Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas...

Christmas this year was hands down the best Christmas I can remember. Not for the presents but for the true meaning of Christmas... the joy of spending it with family.

The pure innocence of Christmas. One that is lost amongst most of us. During this time of year we forget how Christmas was before we knew Santa brought gifts. When just the thought of Santa alone was enough to bring joy. Before the stress of holiday shopping lines or how much money we're spending. When singing Christmas carols was fun even if we started in November. This is the innocence that was returned to me again by my two little babies. Innocence I hope we all hold on to forever.

I continue to wonder how it will all be next year. Will Kaylie still love to see and call Santa by name. Will Cavan's eyes still light up everytime we turn on the tree lights? Or will it all be overshadowed with gifts. I will certainly do my best to keep the true meaning alive because without it, the magic of Christmas will be lost.

Now don't get me wrong. It was fun to watch them dive into their toys under the tree. They were certainly blessed by family, friends, and of give the man in red this year.

Now my only question is now that Christmas is over, how will Kaylie cope with Santa being gone for a whole year? Perhaps we will keep one little one out all year round :) We hope you all had a very merry Christmas and look forward to the new year!

From our family to yours, may you all remember the magic of the holiday season.

Evil Kineival in Training

He gets around easier this way!

Someone get my Son a Safety Helmet Please!

Kaylie's the talker and he's the mover. He's just not satisfied sitting anymore. Although he's not quite stable on his feet and as much as I try to cushion his falls, sometimes I miss. Those times are not pleseant, but like a trooper he keeps on keepin on!

Guaranteed he will be walking shortly after the new year!

Kaylie on the other hand will just learn how to say "Move me" and that'll be her preferred method of transportation.

Santa!

He's Kaylie's new obsession.

Everyone Has a Wish...

So I typically try to keep my work separate from this blog, but I wanted to let all my readers know about a fundraiser I am having for the month of December. I'm calling it the "Everyone has a Wish" fundraiser.

"Everyone has a wish. This month Snips and Sugar wants to help a deserving few get the wish of a lifetime. We will be donating 10% of all proceeds to Make-A-Wish Foundation and hope to help make a wish come true."

I am donating 10% of all my proceeds for the month of December to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. My goal is to donate $100 and I am on my way there! So far I am at $10.70. If any of you are interested in donating, watching our progress, or just seeing what I've been up to please visit my website http://snipsandsugar.blogspot.com/

Also, anyone who donates (any amount, even a penny) will receive a custom design of their choice! I thank you all in advance!

Happy Holidays!

Fine Holiday Fun!

9 Months!

Wow! What a difference a month makes (or 9 for that matter). Cavan is crawling like a mad man and keeping me on my toes. Kaylie is now at the point Cavan was a couple of weeks ago where she army crawls and can sit herself back up. So I can only assume she will be crawling in time for Christmas. Thankfully they did not reach this milestone at the same time so I could dip my feet in and slowly acclimate rather than jump right in!

They are 100% on table food and formula now. They get their 3 (very occasionally 4) bottles a day and 3 meals. They pretty much love anything I put in front of them. My favorite food they eat? Cheerios! I don't know why, but ever since they were born I have looked forward to the day of giving them Cheerios to snack on. Maybe it's watching their tiny little fingers push them around until they get them just right. Maybe it's all those heartfelt Cheerios commercials I always saw growing up. Or maybe it's just one of my many personal milestones that mean nothing to anyone but me and make them that much more special.

Kaylie is still hanging strong with 2 teeth while Cavan, well I've kind of lost count. It seems like everytime I look in his mouth he's sprouting a new tooth. I believe he has 8 (6 fully in and 2 sprouting through). Let me tell you how much fun he's been. And guess what? I get to do it all again when Kaylie starts getting her teeth.

They are babbling all the time with each other, with their dogs, and with anyone around (or not around). They both say "More" for more food and "All Done" when they're done eating. I swear!

They are happy pretty much all the time (Well besides Cavan's little teething pain meltdowns). I envy the way they live their lives. So innocent. Every day is an adventure. Every sight is spectacular. Every taste is refreshing. Every song deserves a dance.

Thankful for So Much..

I have so much to be thankful for this year and was overjoyed this Thanksgiving. I loved watching my two little bundles as they feasted on turkey with all the fixings!

So here are a few of the things I am thankful for!

I am thankful for Kaylie's dance skills that always put a smile on anyones face...

I am thankful for my future weight loss now that Cavan does these two maneuvers...

I am thankful for the only 2 teeth Kaylie has, as she continues to use my shoulder and her fist as a chewie (Cavan has 7 for the record!)

