Disney On Ice

A special treat when we were visiting family in So. Cal. was getting to see Disney On Ice one evening. The girls loved it. Danielle's favorite Disney character is Ariel from The Little Mermaid and she was thrilled to get to see her ice skating! Samantha oohed & aahed at everything. The music was fun (from movies Cars, Little Mermaid & Lion King), the ice-skaters were amazing, but the very best part was our kids facial expressions. Thanks for a great time Grandma!

Christmas Vacation

Visiting with Great-Grandma & Grandpa

Wrapping paper is the best!

Coming downstairs Christmas morning

Here's some lipstick Samantha! (don't worry, it's pretend)Wow! We had quite an eventful Christmas week. We spent lots of time with family which was very fun. We got to see Christmas lights and Disney On Ice...very magical for Danielle especially. The week flew by and now we are home again. We get to do Christmas AGAIN next weekend with my family! We are happy to extend the festivities as long as possible. Lots of goodies to eat, surprises to keep, and pictures to take. I can't believe how much fun Christmas is when you see it through the eyes of a child. Samantha had her 1st Christmas and seemed to enjoy it. Her favorite thing was the wrapping paper, of course, but she also likes her new toys that make noise when she pushes buttons, etc. She got a very special gift from her Auntie Jen & Uncle Mark. Her Auntie's little rocking chair from when she was a baby that Mark refinished into a beautiful white piece of furniture. She loves it!

I wish I could list all the fun memories and great gifts but I can't. I'll post a few of the great pictures and you'll get the idea that we had a nice visit!! Merry Christmas!

More special moments

Holding Baby JesusEveryone praying for baby JesusThe final positioning - chosen by Danielle
And wrapping presents all by herself!

Last night was special decorating the Christmas tree but this morning was absolutely precious. I am so blessed to have these little moments with Danielle (of course Samantha, too, but this morning she took a long nap so I had a special morning with my big girl). We got out the nativity scene and I told her story of Jesus' birth (the 3 year old version) and reminded her that we celebrate Jesus' birth on Christmas day. She rearranged them different ways and thought it was very special. There's a song I've heard where a little girl remembers looking at her mother's nativity scene each Christmas. I hope my girls have special memories of this tradition. The picture where they are all praying is her copying what we do with her when we tuck her in.

Getting ready for Christmas

Last night we got the tree up, decorated, and put out some decorations! It was a magical evening even though Jeff & Danielle have a cold and aren't feeling their best. I'm so thankful for these family moments that I will never forget. Samantha loved the lights and ornaments and Danielle helped put them on the tree. It was fun to share with Danielle the meaning of all the ornaments. We don't have any "decorative" ornaments on our tree, they are all very special ones with a meaning behind each one. We are going to have to get a very full tree in order to fit decorative ones, too.

Danielle said, "I'm so happy it's Christmas!" and loved smelling the tree. Next I will post the pictures of putting out the nativity scene. She really enjoyed that.

Then we read our special Christmas book, "God Gave Us Christmas". That was my favorite part.

December

We have thankfully been quite healthy this year but sadly today both Jeff and Danielle have the terrible cough, sore throat, etc. We're hoping it is a short-lived illness so they feel better quickly and that Samantha doesn't get it. Danielle is the only kid I know who still wants to wear a dress to dance around the house even when she's not feeling good. I started to say "no" when she asked but then thought it might be best if I encourage her to be active and go on with our day as if she is well. We never want our kids to be sick, but we really want to be well for the end of the month so maybe we can just get this out of the way now.

The other December subject is COLD weather. It's in the single-digits here. Yahoo.com said 2 degrees and Jeff's truck said 8 degrees this morning. Very chilly.

Hoping this week we can get our Christmas tree up in between blowing noses and sucking on cough drops. Merry Christmas everyone...it's coming quickly! Our favorite song this week is Away In A Manger. I'm thinking by Christmas Danielle will be able to sing it on her own. Also, be watching for the post that says....Samantha's walking! It's going to be soon, we think.

