Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family that we did not get to see for Christmas this year! It was an exciting Christmas for the Jolleys... it was Sam's 1st Christmas & it was a white Christmas! Also, Alexis was much more fun this year. We even got an "Ohhhhh!" from her when she opened up her new coat and snow suit- she had already been wearing these out in the snow but pulling them out of her stocking was exciting.

We'll start with some pictures from our visit with Santa...

Quite an improvement over last year...

On Christmas Eve we decorated our tree (finally) and Alexis decorated a cookie for Santa. If you look hard you will see that our tree is leaning back into the corner. You would think that this is because a toddler, dog or cat was too rough with the tree but no- we could never get our stand to work properly.

Here are some highlights from Christmas day...

Here's a fun snow picture of the snowman Alexis helped make.

More Snow!!!

Today we woke up to even more snow! Traffic was horrible heading north into Seattle so Kris got to stay home and play with us. Although we all have colds, we went out for a few minutes to enjoy the snow. While we were out we discovered that snow suit + frozen slide = a lot of fun!

In case anyone was wondering...potty training is going great! Alexis has not had an accident during the day for over a week. We have gone Christmas shopping, sat in a traffic jam and gone to the library for story time with no problems. Night time is a different story but we are working on it.

Snow!!

Yesterday we woke up to snow!! Alexis has seen the snow before (I'm not sure if she remembers though) but it was Sam's first snow experience. She did not like it much when her hand fell into the snow. Here is a picture of the girls posing for a Christmas card picture- then Alexis got bundled up and made some snowballs with her dad.

Christmas with Jen Cruze

Last Wednesday we celebrated Christmas with Jennifer Cruze. First, we went to the Seattle Aquarium. Alexis has been there before but this time she was really into the fish. It was really fun watching her get so excited. Sam really liked staring at the bright tanks. I think she could have sat and stared all day.

Next, we went to Bellevue Square where we exchanged gifts and ate dinner. Alexis loves her new outfit! After dinner we went outside to see the nightly display of drummers & falling snow. The snow was cool but Rudolph was pretty scary.

Samantha Rolls Again

On Monday I went to get Alexis up from her nap. I left Samantha playing on the floor on her back. When I came back, this is what I found...

She learned to roll from her back to her tummy! And she has been doing it ever since. Last week she had her 4 month check up- she is now 14 pounds 10 ounces and 25 1/2 inches. We can't believe how fast she is growing!

Potty Training- Day 1

We have entered a new & exciting phase in the Jolley household- Alexis has begun the transition from diapers to the potty. For about a week now, she has been taking her diaper off once it became soiled. On Wednesday she went without her diaper for most of the afternoon and peed twice in her potty. This morning I took off her diaper and left it off. All morning she peed in her potty. I put a diaper back on for nap but she managed to make it through nap without soiling it. After her nap she pooped in the potty- she was so proud of herself! We went to the store and picked up some new big girl undies- Disney Princess. She only had one accident all day- tonight she didn't make it to the bathroom in time when she had to "oop." Let's hope tomorrow goes as well as today & that Alexis stays excited. As long as there is candy involved I'm sure she will!!!

What a Good Big Sister

Here is a picture of Alexis "reading" a book to Samantha. They were looking at a farm animal book and Alexis was telling Sam all of the noises that the animals make. It was very nice of Alexis!

Baptism

Alexis and Samantha were baptized Saturday evening. The mass was very nice and we were very impressed with our girls. They did great. The dress that Samantha wore is over 90 years old and is the same dress that both Michelle and I wore in our baptisms.