up to me to get it done. Thankfully our sweet neighbors, the Sills, saw me out there late at night shoveling, and came to my rescue to help me finish! I am so thankful for kind neighbors who are willing to serve, we love the sills!

Lucy loved playing in the snow, and I did my very best to build her a snowman. She could have stayed out all day if I had let her!

We love meeting dad for lunch at In n Out! Its one of our very favorite places to go! 

Lucy LOVES Brittany and is always wanting to play with her. I am thankful she is always so willing to do whatever Lucy asks of her. One day when Britt got home from work, she and Lucy spent the rest of the afternoon out in the snow! :)

In the month of December Matt's family always does the 12 days of Christmas for his grandma. We get to go spend a day with her. We wanted to take her to breakfast and her request was McDonalds! :) Lucy loved getting to play on the toys and we loved visiting with our sweet Gram.

 The Sunday before Christmas, Lucy's Nursery leaders helped the little kids put on the nativity. Lucy got to be Mary and was so sweet. Her leader, Stephanie, was so sweet to take a couple of pictures for me. I love how sweetly she is looking at her baby Jesus! Gosh I love her. 

 Both girls are totally obsessed with Matt. Lucy often asks him if they can snuggle. :) It makes all of us very happy. 

Dominican Republic

....

November

The cooler days have kept us inside, playing with all our toys and spending lots of time snuggling up together. Lucy has been loving playing inside her tee pee I had made her for Christmas last year. She likes to set up beds and "houses" inside, and is especially excited when Dottie comes in to join her. Dottie is seeming to grow up so much just recently! She is sitting up all on her own and eating whatever she can get her hands on. She is really becoming such a happy little babe, and we can't get enough of her! 

Lucy begs me on a daily basis if she can put Dottie in her doll stroller. I always say no, but one night I gave in and told her she could. She pushed her around for a long time and both girls were so happy about it! 

Lucy often watches me bake, and she always wants to get in on the action.. So after making pizza dough one night for dinner, I let her have some flour to "bake something", she was pretty happy about it. 

Naps for Lucy dont happen too often anymore (when did she get so big??) So when I walked in on this one afternoon, it was too sweet not to get a picture. When this girl is tired, she is not ashamed to curl up somewhere cozy with her blanket and take a snooze. 

End of October and Halloween

One of Lucy's friends in our neighborhood had a birthday party where they had a petting zoo and  pony rides! Lucy was so excited to go and ride the pony. It was adorable and she talked about it for weeks after. 

The day before Halloween, my grandmas assisted living center had a little Halloween party. We couldn't actually be there for the party, but we stopped by early to visit her and show her the girls costumes. She was so happy to see us and as always, loved holding both girls on her lap and singing to them. 

 After visiting my grandma, we went up to Matt's new office to trick or treat around the building, the girls had fun getting candy and being in their costumes.. everyone thought Dottie was a boy in her lion costume, so on Halloween I added some pink bows to it so no one would be mistaken! haha Lucy LOVED being Ariel for halloween, and Dots made the cutest little lion around! :)

October

We are getting ready to go on our trip to see my parents! Our passports all came in the mail a few weeks ago and it made me more excited to go! We are counting the days!! 

We enjoyed conference weekend, as usual. The talks were all so inspiring and I really loved every single one. The older I get the more I appreciate the opportunity to hear our prophets speak at conference. It is such a special weekend, and I always learn so much! 

Matt got a new job at Tab Bank, as a program manager. He is really excited about it and looking forward to all the great opportunities that will come with it. Between finishing his time at SIG and starting at TAB we had a few days to hang out with him. We took the girls swimming and had so much fun! Lucy is a fish and didn't want to get out of the water. It was so fun spending a few days together! 

 After Lucy's first experience with food poisoning, she had her first birthday party to attend! Elsa came to the party and painted all the girls faces, each of them dressed up as a princess and it was the best day ever for her! She is still talking about it. On that same day, Dottie also had her first haircut! At 7 months, her hair HAD to be trimmed. She was growing strands that were quite a few inches long, so we trimmed it up into a cute little bob! Now I dont have to comb knots out of it every single second of every single day! :) 

 Lucy has been asking me for a few weeks now, to go and buy some pumpkins so our house will be all ready for Halloween! So two weeks ago we went to Packs Pumpkin Patch with Henry and Katie and found some adorable pumpkins for our house! Lucy loved picking out the pumpkins, riding the tractors and of course, hanging out with  Henry. She has so much fun, which made it worth it, because it was A LOT of work for me to do all by myself. Carrying a baby, a diaper bag, picking pumpkins and walking all over the dirt in the hot sun, wasn't exactly convenient. But she loved every minute, so I would do it over again and again! 

Lucy loves to make "beds" on the floor in the family room to watch movies together. So we hauled out every pillow and blanket we could find to watch a movie together. Lucy also decided on day that she wanted to start carrying Dottie on her shoulders. It sure is cute,  but a workout for whichever adult is holding dottie on. haha 

This sweet baby is kind of a tricky one. She really struggles with sleep and really struggles to take a bottle. Matt finally got her to drink a bottle a few nights ago and it was a serious miracle! Hopefully she will keep doing it. But even though she hardly sleeps, is a total mamas girl and always wants to be held, she is so so cute and when she is happy, she is so happy! We are so glad she is apart of our family!