Cousins

The kids had a blast playing together.  After this weekend, Malaya bumped her best friend off of her birthday list and added Eliana as the one she wanted at her birthday the most.

Back from Texas

Sean brought these hats and horses back from his trip to Texas.  Malaya thought long and hard and decided to name her horse Glitter Sparkle Flower.  Jolie thought for 1 second and decided to name her horse Stinky Schoolbus.

Random Pictures

Here the girls are sitting in a firetruck.  They were quick to get in and out.

Dutch Wonderland had a toy drive in December.  If you donated toys, you got into the park for free.  The weather was so mild, we decided to check it out.  We had a great time!  But, I think we'll stick to the summer for future visits.

 Can you believe this is the only picture I have from Thanksgiving?  The girls and I are making applesauce.  Hopefully next year I can do better with pictures!

New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve we went to a friend's house.  There were only 3 couples and their kids, but it was fun anyway.  We had a countdown (at 8:00) and the kids played with sparklers.  It was a great way to ring in the New Year!!

The girls came to visit me in my classroom the day before winter break.  We read a snowman story and made marshmallow snowmen.  Everyone loved it!  (I did the most!)  Then they stayed for lunch and recess.  My classroom kids turned into little mothers and showed them around.  Jolie got right into the mix and loved sitting with all of the kids.

Christmas

Christmas morning was funny this year.  Malaya woke up and said, "Do you think Santa came?"  Then she got in our bed and watched TV for about 1/2 hour.  Finally we said she should look under the tree and the morning got started.

Malaya's Concert

Last year, Malaya didn't sing a single word during her concert. This year, she did great!!

Captain Underpants to the Rescue

One night Jolie came out of her room wearing underwear over her pajamas. I called her Captain Underpants and that was the beginning of the end! Jolie and Malaya ran around hysterically laughing, so we decided to make a "movie". You'll notice that Jolie is showing off her super-power muscles in one picture.

This was our photo session before we went to sit on Santa's lap.

We started the day at a tree farm. We were determined to find a tree to chop down. We walked around the whole farm and couldn't find a tree larger than about 5 feet. I was disappointed, but the girls didn't seem to mind. They had a great time riding the tree wagon and playing. We ended up choosing a pre-cut tree and heading home. Later in the day, the girls decided that they wanted to swim. So, they put on bathing suits and begged us to blow up the swimming pool. We settled on swimming in the bathtub instead.