Christmas Eve Mass

Kate and Elizabeth were spontaneously asked to carry a couple important animals to the nativity scene at mass on Christmas Eve. These two brave girls were thrilled to participate and looked like dolls.

Random Pictures

The girls in front of one of our hallway bulletin boards at school...

Christmas #2

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were spent with my side of the family, and the girls had so much fun spending time with cousins!  Christmas festivities were loud, full of laughter, and definitely memory makers.  It was so fun to watch the cousins play together, and Audrey was able to get a few cuddles in while carrying Rosie.  Again, the girls received wonderful gifts, and Santa even visited Geeka and Grandma's house, too.  We were so grateful the weather cooperated for everyone to travel this year.  The holidays with these two young ladies are so imaginative and fun.  The years are going too quickly!

It is hard to get these kids to sit still, but we did squeeze in a pic with Elizabeth!

Christmas #1

Our first Christmas took place last weekend with Dad's side of the family. For the first time, the girls weren't the only grandkids! They were both so excited to hang out with their cousin Lucy. We had delicious food, and the girls had so much fun opening up gifts. Being with these two crazy girls on Christmas does add a fun element to each celebration.

Kate a.k.a Sheep

This year Kate's kindergarten religious ed class was the one that put on a living nativity scene. Kate played the ever important sheep in the scene, and man, was she ever cute! Last year she was pulled at the last minute to serve in Audrey's living nativity, but this year, our big kindergarten girl did it herself!

Kate's Six-Year-Old Interview

Favorite Food: Noodles
Foods I Don’t Like: Eggs
Favorite Thing to Learn: Reading words
Favorite Color: Orange
Best Friend: Delaney B.
Favorite Game to Play: Playing a pretend family game at school
Favorite Books to Read: Pinkalicious and Arthur
Favorite TV Show: Arthur, Liv and Maddie, Sydney to the Max, Descendants, and Jessie
Favorite Holiday: Winter
Things I Do Well: Reading
Favorite Place to Go: Olive Garden
Favorite Thing to Do With Family: Play
Favorite Thing about House: That we have cats.
Favorite Thing to do Outside: Swing
Favorite Chore: Scrubbing the floors
Least Favorite Chore: Cleaning the toilets (even though I don't clean the toilets)
Favorite Song: Descendants 3 music
When I Grow Up I Want to Be a: Teacher
Place I Want to Visit: Sky Zone
Favorite Part of Each Day: School
Favorite Drink: Lemonade
Favorite Sport or Activity to Play: My favorite sport is soccer.
Something New I Want to Learn How to Do: Learning to be a teacher
Best Part of Your Family: Mom and Dad and Audrey and Belle and Mila (chicken neck)

Kate is 6!

Happy Birthday, sweet Kate! You have counted down to your birthday more than ever this year, and I hope it was all you dreamed it would be! We celebrated with a birthday lunch and games at Happy Joes, two different family parties, and gifts at home, with your supper in the dining room. You are such a sweet, social, creative, and tender-hearted girl, who also is spunky and has a good sense of humor. We love your stories and view of the world. Thanks for the joy you bring us each day! Happy Birthday, Kate!

One of my favorite Kate pictures from the year. Her smile is so infectious. Love you, Kate P.!

Audrey's Friends

Here are a few more pictures another mother sent me from the concert the other evening:

This is Audrey and her best friend Katelynn.

The boy, Aiden, has been one of Audrey's favorite friends since kindergarten.  He is ALWAYS happy and brings a smile to Audrey's face, too.

Christmas Program

Tonight the girls both participated in the school's Winter Vocal Program. Kate declared herself "so excited for this day that she could burst." Audrey was also very excited because her grade was using quite a few props in their songs.

The concert was absolutely adorable, and both girls sang and danced their little hearts out. It was a LATE night tonight, and our little singers were asleep before their heads hit their pillows. Way to go, girls!

Trolls!

Audrey and Kate received tickets to Trolls Live! from their aunts for their birthdays, which was a perfect gift for these two ladies!  Last Sunday we traveled to the US Cellular Center to watch the show, and the girls loved it!  The music was fun, the lights were bright, and the costumes were colorful.  By the end of the show, both girls were dancing in their seats.  The only downfall for the two girls was that they were NOT allowed to get food or paraphernalia at the show, but things brightened up when we took them out for sundaes after.

Thanks for the tickets, Coke and Kirstin!  We had a blast!

Can you spy the weirdo in the background?

Thanksgiving Hot Tub

When your Thanksgiving holiday is filled with oodles of Barbies, an endless M & M supply, and an outdoor hot tub with a TV, you can call Thanksgiving a win!  Both girls said, "Can we go back to Kris's house soon?"  Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Galena

A couple weekends ago, we made our annual fall weekend trip to Galena with my side of the family.  The girls were so excited to see their cousins and to have one of their birthday celebrations.  The time with cousins proved to be even more fun than they anticipated.  Audrey had a blast watching over and helping to take care of Rosie.  She wanted to walk around with Rosie on her hip any chance she got!

Kate, on the other hand, had fun running around and playing with Elizabeth and Jack.  The house we rented had three levels, which allowed for some hide and seek games, along with running up and down steps!  For now, Will had to be content just to take everything in, but we're sure next year he will be up and running with the crowd, or being held by Audrey! :)

Here are a few pictures of our fun weekend together!

