Little Girls...

This afternoon Isabelle and Calista came over for a quick visit. It was fun having a house full of four little girls. You could just feel the "pinkness" of the moment. They had a fabulous time playing. I simply sat, obsersed and folded laundry. Truly it was entertaining. Isabelle was busy cooking for us and made it perfectly clear that everything she did was pretend. My favorite was, "I am pretend cooking, so don't touch the pretend stove because it is pretend hot." Only out of the mouths of babes, right? Too cute.

Danyka was very busy trying to mother Calista. I'll admit that was the most exhausting part. I had to remind her over and over and over....did I say over and over...to give Calista some space and that she was happy with the toys she already had. It really was sweet and I know she was trying to be helpful. Danyka and Whitney could barely hold their excitement today when I told them that we were going to watch Calista this afternoon. They had both forewarned me that they would be big helpers. Whitney particularly enjoyed making the June doll dance for Calista. Fortunately that was a big hit.

Life is definitely easier now with a 3 year old and almost 5 year old. It's amazing to watch them interact with other children and usually it's enjoyable for them and me. Today was one of those days. Girls are so much fun!

Sneaky!

About 5 minutes ago Scott announced that it was bedtime for the girls. They know that they can get a quick sip of water and then it's time to head upstairs for the usual routine.
After finishing her water, Danyka came to me and asked if she could put pajamas on her doll that is going to sleep with her tonight. I said no because it was time to go to bed right now. She should have thought about that earlier. So little miss sneaky pants went over to her daddy, who was putting some stuff away in the closet and said, "Daddy, I have to tell you a secret." She then proceeded to whisper in his ear, "Can I go put pajamas on my doll real quick?" Fortunately he was there to hear our conversation and he responded, "Didn't you and Mommy just have this discussion?" She slyly remarked, "Yes, but I was hoping you would make the decision."
Scott then explained to Danyka why this behavior was unacceptable and that Mommy and Daddy have the same rules. So if this is her thought process at four, I can only imagine life 10 years from now. She's one bright little girl.

Experimenting...

The past few weeks have been marked with busyness, like most days around here, but I've been fortunate enough to find a few blips of time here and there to create. I'll admit that the urge to create has not yet escaped me, but at least I got my fill for a while.

Although I have no background in sewing, I thought it would be fun to try my hand at dress making. I found a simple pattern for a pillowcase dress online and bought fabric at JoAnns to make the girls a different dress. I don't think I would really enjoy being a seamstress but it was at least a fun experiment. And please don't forget...but in the Burrill house, where there is a dress, there is a matching or coordinating bow.

I also had to come up with a brilliant plan to adorn Whitney with her class animal for preschool next year. The animal is terribly cute yet incredibly difficult to find on children's clothing or really in much of anything. So I decided that if I couldn't find fabric to make a dress or a some other article of clothing, I would at least have to come up with an idea for a hair bow...hence the sculpey clay Orca. Whitney will be a Little Orca next year. She is so excited. (I must admit that I found a similar clay Orca online that I tried to reproduce.)

The most recent craft of late didn't come with great inspiration. I simply thought it turned out cute. A friend of a friend called me last night and asked me if I could make a hair bow for her daughter's cheer try-outs this weekend. This is what I came up with. I love fancy bows. Hopefully she will like it.

I'm looking forward to my next crafting adventure. I'm sure it's lurking just around the corner. Finding or coming up with craft ideas is simple; finding the time to create is a bit more challenging.

Sisters

In our house you will find many pairs of toys. They don't always look identical, but they are basically the same. Frequently Danyka has the pink version (her favorite color) and Whit's is blue (her favorite color). I thought it was pretty cute this last week when Whitney concluded that she wanted her hair to look just like her sister's. Danyka had hers cut short on Sunday. I knew that Whit's needed a trim as well but I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted done. Although, like the toys, they aren't identical...they are basically the same.

I love these little girls and it's a blessing to watch them grow up together. I see many years of laughter and silliness in our future.

Thanks to DeAnna who took this darling picture along with many others. You've got to love the fancy holiday dresses...and of course they must have a bow to match.

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe it's already the middle of February. I remember telling people in December that we should try to get together in January when things slowed down. Hmmm....that hasn't happened yet. Fortunately I think we've all enjoyed being busy. Every now and then we need a break, but overall life has been really good.

The girls are doing great and continue to enjoy spending most of their time together. Danyka is now enrolled for Kindergarten at the public school down the street. What a crazy thought! We won't find out what track she will be on until the end of May or early June. We also signed Whitney up for Preschool next year. Both Danyka and Whitney are still enjoying their dance classes. They will participate in their first recital in July. We're looking forward to it.

Scott and I have been keeping busy with lots of extracurricular activities. We still attend a couples Bible study on Tuesday nights and have been blessed with great friendships and fellowship. Just over a month ago, we committed to helping out with the college group. It is a great group of students. We meet on Thursday nights and often find ourselves spontaneously getting together with students at other times during the week.

