A very merry DeCastro Christmas

The girls had a fabulous Christmas and are enjoying playing with all of their new toys! Thank you family and friends!

We went to MaMa & TaTa's on Christmas Eve and opened our Round 1 gifts and the girls were very excited to get their horse stables, Wonder Pets, Barbies, etc. The girls had fun playing with their family, the family dogs and dancing with MaMa and Uncle Chris. As soon as we got home, we were sure to leave cookies out for Santa and the reindeer and leave them a special note.

Sophia was the first one up on Christmas morning (no surprise there). When she saw the presents she said, "Are those my presents? For me? Sophia Caryn?" Her sister woke up just after her and the opening began. Ava hugged her Wall E Wii game and with each present she opened said, "This was what I wanted!" She got a little out of control and when she was done said, "I need more presents, is this all?" We reminded her that she received far more than was on her list and that some children only receive one present or even none. About 15 min later, she came to us and said, "Mom & Dad, you can tell Santa that I don't need anymore presents.....I have all that I need." That's my girl! Other favorite gifts were the mini trampoline from Grandma and the My Little Pony amusement park from Uncle Chris., who had the time of his life playing My Little Pony with Ava for an hour!

A great present for us is that Ava is starting to read! She is reading many words on her own and read a 5 word sentence completely on her own! Great timing since Aunt Bev got her the LeapFrog Tag reading system for Christmas!

I think that one of Sophie's favorite gifts was her Alexa dress from Barbie and the Diamond Castle. She stripped down to her birthday suit in the living room and wanted it on immediately. She wore it most of the day. Aunt Bev had to alter it a bit so she didn't have any more "wardrobe maulfunctions" with her chest exposed!

Christmas may be over but the girls are still enjoying Christmas songs and shows and are looking forward to next year.

We were also able to finally visit the Zoo Lights on Saturday, we had to take advantage of the warm temperatures. A perfect ending to a perfect week!

Hoilday Season 2008

Here are the girls on Thanksgiving morning standing on our new hardwood floors installed by daddy and TaTa. Thank you!!

It has been a LONG time since I've blogged, but as you can see from all of the pics, we have been VERY busy! The girls had a great Thanksgiving (the above pics) and also had a great time making Christmas cookies with Aunt Bev. Ava is quite the baker! She made cookies for her teachers and her friends, Garrett, Jake and "silly" Alex. Ava received a present in return from Garrett and Jake made her a jingle bill ring. We are in TROUBLE!

Next, there are pictures from my work Christmas party including Sophie's face painting and the reptile petting zoo. Sophia Caryn would prefer to pet snakes and iguanas over sitting on Santa's lap! Ava did a beautiful job of singing "O Come all Ye Faithful" to Santa at Target when we had our Christmas Card pictures taken. I will try to upload the video to our blog. It brought tears to my eyes and everyone in the studio!

On Dec. 1 was Ava's Christmas Program at preschool. She did an amazing job singing and holding up the letter "C" during her Christmas song. She worked very hard memorizing her songs and even taught them to Sophie. She was very excited to have her family there cheering her on. I also attached a picture of Ava with her "boy" friend, Garrett.

The following week was family day at dance class and we got a preview of Ava's dance recital. Sophie wanted to do everything that the big girls were doing. She will get her turn in January when she starts dance class too!

Next was the Little Gym Christmas party. The girls loved playing with their good friends, Caroline and Charlotte. Ava and Caroline met at the Little Gym clear back in 2006 when they were 2! Sophia and Charlotte take classes together now. Sophie loves her teacher, Miss Mamber (Amber)

Today was a big event for the DeCastro girls......Breakfast with Santa at Smith & Wollensky! The girls decorated gingerbread cookies and ate a special breakfast including a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus. Sophie claimed that she wanted Santa to pick her up, but quickly changed her mind once he was within 3 feet. Santa thanked Ava for singing to him at Target the other day and Ava was blushing. A few minutes later Ava said to me, "I didn't know that was the same Santa from Target Mom?" Too smart! As we walked out we said good bye to Doner and Blitzen (as Sophie called them).

Sophie has been entertaining us by pretending to be Santa and talking in a deep voice. She has her big sister sit on her lap and asks me to take a picture. She also enjoys singing "Rudolph the red nosed Reindeer" and "Costy the Snowman" as she calls him.

Here are the girls modeling their presents from Santa at the breakfast. Ava said she loved having princess earrings like mommy!
Last but not least, here are some pics of the girls in their new coats/hats from Gymboree. Mom decided to participate in Black Friday for the first time and got to Polaris Mall at 4:45am to be the first in line for these $11 winter coats for them. They were modeling them for daddy. I don't know that I will be so crazy to do that next year, but it was a fun experience!