Christmas Day

The girls did a fantastic job on Christmas Day. Not only did they have to wait quietly for David to get some sleep but they were super excited for the rest of the family to get there. We were very blessed this holiday season! 

Run, Reindeer, Run!

I did a 1 mile fun run with Addy and one of her favorite friends earlier this month. It was great fun and we were able to run with a couple other classmates and their moms. Addy did great, she almost ran the whole time. She still struggles with finishing strong but given that she is not even 6.5 years old now I will give her four gold stars for humoring her nutty mom! :)

Cally's Preschool Christmas Party

An Early Christmas Gift!

 

Addy and Cally modeling the new jammies from Grandma

 I can't imagine why Grandma thought the girls needed to open new jammies before Christmas? I mean the girls' jammies look fab, right?! ;)

They both had a great time opening a gift early.

The 12 Days of Christmas!

 

The girls were glowing with readiness for the church Christmas program last night! They both did an awesome job, I was so proud of them both! Addy said it was very hard to stand for soo long but that she had fun. You can see some of the girls' Christmas craft/decorations. Addy has taken to decorating the house with her handmade crafts for every occasion. :)

A Visit with Santa!

 

Every Santa visit should end with glitter tattoos, right?!?

'Tis the Season!

Addy's first Christmas wrapping job of the season. She did it all by herself and made sure to pose in a way that would maximize our viewing pleasure of her new earrings. :)

Better Late than Never....

Here are a few pictures from a Thanksgiving weekend photo shoot with the cousins. It was so much fun to see all the kids playing so well together. :)

Cally, Addy and not-a-baby anymore Elsie!

Elsie, Cally, Oliver, Addy, Jacob, Jadon and Jarred

I thought it would be cute to try for a jumping action pose. The younger kids were too little to get a good air shot but everyone liked trying! :)
 

Ornament Exchange

The girls and I attended an ornament exchange at our church. I was so happy with how well both girls did choosing ornaments. Addy took charge of our shopping trip and decided that we should all pick an ornament about God. At the exchange the girls each spoke a one-word line (Cally said gold and Addy said frankincense) in a dialogue about the birth of Jesus.
It was a lot of fun to see who ended up with our ornament and to watch their faces as they opened them. Oh and it is a "women's" event and neither Addy or Cally could wrap their mind around that.

Addy's Holiday Blooms

Addy has her own Holiday Cactus. Her cactus was bought off the clearance/sale table at the end of last year. It has tried to bloom twice before, but each time some one's (Cally's) curiosity was stronger than the buds ability to hang on to the plant, so these blossoms were met with great enthusiasm.

Treasures abound!

 

We did some geocaching over the holiday weekend. We had great luck and only walked away treasureless at one location. It was a lot of fun, especially now that the girls are old enough to enjoy the hunt! 

Six!!

Addy turned six last week (I know, I am so, so, slow at blogging this summer...)! Yippee!! We had a fabulous time celebrating! Addy was able to open birthday presents with a lot of family, maybe not on her exact birthday, but it was still a wonderful time with everyone. So far, being six has meant that Addy no longer has to hold hands with an adult when in parking lots and that she gets to make many, many edicts. David and I are not convinced by any of her edicts (especially the no-hands one!)but Addy is not one to give up lightly.  

Fourth of July fun!

We had a lovely time enjoying the fourth of July with friends and neighbors. I didn't get any pictures before we went out for a few fireworks, but we had a great time at dinner too! Cally isn't in too many pictures because she was on my lap for most of the festivities. She wasn't really scared, just up way too late. The next morning I had to wake her up at 9 am so we could get to the gym at a decent hour!

Easter-revisited!

We had a wonderful time at Aunt Chris and James' home for Easter this year. It was fantastic to see so much family as well as seeing everyone so happy!

A 3rd Birthday Party-Bear style!!

These pictures are a tad out of order. We had Cally's birthday party the day after her actual birthday, but these pictures were on my camera and I have been very slow about getting them downloaded. Thanks for bearing with me! ;)

I love this series of shots. The kids decided to tear the wrapping paper into confetti size pieces and throw them on the birthday girl. Cally accepted her fate pretty matter of fact-ly, after all it is her birthday, of course she should have paper thrown on her! ;)

It is hard to see in this picture, but Cally is grinning and bearing it in anticipation of the big throw!

Whew!!!

Cally loved it and the rest of the kids all took a turn getting it thrown on them. After a while, the kids got bored of the game and everyone helped pick it up! Now that is MY kind of a party! ;)

Cally's party went really well. We had snacks, cupcakes and a craft activity. Oh and we even had homemade frilly party hats and balloon flower clusters! (Those are thanks to pinterest of course!) 

Cally's special day!!

Cally's third birthday was a fabulous day for us all! Both Addy and David had the day off so we headed to our favorite zoo for a great morning of exploring.

Next up was the girls' favorite play arcade restaurant for lunch. Cally and Addy scored pretty well with the tickets and were excited to choose their prizes.

After lunch and 'gaming' we headed to our local Barnes and Nobles, where thanks to their free kids card program, Cally enjoyed a birthday treat on the house. 

I don't have pictures to share but for dinner we were invited to Molly's house for a delicious fajita dinner. Could Cally have had a better day?!?!

Slacker!!

Jiffy looks pretty peaceful and content here, but she has been yearning for the great outdoors lately. She is pretty good about just exploring near us and not running away but I often get distracted and lose sight of her. Luckily, her pretty pink necklace will make her LOST Cat poster stand out from all the other lost white cats!

Uh-oh, I wonder what Cally got into while I was mopping?

Oh yes, ripping up all the toilet paper is one of her favorite past times. When I caught her, she had a roll from the surplus storage in her hand and was really ready to get down to business.

It must be holiday time! My holiday cactus is blooming!!! I am really excited about this development (much more so than the toilet paper!) because this is the first year that my cactus has bloomed in the spring.

Yes, it is true! I have been slacking on the blog lately. Here is a quick catch up on some of the antics that keep  me away from the blog. (I can not figure out how to get blogger to leave this intro up top, so just pretend you read this first...)