25 Days of Christmas-Gingerbread House Decorating

We have been celebrating the 25 Days of Christmas with an activity everyday.  One day last week was decorating a gingerbread house.  It was fun and we laughed a lot!

 They each had a side they could decorate.  My job was to hold the whole thing together.

 Obviously I didn't do such a great job! 

After several crashes we finally got it to stand! 

 It is not the most beautiful house ever built, but it was built with love.

Funny story:  Grace accidentally dropped a candy on the ground.  I said she could just eat it (yes, apparently I encourage my children to eat food off the floor!).  She then started purposely dropping candy on the ground and would say, "Oh!  Thant's okay!  I will just eat it, huh?!?!"  Finally I told her to stop dropping them and just eat it!

Tiny Dancer

Grace had her first dance recital last week.  She was very funny. 

She was easily distracted by seeing daddy, the lights, and something on the floor.  Also she spent the last few moments of her dance being a puppy! 

The top pictures were after the recital when they were saying thank yous and handing out gifts.  All the other girls were sitting nicely and politely...Grace not so much.  I tried to get a nice picture of her after, but that is almost impossible! 

Grace is such a silly goof-ball, but she looked so cute!  We were so proud of her doing so well on her first recital!

Holiday Parade

Our town has an annual Holiday Parade.  We bundled up super warm and drove to downtown.  It was actually not as cold as I was anticipating, but at least we were not cold! 

It was a fun parade.  Lots of lights and bands playing Christmas music.  Grace spent a lot of the parade with her hands on her ears, not because it was loud, but because she thought it was going to be loud.  Hannah was dancing all over the place.  Clara was waving though her puffy snowclothes.

It was a fun night and helped us get in the Holiday spirit.

The Last Bits of Fall

The weather has been so crazy here in Virginia.  It will be 70 degrees one day and 40 the next.  It is not really feeling like winter or Christmas here yet.  One day a few weeks ago, when it actually felt like fall, Chad and the girls raked up the leaves of our tree outside.  The girls loved to play in the pile, even though it was small.  Clara and I stayed inside where it was warm, but she liked to watch them out the window.

Yet Another Clara Video..Her 1st Steps

If the video won't work, click here.

Clara is definitely my slowest walker.  She still isn't fully walking, although she is getting more brave every day!  We are thinking that we will be completely walking by Christmas!

When Daddy is Away...

...the girls will play! 

The weekend after Thanksgiving Chad was able to go with a group from our stake to help the victims of Sandy in New Jersey.  You can read more about his adventure here.

The girls and I decided that we would have our own adventures here at home.  Please note that since Chad took the camera with him to New Jersey, all of the following pictures were taken with my phone.  Please excuse the poor quality! :)

 Decorating the house for Christmas and dressing up in the snowman kit gear!

 Going on a walk/bike ride to DQ to use our coupons for free ice cream.

 Spa morning which included a bubble bath, a delicious snack and smoothie, professional hair styling, and pedicure and manicures while listening to Christmas music.

Mini golf and dinner at Applebee's (Hannah's choice)!  I think Grace was a little disappointed that mini golf did not have anything to do with Minnie Mouse, but we all had fun!  I don't have many pictures of Clara, but she was along for the ride with everything.  She is just so good natured and never fusses, just watches and enjoys what is going on around her!

It was a fun weekend.  We missed having Chad with us, but Hannah decided that he wouldn't have liked the spa day anyways!  I love my girls!

She's a Nut

If the video doesn't work click here

Just Hannah

Very rarely do I ever get to spend time with just one of my girls.  With Hannah being in school, our chance for one on one time is very limited.  So I was very excited when two opportunities came up for something that I could go with her and leave the younger girls home.

A small college in a nearby town had a science day.  They had all sorts of cool experiments and classes.  I didn't get very many pictures, but we were able to see marshmallows expand in a vacuum chamber, a glowing pickle, newts, and fire that danced to the beat of music.

They even had a class about static electricity.  Hannah volunteered and was able to touch a ball that made her hair stand up.  Her hair didn't go up too high, but the girl that came up after her (whose hair was pretty static-y to begin with) had her hair sticking straight up everywhere!

