Say Cheese!

I'm never happy with pictures of myself, so it always amazes me how photogenic my girls are!  Here are a few of my favorites from the last few weeks!

Goofy girl!

Such a sweet face!

Love those gappy teeth!

My little fashion model posing for the camera!

Squinting at the flash...giggling, then saying "Again"!

I can't believe how grown up she looks!

So Little Time...

I looked back at my last post and realized how long it has been....oops!  So instead of wasting time with words, I will just hit you with a photo explosion.  Here are some highlights from the month of January!

I adore this picture!  I'm not sure which is better...Marina's devilish grin or Trista's WHATEVER face!!!

Now that's a sweeter smile!

Trista is all about cooking these days!  She loved baking and decorating her own cupcakes!

And sister woke up just in time to help us "clean up" the frosting!

Trista had another open viewing at dance class!  It's always a pleasure to watch her in her element!

My big girl with little sis close by watching!

Posing for the camera!

Bath time fun - painting with shaving cream!

And this is what happens when you turn your back on Marina!  Baby Alive gets to eat not one, but three marshmellows!!!

And of course, once the marshmellows have been removed, Baby Alive needs a wet wipe bath!

Oh how I love that sweet little face!!!

Christmas Chaos!

Our Christmas always starts early and stretches for a full week!  Chaos!  But the best kind of chaos!  This year had some new, exciting adventures since my Trista is such a big girl now!  First off was a tea at her dance studio with the Sugar Plum Fairy!  This was a fun experience for me and Trista to share!

Trista insisted on wearing her wings so she was a fairy too!

Another first was Trista's school program on December 15th!  I was so excited to see her sing, but was a little disappointed in the organization of the evening!  However, my sweet little girl looked adorable and loved the singing so it was still great to watch!

This is the only great pic we really got since we couldn't get close enough for the performance!

Next up was the Dell family Christmas on December 18th....when the girls get to see some cousins that they don't see too often!

My little musicians enjoying Aunt Deb's piano!

The following day, we had our daycare Christmas at Melanie's house!  Always fun to see all the kids together and enjoying presents!  I am thankful every day for such a wonderful, loving house for my children to go to while Justin and I!

Trista and Finn - best pic of the happy little couple!

Marina and Ryan - Trista says they are boyfriend and girlfriend now too!

Marina and Kaeleigh

After these festivities, it's wait time!  And it has been a long wait this year!  Trista is so much more aware of the time and has been following her advent calendar very carefully....counting every day to see how many days are left until Christmas!  Here's what we've been up to while we wait...

Painting with/eating chocolate pudding!

Pudding hands!

Aqua Sand - Wierdly, cool stuff!

Trista's Aqua Sand masterpiece!

Gingerbread houses - Marina definitely ate more than she put on, but she loved it!

Today, Christmas Eve has finally come and as of 3:30, we will be off and running for the next few days!  The perfect kind of busy...full of family and fun!

Ready for Christmas!?!

We might not have a lot, but getting out the Christmas decorations that we do have always brings such joy and excitement to our house!

Rudolph: Trista's favorite!

Marina was not loving the Santa hat!

Trista even helped put the tree together this year!

And Marina helped with ornaments!

 

 

My little Christmas elves!

Too Many Geagans?

Long time, no blog!  It's been pretty busy around here.  Thanksgiving week was awesome and exhausting!!!  Six more Geagans re-entered the state of Illinois and it was so great to have them all back!  Unfortunately, five of them headed back to Texas at the end of the week, but my girls sure had a blast with their cousins!  Sleepovers...bowling...Kick-the-can...the Navy Pier ferris wheel...first meals at Ed Debevics....loads of fun!!!

Biggest and littlest cousins playing

Beautiful girls: Avery and Trista

Beautiful girls: Avery and Marina

Snuggling up to watch a movie

The sixth Geagan to return is sticking around and we are so glad to have her back!  I'm not a fan of talking to someone through a video on the computer!  The girls are definitely happy that their Auntie Jill is back!

Marina doesn't look so thrilled...but she was just tired from a long Turkey Day!

 Instead of shopping on Black Friday, we all headed downtown Chicago for a day of fun!  The weather ruined our ice skating plans, but we managed to keep everyone entertained!  My favorite part was dinner at Ed Debevic's!  None of the kids had ever been there, so it was fun to watch them.  Trista tried to order her own food, but could not stop laughing at the waiter to get her whole order out!  Unfortunately, I was too busy enjoying the experience to get any good pics!  But here are a few others from the day!

Carter holding Trista as they watch the magic show at Navy Pier

Our little angels standing with the Live Angels in Christkindlmarket

All the cousins + Auntie Jill

I was definitely thankful for family this Thanksgiving (including all of our other amazing family that was not mentioned in this post)!  It was a reminder that my girls have so many people who love and care for them!  Thank you to all of you...you know who you are and you are very loved!

Tiny Dancers

Trista's dance class had open viewing this week and what fun it was to watch her shine!  She loves dance class!  I think she smiles more at this class than she has at any other class she has ever tried.  Could have something to do with the amazing teacher....or Trista's innate love for music and rhythm.

Friends waiting for class to begin!

Marina inching her way towards the big girls!

Another exciting event this week was Marina's first gymnastics class!  UGA has a class that they can join once they start walking, so Marina and 2 other little ones attempted a class because the moms decided that running around in the gym sounded better than chasing them around the lobby!  It was an adventure!  Marina loved it for awhile!  Hard to take pictures when I had to help her do everything, but here are the few good ones I got!

Encouragement from big sis before classes began!

Crawling under the mat!

Climbing over the rungs of the ladder!

Crawling through the tunnel!

I'd say this week's classes were a success!  I love watching my girls experience life...now if only I could muster up the energy to keep up with them!

Day Off Escapades

So thanks to Trista being sick (or as she likes to say, "puking all over Mommy's bed!) one night last week, the Geagan girls got to have a sick day on Thursday.  Lucky for us, Trista was feeling perfectly fine by morning, so we ended up enjoying the day.  We began our morning at the Geagan salon...

The beginning of the make-up routine

Marina feels that lipstick is more suited for her cheeks!

Trista's final look...although she was not willing to cooperate for a photo op!

Fancy dresses were requested, but denied, due to Mommy's continual fear that the stomach bug could return at any minute!  Instead, I chose to put those beautiful faces straight into the bath! 

After splashing and soaking, it was time for some hair styling!  As you may have noticed in the previous pictures, Trista had some crazy braids going on (done right after a shower the night before).  Daddy likes to call her Snoop Dog when she rocks this looks!  However, once the braids come down, her hair looks amazing!

New favorite hairstyle!

Now clearly in a little girl's dream day, it is time for some Barbie fun...

Barbies at the Ball...Marina just wants to know why she can't have her Ken back!

And of course, some fun with art!

My little writer!

My little monster who can't use crayons or markers anymore due to her strong desire to bite the tips off!

Then it was off to Grandma's...and out for a little shopping therapy!

I'd say it was a pretty complete sick day!  Wish we could have more of those....minus the sickness!!!