and happy new year

we had a fabulous 2012, and we're looking forward to what the new year brings. it's hard to believe that libby JUST started walking at the beginning of this year, and hannah graduated preschool and started kindergarten. we've made a lot of great memories together; here are a few of my favorite in a slideshow.

2012 from julie cottrell on Vimeo.

merry christmas!

the week before christmas this year the girls got both strep and the flu, so we spent christmas day resting in our pajamas, playing with new toys and watching christmas movies. santa brought lots of goodies, but the biggest gift was hidden in the garage: a brand new swingset! i know the girls are going to so enjoy playing outside on it when the weather warms up. i think hannah's favorite gift was her "makeup phone" and libby's was a minnie mouse doll.

visit with santa

every year our homeowners' association has a christmas dinner, and santa always makes a special appearance. hannah was excited to make her requests this year. she has the most girly christmas list ever - she really wants a jewelry box with some jewelry and some kind of toy phone filled with play makeup ("makeup phone" as she calls it; something she has seen at the neighbor's house). but libby wanted nothing to do with santa. she screamed at my request for her to sit in his lap so we could get a picture.

attempt at christmas card pictures

i thought it would be super cute to get the girls in christmas pajamas and get a shot of them reading a christmas book together. didn't work out exactly the way i had hoped. their pajamas from last year amazingly still fit - but barely. and libby just was not in a picture-taking mood. she would not cooperate for anything. still somehow managed to get a few good ones, but none that were christmas card worthy.

decorating for christmas

we got a new christmas tree this year! we've been needing a new one for a few years now, and we finally did it this year. i always love getting out the decorations and fixing up the house. my mom got me these new decorations for the mantel and i think they look so pretty. hannah was into decorating the tree, but libby was just fascinated with this one container of ornaments. when we were done with the tree the ornaments were all clustered together around hannah's eye level. i thought it was funny and charming, and left it that way for a few days before redistributing. 

thanksgiving

we had thanksgiving at walker springs this year. the girls enjoyed themselves where there was lots of room to run around. they got a kick out of seeing uncle dick's chickens. hannah ate about 8 desserts. libby enjoyed seeing lots of new faces and learned how to throw a frisbee.

libby at 2

what a spunky little girl our libby is. she always has me laughing over something. she totally knows when she's being funny and loves it. she could grow up to be a comedian! here are just a few little libby facts.

her favorite color is purple! she does know the color purple and seems to prefer it. it's the first she reaches for when coloring.

she gives adonis kisses. adonis is the neighbor's dog, and after spending some time around him and getting licked in the face... i guess she decided that might be a good way for her to greet people too. not my favorite new habit of hers!

four story roll. no one knows what this means, but she started saying this refraid a while back. or at least that's what it sounded like. we all thought it was hilarious and of course we started to repeat it. now if there's a lull in conversation we can just say four story roll and we all will laugh. it can even be said as a question. four story roll?

her favorite foods are pizza, apples, applesauce, corn on the cob and cereal. she's gone through a pizza phase where she asked for pizza every day at lunch. i put some tomato sauce and cheese on a pita and stick it in the oven, and she looooves it. eats it right up.

she can count to 10! this girl is smart.

when i ask her to give me a hug she puts her hands around my head and gives a big squeeze complete with a grunt. best hugs.

libby's 2nd birthday!

libby's birthday is on a monday this year. tim got up and made her his special birthday monkey bread, which has recently become our tradition. everyone loves it. then he went off to work and we got hannah off to school, and i took libby - where else? - on a photo shoot. dressed her in her pretty birthday dress, got a couple of balloons, went to my favorite path in the neighborhood, and we were set. our next stop was to party city. i wanted to get her one of these balloons that i'd seen back in the summer - a life-size minnie mouse for our family minnie party. i wasn't prepared for how big it actually was; it sat in hannah's seat on the drive home and waved to every car that passed. libby got a kick out of it, and so did hannah when she got home. for dinner, i made a pizza, since that's libby's favorite, and tim brought home a special minnie / mickey cake that he ordered for her. hannah helped libby open her gifts and blow out her candles - best sister! libby got a few little gifts - a couple of books, the lorax movie and an aquadoodle.