Down with the Christmas lights

I got a letter from my neighborhood HOA yesterday telling me that the holidays were over and I needed to take the Christmas lights down from my house... HOA's are so wonderful.We hadn't been turning them on but hadn't got around to taking them down yet either. I guess it was a reality check for me that Christmas is over. It is never as fun taking the decorations down as it is putting them up. Now it is time to look forward to another fun year. I figured it was time to post the rest of our Christmas pictures before I start taking my Valentines pictures.


Our family in Washinton came to spend Christmas with us. We spent most of the week at Disney with tempatures as high as the 80's. They were thrilled to melt since it has been a brutally cold winter in Washington. (the pictures are very random and I can't figure out how to move them into a better order)


Hannah is sporting her new doll (She calls her "itty baby") from Santa. I'm not sure where her clothes went or why she is carrying around a bag of tooth pic things. I know she has been obsessed with them for quit awhile and it is one of the many things around the house that she claims is hers. Her favorite thing to do is gather interesting things from around the house and put them in different baskets and claim they are hers. She never does anything with the things she gathers...the fun seems to be in the gathering and hording. Eliza did the same thing at her age. I love 2 year olds. She makes me laugh everyday.

Hannah and Pa Pa share the same love for trains and cars. They were both amazed with the minature train town at Epcot. If you look close, the little town has a Christmas tree, wreaths on the street lamps and cottage doors. Disney always amazes me how they pay attention to the little details.

The girls having a tea party with their new tea set. Hannah still prefers her tea (juice) in a bottle.

Eliza taking picures with her new camera. She took pictures with a pretend camera for about a year until she realized that the pictures were not really showing up on the back like our digital camera. She screamed, "It's always the same picture of Cinderella!" I was thinking, yeah, it has been for a year now and you never cared. She had a break down and cried for quit a while. As you can imagine, she was thrilled to get a real camera for Christmas.

Santa left a crawl through tunnel for the girls. I'm thrilled because maybe they will quit crawling in my storage rubbermaids and breaking them.

Hannah is looking for Nemo in the fish tank. She is in love with Nemo and even sleeps with a stuffed animal of him at night. She wants to get a real fish when she is completely potty trained. I am willing to do whatever works. We have already bought cars underwear so that she will actually wear them. She wanted nothing to do with princess panties. The potty training thing is a work in progress and I will blog that when she is finally completely potty trained.

Hannah is riding her favorite ride...the magic carpets.

Pa Pa, Grammy, D Chantel, Josh, D Jen, Melanie, a very tired Hannah, and Eliza. When Eliza was a baby she could only say "D" instead Aunt. The name still sticks today. Eliza and Hannah both have a close bond with their "D's".

Eliza loves to pose. She often does ballet poses because that is her favorite way to dance.

Grammy made Eliza a princess Quilt for Christmas. She still tells me every night, "I can't believe I have a 'real' princess blanket!" I'm not sure what she means by 'real' but she definately loves her new quilt.

Pa Pa (sporting the Goofy hat that Eliza got him for Chritmas), Eliza, and D Jen

Christmas Dresses!

Here are pictures of the girls in the beautiful Christmas dresses that their grammy got them this year.

I'm sorry, what was your name again?

Hannah has always had a difficult time pronouncing Eliza's name and, as a result, Eliza has earned the nickname "Hiyah." As a family we have more or less adopted that nickname when speaking to Hannah about her sister. Tonight in the bathtub Hannah started asking Eliza, "What's your name Hiyah?" to which Eliza would answer "Eliza Bills." To this Hannah would tell Eliza "Good job, Eliza. Right!" Maybe Hannah thinks Eliza is suffering an identity crisis, but perhaps, sad to say, Hannah's days of calling Eliza "Hiyah" may be coming to an end. We'll just have to see.

Must Have Been Ole' Santa Clause

You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout . . .

I'm telling you why: Santa Claus is coming to town.

Yes, good old St. Nick paid a visit to the Bills home the night before Christmas Eve to ask Eliza and Hannah what they wanted [I guess that's what happens when you forget to visit him at the mall or write him a letter :)].

The Biggest Birthday Bash Ever!

With all of Josh's family in town for the holidays, many days were spent at Disney World. One of our adventures took us into Cinderella's Castle for the Cinderella's Royal Table lunch. While there we discovered that all of the princesses have the same birthday--well, at least according to Hannah.

During lunchtime at Cinderella's Castle you have the opportunity to meet a variety of princesses. On this day Belle, Snow White, Jasmine, and Aurora were present to visit each table. Belle visited first and after a few pictures we wished her a Merry Christmas. Hannah, however, had something else other than Christmas in mind and wished Belle a "Happy Birthday!"

When Snow White came to our table, we repeated the photo taking ritual and Hannah again wished Snow White a "Happy Birthday!" You can probably guess by now that it was also Jasmine and Aurora's birthdays as well. Of course all of the princess were quite flattered by Hannah's warm birthday wishes and thanked her accordingly.