Christmas time is here.... and I am so excited! I've always loved Christmas, but it seems extra special this year now that we have children to share it with!

We started what will hopefully be one a tradition this year. We went to a farm and cut down our own tree! We walked around for a little while until we found the perfect tree for our house.  Despite the warm weather, it really put us in the Christmas spirit! The tree is up with lights on, and we'll do the ornaments tomorrow night.  Most of our other decorations are out, and our stockings are hung. It's so fun seeing 6 stockings this year instead of 4!

While at the farm, we rode the tractor-pulled train they had there.  It was a pretty bouncy ride, and Fischer seemed pretty worried the whole time. I think Addison enjoyed herself though.

Our tree!

Fischer riding the train with Daddy

With Addison on the train

We had a great Thanksgiving! My parents came (for the 6th year in a row!) and it was a very relaxing time. It's always nice to have extra hands to help with the babies, especially now that they are so mobile! My mom and I went shopping, and Scott and I even got to go out and have a date night!

Here we are on our very first Thanksgiving with Addison and Fischer!

While my parents were here, Addison and Fischer got to take a bubble bath...

Addison got some help with walking...

And of course they got lots of hugs and kisses...

This morning, when my parents were getting ready to leave, they were saying their good-byes.  My dad was holding Fischer and said "bye-bye!" and Fischer said "baa-baa." I think he was just repeating the sounds, but it was exciting to hear!! He is saying "da da" and "baa baa" a lot, while Addison is saying "ma ma" and squealing most of the day.

Addison is pulling up and standing more than she is crawling now. Yesterday, she was in her "baby jail" holding onto the bars, and actually stepped around the corner and brought her feet back together! She seems very determined to be an early walker... we'll see if it happens or not soon enough!

Here they are saying bye to Grandma and Grandpa this morning. Addison is laughing and squealing.

We are so thankful for our family, especially our two very healthy babies! We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  To celebrate, we had craft time and made hats for everyone to wear. Here are Addison and Fischer in theirs...

As you know, Addison and Fischer were 9 months old yesterday! To mark the occasion, they had a couple of firsts:

We went to the store for our Thanksgiving shopping and they actually wore shoes!! We never put shoes on them to go out, but decided to yesterday. And, they actually kept them on!

We also let them have their first bath together, with toys and everything! Now that they can both sit up really well, it makes it much easier to do baths together. We will still do their normal baths alone but this was more of a fun bath. They loved it, and Fischer even cried when we took him out.

Today, they discovered a new place to play...

As usual, the babies are still doing something new almost everyday! Fischer has started making noises with his tongue, similar to what sucking your teeth would sound like (if you know what that is). I think he's even clicked it on the roof of his mouth a couple of times. It's pretty funny and he does it a lot now. If we do it to him, he usually does it back.  I am loving that they are starting to do stuff back to us! It makes me feel a little less ridiculous when I'm making weird noises and faces. :)

It has been a big birthday weekend around here! Scott's birthday was yesterday, and Addison and Fischer are 9 months today.

For Scott's birthday, we went to a Birds of Prey Center in Awendaw. THat's what he wanted to do, so it was like a field trip. It was a lot of fun! They had all kinds of birds there, and even did a flight demonstration.  Addison and Fischer liked it when the birds were flying around, but didn't pay much attention to the birds that were sitting still. Addison, especially, loved the flight demonstration!

 Here are Scott and the babies with the bald Eagle....

The babies found some pine straw to play with (meaning they tried to eat it) while we waited for the flight demonstration to start...

We tried to get a family selfer.... poor Fischer only got part of his face in it, and Addison looks mad!

After that, we came home and had a nice birthday dinner at home. The babies sat in their high chairs while we ate and had some puffs and a little bit of our rice!

Today, the babies are 9 months old.  Because of Thanksgiving, they won't be going for their 9 month check up until December 3. I am curious to see how tall they are and how much they weigh! Their newest thing is to yell back and forth to each other. Fischer will do a loud "AAAHHHH" and the Addison does it back. It's pretty funny! Here they are this morning playing in their new favorite spot - the kitchen!

Addison and Fischer say Happy Birthday to their Daddy!!!!!

We are learning very quickly that our little angelic babies can also be quite destructive. Yesterday, Scott discovered this...

That part with just a little bit of yellow is supposed to be all yellow. Addison and Fischer have somehow gotten the decal off, piece by piece, and eaten it. Or, we are assuming they are eating it because we haven't found the little pieces anywhere.

Also, this is a daily struggle with them....

This is the flooring of their "baby jail." They have figured out how to lift the end pieces and I find them chewing on it. This happens everyday. Fischer will usually stop when I say "No, Fischer!" but Addison just looks at me and keeps chewing.  Luckily they haven't eaten any of this yet.

And of course they are chewing on their board books and those are slowly coming apart. It's a good thing we don't let them play with regular paper books yet!

And here they are playing nicely in the jail, with their pelican toy in the background...