Merry Christmas!

We had another wonderful Christmas season, and we were, once again, blessed with some wonderful memories and gifts.  The girls have enjoyed being stuck inside during these bitterly cold days because it has given them time to explore and play with all the gifts they were given.  It was definitely a fun season for the girls, anticipating the arrival of Santa, and it's fun for Jeremy and me to enjoy the season through them.  Merry Christmas!

Dance Sneak Peek

A few weeks ago, parents were invited into dance class to watch the children dance.  Even though I'm sure it totally disrupted the flow of the class, it was definitely fun to see.  For being only three-years-old at the time, Kate did pretty well with the dance moves and following directions.  There were a couple of points she started to show off a little and watch herself in the mirror, and when that occurred, Audrey turned to me and said, "I will listen much better than that!"  Audrey, on the other hand, did follow every direction perfectly and does look more grown-up out there than last year.  All in all, it made the 90 minutes between the two classes pass very quickly for me, and I think we have two beautiful ballerinas on our hands.  The recital in May could be pretty entertaining!

Readers and Leaders

During an assembly at school last Thursday, Audrey was honored as one of kindergarten's "Readers and Leaders".  Audrey was chosen to receive the "Excellence" award for kindergarten because of the pride she takes in the work she does.  Her teacher said Audrey always gives her best effort on everything she does!  When receiving the award, Audrey had to stand up in front of the entire elementary in the gym and get recognized.  It was apparent to me she felt uncomfortable, but probably not to anyone else.  She did great!

After that part was done, Audrey was also recognized as one of the seven kindergarten students to read over 100 books during the month.  As a reward, the students were allowed to put a pie in our principal's face.  Each time before this that Audrey had qualified for one of these rewards, she was too shy/uncomfortable to do it.  This time, though, she did it!  She walked up in front of the crowd and smashed a pie on our principal's shirt.  It is silly to say, but I got tears in my eyes feeling proud of her for taking a risk!  Way to go, Audrey!  Dad and I are so proud of all you have accomplished in school already!

Kate's Interview

Here is Kate's four-year-old interview...

Favorite Food: Pizza
Foods I Don’t Like: Eggs
Favorite Thing to Learn: Art with my sister
Favorite Color: Orange
Best Friend: Audi
Favorite Game to Play: Doggie, Doggie Where’s Your Bone?
Favorite Books to Read: Fancy Nancy
Favorite TV Show: Eloise
Favorite Holiday: Christmas
Things I Do Well: Writing
Favorite Place to Go: Pizza Ranch
Favorite Thing to Do With Family:  Play
Favorite Thing about House:  The Christmas tree
Favorite Thing to do Outside: Be outside with Dad
Favorite Chore: Picking up toys
Least Favorite Chore:  Organizing the shoes
Favorite Song:  Kids Bop
When I Grow Up I Want to Be a: Tooth Fairy
Place I Want to Visit:  Pizza Ranch
Favorite Part of Each Day:  Watching my shows
Favorite Drink:  Hot cocoa
Favorite Sport or Activity to Play:  Hide and seek
Something New I Want to Learn How to Do:  Climb trees
Best Part of Your Family:  “Being with Dad, Audi, and Mom.  And don’t forget Charlie. And Mila and Belle.”

Happy Birthday, Kate!

How can our baby girl be four years old already?  As Kate says, "I have to keep growing, Mom!  I want to get as old as Audi."  Kate's sweet smile, hearty laugh, and innocent way of viewing the world add such an endearing element to our days.  This past year has seen Kate continue to expand her vocabulary, ramp up her imaginative play, and definitely become more of an equal in playing with Audrey.  Kate continues to love reading, art projects, wearing dresses, leaving her hair down and wild, and watching "her shows".  If allowed, this girl could watch TV and/or movies ALL DAY LONG and not get wiggly.

We love you with our whole hearts, Miss Kate!  This next year will bring more fun, more laughter, more dancing, more noodles with sprinkle cheese, and definitely more adventures with you leading the way.  We love the happy, caring, and excited young lady you are becoming!  Keep showing those dimples, big girl! :)

Gingerbread Train

For their birthdays, the girls received a fun kit from Great-Aunt Nancy that made a gingerbread train.  Jade came to babysit on Saturday night, so that we could go to a Christmas party.  To help ease Audrey's nerves about us leaving, I threw out the idea of doing the kit.  Audrey was excited, and Jade was willing!  It was a success, and I think all three girls had a blast.  Thanks, Nancy, for the kit, and thanks to Jade for watching the girls!

Two silly girls and their final product!

If Audrey's plan to become a teacher falls through, she does have potential with photography.

Concert

Our beautiful kindergarten girl put on her first school vocal concert Monday night.  Audrey had slight nerves beforehand, but handled everything beautifully while performing.  She smiled, had fun, and remembered all her words.  Those beautiful kindergarten voices may have shouted more than sang, but it was definitely an adorable, successful concert for them!  Their holiday spirit is contagious! :)

A certain little sister HAD to be dressed up too!

Tree Cutting Clothes

These two goofy girls insisted on jeans and sweatshirts the day we got the tree because they said they needed jeans for "working".  Audrey even has the perfect sweater on!  The clothes worked, I guess, because we found the perfect tree!

