Christmas Parties

Last week was a week full of Christmas parties.  It started on Tuesday with Jillian's  party at school.  Here she is in her Christmas shirt.  Her face cracks me up.  I wasn't able to make it to her party but she seemed to have a great time.  She came home with lots of goodies.

 Thursday morning was Hadley's party at school.  Jillian was in school at the same time so I was able to help with the party.  They all seemed to have a good time.  We made reindeer food, snowman and reindeer snacks and an adorable fingerprint ornament.  I love getting to be back in the the classroom from time to time and see all the little kiddos.  Hadley had a great time.  One of the best parts of the party was when their class elf on the shelf, Jingle brought them a present.  It was a huge box wrapped with lots of smaller boxes wrapped inside.  The kids thought it was funny.  Finally they got to their present, candy canes.  They were very excited and thought their elf was very silly.  Here is my girl all grown up.

 Thursday afternoon was parent observation day and party day at ballet/tap/jazz class.  Hadley did great.  I had never seen her do her jazz dance and she really got into it.  Here is our beautiful ballerina.

 Friday morning was a busy morning and I was very thankful that Mike had the day off.  Jillian had parent observation day and party at tumbling and Hadley was singing for the Grandma and Grandpa's at school.  Both things were at 10am so we had to divide and conquer.  I videotaped Hadley's performance and Mike took pictures at Jillian's.  Jillian looks all grown-up in this picture.

 We ended Friday night by getting in jammies and going to see Christmas lights.  It was fun but about 30 minutes into it Hadley said, "Can we go home and go to bed?"  It was a busy week and she was done.

December catch up

This is the post where I try and catch up on all the things we have done this December.  I am so tired right now that blogging is not even on the list of things to do these days.  Most days I am doing good to clothe and feed the kids :)
We started December by decorating for Christmas.  The girls were a big help this year.

The morning after we got the house decorated our Elf on the Shelf, Calla, came back for her yearly visit.  She has been the silly elf this year.

This past Sunday Hadley was in the Christmas program at church.  Her class sang 3 songs.  She did a great job.  She was a sheep.

 Jillian felt a little left out of all the picture taking so we had our own photo shoot.

 And then Hadley figured out what we were doing.

 A couple of weeks ago Lady came for a visit and made gingerbread houses with the girls.

December has been quite the busy month and is getting even busier.  I hope to update again soon but am not promising anything.

Exciting news...

The girls got some exciting news from their elf, Calla, last week.  This is how they found her.

They were both very excited.  Hadley started jumping up and down and could not wait to tell everyone.  When we took her to school that morning she was not even out of the van (yes we are now a mini van family) and she was yelling her news to her teacher.  It was very cute.  Jillian is excited but is sure there is no baby in my tummy and that it will be there in "ly" (July).
Mike and I are very excited. This pregnancy has really taken it out of me.  I have been pretty sick and very tired.  Hadley even offered to watch Jillian one afternoon because, "Mom making a baby is hard work."  She also has been coming into the bathroom every morning when I am in the shower and asking if my tummy is bigger yet.  I am so excited to see the girls with a baby in the house.  I don't think July will get here soon enough.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  I can barely type this because I am so full.  We had a great Thanksgiving.  We had 11 here at our house and I really enjoyed hosting.  We had way too much food but that means I don't have to cook for a few days :)  The girls loved having everyone here.  Hadley said, "This is the best day.  My favorite part was having all the people at my house."  I did take a few pictures throughout the day.

Alex and Loryn having a relaxing morning.

 Thanksgiving craft time with Lady.

 The girls loved having Loryn to entertain them.

 Our little pilgrim girl.

 Lady is such a turkey.

 The whole group.

 Time to eat!

 Time to work off all the extra calories.

 We ended the day with a little webcam time with Auntie Jessica and Sophia.

Nothing new

I am sorry to say that my camera is collecting dust.  I just haven't been taking pictures lately and really don't have anything new to share.  We are getting ready to host our first Thanksgiving at our house.  We are very excited.  Hadley has been in charge of decorations so there has been a lot of coloring and cutting going on at our house.  I will get my camera out on Thanksgiving.  To hold you over here are a few pictures from past Thanksgivings.

Hadley's first Thanksgiving 2007

 Jillian's first Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving 2010

County Fair at school

The Friday before Halloween was the County Fair at Hadley's school.  They didn't have a Halloween party but a County Fair instead.  It was for the residents of the assisted living center and the students.  Parents and siblings could also attend.  It was a fun time.  The girls seemed to have a great time and loved turning their tickets in for prizes.  Hadley went for the jewelry and Jillian went for the candy.  Which do you think is more like me???