Little Paityn with a Big Girl Hair-do!

Seriously....look at my baby looking all big! While doing the girls hair this morning I thought, maybe Paityn has enough hair to try little pony tails. So I tried, thinking there was no way, and this was the end result! SO cute! But I just can't stop looking at her and thinking how BIG this makes my little baby look! (I might not be able to do her hair like this very often while I am struggling with her growing up too fast! ) People always think she is older than she is because she is so tall for her age. But she is 21 months old. Still considered my baby at least until she turns 2 years old!

Anyway, Paityn thought she looked really cute and loved all the attention she got from me and her older sisters! She even let me take a few pictures where she even smiled for me (after I bribed her with a tootsie roll).

She is trying to put her hand on her hip and pose for me in the picture above! So funny! She has been watching her sisters closely.

Showing me the entire tootsie roll she put in her mouth whole without biting smaller pieces off!

Little Bear Comes to Visit!

Brooklyn was excited ALL Christmas break for her turn with Little Bear once preschool started again. She has so much fun when he comes to play. She loves putting a tutu on him and taking him to dance class, eating meals with him, playing with him and especially letting him have a sleep over! She is so good at cuddling him and makes sure that Little Bear has plenty of covers.

This time she really wanted Little Bear to see the "Play Place" (aka the Child Center) at the Gym and have some of her favorite pizza at the Life Cafe. Thanks for all the fun Little Bear!

Picture pLeAsE!!

Taylor was excited about a picture she had drawn on the ipad and wanted to get a picture with it so she wouldn't forget about her masterpiece. :) Of course once the camera comes out ALL the girls want their picture taken.

Sweet Brooklyn

Paityn eating lunch...nothing too exciting...but I love the smile.

Typical Girl Playtime!

I know my girls are having fun playing together when they keep requesting that I take their picture! They have always enjoyed playing dress-up. They get all dressed up and then pose for pictures! Such girls!! I love it!

Paityn was still recovering from playing in the snow earlier. Look at those rosy cheeks!

Playing with new toys....

Now that they are getting older...they have started playing fashion show. They will change a number of different times and strike their poses. :)

I love this picture of Taylor...little dog and all!

SnOw FuN!!!

All bundled up...ready for some SnOw FuN!! It took at least 1/2 an hour to get everyone all ready in their layers and snow clothes! It is always such an big production full of excitement. Then it is usually so cold outside it doesn't last very long. :) They did pretty well this time around but Paityn needed the comfort of her binkie to endure the cold. (She takes after her Mommy...not a cold weather fan!)

It was SO cold that the 4-wheelers wouldn't start...so the girls had to be pulled up and down the snowy road the old fashioned way...by DADDY!! They were having fun but the wind was blowing and it was freezing!

sMiLe!

Paityn still loves swinging even in the snow

Daddy having fun with the girls!

Brooklyn Grace...love that smile!

Taylor was making HuGe snowballs and throwing them up into the air over her head. She wanted me to capture the moment. :)

It was a lot of fun to all be home to play together in the snow. Our backyard drops down to about 6 feet or more below the neighbors yard in one spot and so we get huge snow drifts in that area. I was able to make a pretty steep sleigh hill just in our back yard thanks to the snow drifts. The older girls and I had fun going down that...but the camera was put away by that point. A fun family snow day!

Santa Party @ Grandma & Grandpa Harris'

I LOVE the annual Harris Santa Party! It has always been one of my favorite family parties ever since I can remember. All the extended family (which is huge at this point in time) get together at Grandma & Grandpa Harris' house. We eat dinner, have talents/performance time, sing Christmas carols and then Santa Clause comes to visit with each of us! It really is a fun tradition and I love that my girls get to experience it too.

I had fun seeing and talking with lots of my cousins who I don't get to see too often anymore. We all grew up pretty close to each other, so we were able to see each other a lot as kids and really become close friends. We missed some of the cousins and family who live far away or couldn't make it.

Part of the night includes a talent portion. Each family has a turn and who ever wants to gets to go up in front of everyone and do really whatever they want. Grandma Harris loves this part. As kids we used to sing or play the piano, but as we got older and realized that we really weren't THAT talented in those areas we kind-of dreaded this part. Luckily, I have some pretty clever and funny brothers who would usually come up with something to make everyone laugh and represent for our family. Now that I have kids and the silly brothers live in Atlanta, the pressure goes to my girls. It is a win-win for me...my girls love performing and I don't have to do anything! This year I think the "funny" award goes to my cousin Jayson for his creative 12 Days of Christmas that he made up mocking members of the family...it was awesome! But the "real" talent award (besides all the little kids, of course, because they are all adorable) goes to my Bell cousins. They are so musically inclined and Mandy and Collin sang a duet, while Collin played the guitar.

Performance Time!

Taylor loves to perform! Honestly, I am so impressed how calm she is in front of a crowd. She really gets a high from it and shines. I love that confidence. She chose to sing one of her songs from her school program. It was really cute and she even did actions to go along with the song.

"I'm made of snow, but I'm beginning to melt..."

"We make the toys for all the girls and boys..."

"...nose, in the dark it glows..."

Brooklyn wanted to sing a song also, but I wasn't sure if would be too nervous once we were in front of everyone. (You can't see the crowd in the picture, but lets just say we have a HUGE extended family and most of them are able to make it to this party). But Brooklyn did great! I stayed by her for moral support and little help with the lyrics when needed. But I was really proud of her because she tends to get a little shy in crowds lately.

Brooklyn sang the song, "Santa Clause is Coming to Town"

This was Taylor's reaction when Santa came down the stairs. Priceless

Having a little chat with Santa...have you been naughty or nice???

We made a little progress since the ward Santa party...Paityn wasn't scared of Santa, but she wasn't going to sit on his lap without Mommy as a buffer. I love the expression on her face in the picture below. I was trying to get her to sign "Thank You" and she decided to stare down Santa instead. :)

Oh sweet Brooklyn. She was so cute with Santa. She brought her letter that she had decorated herself and seemed to enjoy her little talk with Santa.

How cute is that picture?? So cute.

Brooklyn LOVES her doll or "sweetheart" as she calls it, that Santa gave her. (When she went to bed she told me that her doll was her little sweetheart like she is. So she was going to name her Brooklyn Grace Rohatinsky. Then she introduced her doll to her puppy pillowpet & said she was going to sleep with her arm around her doll because it was her first night in our house. It was SO cute...that is exactly what she did!)

Later on I caught Paityn just standing there checking out Santa. It was pretty cute. She was still trying to figure him out...

Justin's turn...

Kim & Santa

Madi...so cute!

Grandpa Harris (the girls Great Grandpa) with Santa...LOVE him!

Justin & Brooklyn just chillin on the coach.

Mom & Dad came straight from the MTC to make it to the party...still in their church clothes.

Taylor loved sitting on Madi's lap most of the night. Thanks Madi!

Chris & Madi

Chris trying to ruin the picture. I told him I would crop him out...but then thought it might be a good picture to just keep on hand. You never know when you might need a good blackmail picture. :)