Yeah, it's finally here!

Brielle with Daddy on Christmas Eve singing some songs

Singing again

Brooklyn on Christmas morning - she saw this pink carseat at Target and would NOT stop talking about it. To be in a booster like this you have to be 30 lbs. and 38 in. She fit the bill so Santa left it for her.

Brooklyn and her dress-ups. She loves them - I am sick of them.

My hard work went into these snowmen for the kids on Christmas Eve - Children you better appreciate these!

Christmas Pictures

The Whole Donaldson Clan

Us with our little ones - if you didn't notice, somebody put bubbles in the fountain behind us.

Whitney and silly Brooklyn

Karolyn painting the girls (actucally just Brooklyn's) fingernails - I think Brielle was having more fun than Brooklyn though

My mom bought my little brother these boxers, we were trying to make him try them on and strip for us (not all the way, don't worry) , but no such luck with the striping part...

The Wonderful World of...Christmas PJ's

I bought two sets of Christmas PJ's this year because I could decide which one's I liked (they both were last year's after Christmas "specials" if you will) The blue one's were only $3 each, and the pink one's were bought on a Gap gift card - what could be better than that?
Brielle is getting so big! She has starting to rock back & forth and thinking that she is old enough to crawl. When Brooklyn was Brielle's age right now she was already crawling - I am in no big rush for it to happen though, because then the real baby-proofing needs to begin! She already has tried to eat plently of needles from the Christmas tree, not to mention the teensy, tiniest things she can find on the floor. She is such a sweet baby - but I am learning that she is a bit stubborn. She refuses to sleep on her own and I had to try the "tough love" approach a few days ago to put her to bed and she cried for 3 hours straight! She didn't even stop for a split second. After 2 hours I kept thinking ok, any second now - she will just crash. Nope. I finally went in because I was starting to feel horrible and she fell asleep the instant I picked her up. Last night it only lasted about an hour, so hopefully she will catch on soon! She is such a Daddy's girl, though. Much more than Brooklyn was for sure. The minute Dad walks in the door - Mom is chopped liver. She starts jumping in my arms saying "dadadadadada" it's pretty cute. It's probably because I'm the evil Mom who lets her cry herself to sleep.

Thanksgiving

We had box seats Wednesday night at the Staples Center and watched a little Basketball which Mike loved - of course! Brielle was good...as always :) My Grandma on my Dad's side, and Brielle on Thanksgiving day.
A group Picture of everyone at Disneyland. We went Friday and Saturday and had a blast. Brooklyn LOVES being with her cousins, aunts, uncles, and of course monga and papa.
Us riding the teacups - not a favorite of mine, but definately a favorite among the little girls.
My mom and Brielle on the carousel - Brielle did not like sitting on that horse!

Family Pictures

We attempted family pictures today, thought I would just post a few:)

I got tagged

Ok, I will reply to the tag but will not be passing it on. I feel like so many people have already been tagged and probably don't want to do it again (maybe that's just me) because as I was trying to think of some "facts" about me, I couldn't think of any! That just tells you all how interesting I really am. So here goes...

1. I hate talk radio (sorry Jennifer). My mom would listen to Rush and Dr. Laura back in the day and it seemed like all they did was yell! Half of the things Rush talked about I didn't or couldn't relate to (I was a teenager) and Dr. Laura just chewed everyone out all day. Yes, I do agree with her on most issues but just cannot stand listening to her.

2. I love reality TV. Pathetic, yes I know. I record Dancing with the stars, the Bachelor, the Hills, American Idol....I'm sure there are more I can't think of right now.

3. My sister let me drive her car before I had my drivers license. Several times actually. I think once even without her. I thought I was so cool...

4. I loved baby-sitting when I was younger. I did it all the time. I would always bring things to play with, and do their hair, and cook and have picnic's. I even did the hymlic manuever (sp?)once when a little girl was choking on a hot dog. She was so cute because after that, she kept trying to give me money and pay me for saving her life. Baby-sitting was like pretending to be a "real" mom. The real mom thing is so much harder than the pretend one though...

5. I love to read, but hardly have the chance to now. There are always dishes to do, laundry to fold, children to feed, toys to clean up, etc. etc. etc.