Audrey's Interview

Here are Audrey's interview answers for her eight-year-old interview:

Favorite Food: Rice Bowls
Foods I Don’t Like: Eggs and Mushrooms
Favorite Thing to Learn: I really like going to Ms. Tjaden's room. (Talented and Gifted teacher)
Favorite Color: Purple, Black, and Blue
Best Friend: Katelynn
Favorite Game to Play: Guess Who?
Favorite Books to Read: Ivy and Bean, Olivia's Secret Journal, and Owl Diaries
Favorite TV Show: Sydney to the Max, Cole and Sav's Blog, and Liv and Maddie
Favorite Holiday: Christmas
Things I Do Well: Journal and making pillows
Favorite Place to Go: Galena
Favorite Thing to Do With Family: Go outside
Favorite Thing about House: It's big.
Favorite Thing to do Outside: Dad's four-wheeler rides and sitting on Dad's Creeper with Sadie
Favorite Chore: Taking care of Mittens
Least Favorite Chore: Cleaning my room
Favorite Song: All of Shania Twain's songs and “Old Town Road”
When I Grow Up I Want to Be a: Teacher
Place I Want to Visit: California
Favorite Part of Each Day: Doing videos on the camera with Kate
Favorite Drink: Raspberry Lemonade, Cream Soda from Menards, and Root Beer
Favorite Sport or Activity to Play: Gymnastics
Something New I Want to Learn How to Do: Perfect cartwheels
Best Part of Your Family: Probably Mittens and Sadie and Belle and Mila, and wait, Charlie!

Audrey is 8!

Two big events occurred today. First, sweet Audrey received her First Reconciliation. Second, AUDREY TURNED 8!

Audrey had been excited and nervous about this day, once she figured out Reconciliation coincided with her birthday. Her nerves this morning, however, were nonexistent, and she handled the sacrament with complete maturity. I was so proud of her.

After church, we spent the day celebrating at Olive Garden and Frozen 2. Audrey had a wonderful day.

Audrey, we love the young lady you are growing to be. Your intelligence, tender heart, and creativity combine to make you so fun to be around. We love you so much and hope this year brings you more laughter, self-confidence, bravery to take more risks, and FUN. We are here to love and support you through it all! Happy Birthday, Aud!

Birthday Party

How is our Audrey turning 8 already?  It is SO crazy.  We decided to have her birthday party a little early, and it worked out perfectly to be a calm night at the trampoline park.  Audrey invited three girls and two boys from her grade, but the two boys were invited to another birthday party on the same night.  In the end, this perfect little group got along well, included Kate, and had a really nice time together.  The birthday girl said at the end of the night that she had a ton of fun, which is really all that matters.

We love you, Aud!  We still have a few more birthday celebrations to go... :)

School Pictures

Our sweet girls are growing up too fast.

Halloween

The weather this Halloween definitely wasn't ideal. Costumes were completely covered by winter gear, toes became uncomfortably frozen, and boots crunched in the snow. Our sweet and crazy girls put on a brave front and lasted quite awhile. Kate quit earlier than Audrey, crying because of her cold toes AND crying because she wasn't going to get as much candy.

By the time we got home, though, both girls put on warm pjs, sorted candy, and were back to normal. 

We had fun, are tired out, and are excited 

for that extra hour of sleep this weekend!

Our unicorn and movie star before covering up!

We met up with some daycare friends for a picture. 

Mittens

In the summer, Audrey fell in love with a cute kitten at Geeka and Grandma's house. She kept saying all along that she was going to bring it back to be another outdoor cat. At the same time, Jeremy kept saying no.

Fast forward a few months, and the same argument was continuing. In the end, Jeremy's soft heart for Aud got the best of him, and Mittens became an official garage kitty at our home. She is a very sweet cat, and minus a worm issue, has been very easy.

Jeremy says emphatically, though, that this is IT for animals now.

Breakfast Buddies

The school had a morning this week where a parent could come and join their child for a delicious cinnamon roll. Jeremy went in late to work, so that he could join his two beautiful gals. What a sweet picture that was posted to the school's Facebook page!

Will

Sweet Will joined our family almost two weeks ago, on Monday, October 7th.  The girls are SO excited to have another cousin, and Will seems as wonderful as his brother.  We got to visit Will for the first time last week, keeping all coughing people away from him, while non-coughing people could interact.

Welcome to the family, Will!  You have already won over our hearts, and we know you've got the BEST big brother in the world to help take care of you!

Coughing Kate was kept on the floor to play with Jack.

Audrey was very perplexed why Will would just lay there and not cry.  She said he seemed just like a doll!

I loved this picture of Jack with Will at the hospital.

Pumpkin Patch

Our fall weekend weather has not been cooperating the best, as far as outdoor activities go.  Last weekend we took a dry, fairly cool day to travel up to Manchester to visit their pumpkin patch and also meet up with Jack!  We spent an hour climbing over the equipment and climbing structures there, and then Audrey was able to pick out the ten best pumpkins.  Somehow she kept finding "just one more" that she really needed.  We had a lot of fun hanging out with Jack, but the most fun may have come when we arrived home.  The girls spent almost an hour rearranging the pumpkins and our mum on the porch to make it look the most decorative.  They even ended up cleaning up the dust on the porch, so that everything would look better.  Those two goofballs!

We decided Geeka needs to build one of these out at their house!

Jack would not look at the camera when we were trying to take a picture, so then Justin didn't either.

Homecoming

Just like that, another Homecoming week has come and gone. It started off stressful, with a feverish Kate, and ended with two joyful cheerleaders. Kate missed Monday of school, which also was the only rehearsal for the cheer clinic they had signed up for.

We weren't quite sure how to handle if Kate should march in the parade and perform with the cheerleaders without knowing the routine at all, but it turns out she could blend right in with the best of them. She just learned it as she performed! She didn't care one bit!

Here are a few pics of our cuties! Their Pirate spirit helped bring with it the first football victory of the season.

A new Pirate mascot was an addition to Homecoming night. The girls had to get a picture!