Santa Came, Santa Came!

Low and behold, we went upstairs to put the girls to bed and when we returned 90 minutes later, we found Santa had already visited our home in New Jersey and dropped off a load of gifts for Dagney and Paige! We didn't open any gifts to see if there were toys or lumps of coal, but from a first glance it appears Dagney and Paige were good girls after all.

Thankfully we had already left the milk and cookies out and Santa clearly enjoyed them!

Dagney and baby Paige are going to love these wonderful gifts! I wonder what the big gift is in the silver wrapping paper?

...and a Winnie the Pooh bean-bag chair!

And here is the Bunkers' family first Christmas ornament in the front of the tree.

Big Brown Bear

"Hey Paige'e - mush, I have a surprise for you!" said Dagney. Dagney turned her back and began shuffling some items around. Paige was clearly skeptical: 'Could this be the first of many agonizing pranks I will be a victim of?' Paige would like to take this opportunity to seek out any advice younger siblings may have for her.

"Paige'e-mush, this is one of my favorite books, 'Big Brown Bear'. I would like to read it to you", Dagney said. As Paige contemplated the pictures of different animals, she began to realize maybe this was not a trick after all.

"Brown Bear, Brown Bear...what do you see?" Dagney enjoyed reading the Big Brown Bear book to Paige and Paige enjoyed listening. After the book, Dagney gave Paige a big kiss.

Paige is still skeptical...

Dagney-Mush and Cole'e-Mush

The snow started this morning about 9:30ish and by 4:00 p.m. we had about 8-inches. Dagney and Cole bundled up and headed out to play!

"THE BLIZZARD OF '08!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Dagney checking out the snow:

Cole checking out the snow:

Here Dagney and Cole chuckle at the snow on each others heads.

Cole was so pumped, he decided to bang out some quick push-ups to impress Dagney.

Dagney also got some advice from her favorite Canadian Uncle, Dave, as she taste-tested the white fluff..."The snow might taste good Dagney, but don't eat it if it's yellow."

Feeding the Brain

The last few nights Dagney has really taken to reading books. She cannot get enough of them. Our bedtime routine has always been to read a few books before going to bed, but this week her enthusiasm reached such a fevered pitch that I thought about cutting out the book reading time altogether because she was getting way too excited before bed. Dagney would slam her fist into the chair in anticipation of us sitting down to read books. She would jump up and down, scream and point at each book. Consequently we ran out of books which could hold Dagney's attention.So today I decided it was time for Dagney and Daddy to go to Borders and pick out some new books. I kid you not, this was my expectation:

...We walk into Borders hand and hand...father and daughter. We stroll to the back of the store and sit down together. We go through a variety of books and Dagney lets me know with some sort of simple hand gesture and a nod if she is interested in reading a particular book or not...

I don't know what I was thinking.

Everything went well when we entered through the first set of double doors at our local Borders store. Dagney's excitement was palpable as she looked over the few clearance books there in the vestibule. We opened the second set of doors and Dagney took off like the wind! She was in a full gallop, going from section to section; fiction, mystery and home improvement, pulling book after book from the shelf. Dagney was so charged by the colorful covers she could not contain her enthusiasm as she whipped them onto the floor. I also didn't realize how many toys, stuffed animals and colorful writing accessories Borders kept in stock and at arms reach for a toddler. Dagney found all of these items and proceeded to taste each one.

In the end, however, we found some new books and Dagney and Daddy had a wonderful time.

Dagney running through the store...

Dagney looking for a new aisle of books to deshelve...

Dagney by-passing the books for the toy shelf...

Dagney discovering Dora...

Good ole Sandra Boyton...

"Ebony and Ivory"

Paige has really taken to Dagney's toy piano, which was a gift from Ohma. She loves pressing the keys, hearing the sounds and seeing the lights. Without a doubt it is her current favorite toy.

One thing we are really noticing about Paige is she is more sensitive to loud noises (will cry) and really seems to enjoy the instrument toys more than Dagney.

"Better watch out Lauren, here comes Paige!"

Vikings Win! Vikings Win!

After the Vikings stomped the Houston Texans 28-21, Dagney was anxious to show off her giant finger and let everyone know who #1 is.

Dagney's Tricks or Treats?

While Trick or Treating, Dagney sucked on a butterfinger candy bar for the last half hour. She apparently bit through the packaging with her eight teeth and sucked on it as she went from house to house. The next day we elected to give her a healthier alternative - one of two popcorn balls she got and she loved it! She even came up with her own word for popcorn:

"Pa-pa!"

"More pa-pa, yummie!"