Hannah's favorite part was the dry-ice ice cream.  My favorite part was spending time with Hannah!

The second chance I got was going with Hannah on her field trip to the Science Museum at Eastern Mennonite University.  It was a very small museum, but the kids had lots of fun.

Getting Bowled Over

We went bowling as a family.  It was really fun!  Hannah was getting really good.  Chad beat us all, but some of his points included shots made by using the bumpers, but I won't mention that! Haha!  Grace ran over the foul line once and slipped and fell twice.  She didn't make that mistake again!  Clara just crawled around and kept trying to crawl out to the pins.  It was a little crazy, but a lot of fun.  I love when we get to do things all together!

Living in the Mission Field

One thing that we have really loved about living here in Virginia is the opportunity we have to get to know the missionaries. 

We have a set of sister missionaries assigned to our ward, Sister Skousen and Sister Kuta.  The girls love them.  We get to feed them once a month, give them rides, and when Sandy hit, they spent the day at our house emailing family, eating and playing games with us. 

Sister Skousen was just transferred and they came over to say good-bye to us.  We will miss her, but know that the people in her new area will definitely be blessed to have her!  We are also excited to get to know the new sister missionary. 

Last Minute Thanksgiving

Because Clara was still sick with croup we had to skip out on Thanksgiving dinner with some friends.  We had to throw together a last minute Thanksgiving dinner at home.  That means Stove Top Stuffing, powdered mash potatoes, and those microwave pouches that have turkey slices and gravy.  Most things were made in the microwave!  I did make a few things to make it special.

Pumpkin Pancakes with buttermilk syrup.  Yummy!

Chad and the girls played outside while I slaved (sarcasm) away in the kitchen.  The weather was so nice they didn't even need coats or sweaters.

Hannah and I made a delicious appetizer!  It was mini fillo cups filled with melted brie cheese and topped with dried cranberries and pecans mixed with honey.  So easy and so,so yummy!

 Being goofballs at dinner.  Our dinner was good, but nothing special except for my homemade cranberry sauce.  Everyone said what they were thankful for.  Hannah listed everything starting from birth!  Grace said she was thankful for "not peeing in my underwear at Grandma's house."  Notice in the picture of Chad his scruff.  He and his buddies decided to not shave all Thanksgiving break.  He has now decided he is going to keep growing it until Christmas!  Not my favorite!

I made a rustic pear tart for dessert.  It looked impressive, but tasted pretty much just like apple pie.  I am not a huge fan of pie and apple is my least favorite, so I was a little disappointed.  Chad and the girls liked it though!

That night we played some festive games that Hannah had created.  It was a low-key (slightly boring) holiday.  Hopefully next year we will be able to spend it with friends or family!

Grace Turns 3!

Gracie Lou turned 3 last week.  Since her actual birthday landed on Thanksgiving this year, we decided to celebrate it a few days early.  To say she was excited would be an understatement!  She told everyone we saw or passed that it was her birthday.

Grace decided she wanted a Build-A-Bear for her birthday.  The closest store was in a town an hour away so we decided to make a whole day of it.  Our fist stop was Build-A-Bear!  Grace was hoping for a kangaroo, but had to settle for a bunny.  She was so excited to make it and pick out the clothes.  She picked out some super sparkly clothes and named it Rabbit.

After Build-A-Bear we checked out the rest of the mall and played at the play area they had there.  Please notice the cop in the background.  Seconds after taking this picture I was told by him that I am not allowed to take pictures in the mall.  Oops!

Next we headed to Red Robin for some lunch.  We let them know it was Grace's birthday.  She was so funny when they brought her an ice cream sundae and sang to her.  She had the biggest smile the whole time.

When we got home we had to make a quick change and head to dance.  We drove all the way there and then found out it was closed that week for Thanksgiving, somehow I missed the memo!  So we drove back home and Grace opened her presents.

After presents we had cake.  Hannah helped me decorate it and I think it turned out pretty cute!  Grace loved it!

