Photo drop - this week

Decorating Christmas cookies in the sunroom. Sooooooo messy.

I finally let Olivia wash her hands in the sink which, in her world, is the greatest thing ever.

They burned off their sugar high for the next 45 minutes by throwing balls down the stairs and then getting them.

Hannah made a birthday card for Papa.

Hannah's first hot chocolate with marshmallows.

Marshmallows = best part.

Olivia loves the hot chocolate too.

I asked Olivia if she wanted to sit on the potty and she nodded. Nothing happened but I'm having visions of two potty trained girls soon....

We are going through a really really great stage. Hannah is learning how to regulate her emotions and not break down in tears every few minutes. In fact she is getting very good at hearing "no" which is good because she is Ms. Request. From the time she wakes up until bedtime, "Can I have _____ (candy, gum, popsicle, a treat, fruit snacks, a surprise, candy cane, cookie, etc). In fact, she sometimes looks at me and just says, "Mama, I want.....something." She's not even sure herself of what she wants, but she knows she wants something and it probably has sugar in it.
Anyway, she does a great job playing by herself and with Olivia. It's so awesome. I love spending time with the girls but I love watching them become independent. Ever since my mom and I cleaned out the basement, they've been loving going down there by themselves and playing. Seriously, where's my third kid, I'm getting bored here? (kidding).
Hannah can completely dress and undress herself, buttons and everything. Do you realize how freeing that is to someone who has been dressing and undressing three people every day multiple times (I'm including myself in this one:) for almost three years?
Hannah is also staying dry during naptime. Except for today. Today was daddy/daughter date (which Hannah LOVES to say) and Hannah got her own pop (which she LOVED) and drank too much sprite and peed everywhere.
She still wears a diaper at  night. For the record, both girls are in disposables at night. I can't figure out why, but my cloth diapers are leaking at night and I've tried multiple times to strip them and it's not working so we just use them during the day now.
Both girls are loving "family snuggle" which is when they are allowed to fall asleep in our bed.
We had a girls' snuggle when Matt was gone the other night and while it included a lot of "stop touching each other", it was still awesome to have them both folded into my sides.
Olivia is a mama's girl more than ever. She wants held all the time, but the great thing is, when I have to put her down, she just whimpers for a second and then she walks away and does her own thing.
She definitely thinks she owns me. It's like I have a 5th appendage.
She walks around praising Jesus with her hands in the air singing, "Holy, holy, holy." We love having them in BSF. Speaking of BSF, Hannah was learning a lot about Paul and "Bombadus" which always cracked me up.
I think it's part gender, part age and part personalities but I have girls who LOVE being held and snuggled. From what I hear, there are a lot of moms who long for that from their little ones. So I will hold and snuggle them as much as I can.

My children have been taking advantage of the angels that have been sent to minister to them (Hebrews 1:14).
Did I tell the story of Olivia jumping out of a cart at Lowes? I'm too lazy to check.
Anyway, I watched (in what seemed like slow motion), Olivia flip out of the cart and land completely safely and softly onto her belly. And only let out a whimper because it scared her not because she was hurt. I had tears of gratefulness in my eyes for sure.
I'm not lying when I say it was a miracle. The way she fell, she should have landed on her back and hit her head on the cement floor. But she didn't. Instead, she was fine and everyone around me looked at me and judged me for not strapping her in.
A couple days ago Matt and I were having our "couch time" (I should tell you about this, it's cool stuff), and we heard a shriek and Olivia hit every step while falling down the entire flight of steps (heading towards the wood floors at the bottom).
Somehow she rolled onto the floor, again so softly and safely that she hardly cried. Another miracle, and this time my husband can attest to that.
Then there was the time I briefly mentioned in this post about Hannah almost falling head first down a flight of steps. I can still see it in my head and it still takes my breath away.
My girls are definitely surrounded by angels.

Wow, that turned into quite a post. I wish I was better at writing about them and telling the stories better when they make us laugh.
They are so funny and so fun to be with.

Hannah and Olivia, you are too precious to us for words.