I am also kept busy with my Heart 2 Heart commitments and my gym membership. My favorite class at the gym is Zumba. It's especially fun when friends are there to laugh with.

Unfortunately I haven't been great about getting the camera out lately. I have snapped a few random shots and then I took quite a few pictures on Valentine's Day. Scott and I had a blast taking the girls to see High School Musical on Ice. The best part was the girls' reactions. "Wow!" "Awesome!"

January and February have been fun and busy. No longer will I tell people, "Let's get together next month when things slow down." I don't see things slowing down for a while. Now when we want to hang out, we just have to find a date and mark it on the calendar.

It's the Most Wonderful and Craziest Time of the Year...

Merry Christmas friends and family!

I can hardly believe that Christmas is only 6 days away. This has definitely been our busiest holiday season since kids. My classic comment over the past two months is that it looks like someone threw up on our calendar. It seems like every little square has been filled in. Despite being somewhat overbooked, we have enjoyed a number of memory making events.

For Thanksgiving, we visited the Burrill side of the family in San Jose. We even snapped a bunch of family photos, which I will say went much more smoothly than I had anticipated. The cousins had fun playing together and the weather was beautiful. Of course we ate more than our fair share of food, but who didn't?

Normally I wouldn't post picture of the girls' artwork, but the turkeys were sentimental. After Thanksgiving we put out our Christmas decorations, which logically meant putting the Thanksgiving ones away. I know I'm a horrible mother, but I told the girls we had to get rid of the turkeys and that we could make new ones next year. Danyka was devastated. I think she's mostly over it now, but I informed Scott that we were not going to create Future Pack Rats of America. Yes, I am a bit of a minimalist.

Last week had a fabulous time visiting my parents in Colorado. Since we are staying home for Christmas this year, we decided to visit in mid December and help my dad celebrate his 60th birthday. Since our birthdays are only three days apart, we got to celebrate mine as well. It was great spending time with the family.

While we were in Colorado Whitney had her ears pierced. She cried briefly, but she's been excited to show off her ears ever since. We let her pick out her earrings and we were quite happy with her choice. You never know what is brewing in a 2 1/2 year old's mind.

For Granddad's birthday we visited the North Pole amusement park in Colorado springs. Danyka and Whitney loved wearing Grandma's scarves. We had to wear lots of layers because it was VERY cold.

Whitney loved visiting Santa and even asked if he could join us on the rides. She would have sat with him all day long. Danyka thought she wanted to see Santa but she was overcome with fear when given the opportunity to sit with him. As you can see, there is no picture of Dany and Santa.

Most of the rides were geared toward small children but Granddad was glad he had the opportunity to sit with Whitney on the carousel and Danyka on the old fashioned cars. We all had a great day.

On Sunday, the day before we left, a storm hit. By the time we went outside to play, there was plenty of fresh snow and it was a whopping -8 degrees outside. As you can imagine, we didn't last very long. I'm glad there was a little snow because both girls stood in awe of the crystalized snowflakes that fell from the sky.

As soon as we arrived back home, life's reality set in once again. The next morning Scott and I joined Whitney for her last Mommy and Me dance class. She is such a ham. Although she won't be 3 until March, she will start in the 3 year old class come January. She is little miss independent and she is ready to move on without mommy.

The following night we packed up the family and headed to the church for Danyka's preschool Christmas performance. It was precious. This year she stood on risers and was particularly careful not to fall. Our favorite part was when Whitney yelled hi to her sister who then responded by saying, "Hi Whitney, I'm on the stage." So cute!

Last night Danyka had her final dance class for the fall session. She is learning a lot and it is a joy to watch her doing something she loves. She did not participate in the fall recital but we are hoping both she and Whitney will in the spring. I have to admit that I like watching the tap more than the ballet. It's so amusing.

Although this blog has been long, it is only a glimpse of what has taken place over the past few weeks. We are looking forward to a less busy calendar next month but we are anxiously awaiting Christmas morning. The girls are so excited and that makes the holidays so much fun. Danyka is really beginning to understand the true meaning of Christmas. It is so tender to see Jesus from a Child's perspective.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I'm sure I won't get around to blogging again for a while.

PURE Entertainment!

As stated in earlier blogs, our house seems to be all things princess. When my mom came to visit several months ago, she was fully entertained by the girls dancing to the music from one of the Barbie movies. The funniest part is how particular they are about their dance moves and who gets to sing what. I have to admit that you don't get the full effect from this video, but we still think it's pretty cute.

I also thought since I hadn't posted in a while that I would include some pictures from Halloween. They seem to suit this post just fine because the girls wore the same costumes for Halloween as they did in this video. Our evening was a blast. We spent about 30 minutes at our church Harvest festival, ate a quick meal at On the Border and then we went trick-or-treating in our court. Whitney kept saying, "Look at all my trick or treats." So cute!