Breakfast with Santa

 Our ward had a breakfast with Santa this morning.  The girls have been so excited since we heard about it last Sunday.  Ashlyn said she's a little scared of Santa, but she was very brave.  She was a little hesitant at first- well actually, so was Rylee!- but she warmed up to him.  She even got to ring Santa's bells.  They saw Santa at the mall last week, but I didn't take my camera so we didn't get pictures.  So I'm glad our ward did this so we could get pictures!

 Ashlyn loved Santa's bells!

 

The Past Couple of Weeks

 Instead of trying to do these separate, I just decided to put all these pictures together.

Ashlyn got a new bed (it's my mom's old bed).  She was very excited to have a Tinker Bell bed in her Tinker Bell room. (Right after we finally decorated Ashlyn's room with Tinker Bell, she shared a room with Rylee!)  Rylee was excited too.  So that first night we got it together, they were both going to sleep in it.  They have been sharing Rylee's queen bed for a few months.  But Ashlyn is a stinker and fights sleep like crazy.  She likes to stay awake in the dark and talk and sing and whatever else she can find to do while poor Rylee is trying to sleep.  So we thought this would be great.  So they both started in Ashlyn's bed, but then Rylee couldn't take it anymore and went to her bed.  Then shortly after that Ashlyn decided she would rather be with Rylee in her bed. So they both ended up sleeping in Rylee's bed again.  So we tried for a few more nights to get Ashlyn to sleep in her bed and Rylee in hers, but it hasn't happened.  Rylee doesn't mind sleeping alone, but I guess Ashlyn would rather sleep with Rylee.  Maybe we'll try again later or not!

 We had Thanksgiving Dinner at Myrt and Grandpa's with my mom, dad, Cory, Laura, and Larry.  It was wonderful of course!  But we were kind of sad to be missing out on leftovers, so Matt cooked a turkey the next day and we had our own Thanksgiving.  It wasn't quite the same as Myrt's, but Matt did a great job on the turkey!

 Rylee is a goofball-

I don't know where she got the idea, 

but she made some beaver teeth.

 Then she thought the teeth would be better with a mustache- crazy girl!

 Rylee especially loved the turkey- and the turkey leg!

 I love how Ashlyn was just relaxing on the couch as she was coloring!

 Ashlyn made a "huge tower!"  

She was so excited- it was as tall as she was!

Another Artist in the Family

 Ashlyn has started to show great interest in art just like Rylee.  And I made the mistake once of letting her use markers so now that's all she wants to use!  Her hands are usually colored because of it!  She also likes to use the scissors to cut out her pictures.  I don't let her use them a lot, but she's actually pretty good at cutting!  It's so fun to see the things she wants to draw and see her interpretation of things.  She likes to draw people with their favorite color.  So if she doesn't already know their favorite color, she'll ask me what it is so she can use the right color.  Most days the first thing she says to me is, "Mommy, can I draw?"  I love that they are both so artistic and I love that Rylee is such a good example for Ashlyn to follow!  She must be drawing herself in these pictures because she's using blue!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Harry Potter

Ashlyn is still in her Harry Potter stage.  We started watching the movies this summer I think  (or longer) and she still wants to watch at least one every day!  With the last one just coming out, we were able to get a good deal on the whole set.  (We didn't own any a couple of weeks ago- we were borrowing from Hailey.)  But I was able to get the first seven movies for $4 each and then the last one we got on DVD and BluRay for $8.  We don't even have a bluray, but we had a gift card so we splurged!  So we got the whole set for $36!!  So Ashlyn is in heaven!  Both girls have watched all of them- there are some parts that scare them a little but they still love to watch them.  Ashlyn makes us play Harry Potter and she gives us all characters to play- her favorite character is Ron!  And it's never just Harry- it has to be Harry Potter!  It's been a while since I've read all of the books so it's been fun to watch the movies again and get back into it again with them.  She draws pictures of them too! The picture of her picture isn't that great, but first is Harry, then Ron, and then Hermione.  She thinks Harry's favorite color is blue, Ron's is green, and Hermione's is purple.  She's obsessed with everybody having a favorite color now too! 

Jerika and Cosette

 The girls have had so much fun with their cousins, Jerika and Cosette.  It's a good thing Cosette is such a good baby because the girls want to hold her and carry her all the time!  Ashlyn has always loved babies, but Rylee also has a new love for babies!  I started seeing it when we saw cousin Avila at Erin's wedding.  All Rylee wanted to do was hold her too.  So fun!

 I had to put on all of these pictures because they all had to take a turn smiling and looking- just not at the same time! 

So here is Jerika's turn.

 And Rylee's.

 And lastly, Ashlyn's- just as the rest thought we were done.  

Better late than never, I guess!

Princesses

 Ashlyn wants to wear her "princess dress" almost every day.  And then Rylee decided she needed to wear one too.  We don't have too many red dresses, so the red shoes don't really match.  But they are sparkly so they're princess shoes! 

 We were watching Dancing with the Stars this day, so Rylee is also dancing!