O Christmas Tree...O Christmas Tree

Well, we hiked and hiked looking for a good Christmas tree. Danielle and Samantha were real troopers. Samantha in the backpack and Danielle hiking it all by herself. There was no snow but that made it much easier and kept us warm and dry. Danielle did get tired of the hunt pretty quickly so we started singing songs. My favorite was "O Christmas Tree" and of course I sang, "how lovely are your branches". Well, Danielle has always told us how Christmas trees are prickly so she decided to sing, "how prickly are your branches"! I thought that was cute and will now be included in our version of the song.

A quick Christmas memory from last year...Danielle loves to hear about how last year she couldn't say Rudolph so she said "Roof-dock". Just thinking about that makes me smile. Christmas will sure be fun this year with Danielle really understanding things (including the fact that it's such a special day because it's Jesus' birthday).

Enjoy this season!

Danielle is 3 years old

How did this happen? Our baby girl is 3? Well, it was an exciting and fun day for all of us. Danielle was thrilled with every little aspect of her birthday. Her first question when she woke up in the morning was, "Where's my cake?". I didn't realize the cake was so important to her, but it was a pleasant surprise for me because her cake was our big gift to her this year. I made her cake for her first two birthdays but this year I had something extra fun in mind. Thankfully I have a friend that makes beautiful cakes and she made a princess one for Danielle. Aren't the pictures amazing? Danielle loved it!

We were blessed with Danielle's Great-Gram coming to visit for the weekend to help us all celebrate the big day. Most of Danielle's birthday was planned by me, or I at least knew what to expect from others....except for one thing. I did not know what Uncle Tim had up his sleeve. Here are pictures of Danielle's new Princess Jeep! I wish I could show all the pictures I took of her checking it out, etc, but this gives you an idea. She even drove Samantha around in the passenger seat. We all had a good time and were very appreciative of Tim's thoughtfulness and generosity. Wow!

There were zillions of blessings that day but I can't write about them all. Every family member was thoughtful, so many calls with birthday wishes, fun singing cards, thoughtful gifts, etc.

Now it's time to go through all of Danielle's "treasures"! I think this is my favorite part...the day after, getting to listen to her talk about her special day, play with her stuff, and "replay" all the special moments.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a very nice Thanksgiving day. We spent the day with my mom, dad and brother. It was nice to munch on yummy snacks, see a little of the parade/football, and then play cards while we waited for our delicious dinner. Then we all worked together (including Danielle) to get dinner on the table and Danielle said our Thanksgiving blessing. It was priceless.

This time of year I especially thank God for my precious, precious family. In one week we have Danielle's birthday and Thanksgiving. He is so good to me and lately he has really been drawing me close to Him. My girls are a real reminder of His love and I realize on a daily basis what an influence I am to their lives. I want them to see Jesus inside me. I don't want to drag them to church so they hear about Him from someone else. I know I need Jesus in my life and I want them to realize their need for Him, too. Thank you for your prayers for my family. I really feel them and know God is doing amazing things in our lives.

Well, I could go on and on but tomorrow is Danielle's 3rd birthday and I have lots to do to get ready!! It's all fun stuff, but it takes time. I can't wait for tomorrow! I don't realize I could be so excited about my kids birthday but I am. She's at the perfect age where everything excites her and it's so cool to watch her eyes light up. Lately she says "oh cool" whenever she likes something. That cracks me up every time! I promise to post lots of pictures after her birthday. Meanwhile I will go enjoy my very last day with 2-year-old Danielle.

Weekend entertainment!

I know I normally post the "exciting" things going on our life, but today I'm giving you a glimpse of a weekend night at our house.

It started out with a game of musical chairs right after dinner. Danielle played it for the first time last week at Cubbies and I thought she would like to show it to Daddy. She did! He was a great sport and played along, too. Then a little later on Danielle wanted Daddy to play "sleepover" with her. They got out the blanket and pillows to pretend. She was very wiggly and giggly and Samantha really wanted to join in. I was mostly the photographer because Daddy is the exciting one to play with but Samantha posed with me and I took the picture of us. I'm not sure why she was sticking her tongue out, but she's cute anyway! Speaking of Samantha, she is getting pretty good at standing on her own. I finally got a picture of her doing it that night!

