The girls are 11 months old today! I don't think they are doing anything too different than the last post. They are definitely standing up on their own for long periods of time. They aren't walking though. That is really fine by me :) They are busy enough as crawlers. Delanie is doing the backwards wave when we say hello and bye bye. Pop and Granny are working on pointing out eyes and such and they get it sometimes, but then they usually forget it right away :)

We took our first walk of the year last Friday and used our new wagon. They really enjoyed it. It is so much fun to get them outside and watch them look all over the place. I can't wait for warm weather!

I went to the Hearts at Home Conference on Friday. It is a 2 day conference for moms who stay at home. It was really good! There were some awesome speakers, and I felt really refreshed when it was time to start the next busy day at home.

Scott is blessed to still be employed, and we are thankful. I have those in my prayers that have lost their job during this tough time. I can't imagine the stress it must put on you, please know I pray for you every prayer time I have.

Well, that is it for now. The next post will probably be their 1st birthday!!!

I have attached some pics I took today. Natalie is battling a cold or allergies, we are not sure. So, these pics aren't the best ever... but this is how they look at 11 months.

Oh, and I added a couple more videos to our You Tube page for those that are interested.

TTFN

Tiger is 3!

Since this blog is for the Nichols' Family, I have to include our dog! He turned 3 on Saturday. So we put on our party hats, had some doggy birthday cake and had a great time :) Happy Birthday Tiger!

To all who are interested, I have been uploading our videos to You Tube. It's easier to use and view from there. Just go to this link, http://www.youtube.com/nichosd1, and you can watch videos if you like!

10 months (and 4 days old)!

My girls are 10 months old! They are getting so big and are all over the place. Thank goodness we have a small house. I close all the doors and just let them go. Delanie has only eaten dog food 3 times and gotten into Tiger's puppy pads twice :) Those are pretty good odds considering how busy she is. Natalie started crawling in January and is just as busy. She isn't as curious, but she is a fast little crawler. Her favorite place is the fridge. As soon as I open that door she is in there looking for something to grab. Like mother like daughter, I guess :)

They are pulling themselves up on everything. They are even starting to let go and stand on their own for a couple of seconds. Then they realize what they are doing and grab onto something. I've also started giving them table food and letting them feed themselves. Talk about messy! It has caused some trauma for Natalie as she does not like change, but she is doing better. They seem to learn something new every day, and it amazes me. Delanie was dancing the other day. I have no idea where she got that from. I know it is a simple thing, but it is so funny how they discover things like that on their own. Natalie started dancing today, too. She has watched her sister do it enough and has figured it out. Daddy bought them a dog that sings and dances for valentines day and they love it. Well, at first Natalie did not. She is ok w/ him now :)

Today when I went in to get the girls after a good night of sleep, I noticed Natalie had somehow gotten completely out of her pajamas. She was standing up in her crib in her diaper. Only 2 buttons were undone on her PJs. I have no idea how that happened, but it was pretty funny!

Just wanted to upload some pics of the girls in all their Christmas gear. They have too much of it, but I couldn't resist. Not too many new things to report on them. Natalie still sits most of the time. She is flipping on her tummy if she has to. No huge advances in crawling. That's OK though. She is good at other stuff, like being cute. Plus, I would only like to deal with one mobile child at a time! Delanie is doing well with the crawling. She came all the way down the hall to see me tonight. She claps when I say yeah, she is putting food in her mouth, understands patty cake, and loves to play peek-a-boo. This is all stuff I've noticed this week. She has been saying something along the lines of 'Pop' and 'Bye-Bye'. Or, she could just be saying 'babababa', and we make it into something it isn't :) Natalie does say 'MaMaMa' when she wants something. Natalie is pretty funny about the stuff she sees Delanie do. Today, Delanie was taking some food out of my hand and putting it into her mouth. Every time she did it, I would say 'Yeah!' and clap my hands. So then it became a thing after every bite, Delanie would smile and clap. Natalie noticed I wasn't clapping when she ate the food out of my hand (she bends over and sucks it off of my hand). So she picked up the food and tried and tried to put it in her mouth. I would try to help, and she would jerk her hand away. Then she dropped it. I put another in my hand, and she just bent over and sucked it off my hand again. It was pretty funny. It was like she was saying, 'Eh clap for her. I just want to eat.' They are just so much fun right now. It is really a joy to be home with them.

Hope you all enjoy Christmas this year and remember the true Reason for the Season!

Rotating Tree

It took me a bit longer than usual, but I got my house completely decorated last week. I added a new addition to my tree this year. A rotating base! Yes, that's right. My tree rotates. I decided to make a video of it so you can all see it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I say Happy Thanksgiving, but we've already been to see Santa! I thought it be best to get that trip over with before Thanksgiving. I didn't know what to expect from the girls. I wasn't sure if they would respond well to him or not. They did ok. No huge smiles. More like a deer caught in the headlights kind of thing. But the pic turned out cute. I have to comment on St. Nick though. We went to the one at Northwoods, and he was not that friendly! He almost seemed irritated w/ us. I don't know, maybe I had too many expectations for their first Santa Claus visit. Those of you who know me well, know I LOVE Christmas and Santa and all that. So I have been so excited to see them sit on his lap. Now I am realistic an didn't expect them to be all in love w/ him, but I did expect him to be a bit nicer to the girls. He was just grouchy. And now it costs to see Santa?? We paid $20 to have the girls sit on his lap and get 8 pictures. I asked if we had to buy the pics, and she said it was recommended. Well what do you say to that??? So we bought them. I did take a couple of my own as well. OK, enough complaining!

The girls are changing all the time! Natalie was our wild child and has really seemed to calm down. She sits up really well, and that's all she seems to want to do.... sit. If she falls backwards while sitting, she just lays there and watches TV. That is so different than how she used to be. Delanie is all over the place. If you lay her on her back she immediately flips over and then scoots all over the place. She is sooo close to crawling. Our house is not ready for that! They are sleeping better these days. I usually get one full night of sleep, then the next night someone wakes up. At least they are giving me some sort of a break :)
OK, that's all for now. Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Day before Halloween

I tried to get these to show up in my previous blog, but they wouldn't work. These are their little outfits from the day before Halloween. The shirts are from Grandma Jody and the bows are from mommy :)