Pajama Party!

Ainsley, whose social calendar is much busier than her parents these days, attended a fun party at school tonight. The kindergarten teachers, in an effort to raise money for the school, host a pajama party at school where the kids come back in the early evening wearing pajamas and dragging along a sleeping bag, pillow and perhaps a stuffed animal. They all join the teachers who are also wearing pajamas for a movie and popcorn.

When Liz dropped her off, Ainsley was having a great time with her friends, lots of giggling. It was a really cute idea, and we hope that Bridget gets to do the same thing in a few years.

At long last, a one-year check up

After suffering through about three weeks of ear infections and viruses, Bridget finally went in for her one-year well visit. She looked great, according to the doctor, and there was no disagreement on our end. She wasn't thrilled about the shots, but luckily she didn't really run much of a temperature or have any other side effects.

Here are the stats:

Height: 29 7/8 inches (50th percentile)
Weight: 22 lbs, 13 oz (75th percentile)

Other than that, she has moved to the one-year-old room at "school" and is slowly adjusting. Not one for change, Bridget didn't take too kindly to leaving her old teachers. However, in the last week or so, she's been starting to play more and get used to the new schedule. Apparently another reason the teachers think she is starting to feel comfortable is Bridget has no problem taking food at snack time from her classmates or "borrowing" their work (for those non-Montessori speakers, things the kids are playing with).

Mom!

After weeks of saying Mom, Mama and other ways to refer to herself, Liz was thrilled to hear Bridget actually say "Mom!" today. Luckily Casey overhead her as well so it was official. Since then, she has been saying some "Ma, ma" so we think we've crossed over into the m words.

Although Bridget was still pretty happy to see the dog at the zoo today. It was one of those rare 60-degree January days in KC today so we took advantage of it and headed to the zoo for a bit. It was great because Ainsley imparted some of her knowledge from her new favorite PBS show, "Kratt Brothers," and Bridget finally was interested in the animals. Good times were had by all!

Merry Christmas from the Murrays

We had a great Christmas season this year, which included four Christmas celebrations. Ainsley must have bragged to a couple of her friends because parents of one of Ainsley's friends mentioned that not everyone has that many Christmas celebrations! We are just lucky to have so many family members with which to celebrate the season.

Bridget, who couldn't be bothered with taking photos, enjoyed pulling off wrapping paper, but also spent a good amount of time munching on Cheerios and taking it all in from various vantage points. She also napped through much of Ainsley's present opening since we knew Bridget wouldn't really get it and/or do much with her presents yet. However, she has enjoyed the new toys. Even Ainsley has been caught playing with a few of Bridget's new toys!

Ainsley really enjoyed the holiday season this year. She couldn't wait for G and Melmo's visit, Grandma and Pop's visit and then, of course, Santa's visit. Then she couldn't believe she got one more Christmas over at Nonny and Papa's house. All in all, we stressed to her how unbelievably blessed she is, and she really did seem to appreciate it. And she certainly has enjoyed her much increased collection of Barbie dolls!

Ainsley made an ornament at school and was really excited to give it to Mom and Dad on Christmas morning.

Santa must have gotten the memo that even thought Ainsley really Barbies, she still loves to dress up. He got her this awesome Disney Princess dress and crown.

Ainsley got a cool retro sled, and Bridget couldn't stop climbing on it.
Best picture we managed of the girls on Christmas Day.

Dog! Dog!

Bridget started talking!

Unfortunately for Mom and Dad, her first word is dog. As in Hooper. Every chance she gets, Bridget will point at Hooper and exclaim, "Dog! Dog!" Sometimes she even tries to say "A dog!" While very cute, we were hoping for more Ma and Da. Casey is in luck as she has said a few "Da!," but thus far, no Mas.

We are pretty sure right after dog is going to be Ainsley. She really, really wants to say it. We both think we've heard her try to say it, but must be waiting for the right moment since you know, Ma is so much harder. :)

In addition to loving to say dog, Bridget is completely taken with Elf on the Shelf. Maybe because her sister gets so excited to find Dolly the Elf every morning. But every time she sees the elf, she points right at Dolly (maybe she's excited because she likes d words?) and keep pointing at her until we acknowledge that yes, that is in fact, Dolly the Elf. We all are getting a pretty big kick out of it.

Bridget turns one!

Hard to believe we've come around to this day. Bridget officially entered toddlerhood yesterday. Since we're writing this well after the posting date, we can tell you that we celebrated over the weekend with cake and presents over Nonny and Papa's house.

Since it was such a busy month, we decided to wait until she was older to go for a big party. We knew we made the right decision when Bridget was more interested in playing with the wrapping paper than her presents, and when we sang "Happy Birthday" to her, she seemed to be trying to figure out what all the fuss was about.

However, Bridget did discover that she really enjoys a good piece of cake. Ainsley hesitated a bit more with her first piece of cake, but Bridget took one lick of frosting and thought it tasted pretty good and dug in. We finally had to extract the cake before she ate the entire smash cake.

Here are some pictures from the fun: