Sisters! (plus Thanksgiving, seeing Santa, etc)

I've gone too long without blogging again so here comes another mammoth post...

As Jane grows older she's becoming more of a player on Team Swendsen (rather than spending the majority of her time lying passed out on the bench). Consequently, she and Kate are starting to develop a real relationship. Like good teammates, they have a great rapport and Kate cheers Jane on as her skills improve. However, when the new recruit gets a little too big for her britches and starts hogging the ball (or toy, as the situation would have it), sibling rivalry is born. Luckily Kate is easy to reason with and she really adores Jane so these conflicts are short-lived. Whether or not Jane will turn out to be reasonable herself remains to be seen. Kate may have hit the nail on the head recently when she remarked, "Janie, you're just going to be a wild kid."

Kate is constantly asking me to take pictures of her cuddling with her sister so we have quite a few of these.

Jane's looking slightly panicked here... "Mom, I'm losing circulation and she's trying to pass it off as a loving embrace...."

Again with the "Help me!" face.

I just love Kate in this picture - "Janie, look! A toy for you!"
Jane is 7 months old now and still not sitting up by herself. Every time I try to get her to practice, she torques her body so she can fall over and then she starts rolling around again. Zero interest in holding still to sit up. But when will she learn? Has anyone else experienced this?

Below are a few pictures from The Adventures of Scott and Kate. Scott had the whole month of November off from school and the two of them really bonded. Now he's in Texas doing residency interviews and she's really feeling his absence. Yesterday: "I really miss Daddy. I'm sad because I just really want a person to play with me." What about me? Ouch.

They built the biggest fort ever (in our apartment at least):

Playing in the snow. I'm glad that at least one of Kate's parents likes to do it. See how they had to come back into the building to even be photographed by me? That right there says it all.

Kate could care less about the cold. She kept smashing her face into the snow and then laughing her head off.

Cute outfit, dopey face.

We ate Thanksgiving dinner at Byron and Marci's house, and my grandparents came too. Here is Janie with her great-Grandma Adams. They really hit it off. Doesn't she look way too young to be a great-grandmother?



Kate and her cousin(ish) Liesl sat at their own little table. For Kate it was a tea party, complete with Liesl's dress up clothes and hat. Liesl seems less enthused about the seating arrangement.

More fun with the dress-up stuff. Liesl has an amazing collection. Kate even got sent home with a mermaid outfit.

Both great-grandparents.

Janie really likes this hat. And making this face.

Kate's imitation of the face.

They really are sweet together. I love having two girls.

We did some of our Christmas presents early before Scott left to do his interviews. Kate got mostly dresses (from us and her Swendsen grandparents) and couldn't have been more thrilled. Mid-twirl:

Matching!

Last Thursday Kate got to see Santa twice in one day. First at her preschool Christmas program (which I have on video) and then at our apartment complex's party. What does she want for Christmas? "A candy cane," she told him. Done.

Jane gave Santa a weird look but then decided he was okay. No tears from either of them this year. It appears from this picture that I'm already stereotyping them and dressing them accordingly - Kate as the girly girl and Jane as the athletic one (in her tracksuit). Purely coincidental.
By the way, can the picture above count as our Christmas card this year? Merry Christmas, everyone!