Sisters - Today They Really Love Each Other.

I FINALLY finished The Last Girls by Lee Smith. It was not a gripping story but it was a comforting story. It took me forever to get through because I really only read about 3 or 4 chapters a week when I'm busy (which is always). But this book I liked going through slowly because it was interesting and it wasn't intense in anyway. It was the perfect before-bed read.

I just started reading You Remind Me of Me by Dan Chaon. Just the description of the book gave me chills. And then right off the bat, the story opens up with this date - March 24, 1977. The day I was born!!! So weird!! So anyway, I'm really looking forward to this one.

Erick and I exchanged our Christmas gifts already. Hee hee. Yeah, we do that sometimes. It just seemed easier. We thought he'd be working Christmas morning and so we knew Christmas day would be rushed with presents for the girls at 2:30pm and then going to his parents at 4:30pm so we just exchanged them yesterday. The good news though is that today his work told him that he WILL be off Christmas eve, Christmas morning AND Christmas night!! I can't believe it! I'm so excited he'll be there for ALL three Christmas celebrations!! Yay!

So anyway, he gave me a gift card to Express, a gift card to Abercrombie & Fitch, a Starbucks gift card, some Yankee Candle tarts, and he hasn't picked it up yet but he said he's going to pick up this purse for me. (Does my husband know me or what?) And THEN.....(and this is really why he was for the idea of opening early....) he gave me the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens for my camera!! I am so excited!! Look at these two pics I took of McKenna using only the desk lamp and no flash:





I can't wait to see what else I can do with this thing! Next on my list is to buy this book and then in January, their going to go through it over at My Digital Muse so I'm really looking forward to that.

So I'm really looking forward to snapping some photos this Christmas. And no gift can beat the fact that we'll actually have Erick home with us to open presents on Christmas morning. I plan on snapping lots of shots of him with his girls.

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I just had to journal that today McKenna seemed so mature and grown up. She seems to be moving past this stage where she is impatient with her baby sister. I figured that was normal and probably would NEVER pass. Sisters being sisters and all that. But today she was incredibly patient with her. She would talk to Kyla instead of yell at her. Kyla is going through a phase where she smacks people if they get close and she doesn't want them to and she smacked McKenna twice in a row and even though I could see it hurt McKenna, she didn't cry or yell. She just sat back and let me handle the situation and then she gave her sister a kiss. Kyla was crying during a diaper change and McKenna went close to her and said "It's ok. I'm here. I'm here." And the sweetest part of the night was after Kyla had already been in bed and I was putting McKenna down for the night. McKenna's bed is closest to the wall that she shares with Kyla's room. I said "Ok, let's say prayers." She said "I want Kyla to say prayers with me." I told her that Kyla was already asleep. So what McKenna did was everytime I'd say something in prayer, she would repeat it as though she were whispering it through the wall to her sister. Then afterward, she blew a kiss and pressed her hand to the wall and said "Night, night baby." It was really so loving. They really are very sweet to each other most of the time but today they just seemed to really be bonding. McKenna was laying on her belly and Kyla was rubbing her back. Then she would lay her head on Kenna. Then she would pat her butt and they would both giggle. It was so funny and sweet.

This is a great stage as McKenna is starting to mature past the melt-down stage and Kyla is starting to show off her silly side (of course she's also coming INTO the melt-down stage but nonetheless...LOL!!)

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Ok, who knows if I'll have a chance to blog until after Christmas. This is my Christmas to-do list:

Buy cookie ingredients
Bake and deliver cookies to neighbors
Scrap 2 layouts for gifts
Go to the mall and pick up See's candy for Great-Grandma, outfit for McKenna from Naartjie - DONE
Go to Best Buy to exchange/pick up one of Erick's gifts - DONE
Go to Target to pick up cardstock, photos, princess table, gift bags for cookies
Wrap ALL GIFTS
Bake Maple Cream Apple Pie
Bake Broccoli-Cheese-Ritz Casserole

Considering that aside from normal DST work, housework, childcare, and McKenna's dance class I really only have about 2 nights and maybe a total of 12 useable hours, I'm wondering how it will all happen! But whatever needs to be done will get done. It always does!

Merry Christmas to everyone!!