Christmas Tree

We decided to take Anne ice skating today and then go to buy some new lights for the Christmas tree. We stopped at Costco first...they don't sell lights for your Christmas tree. They sell outdoor lights and pre-lit trees. After debating it for a little while, we decided to buy a new tree. Our other tree was purchased 10 years ago at K-Mart on clearance (less than $20) and had done a great job but we were ready for the easy to put up kind of tree!

To show how easy, this is Anne and Daddy after putting on the middle section.

Seconds later they are pulling the branches down...

And then Dan connected the plug from the 1st section to the 2nd! Our tree seriously took less than 5 minutes to put up...start to finish! And that was with reading some basic instructions as well to make sure we did it right. Love it!

Sophie's job was to keep mommy busy (since she loves to get into everything) and to look cute!

One of our traditions we started last year was to have the girls open their Christmas jammies the night we put up the tree. Even though these aren't a Christmas theme, we still stuck to it anyway. Anne has Cinderella and Sophie has Minnie! Such cute girls! So excited to start off the Christmas season!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had such a fun Thanksgiving this year at Nana and Papa's. Nana had fun little crafts for Anne. This was a little turkey that they made together. I don't think it made it before dinner even started!

These were the drink decorations I made.

Another craft Anne made with Nana.

Sophie is such a turkey! She would get in the roasting pan lid to look into the box. Such a silly girl!

The day after Thanksgiving, the guys went out shooting. They also took the 3 monkeys (Bracken, Anne and Bryce). Here they are cleaning their guns after.

The cousins were having fun together. They colored, sat in the hot tub and tired each other out chasing each other around and playing outside.

One of Anne's favorite activities was vacuuming! She did it a couple times. And Sophie loved to follow Anne around and then sing into the hose! I love my silly girls!

Disney on Ice

While at the ice rink one day for Anne's skating lessons, I saw a coupon for Disney on Ice. We decided it would be a great treat for Anne! It was on the day before her final lesson!

I had purchased the last row seats (row 29) but when we got there, an usher walked up to us asking if we'd like to sit closer. We ended up on row 8!!! It was awesome!!!

Daddy ended up having a training at work that day so we brought uncle Vinnie with us! Anne and Sophie had so much fun with him...and he spoiled the girls! He bought mouse ears, cotton candy and popcorn! Such a nice uncle Vinnie!

I took all of the pictures with my phone and if it hadn't been for where we were sitting, no way would any of them look half as good considering! The theme of the show was treasure trove of Disney movies so there were a bunch of older movies represented.

All of them were fun with lots of singing and dancing!

Anne always got so excited when they would wave at HER!

She was glued to the ice! We had bars in front of us and she was always sitting forward or standing up! She wants to learn to skate like the princesses so she can skate with prince charming some day! Sophie was also enjoying herself. She would dance, clap and laugh. I'm glad they both had so much fun!

Anne was so excited when Mickey and Minnie were on the ice!

But her favorite part was at the very end when all the princesses and their prince charmings were on the ice! It was so much fun and Anne can't wait to go back!

Anne's ice skating lessons

We decided to finally put Anne in ice skating lessons and she loved it! She had so much fun on the ice. She especially loved the social aspect. This is Anne on her first day getting ready to go!

Her first day she spent it with a walker. She has been skating with daddy before but never really had to do anything on her own. It was a new experience for Anne.

Anne with her teacher, Shay.

This was either her 3rd or 4th lesson. She finally started gaining confidence to move around on the ice on her own.

Learning how to walk and then glide with teacher.

To help the kids learn how to wiggle backwards, they played a fishing game. This was Anne's favorite! Anne passed her class! She had to sit and stand up with skates both off and on the ice, march in place, march forward 10 steps, march and then glide on two feet and also dip in place. Very basic stuff.

Anne would often come and say hello to us! Sophie would always get so excited!

Sophie was glued to the ice! She would always point and say "this? this?" She can't wait for the day that she can take lessons too, just like big sister!

Thankful Tree

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I decided I want to help Anne understand all of the many things she has to be thankful for. And this is a fun way to count down to the day, too!

I created a tree using different clipart graphics and put them together. Then I printed out little leaves on green paper and had Anne tell me 24 things she is thankful for. At first I thought it would be hard for her but she was specific on WHO she is thankful for so that made it easy! And I opted to fill them all out today so that I won't just be getting the same answer every day.

Since today is the 3rd, I let her pick 3 leaves so we'd be caught up and then put them on the tree. I asked her with each one why she was thankful for the item listed on the leaf.

And of course she had to be in one of the pictures! We put the tree on the door so we can see it everyday along with anyone coming to visit us!

Sophie is One!!!

Our family has a bunch of October babies so we decided to have a party to celebrate them! We got together on October 7th. Due to baby Gage being born on the 5th, he and his daddy (who is also an October baby) had to miss out on this party.

Present time! We had a bath theme for Sophie this year!

And Bryce man got some car stuff.

Cake time! I just LOVE Papa's excitement to blow out the candle on his pie!

Bryce enjoyed his cupcake...especially the frosting!

The best part of your first birthday! Being able to just have at it!

I love this girl!!!

On the day of her actual birthday! Sophie wasn't feeling very well. She pretty much just slept all day meaning we didn't get to go out and do the fun stuff I had planned, including lunch at McDonalds.

Sophie wasn't too keen on wearing the bib and playing along with mom!

Anne was excited to celebrate though and was a big help!

Poor little Sophie! No one should be sick on their birthday...not fair!

Anne tried to help Sophie get into eating her cake but she was done at this point. I'm glad we celebrated with family the week before.

I'm glad somebody was able to enjoy Sophie's birthday!