I am thankful for happy, healthy babies this holiday season...

Most of all, I am thankful for being blessed with such a wonderful family and close friends who mean the world to me.

I hope your holidays are Merry and Bright!

For Your Entertainment

This is just a hodge podge (modge podge?), well it's a just a bunch of random things rolled into one post complete with pictures and video!

First off, we recently went to Cleveland to visit my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. I was a little nervous about how they would be on the flight, but I must say, they were absolutely perfect! Look at my big girl enjoying the plane!

Cavan fell asleep right before take-off and Kaylie waited until we hit some bad turbulence to let that rocking put her to sleep. But neither of them fussed once!

Now onto hair. Yes, Kaylie's hair. It is SO long now and I love it! This is what I have looked forward to since she was born...

Pig Tails and Pony Tails!!! How cute are these?? She loves having her hair brushed too although she's not always cooperative when I'm trying to put an elastic or bow in. But I keep on doing it because she looks way too cute!

Last weekend we too them to the park and put them in the swings. They weren't too thrilled. There was no laughing with excitement or joy.

Then I took Kaylie over to the slide and she was not impressed. But this is how they are with everything the first time around. Very hard to read, but then the next time they love it! Except when it comes to lemons...



So I'm sorry for the extremely random post, but it's 11:00 at night and I haven't updated in a while. So I think we're good with playing catch up.

Oh and for those of you who may remember I started my own custom photo creation business, Snips and Sugar, it is starting to take off and between that and the babies I have been very busy so I apologize if I don't get to update as much, but I will try to at least post pictures!

8 Months!

Ok so it's a little late, BUT I have a good excuse. We were traveling all weekend to Cleveland and Ryan and I BOTH ended up with the stomach bug! Needless to say, pictures on the exact day they turned 8 months, well they just didn't happen. Anyways I'm rambling, so cue the picture...

There is so much going on now that the twins are 8 months. Cavan is army crawling. He can get up on all fours but just rocks, but if you put something in front of him, he will army crawl to get it! Kaylie on the other hand has decided that rolling will continue to be her mode of transportation. But don't let her fool you, she if quick! They are also trying to pull themselves up and are stronger than I thought!

They are both saying "Mama", "Dada", and "Baba" and Cav also says "Gaga". They love to just talk and talk to me and anyone who will listen (or most of the time, themselves). 

They are also really getting into table foods. I've been trying new things with them and here is the breakdown; Likes: Pancakes,pulled pork, chicken, soup, noodles, puffs, yoghurt and yoghurt melts, and carrots.
Dislikes: Bananas (I think it's the texture), ground beef, and peas.

We're still experimenting with different things, but they love to feed themselves and its so fun to watch them do it. Kaylie never misses her mouth and Cavan gets the food in about 50% of the time, haha.

We ended up having to bring up some of my nephew's old toys because they just aren't interested in their old baby toys. We'll have to get them some of their own soon! Thank goodness for Christmas. I think Santa will be VERY good to them this year! I mean just look how well they play together...

The Terrible... 8 Months?

I know I like to think my babies are always advanced with everything, HOWEVER, they could have held out on this one. I'm pretty sure they think they're going on two because Kaylie has learned to throw a fit like the best of them and Cavan has become a maniac on the changing table!

A few examples, she likes to take Cavan's binkie away from him, pretty much whenever she can. Well he used to tolerate it, but now cries when she does it. So I've started taking it away from her, which she used to be fine with... until recently. Now when I take it away from her she responds by throwing herself back, kicking her legs, and screaming. Really, a temper tantrum at just about months? How is this even possible?

Another fun thing is she ONLY wants to be with me. Now don't get me wrong, I love her to pieces and love the fact that she feels safe and comfortable with me, but it breaks my heart when Ryan tries to hold her and she screams. I know the pediatrician said this would be a phase she would go through, I just hope it's not a long one. This is also the case when I try to put her down to, I don't know say, change her brother's diaper. She refuses to bend her legs to sit and arches her back and screams. She just wants me to hold her which wouldn't be as hard if I only had her, but Cavan needs attention too.

Now it's not only Kaylie who has been having all this fun. Cavan has become a little pill when getting changed. The second I lay him down he's trying to flip over, kicks his legs, wiggles his arms, and tries to take nose dives off the changing table. This has resulted in few diaper changes that end very poorly with both of us needing a bath after. I have also mastered putting a diaper on him while he is on his tummy. Needless to say, I'm pretty much sweating after every diaper or clothing change!