I'm posting this in honor of my cousin Jeff who is going to become a Dad in about 11 weeks. He and his wife are very excited! We are thrilled for them and can't wait for them to experience the joys of parenthood. I did tell him his weekends would be quite different once their miracle arrives...so this post is a little glimpse for him to see what fun he could have in store when she gets to be a toddler. They know it's a little girl so he will get to do lots of pretending, dressing baby dolls, fixing princess crowns, dancing, etc. So fun!

Halloween Night

Sweet Southern Belle My Precious PupWe had a lot of fun on Halloween night. We had dinner with good friends and then trick-or-treated at a few houses. The houses are too far apart to walk around here so we drove to different friend/family houses nearby. Danielle had a blast and was even brave when one man opened his door with a mask on. She was backing up quickly but I encouraged her that she was ok and she stayed to get her candy! Our pokey puppy was exhausted so she only went in to the 1st and last house. She got a little snooze during the other stops. Danielle was thrilled with her "treasures" and has carried them around like toys all day long. She's very good about sharing, which is nice, since there is no way she can eat it all on her own. One house gave full-size candy bars. Yikes!

Daddy should get a father-of-the-year award for helping her around with her dress all night. It was adorable but not very practical for a little girl that is often too excited to watch where her dress is going, getting it stepped on by herself and others, etc. He loaded her in and out of the car many times with this big hoop dress. Important thing was she loved it and nobody was hurt!

Southern Belle & The Pokey Little Puppy

We are very thankful for the adorable costumes given to the girls by Grandma! Danielle is a Southern Belle and Samantha the Pokey Little Puppy. Of course Danielle will be wearing warm tights and a long sleeve shirt under her costume. Samantha will be snuggly warm in the puppy outfit. Danielle loves her long dress and is learning about lifting it up to walk. Samantha doesn't even seem to mind her puppy ears.

Yesterday was the Halloween parade in town. We got to see all the little ones dressed up in their costumes. Very cute! Danielle loved it and now can hardly wait for trick-or-treating tonight. We are going to drive to a few family and friends houses. One friend even invited us for pumpkin pie! Yum.

Carving Pumpkins!

Last night we did our pumpkin carving. It's been a very crazy week so we're just now getting to it. Danielle was thrilled (for about 10 minutes) to participate in the carving and even scooped out some seeds with her hands! Then she got bored and let Daddy finish the rest. Once he was done she helped with putting the candle in and then posing for pictures. They turned out great considering we designed them ourselves! We couldn't find last year's carving tools and designs.

Samantha was very patient while we carved, eating cheerios, and even clapping. She's been back to waking up several times a night. She was doing great...sleeping 8p.m. - 6a.m. but there are more teeth coming through so I'm sure she's waking up in discomfort. The newest tooth coming in is the other outside/front one. So, she's gonna look a little like "snaggle-tooth" for a short time. I think there's an actual front tooth that's going to be next. Hopefully we're getting a lot of teeth at once so that she'll then be more comfortable for awhile.

Today is the Halloween parade that the schools do in town. So, we're gonna dress up and go watch this afternoon. Of course I'll get pictures of the girls in their costumes and post them soon.

Danielle's latest update is... yesterday she took no nap. I know she's almost 3 but I thought she would really need a nap for awhile. She started around 1p.m. and kept getting up asking if nap was over. After 1 1/2 hours I decided to give up and see how the evening would go. It actually went well and she wasn't really fussy at all. We'll see what the next few days bring! How can she be big enough for no nap!!??

Another New Experience!!

Hold on tight! (Danielle's first car ride with a boy.)Driving herself!!

We had a fun playdate the other day. My friend, Jill, and her son (Mason) came to visit. First they had some fun on our playground and then Mason showed Danielle his new birthday present. A very cool truck that he drives SO well! He started it up and raced through the trees at 5 miles an hour..I was very impressed. Then he wanted to take Danielle for a ride...I was not ready for that! Once I found out it had a 2 mile an hour speed I decided that would be okay. So, they cruised down the driveway together, what a cute sight. After their little drive Danielle was given the opportunity to drive herself. I wasn't sure how she would feel about it but she was excited. She did very well for her first time.