All About Emily

Every February, Emily has a date with her Daddy. This year, they went to the YMCA Daddy Daughter Dance again. They had so much fun! I think she wore him out on the dance floor.

Here she is getting ready for her dance pictures. We love the costume this year!

Emily had a pajama party for her birthday. It wasn't a sleepover. The girls had pizza, watched a movie, played musical chairs and freeze dance, and had a pillow fight. Everyone seemed to have a great time!

Here she is with her ice cream cake. Yum!

On her birthday, we had a quiet celebration at home where she got a new bike and Lego Friends. She has been hoping to get Lego Friends for a long time, and she had so much fun putting them together.

I was also able to finally find her a new piano teacher. The one we had been going to since Nathaniel started moved away in November. Nathaniel has piano at school every day and he is doing great. He has been serving as Emily's teacher, but we knew we needed to find her a new teacher. I was able to find one in our neighborhood who is very enthusiastic and Emily is excited to start lessons again. Yay!

Daniel's Escapades

Daniel went to play at a friend's house a few weeks ago. They got into the stamps. Daniel's body was their canvas, as you can see. It was pretty funny. He looks quite proud of himself!

One morning, about a week after this incident, Daniel woke up early and came downstairs to talk with his Daddy for a while. At one point in the conversation, Daniel casually said, "Oh, yeah, and can you please get his eraser out of my nose?" Michael frantically woke me up to help get it out. We did, thankfully. It was one of those little tiny white ones at the end of a Bic mechanical pencil. Daniel has been going around the house stealing them from my pencils; he calls them "marshmallows."

Oh, that child is a handful. But we're still crazy about him!

Adventures in Picture Taking

I don't know what it is lately, but I can't seem to get a good picture of all of the kids. On Christmas day, I tried to get a good picture of them in their pajamas. Jonathan didn't want to be in it, and this one would have been OK if Daniel hadn't decided to make a run for it.



This one was better, but the camera didn't cooperate.
We had a nice visit with Jim and Carol after Christmas. We tried to get a good picture with Grandpa and Grandma after church, but Jonathan was tired and grumpy, and Daniel kept sticking his tongue out. This was the best one. Seriously.

This one is pretty good. Jonathan was taking his nap at the time. The kids had fun putting this together and later decorating it.

Here is a good picture of my sweet Emily. Doesn't she look pretty in her new dress? Her grandparents gave it to her and she loves it!

Some day it will be easy to get a good picture of the kids where they don't make goofy faces and they can sit still for more than 5 seconds. Maybe. But that would just mean that they are growing up. So for now, I'm happy with these imperfect pictures of my wonderful children. I want them to stay little for as long as possible!

Our Fun Weekend

We had a nice visit with my dad, my stepmom Debbie, and my nephew TJ this past weekend. They got here on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, my dad and I went to see Daniel in his Christmas program. He was so cute in his white shirt and Santa tie! He didn't sing very much, but he was still adorable. Jonathan loves puzzles, so this Perfection game was right up his alley. He is really good at it. Half of the pieces are scattered around the house by now, but he had fun with it.

Here are Dad and Andrew building my new shelf.

Cookie Decorating time!

Daniel and Papa

We went to Bass Pro Shop on Saturday...

...then to the mall.

What a great weekend!!!

December Fun

Visit with Santa

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to help at Andrew's school and with Jonathan's class last week. On Monday, I went on Andrew's class field trip to the mall to see Santa and ride the train and carousel. He also went to Build A Bear. Where were those field trips when I was a kid? It was so much fun! On Tuesday, I went to Andrew's school to help with their Christmas party. Then on Wednesday, I went to Jonathan's school to help with the Christmas party for his Mom's Morning Out class. Ten 2 year olds is a lot of work! His teacher was grateful for the help! Daniel was there, too, in his preschool class. Here is Jonathan, eating his third piece of pizza!

Halloween 2011

What? I'm only a month behind. Sheesh!

Nathaniel--Optimus Prime from Transformers; he wasn't going to dress up, but then at the last minute he asked me to dig this out.

Daniel--Winnie the Pooh; he has taken a sudden liking to all things Winnie the Pooh lately

Emily--ballerina (of course!); I made that skirt for her at a craft activity

Jonathan--Thomas the Tank Engine; he kept trying to take the costume off, but once he started collecting candy he was fine with it! :-)

Andrew--Batman! again :-)

Jack-O-Lanterns

The kids had a great time Trick or Treating with Daddy while I stayed home to man the door. I was a little worried about Trick or Treating in our neighborhood because there aren't many young children near us, but it was wonderful! The kids got a ton of candy, and I gave away all the candy I had purchased. Happy (late) Halloween!

Family Portraits 2011

The week we did the portraits this year was crazy! I had to get the outfits together and cut everyone's hair--I'm the only one who didn't get a hair cut. We went to Portrait Innovations again. It was weird to go to the studio and not need to bring a stroller. Daniel was much more cooperative this year (we did bribe him by promising to take him to Stevi B's pizza buffet afterwards), but Jonathan was pretty ornery about the whole thing even though he still looks adorable. I'm pretty happy with the pictures, all things considered. Here they are: