Grammy Jean has done me a favor and shipped out some New Year's mochi in a hurry to me. What can I say? I forgot! So I am returning the favor with some new video clips.

More Christmas Merriment - Video Style!

Alana Sees What Santa Has Left

Melissa & Doug's Band in a Box - One of the Best Toys Out There. The nice thing is that it encourages their musical abilities. PS We did eventually realize the term is "castenets" not "canastas". D'oh!

Cari's Present

Lani Loves Kimi Balls. Thanks Grammy Jean and Grampa Joe!

Everybody Loves the Little People Carousel - Another Great Group Toy. Lani is doing pretty well with sharing. You'll also notice that Cari is carrying around a purse. The twins got purses for Christmas but Cari is the only one who is interested.

We Look Forward to the Ornament(s) Gramma Rose Sends.

Aunty May, Lani LOVES the pink furry vest you sent. She wore it all day long!

xx

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!

It's a wonderful life! We had a great Christmas. First, everybody slept in. Second, Alana really got it and loved all her toys. Third, even the babies got into the fun. I think seeing Lani get excited and watching her play with toys helps them get excited too. Everybody had a blast even Blue. Santa didn't forget her and she had fun tearing at her new stuffed toy.

Our mantel. Before I get any hate mail about this ;-) , we just haven't gotten around to putting the names on the twins' stockings. Do you know how messy glitter is? Bleh.

Blue hung out with us most of the day. She has always gotten into the excitement of Christmas and the wrapping presents. I snuck her bits of verboten food as a Christmas gift. Merry Christmas old girl!

Cari looks a little downtrodden her. In fact, she has had a rough few days. Pretty fussy off and on and trouble sleeping. I think she is teething or perhaps has an ear infection. Motrin seems to take the edge off.

Thank you Aunty Renee for the princess card games. Lani can't wait to dig in! Notice that Alana wouldn't smile for pictures today. This was the first take.

When I kept asking for a smile, this is what I got. WE are going through a phase, I suppose.
The princess shirts were very cute! Thanks Aunty Renee. Lani stuffed hers and the twins' shirts into her backpack and carried them around all day.

Arden with the twin dolls from Aunty May. So so cute! I love that one has brown eyes and the other has blue eyes. Thanks Aunty May!
Cari with the dolls

Everybody loves the microwave. It is so realistic. The carousel inside rotates. It also came with a bunch of food. Thanks Aunty May! This was the first "smile".
And here is the weird smile she gave all day. So kooky!
Eating the play food. Yum yum!
Carousel love.
Lani loved the ornament that Gramma Rose sent. It was a little eskimo.

My cute girl.

Sporting her Hello Kitty backpack.
Isn't this the cutest shot? Arden, you are so grown up!

Group shot of three absorbed little kids. Love it!

Arden and Cari have become enamored with all things vehicular and rockular ;-) They both attempt to climb into the car below by themselves. Every once in awhile they succeed.

Arden's thing is to stand up in the car. She is quite the daredevil. Could my bittiest girl be my bravest one?

The following shots are from today (the morning of Christmas eve). I decided to go all Pebbles Flinestone on the twins' hair.

Arden complaining about something.

Cari complaining about something.

Alana insisted on getting a Pebbles-do herself. This was the best I could muster, but she was quite pleased.

Lani showing her watch.

Lani, her old watch, and the ubiquitous Lulu.

The old kitchen may not be as fancy as the new one, but it still has its adherents!

Video clips:

Alana at dance class. The teacher is wonderful.

Arden rides the Push Buggy.

More Push Buggy Fun.

Arden and Her Old Kitchen.

Kitchen Heaven

Ahhh, we're in kitchen heaven.

Christmas Comes Early in Mass

Chris spent 1.5 hours assembling the new kitchen from Grampa Joe and Grammy Jean. Lani knew it was coming and even picked it out (well, mostly. She actually wanted a pink kitchen but I determined this was a better kitchen overall. This was her second choice) We decided to give it to her early to a) avoid the exhaustion of assembling on Christmas eve and b) keep this bangin' kitchen from eclipsing the toys that Santa is bringing.

She loves her kitchen and, of course, is not too keen on sharing. This was not unexpected!

Arden's favorite sign is "light". She loves to "tell" me about the lights. Cari also knows the sign although she will use it in place of "more" sometimes.

Random Bits of Cuteness

I said "make a funny face"

Merry Christmas to Grampa Joe, Grammy Jean, Steph, Aunties, Uncles, and cousins in Hawai who are celebrating Christmas early! Mele Kalikimaka!

Some Days

Some days are so hard. This was one of those days. Everyone got up late including me. It should have been a good thing, but it wasn't. I couldn't wash the sleep out of my eyes even with a shower. We were behind the eightball timewise, and we ended up arriving at school 40 minutes! That's a new record for us. I seriously considered whether I should switch to a preschool with a 7am drop-off so Chris can do it. Preppin' and schleppin' the twins around in the cold, foul weather is such a drag.

* * * * * *

After dropping off Lani, the rest of us booked over to the grocery store before naptime. Cari got a little antsy toward the end, but somehow we made it. To keep them from falling asleep in the car on the way home, I gave them each a cracker. If they're eatin', they're not sleepin'.

The twins napped, then we picked up sister who was cranky as heck. Everybody's nursing a mild head cold, and it seems to have made them a little grumbly. Anyway, Lani went down for a much-needed nap around 2pm, and the twins went down at 3pm.

Arden Speaks!

Yes, I almost forgot this big news (hence the multiple posts today after a long dry spell ;-). Yesterday and today, Arden said "book" numerous times. Today, in addition to "book", she said "sister" when she woke up and I took her to see Cari in her crib. Actually, she sounds as if she's talking (not babbling) all the time, so I think she probably has been saying a few words for a couple weeks. We just couldn't catch it amidst all that goes on here at Cirque du Murphe. Hurray Arden!

It's not surprising that she says "book". She loves books and I'm always doing the word and sign. She also tries to do the sign sometimes, but it looks more like she's wringing her hands. It is adorable as heck. She also tries to do the sign for light and waves "hi". It's clear that her ability to communicate is growing every day. Cari doesn't "talk" nearly as much. I think she is too busy mastering the physical aspects of toddlerhood.

Random Assortment of Belated Videos

I didn't have a chance to upload these videos earlier. Here are a few new ones for those who just can't get enough of the Murphy Girls. Fortunately, most are very short. Although they are all great, the last one of Lani is so cute.

Grammy Jean very cleverly sent Alana a talking card that also plays Christmas music. What a hit! Check this out.

Send more Hawaiian Cream crackers!

Just kidding! Thanks, Grammy, we received the Hawaiian cream crackers. However, Blue already ate half of one box. When we out to dim sum this afternoon, we left it on the kitchen table (our mistake) and when we came home there were 2 empty plastic wrappers and a beaten up box! She ate 8 crackers!! Bad dog!! Oh well, the dim sum was pretty good and the service was excellent. It seems like Newton has at least 4 dim sum places. I suppose this is due to the large well-to-do Chinese community here in town.

* * * KID UPDATE * * *

A few weeks back we went tree shopping. What a cold miserable day! Welcome to Boston!

This place came highly recommended.

A rare family shot.

Across the street there is an IHOP. We thought we would start a family tradition of tree shopping then breakfast at IHOP. However, IHOP kind of s**ks.

Tub shot!

Sweet girl!

Mom, we're going shopping. Need anything?

Arden loves tv, especially Barney. Even Cari was mesmerized for 2 minutes, which is a record for her. Normally, she will not even GLANCE at the tv.

We were having our "special time". The twins were napping and Lani was doing an "arts project".