Christmastime Stuff

Trip to the mall included a treat!

Fun at the mall.

Saw Santa numerous times at Chriskringle Market!

Posing with the Nutcracker ;)

Pabst has a jail in the basement 

Sharing size pretzel!

Seeing Aunt Sarah on TV for the food drive

Sending out Christmas cards.

The girls were super patient with the gingerbread house.

Look how pretty it turned out when we worked together!

Our elf, Magic has returned,

 having fun around the house and sometimes making activity suggestions.

Making candy dishes at Home Depot. We put them out for our first Christmas Party for the church choir.

Lydia, Abigail, Audrey

Anna, Abigail, Lydia playing Twister

Selfie with my lovely oldest daughter at The Star Motel. Abigail was in childcare.

I think that brings us up to date on my pictures!  😁

Happy Thanksgiving

 A trip to Country Springs Waterpark was in order with the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off (and weekday pricing applied!)  We met some friends and it was a great way to spend the day!

 We spent Thanksgiving at Aunt Sue's house. A great meal, some games, old pictures, and family.

 Abigail & Daddy went out shopping together. Lydia and I went in our own car. Petco was one of our stops, and they had kittens out for play!

 The best part of Black Friday was meeting up at Wendy's! The kid's meals always have fun crafty toys!

 On Saturday we went to Grandma Linda's. 

This is what it looks like when we ask them smile all together!

Can't wait to toss Sarah's little boy onto the cousin couch soon! 

More good food and games. Everyone was involved in the game of charades!

This mom feels very blessed!

Tae Kwon Do

Lydia participated in the Martial Arts after-school program. There were 50 kids and there was homework on focus, respect, and discipline.

After just 4 classes, they got to go to the Sorce studio and have a graduation ceremony to show the parents what they learned. This is the position that you know you are doing right if it hurts! 

At the end, they got to break a board!

Way to Go! This is a moment to remember!

Fall in Love with Abby

 Abigail's 4K class invited parents to come in to the class for "Fall in Love with Books."

They sang their cute "I'm a Nut" and "5 Little Pumpkins" songs.

We did a craft together.

And then we had a little time to read our favorite books. It's always nice to spend time with Abigail in her classroom!

We've also been enjoying the beautiful fall weather and raking leaves.

Filled the barrel!

 On Nov. 17th, it was 68 degrees, so we declared it a beach day!

Date Night and S.T.A.R. Puppy

Another year of the Father/Daughter dance at the high school.

Lydia feels special and loves the quality time she gets with her Daddy, but next year Daddy can have one girl on each arm!

Rio graduated the Puppy Start Right 6-week class and passed his AKC S.T.A.R. puppy test!

Halloween Weekend

Candy! Parties! Dress Up! Goo!

That can only mean one thing...It's Halloween Weekend! (and it started on Thursday with no school on Friday)

Gotta get ready by carving our jack-o-lanterns!

Goofy gooey fun!

Now aglow!

Making ghost cupcakes, our own way...

The girls got to have a jack-o-lantern pizza when Aaliyah and Violet came over for a sleepover. After that, no haunted bedtime stories, just Abigail reading to Violet (I love when she 'reads' to us) and Ben reading in the playroom.

 We finally got our hands on a fishing pole (thanks Stacy!). The fish must have been too scared (and cold) to bite, but the girls' first fishing experience on the lake was enjoyable! 

 Ready-Set-Fill your cup with candy corn!

Fall Fest at church had games and hayrides.

Hay Ride was breezy but we got to see alpacas!

 Trunk or Treat: Lydia as the gingerbread puppet hands out the candy!

Oak Creek had trick-or-treating on the 31st. We saw lots of neighborhood friends (Marissa, Danielle, Elizabeth) and familiar haunted houses.

Lots of fun was had on the weekend of parties, candy, and dress up.

2016 Halloween Costumes

Lydia Abigail Halloween Drama! Dressing up for all our Halloween events over the weekend was an ordeal. (Who knew Abigail was concerned about being prettier than Lydia?!) I'm kicking myself for passing up two identical costume dresses that could have had them go as Twins. It would have been too perfect: fair, innately themed, fitting to their bond, easy to wear! But, like I said, we didn't do that. We chose candy-themed costumes that were uncomfortable, so they found alternate clothing to avoid wearing what we picked out, but in the end they wore them. Consequently, I have a slew of costume pictures to show for the ordeal that was 'Halloween 2016:'

Princesses

Ballerina & Pop Star

 And I'm going to throw this one in there...

Mummy

Princess Ballerinas alongside Mummy-to-be and Doctor

Doc McStuffins

And what we agreed upon 3 weeks ago...

Candy Corn Witch & Smarties :)