And the Rest of December

And here's the rest of our month.

Sorry for the frazzled posts lately.  Our days are a little busy, our nights are a little too short, and I am a little tired.  But at least there's pictures!

A few weeks ago Tim took Brinlee out for her first official Daddy-Daughter date. She got to choose the activity, and she chose to go to the pet store to play with the puppies.  Such a kid choice.  Tim said she spent the whole time giggling and kept saying "Merry Kwipiss puppy!"  I love these two together (Tim and Brin, not the dog)!  Every girl needs a good daddy, and he certainly is a good daddy!

Speaking of daddy time, Miss McKenna is starting to be awake more and tends to smile really well for Tim!  I am still trying to catch one on camera, hopefully soon. But it would seem we might have another daddy's girl in the making.  

Hate how big she is already, but love those big blue eyes!

Brinlee looks bigger and bigger all the time too.  She has quite a mind of her own and is getting very creative.  Legos are still a favorite, and we find her clever little creations everywhere!

She falls to sleep every night with a big stack of books, even if her bed had no books in it when we tucked her in. She loves to read!

She also loves to be in jammies. It's a fight to get her dressed and most days, it's not a fight that is worth it to me.  She does wear them out though.  They are starting to look a little too loved.

We've had a ladybug infestation.  I am finding them everywhere!

This little girl hates, and I repeat hates, tummy time!  It's usually just a few seconds of "aww..." and then several minutes of "AHHHH!"  Poor Brinlee can't stand it.  While the baby screams, Brinlee hollers "Oh no McKenna, mommy peas help her!  She don't like it!"  It's not the most relaxing part of our day. Well, at least until she gives up and sleeps.  Real effective exercise (insert sarcastic thumbs up).

I had planned to do a 12 days of Christmas thing to countdown to Christmas Eve.  I had picked out 12 festive activities to do with Brilnee or as a family, one for every day kind of deal.  Then we got sick... and that was that.  We did get through a few though.  We did go look at Christmas lights, we did attempt to tell the nativity story (not at all a spiritual experience, the toddler was a little to antsy to sit for that, better luck next year), we did do a Christmas craft, and we did make sugar cookies.  Not too bad I guess.

This is the face of fever.  Poor thing.  It only lasted a few days though, and McKenna never caught it.  Success!

And the biggest Borup news:

This girl is potty trained!!!

She is so proud of herself, and we are loving it!  More about that to come later.

Merry Kwippis

I have a few Christmas pictures here.

I'm too tired to be wordy. And given that the photos are always the funnest part anyway, I'll just keep the captions short and leave it at that.

Brinlee spent the whole month smiling.  She could not wait for "Merry Kwippis Day" to come.  It was darling.

She was in love with our count down.  She loves candy.  Like mother like daughter  :)

She also loves cookies.  The shirt says it all.  Santa's lucky there were any left.

There really is snowbody cuter than this baby!

Love these ladies!!

This was our first Christmas with just our little family.  We did a ham and cheesy potato dinner and ate to candle light for Christmas Eve, and then on Christmas morning we tried our hand at fruit crepes.  It was really kind of nice.  And tasty!

Christmas morning!

Brinlee got all her favorite characters, both in toy and jammie form.  She was in heaven.

McKenna got a couple passies and some toys... and then she slept through everything.  Good girl!  

It was weird to be away from family.  But we had a marvelous Christmas!  It was fun to be with each other and start some traditions of our own.  

We have felt so blessed this last year and are so grateful for our Savior and for our charmed life!   

Hope everyone had a dazzling Christmas!

As Seen On Pinterest

My photographer-wanna-be self thought it would be fun to try (emphasis on "try") to get some Christmas photos of the girls.  But I have no idea what I'm doing.  So I consulted the source of all information about everything. Pinterest.

Pinterest is awesome!  People post all kinds of super cute stuff on there and make it look really simple.  A few minutes browsing Pinterest and you're ready to try just about anything.  At least, that's what I do  :)  I found a couple posts about this cute idea using christmas lights as a backdrop, did some quick reading, and, having become an expert, went ahead and tried my hand at it.  Tim was convinced it would be yet another "Pinterest Fail".  I have had several of those.  It didn't turn out quite like all the tutorials showed (big surprise), but it was fun.  And these girls sure are cute anyway!

Hope you have a dazzling Christmas!

Snack Sneaking

And now, I will turn the keyboard over to our guest blogger, Brinlee.

Hi everybody! This is Binny and today I am going to be running you through the how to's of effectively sneaking snacks.  I'm awesome and am getting really good at it. Are you ready?  OK!  We'll start with the baked goods.

Step 1: Find a time when mom or dad aren't in the kitchen.
Step 2: Get a good feel for the distance between the floor and the stove top
Step 3: Pull out as many pots and pans as you like and stack them up to the height you need
Step 4: Climb on top of the stacked pans 
Step 5: Eat the frosting off the cinnamon rolls as fast as you can before dad comes in 
Step 6: Act really cute so that dad gets the camera out instead of putting you in time out

And there you have it!  It's that easy.  Next, let's talk candy.  Here's how to get a candy cane from the Christmas tree you have been told over and over not to touch.  This one's a little more tricky.

Step 1: Play really sweetly and quietly in the living room while mom goes to the kitchen to start some dinner.
Step 2: Continue the innocent play until she has checked on you 2 or 3 times.  This will ease the feeling of unrest she gets when you are so quiet and buy you a little more alone time
Step 3: Find a candy cane hanging within reach and pull it off the tree
Step 4: Take your treat and climb underneath the tree as far back in the corner as you can 
Step 5: Open candy cane and begin crunching as fast as you can
Step 6: When you are discovered, be honest and super cute and show and tell mom exactly what you are doing.  She'll find this funny and also pull out the camera, allowing you more candy eating time before she takes it away.

Well I think that is all for now.  If you have any questions send them my way.  After all, I am becoming quite an expert.

Good luck with your snack sneaking and I will see you next time!

One Month Later

Yes, Little Miss McKenna is one whole month old.

(Well, 5 weeks and 4 days today to be totally exact... but who's counting?)

I can't believe it!
She seems to have already changed so much.  The newborn stuff is all gone.  She feels SO big!  Why do they have to grow so stinkin' fast??

My amateur photography skills really don't do her any justice. But she is such a beautiful angel and has been so much fun!  At her one month appointment last Tuesday she weighed in at a whopping 9lb 12oz, and was 22 inches long. She's on to the next clothes size up! She loves her passie, hates tummy time, and is warming up to bath time.  She loves to cuddle, but so far does't love to be bundled. She wants those arms free! She eats all the time, has an impressive scream, snores when she sleeps, and blows poop out of her diaper at least once a day.  Such a lady.

She is the perfect little chunk. She is awake quite a bit now, is trying to interact some, and is starting to flash more smiles.  We love that, Brinlee especially!  She makes sure she informs me every time baby sister's eyes are open and giggles every time she thinks McKenna is looking at her.  I've actually been surprised how sweet Brinlee has been with her.  She's still a little too nervous to really want to hold McKenna, but she loves to be close to her, loves to touch her, loves to share with her (read: loves to put toys and snacks on McKenna's belly or in her chair with her), loves to talk to her, gets really sad when McKenna is upset, and wants McKenna to be wherever she is. It's darling!  Here are a few tender moments from the last 5 weeks.

Oh we are loving this baby, loving these sisters, and LOVING being a family of 4!