441 Days

I've got a couple of pictures from yesterday and a TON from the Christmas party that we took the girls to today.

Lucy started crying and this is how Arianna calmed her down

Grandma and her girls yesterday evening

This morning, Jon and I took Arianna and Lucy to a little Christmas party on base. Arianna enjoyed this one MUCH more then she did the Veteran's Day event as there was a lot more to do and it was much more appropriate for younger children (the Veteran's Day event was better for elementary school aged children). There were crafts, a story and gift from Santa, candy canes, and then a free lunch!

The kids did crafts with stickers and stamps while they waited for Santa to arrive

Santa's here! He was a really nice Santa Clause and awesome with the kids.




Arianna showing him her picture. I was really surprised that she wanted to go up to him as she's usually so shy about talking to strangers. She followed him around the rest of the time that we were there too showing him all of the pictures that she made. (And yay for the lady wearing her baby in the background!)




High five!


Story time with Santa








This is actually the second time Arianna has talked to Santa. She also saw him at the mall when she went to the movies with her Grandma on Monday. She's consistent and she's asked both Santa's for a Dora the Explorer doll in a blue dress.


Lucy joins the fun (and sleeps right through it)!








In addition to her Dora doll, she also asked Santa for a rattle for Lucy.




This would have been a really awesome picture if Arianna hadn't been so distracted by the candy cane, however it's still going to be the girls' 2010 Santa picture. I'm thankful that we were able to see Santa on base because now I don't have to take them to the mall and pay $20 for a low quality picture (since they never allow you to take your own pictures unless you buy a package) ;)


More crafty stuff while waiting for lunch


Daddy and Lucy. Jon was the only dad at today's event. I love New Baby Leave!

After the Christmas party, I dropped Jon back off at the house and picked up my mom to run some errands. We did a ton of shopping in Stafford and then went up to Woodbridge for lunch (mmm, Mexican food). We got back to the house a little before 4pm and there was a REALLY nice surprise waiting for me:

ERGO Baby Carrier from Jon's Uncle Peter and Aunt Erma!

I have been wanting this carrier for months now and just hadn't gotten around to purchasing it because something else always needed to be purchased first. I was SO excited when Jon brought the box over! This is going to make things so much easier with the two kids especially while we're out and about. I hate leaving Lucy in her carseat while we're shopping, but it would have been really hard to carry her while pushing a cart or stroller (which I need to use if Arianna happens to fall asleep in the car because she's way too heavy for me to carry). It also allows me to carry Lucy and still be hands free to cook and do things around the house which is great because Lucy is proving to be a lot like Arianna in the sense that she doesn't like to be put down for long. I'm incredibly thankful for this. Such an awesome and perfect gift!