Christmas Pageant

Although we don't attend St.Thomas on a regular basis, the girls do sing in the choir (go figure,right?). 

Carlton asked the girls to be in the Christmas Eve performance and our girls were oh to happy to be in it.

Our own Mary!

It was so cute when they were assigning parts. First Carlton asked who wanted a solo and speaking part and those kids raised their hands. He then said we have angels, shephards and sheep and divided those parts out. The older 3 boys were the wiseman. Ella raised her hand and said she didn't have a part. Carlton said, "Would you like to be an angel?" Ella said yes but you could tell it wasn't her first choice. Carlton then said, "Oh my , I forgot Mary." Ella's hand shot up like a rocket and there you have it, our Mary.

For the record, I played Mary when I was in this pageant but I was in 6th grade and sang a solo. Ella's Mary part had no lines but did get to hold the baby :)

Laney was the cutest angel

Ella with baby Jesus

At the end, the little kids got to come up and be animals in the manger. Matthew was a sheep and thank goodness actually listened without screaming something.

After the pageant, we went to the Kruegers for a little party with Cassia (their granddaughter) and then headed home to get ready for Santa.

Excited for Christmas!

Elfie!

Although Elfie didn't move every single night, when he did, he was quite mischievous.

We came downstairs and saw this amazing gingerbread house and tree that Elfie had made!!

Ella came into our room after seeing this downstairs.

Mom, you have got to come down and see what Elfie did. But please don't be mad at him for using your sugar :)

The night before I was at a dessert auction for Kindervelt, an organization I am in that raises money for the local Children's Hospital. There are all kinds of desserts but when I saw this one, I knew this would be great for our house. Elfie helped spruce it up :)

And for Laney's birthday, he was hanging from the ceiling...Elfie!!

What a great view to see the kids from!

Oh Elfie......finishing up some last minute wrapping (this was on the 24th).

Laney's small blanket was on top of Elfie but Laney quickly grabbed it from him. Hopefully Elfie doesn't get cold today!

Thanks for visiting Elfie and see you next year!

Spa Days

Eva got Laney a spa kit for her birthday so on the 23rd, we had a spa day.

The girls soaked their feet, wore a relaxing mask, had their nails painted and enjoyed some good girl time :)

No more pictures, please!

Laney's birthday party

Last month, we attended a Kindervelt function where they had a silent auction for a Recreations Outlet party. We won! We thought this would be a perfect place for Laney's 6th birthday party.

We invited all of the girls from her class, 2 boys that she really likes and a few girls from the other Kindergarten class. There were 13 kids there to celebrate with her and it was a fun, fun time!!

The kids got to play on the trampoline, go down the slides and swing for over an hour. Then we opened up presents and had cupcakes, then they got to bounce in the bounce houses for the last 30 minutes. The kids should have been worn out by the end. I must say, this was the easiest party we have thrown by far!

Laney & Sarah Cooper

Bouncing away on the trampoline

One of Ella's good friends, Marin, came with her sister, Madeline (who is in Kindergarten)

Madeline Gatlin swinging away

Angie and Laney

Laney just went to Angie's 6th birthday party at Kids First

Laney and one of her good friends, Liam.

Unfortunately Liam got hurt on the playground at school and needed stitches. Because he had a concussion, he was not able to bounce with us but he was such a good friend for coming to the party.

Sarah was so excited to give her present to Laney

Laney opening a Barbie from Cammi Hackney

Lots of Barbies :)

My girl loves pretend play.

How cute is this cake?

A purse made out of 24 cupcakes...yes please!

Happy Birthday,Laney

Our kids have been getting up uber early (6:30 am) over break...lovely, right? Well, Laney got up and wanted to open her presents right away. The birthday girl asked and we delivered :) So we opened presents at 6:30 AM...gotta love it!

This gift was from Ella to Laney.....Ella used her allowance and did all of the shopping (other than needing a ride there).

It was a "decorate the face with stickers" game....it was so cute (and how ironic that Ella really fell in love with it).

From us....a decorate your own purse

I saw these and knew they would be great for our little princess.

Large cut outs of Repunzel and Areal. There are clothes and accessories to color and change out.

Yes, bigger than Laney

Pretty impressed with my craft sign I might add

We had the Duckwalls and Kelley's over for lunch where they were sweet enough to bring presents.

The Duckwalls got Laney a make your own necklace kit...she made 2 :)

And the Kelley's got Laney a horse for her American Girl Doll.

She was in heaven!

We made Laney a gingerbread man cake and Laney decided how she wanted it decorated.

Oreo eyes, shoes, LW at the bottom and a pocket

Happy birthday, Laney!!

Christmas Parties

On Thursday, December 20th the girls had their last day of school. I was excited to be able to go to both! I was in charge of treats for Laney's party so I took mint Oreos, dipped them in white chocolate and rolled them in crushed candy canes.

Mrs. Conconnan has all the kids give 5 compliments and all of my compliments were the same.....these arethe best cookies ever!

I put them on Laney's birthday plate as they doubled as Laney's birthday treats

She was so proud of her birthday crown...as she should be!

Lara and Laney......they have become such good friends

I was enjoying both of their parties so much I didn't take many pictures, but here is one of Ella and our new neighbor, Laney (what a riot there is another Laney on Circus Place).

What a fun day celebrating with our girls!

Christmas Show at TPE

The Christmas Concert at Terrace Park Elementary is always amazing. The music teacher does a great job of getting all of this crazy energy to sing :)

My mom and I went shopping for the girls dresses and has so much fun putting their outfits together. Ella went into the dressing room and modeled at least 6 dresses for us, gave us her opinion and then decided on the creme and brown one.

Ella and Emma.....gorgeous girls!

Nana and Grandpa

Nana Kay was visiting Cindy but we were glad Grandpa Mike was there!

Laney ready to go :)

She spotted us and was all smiles

The moves were so cute!

Getting ready for her duet (the boy in the blue vest is Liam, Laney's really good friend)

We knew Laney had a line but didn't know that it was with her friend, Jack Riley.

They sang....now Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen.

And I must say, she sang it perfectly :)

Spinning a dreidle (aka Caroline)

We were so glad Nana and Pappy could make it

Then Ella was up

The teacher asked all of the kids what they wanted to do for the concert: speaking line, solo or group singing.

Ella choose a solo so she was one of the lucky ones to sing into the microphone. 

Her line was "he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good so you better be good for goodness sakes."

She really got into it!

What a great concert from our lovely ladies and their friends...Merry Christmas!!