Christmas Past

Christmas 2007 (This was actually our Christmas picture taken in Louisiana right after Thanksgiving.)

Christmas 2006 - We were staying in the Embassy Suites in St. Charles, waiting to move into our house at 4 St. Libory.

Christmas 2005 - We were living in Alamogordo, NM and this was at our Branch Christmas party.

Christmas 2004 - Kathryn's First Christmas.

Kathryn's First Dance Recital

This past Thursday was Kathryn's first dance recital. She loves going to dance class and seemed excited about her upcoming dance recital, even though I figured that she really didn't know what to expect. She was happy up to the point that we got to her dance studio. Then she got nervous and tearful. This first picture is Kathryn with Kaylee,a young woman from our ward.

Here is Kathryn in the warm up room. I went in with her for a little bit, but she wouldn't stop crying with me around, so I just left her in there with her class. She did let me take this picture of her, but you can tell she is not her normal self.

Sydney LOVED watching the girls dance. There were all ages of girls dancing, from 3 to 18.

So, Kathryn's class was the 6th or 7th class to go, so they had a while to wait in the warm up room and I was worried that she wouldn't come out. But it came time and she came out and saw me and waved and smiled. They danced to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and she was the first reindeer to come onto the stage. She put her little paws up and pranced onto the stage with the other girls following her, but the she didn't stop when she got to the middle and kept going all the way to the other side! So her teacher had to run out and pull them back. Then when the rest of the girls started to dance/act out the song, she just stood there and sucked on her hand and half cried/half laughed. I have video of it, but A) I haven't taken the time to figure out how to post it (I know, I know, I'm sure it's easy, I just haven't taken the time or have I summoned up the brain power to do it!) and B) it's probably not the best quality (ie. bouncing, shaking) because I was focused on her and just wanting to watch it. So, maybe over Christmas, Mike will post it for me.

She just looked at these pics while I was posting them and said, "I was scared!"

Last Day of Preschool

Today was Kathryn's last day of preschool. She had to go with the younger group this semester because of our travel plans. But, she ended up meeting a sweet girl named Ellie, who turned out to be a member of our church (just in a different ward)!

Here is Kathryn with her teacher, Mrs. Rueschhoff. The high school girls actually 'teach' the class, but she oversees them. Kathryn was being weird about taking this picture, obviously. We will see both of these people again next semester when we go back to preschool. Kathryn will be in the 4-5 class, so I'm excited to see how she does with kids her own age and older.

Help a Sister Out!

Today the girls were outside with me while I added some more decorations to the exterior of our house. (It was in the 40s, so it felt warm!) I saw them doing this and couldn't resist taking a picture. Kathryn was just rolling her all around the driveway and Sydney was thanking her by saying, "No! Not that way! Turn me around!" But I'm sure deep down she was greatful for such a loving, helpful sister.

Ok, one more thing.. Kathryn is watching me typing this and she just said, "Wow, that's a hunch of letters!" And I said, "You mean, a bunch?" And she said, "No, a hunch!" And earlier today, she ran to go potty and when she got back she said, "Was I so fast? I was hurrying so I could come and check on-line." It sounded so cute coming out of her little mouth and seeing that she really didn't understand what she was saying.

Yes, that is a wreath on my car.

Here is our decorated house. We have wreaths for the upstairs windows, but Mike hasn't had time to get up there yet. Not sure if he will, but I think it looks nice how it is.

Crazy Cold Competitive Chaotic Candy Cane Hunt

On Saturday we went to Faust Park for a Candy Cane hunt. It is a fundraiser that they do ever year to make money for carousel upkeep. Anyway, it was very cold, but despite the way they look in this picture, the girls did have fun. We got there with just a couple of minutes to spare, so we missed the instructions, and just filed in with the crowd. We walked into this big area that has all these old historic houses and were told to stay on the walkways. Then we were told to wait for the buzzer and that would be the start. We could see little candy canes all over the ground and some of them had pieces of paper on them, so we figured those were the prizes. So, we never heard a buzzer, but all of a sudden everyone just started running, so we did too! Sydney and I reached a prize candy cane right before these other people, and luckily, Sydney had stepped right on it, so we got it! It ended up being a dinky marshmallow snowman, but at least we got something! Mike and Kathryn were a team and they were in a less busy area and they got a prize ticket good for a free ice-skating session. So, it was fun, but as the post title says, kinda crazy.

They were cheered and warmed by the hot chocolate that I had brought along.

As soon as we got home, Mike left with two of his friends to go to the Big 12 Championship game in Kansas City. They had a good time but said it was very cold! He got home at 2:30 Sunday morning.

Parents-As-Teachers Christmas Party

While Kathryn was at a birthday party, Sydney and I went to a Christmas activity put on by Parents-As-Teachers. She pretended to bake cookies and shovel snow.

Then we waited in line to see Santa. They had a great system where they gave you a number when you signed in and then you just waited for your group to be called to see Santa, so you didn't have to wait in a really long line. So, Sydney was doing great right up to the point that she got on Santa's lap. Oh well, it made a cute picture. And she got over it quickly.

First Snow

We came home from Thanksgiving to our first snow! The girls couldn't wait to get out and walk in it.

Sydney had just scooped up a bunch of snow on her graham cracker. I guess she was planning on eating it, but when I asked her what she was doing, she flung the snow off. Guilty?

They loved to see their footprints in the snow on the deck.

Gingerbread Houses

On Saturday we put our houses together and decorated them.

Christmas Pictures

The day after Thanksgiving we went to the Biedenharn Museum to take our Christmas pictures. Mike's sister took them for us. We had planned to take them outside, but it was pouring rain, so we had to find an indoor location and this was a perfect fit! After the pics we met Mike's dad and his wife Corrie at Johnny's Pizza to eat lunch.

I told Kathryn to put her arms up like this, but the face was totally her own! We had a good laugh when we looked at it!

More Thanksgiving

This is our Aunt Kelly who we love! She always takes such good care of us when we visit her and she loves us a lot. We did have turkey, we just forgot to get it in the picture. Actually, if you look closely, you can see it way in the background.

Here is our family that we celebrated with.

Here are the great-grandkids looking through Gingerbread House design books to get ready for decorating their candy houses (as Kathryn calls them).

Mike's little sis, Jenny, and his brother's baby, Madeline.

Pecans!

This is one of my favorite things about Thanksgiving. We all go and pick up pecans from the grounds of the company where Mike's uncle works. It's really fun for the girls because they can just run wherever they want and we can always keep an eye on them because there's so much open space! I brought 2 bucketfuls of pecans home!

We could see all these pecans up in the tree that were about to fall, so Mike helped them a little.

Sydney and her second cousin, Caden.