I haven’t baked any cookies this year (although did make 2 pumpkin pies) – but the girls did get a cookie decorating kit from Santa which was a whole hour of distraction (although was still a very hands on activity with Maggie). They came out super cute, but not quite as tasty as cute.

My Christmas gift from Tommy was a basketball hoop and I am super excited about it – Kaya and I dribbled the ball around this afternoon and she made her very first shot! (This photo is her 4th ball in the hoop – I actually have a video but apparently we don’t pay for the “premium” wordpress site).

Grandpa Ron played picnic with Maggie for a good hour today – he has a lot of stamina! She loved it, even though he couldn’t understand most of what she was chattering on about. Super cute – this is what holidays are made of.

The joy of children on Christmas is almost as amazing as all our wonderful friends and family. Merry Christmas to All!

Kaya and Laney have set a trap for Santa, so that he will trip on a string, which connects to a bell in their room. This will wake them up and then they will get to see him. They forgot to factor in a few things: 1) I could blow a foghorn in their room and they wouldn’t wake up, and 2) Santa is not blind. But, it is really cute. The magic is real.

I am ECSTATIC and filled with hope to get my COVID vaccine on Christmas Eve. Which also just so happens to be my (and our nation’s) hero Anthony Fauci’s 80th birthday. And did I mention science is amazing! I am asking Santa to bring me some really strong ribosomes tonight.

I spent countless hours as a kid setting up our Christmas Village, complete with storefronts, trees, an ice skating rink, and fake snow. Well, Grandma Baba finally decided she was sick of the thing, and dropped if off for the girls. Maggie has loved to play with all the little men and Kaya is already planning the layout for next year.

Since there was no mall Santa (and because I didn’t realize there would be a Santa on our farm trip), I booked the girls a Santa Zoom call. It was VERY successful for Kaya and Laney, and Maggie wanted nothing to do with it. But we got a nice family photo out of it!

The Rose babies have all pretty much stuck to the formula – around 7 lbs at birth, wakes up every 3 hours all night until they are about year old, and non-family members tell me that they are “well behaved” or “don’t complain much”. (Note: non-family members stop saying that as soon as the kids can walk and talk). And Orly is no exception – here she is happy smiling in front of the Christmas tree

Maggie, looking like the potty training diva she is. She is full on potty training this month, and doing fabulously at it. Since she is at home all day every day, we haven’t quite figured out how to train her what to do when she isn’t within 10 feet of a toilet, but I’m sure that will come too.