Another Snow day!

The week of Feb 1st brought 2-3 more snow days for us! Quinn and I had put the girls' matresses on the floor for a sister slumber party and they ended up staying that way for all three days! Their room was trashed by the time we put them back, but they had so much fun. One day I let them play Barbies on the beds while I put a small tv/vcr in their room and they watched a Barbie as Princess and the Pauper movie whiled they played. The next pic was of Grace taking a nap on her bed, but not before setting up her dolls and animals with their own books to keep them busy...I didn't know she had done it until I went in to check on her and i just had to take a picture! Then on another snow day I invited a neighbor friend from church over to play with the girls and they had a blast playing outside in the snow!

Lollipop Symphony - Peter and the Wolf

At the end of January, we took the kids to see the Grand Rapids Symphony do a Lollipop concert for kids of Peter and the Wolf. The Grand Rapids Ballet Company danced and it was such a fun hour of music and dancing for all of us to enjoy! The tickets are only $5 each and the kids get to see how an orchestra plays together and the dancers with their fun costumes...at the end everybody gets a special treat on their way out...a lollipop of course! We took our good friend Ainsley with us...even Faith got really into it and was captivated almost the whole time. We didn't tell the girls what we were doing until we got there, we just called it a family date morning. Afterwards we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch, just for Daddy's sake!! It really was a lot of fun to spend a Saturday morning together as a family!

Miscellaneous January Pics 2008

Here are some of the pics I took in early January...hilarious hair day at school for Maddie, Faith got a big girl Toddler bed and did great - she fell asleep one day with her arm snuggling her dolly, Grace and her friend Lydia after they got off the bus one snowy school day, and our house after one of our big snows...little did we imagine there would be many more to come!

New Years Eve

The last couple of years, we have started a tradition of having family night on New Year's Eve. We have finger foods and eat downstairs while we watch a movie together or play board games. The kids love it and we truly enjoy being with them as a family...no having to worry about going out or getting a sitter...just fun family time together. This year we had little smokies, veggies and dip, shrimp cocktail, fresh pineapple, sparkling juice, pickles, crackers and spinach dip for our little feast. We did watch a movie, but my brain is so far gone into this pregnancy I couldn't tell you which one!

Christmas will soon be here...

Just wanted to write again and update the blog. It isn't my intention to just do an every other month "unloading" and post a bunch of stuff at once, but again, life has gotten in the way. Since my last postings in November, we have had many rounds of viral sicknesses pass through this house, followed by Strep Throat and prescribed inhalers and now even last night...the stomach flu - poor Faith! It has been a challenge, yet the Lord has gotten us through and dare I say maybe after this little flu - which we pray no one else gets - we will be able to enjoy a germ free holiday? We'll have to see about that one! So here are another nineteen posts that show what's been happening around here in between all of the germs! Starting with Thanksgiving in Columbus and up to our most recent trip just last night to the mall and to see Santa...you can read all about it below...Maybe now that I am caught up again, I can actually blog every couple of days and keep up with it! Enjoy your Christmas...we'll be sure to post photos in the next few days!

A Visit to see Santa...

Last night we took the girls to the mall for some last minute shopping for each other and who did they get to see? None other than the big man himself! What a thrill - I think this year more than ever. I am really looking forward to Christmas this year. They seem such a perfect age and have been so excited about everything this year. And aren't they getting so big? You can read all about the visit with Santa, trip to the mall, going out to dinner and more on the posts below!!

The big moment...

The girls were so excited to see Santa and he spent a few minutes talking with them...mostly Grace did the talking and Maddie was content to watch (and a little shy - notice the finger in her mouth - doesn't she look like Dr. Evil? Lol) Santa listened intently as Grace told him what she wanted...he whispered something in her ear in the next picture...she too listened intently...and as they left Maddie offered him a high five...that is sooo Maddie! The girls talked all about how he really was the real Santa and not just one of Santa's helpers...here are their reasons:

Santa said "Thank you Grace, for the beautiful picture. I am going to bring this back to the North Pole with me and hang it on my refrigerator...Mrs. Claus will love it"

Santa's beard was real!

Santa's beard didn't move!

Another funny thing Maddie said the other day...it just reminded me of the times we live in...we were talking about what we wanted for Christmas and she said she would write Santa a note and when he woke up the next morning, he could check his computer and read her note...no mention of sending it in the mail - she was talking about e-mail! Quinn and I thought that was so cute!

Pre-Santa Pics...

The girls found the Abominable Snowman...

Grace holding her picture she made for Santa over a month ago...leading up to this moment!

Still waiting...just taking in the scenery!

The guy that plays the banjo on the Rudolph cartoon...the name escapes me, but notice Santa waiting in the background!

The Magic Wan

Before our night of shopping began, we started off with some good Chinese food at one of our favorite places...the girls got a Kiddie cocktail on the house, which they just loved! Maddie insisted on wearing her crown from Sunday school and we had so many people comment on how beautiful it was...also provided a good chance to show a testimony for the Lord as the verse on it said, " For unto you is born this day, a Savior, which is Christ the lord." One lady said she just loved it. The girls love the egg drop soup and each of them ate a whole egg roll and some crab rangoon..it was kind of fun not to have to worry about wrangling Faith in the high chair..the girls did so well! And we had to top off the meal with orange slices and almond cookies!

Build A Bunny?

Last night during our trip to the mall, the girls made a special build a bear bunny for Faith for her Christmas present. They love her so much and had lots of fun making this just for Faith! It is a cute long eared floppy bunny that right now is still nameless...when we decide on one for sure, we'll go back and get her certificate of adoption. She even has bows on her ears and a Hello Kitty t-shirt. Here are some pics of the fun they had making her for Faith...

Faith's present (cont.)

School Christmas Parties...

Friday was the big day for end of the year class parties. Grace had a Christmas breakfast - Faith, Nita and I all tagged along.

Grace's gift from the gift exchange.

Maddie singing during her class program...I got all the songs on video, but not sure how to post a video yet...I'll see if I can do that sometime.

She was so excited to have us there...she had been practicing her songs for a month!