Grace had a great birthday and we loved spending it with her.  Grace is one of a kind.  She lives life to the fullest and feels her emotions to the extreme.  When she is happy, she is over the moon and when she is mad, it is the end of the world!  She is so funny and smart and creative.  She makes me want to throw her out the window on a daily basis, but then does or says something so funny or cute that it makes me laugh. 

She's our Grace!

This poor little girl was not feeling well and she just got worse and worse and the day went on.  After a terrible nights sleep for both of us, I took her to the Dr and found out she had croup.  Poor little girl!  She is feeling much better now!

The Whole Tooth

After blood (Hannah's), sweat (mine-I was holding her down like a MMA fighter), tears (Hannah and Clara's-Hannah would cry out and then Clara would start crying), and a broken nail (mine-that sucker didn't want to come out) Hannah finally lost her first top tooth!  She was pretty excited!  I just can't get over how cute she looks with it missing.  Every time she talks I can't help but smile.  What a cutie!

You are My Sunshine

After leaving the market we went to the Arboretum at JMU.  It is a beautiful place and the weather was perfect! 

We purchased some yuimmy kettle corn at the market so we sat outside and munched on it.  Hannah said it was like being at a movie theatre and watching a movie about the earth.

Clara kept trying to sneak back and steal the bag of popcorn!

Proof that we really do exist!

 There was a huge hill that the girls kept rolling down.

It was such a beautiful afternoon!  Also that is a lot of pink!

To Market, To Market

We visited a local Mennonite market last week.  It was a very cool place.  We were impressed even before we went inside!

It is impossible to get all three girls looking at the camera!

They had two huge windmills on either side of the building.

There was a large fish pond FULL of fish!  They all came swimming over to us.  We were sad we didn't have anytbhing to fgeed them!

Inside you are greeeted by a lifesize horse and buggy.  Grace wanted to get in the buggy so much!

There were tons of really cool shops.  We really want to take our parents here whenever they come to visit.  They had beautiful quilts and handmade funiture.  They even had a toy store!  The store had some really cool old-fashioned toys and lots of hand-made things.

 There was a whole western store.  With hats and clothes and all things cowboy!

One of my favorite stores was the canning store.  They had over 100 different flavors of jams, jellies, preserves, butters, and pie fillings.  The best part was the free samples!

The three girls sitting in the Papa Bear Chair, the Mama Bear Chair, and the Baby Bear Chair

She's Got the Beat

We may have a future drummer on our hands!

http://youtu.be/rP4A57OTU-U

Super Reader

Hannah has become such a great little reader.  I am so amazed at the way her reading skills have grown.  She can blow through a chapter book like nobody's business!  She is always carrying around a book and I have a hard time keeping her supplied with books!

  She even reads to Grace, which Grace LOVES! 

We recently attended Hannah's parent teacher conference and her teacher had glowing reviews of her.  He said that she was reading on a 4th grade level.  Actually, he said that 4th grade was as high as they were allowed to test for, but that he believes she is even higher! 

She is such a smart little girl!  We are proud of our Hannah Banana!

Flying South for the Winter

One Sunday afternoon, when it was still warmish, we took a little stroll around our neighborhood.  There is a large pond just up the road from our house that has some swans and a few geese.

We were very surprised when we arrived at the pond to see how many geese there were now.  Usually there are about 10, but this day there were 30-40 geese!  We had been hearing them honking in the sky, but we didn't know they had been coming to our pond.



Hannah started walking slowly out to them and one by one they all got up and walked away.  When she got really close they all took off flying into the pond!  It was so amazing to see, but it happened so fast that we didn't get a picture of it!

Bike Rides

The girls love to ride their bikes outside around our house.

 Grace stays on the sidewalk and rides back and forth over and over again.

Clara just crawls all over, like she owns the place!

 Hannah zooms around the parking lot so fast, I didn't even get a picture of her riding.  But, of course, she stopped long enough to hold a cute little puppy.

This one enjoys riding her bike in the comforts of our home.  Actually her feet don't even touch the floor yet!