6. Since the holidays are approaching...All I want for Christmas is: A bigger car! 2 adults, 2 children and all their belongings do not fit in a 5 seater car anymore, the rest of my house to be painted, and while I am on the subject - the rest of my house decorated (and the money to do it), children who sleep through the night (mostly a baby that sleeps through the night), a gardener so my husband doesn't have to spend all saturday out in the yard so we could do other "saturday" things together (washing cars, and cleaning out garages doesn't sound too fun either though). I'm sure the list could go on and on, but let's not get ridiculous here. Isn't the holidays season about being grateful ? I am grateful for all things that we have but that weren't mentioned here :)

I have giggly girls!

Giggling is something that we hear plenty of these days. As soon as the girls wake up and see each other, it starts. Brielle gets so excited to see Brooklyn, and she really loves her sister (as long as Brooklyn isn't too close). It continues on throughout the day, and I thought this was a cute picture because it captured the giggles pretty well.
Cute little Brielle smiling :)

Yesterday, Brooklyn wanted some "sprinkles on her fingertails" translation - sparkles painted on her toenails. I thought that was pretty funny. I used to tell her that only Karolyn (my sister) or Grandma knew how to do it, but she's caught on now, and has shown me "here, this is how you do it mama" and proceeds to unscrew the cap and do it herself. I guess the nail polish will have to go into hiding if she has already figured out how to do it herself. That is an accident waiting to happen, or shall I say a nail polish all over the house disaster.

It is way too late....

Okay, so my kids and husband have been asleep for I don't know how many hours now. What have I been doing? Putting music up on my blog. I couldn't resist going to sleep without posting a few pictures from this weekend.

Here is one of Brooklyn and Mike tubing on Saturday. Brooklyn is so fearless. She kept saying go faster, go faster. We had fun, thanks Christian's!

Brooklyn and Brielle before church on Sunday. Mike and I have failed it seems at documenting our Children's lives. We did an okay job with Brooklyn, but it seems like we have hardly any pictures of Brielle in comparison, so we are trying to do better.

Some funny things Brooklyn said today. The first started when Mike left this morning for work. She said, "bye, love ya girl". I then had to explain that daddy is a boy, and she is a girl, etc. Then later, Brooklyn kept saying that she wanted me to dance with her, so was start dancing and she kept holding my hands and sliding through my legs and doing all these funky twirls. I'm like what in the world are you doing??? She said, I want to go to dance class like those people. I said who? She said those people and pointed to the TV (I was watching dancing with the stars). Doesn't 2 1/2 seems a little young to want dance lessons already? I can't believe they catch on to things like that so easy. The third thing was when I put her down for a nap. I went to go kiss her good-nite, and she says "no more kisses, only hugs mom, I don't like kisses anymore". When she woke up from her nap she brought me a movie and said "did we get this from costco?" and I said no, and she said "did grandma get this from costco?" and I said no, and she said "well, I like costco" and walked away. Funny girl. Never a dull moment with her around. I'm sure these things aren't as amusing to everyone else as they are to me, but I think she's pretty funny.

Ok - so I'm new at this!

I have officially taken the plunge into the blogging world. I am still trying to figure this all out, but figured that I would make a post to check it out for myself. I have absolutely no clue how this will actually look - as the title explains. As always, Halloween was an eventful day. We went trick-or-treating at Mike's office, and ended up with a huge boxful of candy. I think we had to empty her bucket 3 times. It seemed as though Brooklyn couldn't leave each office without several pieces of candy for herself, and then a few extra for "her baby" (Brielle). We then had dentist appointment's with Mike's uncle in Glendora (and yes, I do have a little bitty baby cavity on the very back tooth on my right upper side - the first one in how long???? I guess mommy is not brushing her teeth very well, so no trick-or-treat candy for her) we went trick-or-treating with cousins and grandparents while we were in the area. I could not for the life of me, get my children (mostly Brooklyn) to smile for the camera all night! I think before we even got to the second house, Brooklyn was tired and had to be pushed around in the stroller we brought for Brielle. We went trick-or-treating for about an hour, and then they girls came back to Grandma's (also known as Monga) and Grandpa's (Papa) house to pass out candy.

Here is the best picture of Brielle and Sydney that we could get.

Brooklyn not smiling (am I surprised)

Brooklyn, Madison and McKenna Trick-or-Treating