There is definitely a reason they make babies so cute! I mean how can you be mad at these little people?

Happy Halloween

Ok first, Thank you so much to Jess over at Taking it One Step at a Time for featuring me this week on her Follow Friday segment! You should check it out!

And now... Let's Dance!



This was Kaylie last night breaking it down for all of us. Unfortunately she has not only inherited her Daddy's bed head hair, but also his signature dance move. At least she's still cute doing it! She cracks me up sometimes!

All in a Day...

Things are still busy over on this end! I mean just look at all we have to do during the day:

Brother/Sister Playtime

Dance parties

Smiling

Practicing good oral hygiene

LAUNDRY!

Not to mention teething, coloring, and SO much more! They are too much these days. Kaylie claps at everything except when she's having a moment and wants nobody but me! Cavan is still teetering on crawling, I think he's holding out to save my sanity! They are slowly starting to eat table foods. They feed themselves Puffs and yesterday tried pulled pork and LOVED it!

Also, in case you were concerned, I'm not trying to jinx myself, (Got it universe?) but the twins seem to be feeling SO much better! I think part of Cav's fussiness was also the fact that his top tooth is breaking through! Those hurt!

Oh and a little news on my end. I'm sure many of you are familiar with The Pioneer Woman , if not, you need to check her out. She is absolutely amazing! Well she has these photo editing contests every so often and I will usually enter just for fun. Well get this, one of my photo edits was chosen as a semi-finalist! I KNOW! Check it out here, mine is the one that says by Lilibaby221. I am beyond excited. Mind you there were over 131,000 entries which she has narrowed down to about 50 semi-finalists. The winners usually get a gift card to a photography store, which would be amazing to win, so keep your fingers crossed for me :) Also, I've really been working hard to get my business going, so please check it out and tell your friends!

That's all for now!

The Universe is Against Me...

So it happened. I jinxed myself. That same day I told you all the twins were doing better, the universe decided to throw a wrench into that idea. We took them out to dinner and as soon as we got home and I took Cavan out of his car seat, he started projectile vomiting all over me and the floor. It was lovely. Thankfully it was a one time deal and he seemed ok after.

Now I would love to tell you how they are doing, but I'm afraid if I do it will just be the opposite later on. So for now, it's a mystery!

I Hate Socks...

So its been a while since I've updated and I couldn't think of a title that fit the full update so I put exactly what I'm thinking at this moment... I hate socks, baby socks that is! They NEVER stay on between them just falling off or my babies pulling them off themselves, they're pretty much rendered useless in this house!

Anywho, I digress and move on to the update!

Well the reason I've been a bit MIA is I've actually started up my own photo editing and custom photo creations business! I'm very excited about it and have been working really hard to get it exactly where I want it. It's a lot of work so between spending every second my babies a re awake with them and working on the business while they sleep, you can imagine how my time has been pretty well filled! If you get the time, please visit my website at http://snipsandsugar.blogspot.com and my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Snips-and-Sugar Thank you!!

Last week was also a crazy week for all of us. We were ALL sick! It was absolutely no fun at all. AND to top it off, they were teething as well. So the chaos was at a level orange last week teetering on red. I'm feeling much better this week and the twins, well they're getting there. It's really only a cold for them, but I think the runny noses are driving them crazy (mainly me sucking the boogs out every chance I get)! So far they seem to be in better spirits, so I'm just hoping I'm not jinxing myself by saying it!

Let's see, what else has been going on? Well in a couple of weeks we will be taking the twins on their second plane ride! We heading off to see their uncle, aunt, and cousin in Ohio! Hopefully we learned some tips from the first flight to know how to be even more organized and in control this time around!

Oh I almost forgot! Not only does Kaylie say "Mama", but she says "Dada" too! AND Cavan says Mama too now, just not for the camera!

So I think that catches you all up on the goings on of this house!

Mama....Oooohhh..

So this weekend Kaylie said her first word. Just watch!

MAMA! This time there is no mistaking it, she said mama! Although I'm wondering if this is how she will say every word, with an Elvis lip curl and a touch of growl. Either way, I still think it's the sweetest thing to hear your child call for you.

Also the twins went to their first parade yesterday! They had so much fun, although they both slept through pretty much the whole thing! Well Cavan did sleep through the whole parade, Kaylie woke up for the last 45 minutes! The weather was perfect and the crowd let us get right up front so the twins could see! Their cousin Ben came with us too and it was his first parade. He's a couple years older so I think he may have enjoyed it a bit more. He stayed awake for it all at least! All in all it was a great time we got to spend as a family!