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.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we drove down to Monroe, Louisiana on Wednesday to celebrate with Mike's family. That evening we ate Crawfish Etoufee, Red Beans & Rice, and Garlic bread. It was fabulous as always. Then we played Rock Band until the wee hours of the morning. My fingers are very untalented, so I only sang, but it was lots of fun.

On Thursday morning the girls and I watched the Thanksgiving Day parade. Kathryn told me she wanted to be a cheerleader when she grows up, and I told her that she could be anything she wanted to be. (But secretly I was cheering (pun intended) on the inside!)

Trimming the Tree

For Family Home Evening last Monday, we decorated our Christmas tree. We had so much fun looking through all our ornaments and showing the girls. We have ornaments from places we've lived, places we've visited, and from people we love.

Getting ready for Christmas!

Today we got out of church early because there was no electricity! It went out in the middle of Sacrament, but everyone just kept on doing what they were doing. It was kind of neat. There was enough light coming in from the front windows that everyone could see, but it was just a little dark. We finished Sacrament meeting and the speakers spoke without a microphone and the choir sang with the piano.

So, we came home around 10:30 and had pizza for an early lunch. Then we got out all of our Christmas decorations! We listened to Christmas music, put up our Christmas tree and I changed the mantle from Fall to Christmas! Tomorrow night we will put the ornaments on the tree and talk about the Savior's birth for Family Home Evening.

When I got out the Christmas tree skirt, the girls didn't know what it was, so I told them it was a cape and we all took turns wearing it and running around the house! Then when we showed them what it was actually for, they seemed kind of disappointed. They are excited to start the advent calendar when December starts.

Before:
After:
Mike got really worn out from putting up that tree!

Twilight at Midnight

Last night we went to see Twilight at the Midnight showing. We had a lot of fun! Three YW leaders and four of our YW went from our ward.

These girls were studing for a Science test! I hope they did well!

Here are our four girls ready and excited about the movie!

We were all some tired girls on our way home at 2:30 in the morning! I'm saving my review of the movie until later, after some of our other friends have seen it!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

I saw this sign at our local donut shop and had to take a picture! After we dropped Kathryn off at preschool this morning, Sydney and I went and got a donut together. It was fun to be alone with her and she flirted with all the old men that were there having their morning coffee.

Then we picked Kathryn up early from school to go to Bounce U. Here she is dressed for Wacky Wednesday. Lately she's been saying, "Mom, That was too much fun!"

Christmas Stockings

I made our Christmas stockings today. I bought them after Christmas last year for $1. Then I bought stiff glitter felt and cut out the letters.

Today was 'Wear your PJs' day at preschool. Here is what Kathryn chose to wear. Well, actually she wanted to wear, "the ones with the flower, you know?, right here (points to her tummy) and the stripes on the side, you know?", but I couldn't figure out what she was talking about!

Her hair looks fuzzy, becuase it is! I braided it last night into 6 braids when it was wet to see what it would do when it dried. And...this is what it did. It actually looked cuter in person.

Another good dinner...

Okay, so I'm not usually one to buy pre-cooked convenience food, because of the higher prices and usually the diminished taste and preservatives. But I bought this a couple of weeks ago during a special deal at my local grocery store and we had it for dinner tonight. It was so good and so easy! And I don't even love pork! They have some other entrees, but this is the only one I can recommend because it's the only one I've tried.

FHE & Christmas Crafting

Tonight we had a Family Home Evening on being thankful. We sang A Song of Thanks (primary song), read a scripture on being thankful in all things (D&C 59:7), and made a Gratitude Can. Tonight Kathryn was thankful for "helping mommy sweep" and Sydney was thankful for her paci. Kathryn knew what she wanted to say right away, but I had to ask Sydney a little differently. I asked her what makes her happy, and she said her paci.

I also made these Christmas trees tonight for my mantle. I first saw the idea here, using styrofoam and fabric. I didn't really want to pay for the supplies, so I made mine out of posterboard and wrapping paper.

Kathryn's Yoga Moves

Kathryn & Sydney love to play 'gym'. They take turns pretending to be the mommy and leaving the kid in the Kid's Club and then going to do an exercise class. Their favorite part is coming back to the Kid's Club to pick up their baby. They'll ask each other, "Did you have fun? Did you color me a picture? Did you hit anyone?" It's quite funny. And it's behavior that I don't mind them copying. I love it actually. Here she is showing me some of her yoga moves.

Wentzville Turkey Trot

This morning I ran in the Wentzville Turkey Trot. I finished in 28:53 approx. No chip timing, so I could be off a couple of seconds either way. It was fun and I ran it with a couple of my friends but IT WAS SO COLD!!! We dressed the girls in ski bibs, big jackets, gloves, and hats, and they were actually able to stand out there for the entire hour that we were there. I brought hot chocolate that we had after the race, which was a warm treat. I didn't win any awards, or win the turkey that they gave away, but it was a good time. It's always nice to push myself in uncomfortable situations, just to know that I can do it.

We sold the Pathfinder yesterday! Finally! Admittedly, we hadn't been trying very hard to sell it, but we finally got our act together and did it.

A favorite snack...

This is my favorite snack for the moment! They are so good! Lately I've been eating them with hummus.

Bedtime

Out of the bath...

Brushing our hair...

Brushing our teeth...

Saying our prayers...

In bed by 8 and Mommy is silently cheering!

Ready...Set...Read!

We attended a Parents-as-Teachers event tonight called Ready...Set...Read! It was mainly for Kathryn's age group, but Sydney tagged along. We did lots of fun activities centered around fun books like, The Carrot Seed, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, Corduroy, and lots more! Here Kathryn is fishing for One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish!

Sydney working on her hat.

Sydney fishing and the girls modeling their hats. Kathryn said, "Sydney looks like a magician!" (BTW, I had the girls hair cut yesterday. And Sydney got bangs. I'm not in love with them yet, but I think it's just such a change to her little face. Kathryn saw her and said, "She looks silly!" But I know that she just meant different and we will all grow to love them. And they will grow out. I'll try to get a better picture.)

The girls in the reading tent. I climbed in there with them and we read some books. They mainly wanted to play with the flashlights.