Tree Farm

On a sunny late November morning, we traveled to a tiny nearby tree farm.  As usual, Jeremy was kind of reluctant to get a real tree, since it requires watering and drops needles.  Our wonderful experience this year may have helped to change his mind, though!  The tree farm was empty, so we had the entire place to ourselves.  We traveled through many rows of beautiful trees and were able to find an absolutely perfect tree, which only cost $25!  With some awesome little helpers, we were able to cut down the tree, transport it, and decorate it all in one day.  We love this tree and can't believe how much more water it is taking compared to our Menard's trees in previous years. :)  Jeremy might be coming around now!

Audrey took this picture.  I love it!

Birthday in Galena

Last weekend we went away to Galena, which gave us the perfect opportunity to spend time with family and get a jump start on Christmas shopping.  We coupled our weekend away with a birthday celebration for the girls (and Grandma!).  The girls were so excited to add a few decorations to the "vacation house" and eat cupcakes.  It makes their birthdays last for almost a month, which is a pretty sweet deal! :)  Here are some pictures of their "party"!

A party in pajamas is always a good thing!

Having the party in Galena meant that all cousins could attend!

Audrey's Interview

Here is Audrey's six-year-old interview, too...

Favorite Food:  Pickles
Foods I Don’t Like: Eggs
Favorite Thing to Learn: Math
Favorite Color:  Pink and Purple and Gold and Silver
Best Friend:   Lilly
Favorite Game to Play: Toilet Tag (a game in gym class)
Favorite Books to Read:  Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls
Favorite TV Show:  Sunny Day
Favorite Holiday:  My Birthday
Things I Do Well:  Listening (and then she laughed really hard about saying that because she knows it’s not always true)
Favorite Place to Go:  On Vacation
Favorite Thing to Do With Family:  Play outside with Dad
Favorite Thing about House:   Kate, Mom, Dad, Belle, Mila, and Charlie
Favorite Thing to do Outside:  Play with chalk
Favorite Chore:   Helping Dad wash his cars
Least Favorite Chore:   Picking up my room
Favorite Song:  “That Don’t Impress Me Much” (Shania Twain)
When I Grow Up I Want to Be a: Teacher
Place I Want to Visit:  Everywhere 
Favorite Part of Each Day: Being with Mom, Dad, Kate, Mila, Belle, and Charlie 
Favorite Drink:  Lemonade
Favorite Sport or Activity to Play:  Don’t Take Buster’s Bones (a board game in her kindergarten room)  
Something New I Want to Learn How to Do:  Drive a car
Best Part of Your Family:  Being with Mom, Dad, Kate, Mila, Belle, and Chuck

Happy 6th Birthday, Audrey!

Six years ago today, a little girl stubbornly entered the world, refusing to come out after too many hours of labor.  Little did we know, that stubborn baby would melt our hearts immediately and change our world completely.  Today Audrey turned six, and it is so hard to believe.  She has grown into a beautiful, kind-hearted, creative, intelligent, and sensitive little lady.  She is starting to read like crazy, has made new friends in kindergarten, and continues to grow in her confidence.  She still keeps us on our toes, but we wouldn't have it any other way.  We love you with all our hearts, big girl!  We know you've got awesome things ahead of you this year, and we will be here to support you through it all! :)

Audrey woke up with about 25 balloons in her room this morning, and she said, "I thought I was still dreaming!"

Play Date

A couple of weekends ago, we invited two sweet girls over to play.  Audrey met her friend in kindergarten this year, and luckily, her friend has a little sister who will turn four in December.  Kate had never met the little sister before the play date, but she didn't care at all!  The four girls had a fun afternoon together, playing dress-up, doing art projects, and decorating cupcakes.  It was nice to have a friend for each girl, so that no little sister felt left out.  We'll hope to have them over again soon!

Guess What Audrey Can Do?

We practiced hard on Sunday, and now Audrey can tie shoes!  Here is her how-to video...

We had to do a few takes of the video because one take involved gas being passed by the person tying shoes.  Once that happened, it took a looooong time to recover from the giggles.

Happy Halloween!

Another Halloween has wrapped up!  After a party at dance lessons, party at daycare, party at school, and actual trick-or-treating, our costumes were out and about quite a bit.  The girls had a fun night walking around town.  One of our favorite memories of the night was seeing brave little Kate clicking in her black high heels up to doors first because she was the leader of her more timid big sister.  Audrey warmed up (figuratively speaking) to the idea of trick-or-treating and was having more fun as we walked on.

Once we had gone about 45 minutes, the girls declared they had enough candy and were very cold!  Jeremy and I had enough of the cold, as well, so we all settled in for a jack-o-lantern pizza and a couple pieces of candy.  Now begins the fun of rationing the candy...

Happy Halloween from our beautiful girls!

Our beautiful Minnie Mouse, complete with those high heels.

Ariel decided that evening she should probably have had red hair.  Luckily we avoided a meltdown about that one!

Kate's Minnie Mouse pumpkin

Audrey's Elsa pumpkin, which she actually carved much of herself!

Pumpkin Patch

A couple weekends ago, we made our annual trek to our favorite pumpkin patch.  Since the weekends had some crummy weather, we had to settle for a very cool Sunday afternoon to go.  Both girls were excited for a pony ride, and we kept our fingers crossed the excitement would hold when we got there.  Luckily, their friend Brie was working with the ponies, and having her there helped both girls feel much more comfortable.  It was another successful trip to the pumpkin patch, and we were very happy with the pumpkins we picked.  The annual carving project commenced tonight, and things went well!  Just two more days to go...