A Tale of Two Turkeys

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week at Grammy and Papa Smith's house. The girls loved every second of it and didn't want to leave. Grammy and Papa got them new big girl air mattresses to sleep on instead of pack n plays. The girls loved bouncing and rolling all over them. The crack between the two beds seemed to be the best part.

Of course, Riley was once again into dressing up and playing mommy to her baby. I think that she was starting to feel the stresses of motherhood in this picture. Those darn kids always need something. :) Also, notice Sanna in the background playing with her beloved Weebles.

Grammy and Papa were nice enough to watch the girls on Saturday while Ryan and I went to a soccer game in Chicago. Apparently wrestle mania broke out in the evening. Here Riley has a frustrated Sanna pinned down for the count. At first I thought that this was a loving sister moment captured on camera, but then I could see the glimmer of mischief in Riley's eyes, and the look of desperation in Sanna's. I'm certain that Sanna eventually got her revenge with a cheap shot or two.

The girls are obsessed with two things: the cats, Clinton and Cleo, and hide and seek. This is Sanna's idea of an ingenious hiding spot. If she closes her eyes and puts her head inside of something no one will ever find her. It is a perfect recipe for invisibility.

Poor Cleo had her house ransacked by the crazy twins AGAIN. Poor cat, there is no hiding from them. I'm sure that the Smith animals all breathe a collective sigh of relief as we exit the house. :)

Thanks to all of Grammy and Papa's hard work, Thanksgiving was a success and, once again, reminded us of all of the things that we have to be thankful for, especially family and laughter.

Magnetic Personalities

Fun with Learning

After the successful use of our zoo membership this spring/summer, we decided the invest in a children's museum membership for the winter. Now that the kids are 2, they get charged everywhere we go. I miss those glory days where they could even fly for free. We look forward to much more museum fun. Its great during the weekdays, there is noone there. The play room could entertain our kids for hours. And, there is a carousel.

Grand Rapids Fun!

I am taking over the blogging, yet again, since Ryan has been slacking. It's as if he thinks that he has a job or something:) Last weekend we headed to Grand Rapids for some much needed bonding time with Grandma and Grandpa Smith and Aunt Jenna. The girls had a blast but, as usual, it was doing very different things. Riley was so excited that Grammy had kept all of Jenna's dress-up clothes and Halloween costumes. She was in heaven!

This was Riley's go-to outfit for the weekend. She wore the dress and tiara just about every moment that she was awake.

She got a big kick out of "striking a pose" for all of us in Aunt Jenna's old dance outfits.

I thought that she was going to freak out having something cover her moneymaker, but she seemed to thoroughly enjoy being the Pink Panther.

Ryan finally got in on the dress-up action, reliving his glory days as a shark. He was quite proud of himself for still being able to squeeze into his childhood costume. Here is the shark is eating Raggedy Anne.

The shark in all of his glory.

I know that this post has been all about Riley, but Sanna offered up few photo ops since she was constantly tending to her beloved Weebles. She would take all 14 of them everywhere that she went in their school bus. She even picks her nose with the Weebles nearby.

Even though they were entertained by very different things over the weekend, they were both so excited that they got to spend time with their Grammy, Papa, and Aunt Jenna! Thanks for the fun everyone!

Hodgepodge

Ryan has totally been slacking lately and letting all of his loyal followers down, so I will step in and put up a hodgepodge of random pictures from the last week. I know that most of you have seen these pics on Facebook, but I'll put them up anyway:)

Aunt Katie was a good sport and dressed up as a cowboy for Halloween. She kept her horses in line and kept them moving from house to house. It wasn't hard since Riley kept insisting, "MORE CANDY!!!!!".

Riley was very pleased with her collection of candy. She insisted on dumping it on the floor and examining every piece. She was in heaven.

Little Nani wasn't as excited, but had fun nonetheless. She was all tuckered out from galloping all over the neighborhood. Good thing her horse provided a built-in pillow.

Moving on to other events in the Smith household. Sanna has taken to standing on the changing table attached to her crib after her naps. Usually she is naked and jumping. Good times. We snapped this pic as we walked up the stairs and she exclaimed, "I UP HIIIIIIIIIIGHYA!!!!!!!".

Now for Riley's newest obsession, dressing up. Emre generously donated this tutu to her dress-up wardrobe. She hasn't taken it off since she got it. Paired with Aunt Bermes's heels it turned into a delightful little outfit. She's surprisingly good at getting around in giant heels; we could be in for trouble with this one:)

Finally, we purchased flower girl dresses for Aunt Katie's January wedding. We finally convinced Sanna that it would be really fun to put her princess dress on. Of course Riley needed no convincing but, as always, she was available to explain to her sister why and how she should put the dress on. So helpful.