Doesn't Santa come to your house on the first too?

Conversation between Justin and I the other night regarding the girls and Christmas:

Me: Well here are the things we have for the girls, that we've picked up over the year as well as the stuff you got from Shelley (a woman he was working for that gave us bags full of things that her 3 girls had outgrown)

Justin: Okay, but I really want to get the girls a trampoline.

Me: A trampoline? (with a shocked look on my face since I know there is no money for a trampoline) Uh...we don't have money for a trampoline.

Justin: Well, let's just look on craigs list, I have seen them for free.

Me: Free? Are you sure? I don't believe you, but I'll look.

At which point I get on the computer and look, and did actually see some that were free, somewhat shocked. I email about 8 people not really expecting any responses, since all the posts were over a week old and I got no responses.

But a few days later I decide to look again and a post has just been added, call after 3:30pm it says. And guess what? I was the lucky first caller!!!!

So Santa made an early stop at our house since it was just way too heavy for his sleigh, i.e. Daddy's work truck and Daddy even saw his sleigh fly over our house or at least that's what he told the girls when we were out on Saturday afternoon.

Santa left a Santa stuffed toy of himself as well as a note right inside our front door and the girls were so excited to find it. They ran all over the house looking for the "thing" he had left him and finally Lainey spotted it in the backyard. We have had so much fun on it already. Lyndie even loves to go on it with us. We've had another warm streak which makes it nice to be outside on it but they say the rain is coming this weekend which I don't mind as it come so infrequently here and the girls are at that perfect age to go for walks in the rain.

Last time it rained Lainey decided to ride her bike in the rain, I think she was a little surprised when I told her to go ahead and play in it...

Doesn't she look so grown up in this picture? Somedays I can't believe that I have an almost 4 year old...where do my days and weeks and months go? And she is such a determined child!!!We are having really serious clothes issues these days....definitely another post!

My luck doesn't stop with the trampoline, on Sunday I got an email saying that I had won the free certificate to a Love and Logic parenting seminar that I really wanted to attend that was being given away. I was so excited! And then last night I talked to the man that is presenting the seminar and he said we don't even have to pay the difference so that Justin can come too!

Lyndie has just about got the whole walking thing down! She stands on her own now and holds onto furniture and gets wherever she wants to be.

Malia has been honing in on her mothering skills lately, oh how she loves her baby dolls. I love to watch her play with them. The other night she got out one of Lyndie's bottles for them and some of Lyndie's food, at least she said it was for her babies...I think she ate it instead. My poor daughter thinks that every store is a thrift store....does that tell you where we spend our time and buy things at....the other day when we were there she found a baby and a stroller and proceed to push it around the whole store trying to convince me that that she needed them. When I told her we already had a stroller and baby at home she said to me, "But not this color stroller and not this baby."

I have stayed up much later than I planned...I need to get to sleep before my sleeping baby wakes me up!