Winter Program

Avery's school does a K-2 Winter Program.  It was a huge success!  She had such a great time practicing and then performing!  She picked out her dress weeks ahead of time and kept trying it on prior to the big unveiling! 

She looked beautiful! 

Yes....this is what Annalise wore to the show.  C'mon people....she's 2 1/2.  We pick our  battles!

Avery sang her little heart out! 

We all had a great time!

It was a great way to get us in the Christmas spirit!!! :)

Old Fashioned Christmas

Last weekend was the Old Fashioned Christmas in Ferndale at Pioneer Park.
It's such a cool park....all of the old cabins with such great stories behind them!

We started in the old school house where the girls wrote letters to Santa.
(Annalise had some help from Daddy!)

Then it was off to the post office to put them in the mailbox!

The next stop was the Jenni House where the girls got to make a sugar cookie, tour the house while it was baking and then eat the cookie hot out of the oven!

Then we went to the horse barn where Annalise LOVED seeing the "ponies". 
(Actually they were draft horses...about 1,200 lbs. each!)

 

When it was time to go in the house where Santa was....Avery started to get a little nervous.  Last year she put on a good front for her "baby" sister and went right up to Santa. (This is last year's picture!)

Not this year.  She wouldn't get anywhere near him.  In fact, poor Santa had to hobble over to her.  THEN....she wouldn't even take the candy cane he was offering her.  Oh Avery.

Annalise, on the other hand, didn't hesitate.  She walked right up to Santa and climbed up on his lap.  When he asked her what she wanted for Christmas she clearly and loudly stated, "MARACAS!" 

Could be a festive time at the Schneider house at Christmas.  Maracas.  Oh Annalise! :) 
These girls are so different from one another. :)

O' Christmas Tree

We have always loved to take FULL advantage of the month before Christmas.
Our decorations typically go up the day after Thanksgiving and we like to get the tree up shortly thereafter.

That being said....we headed to the Christmas tree farm this morning!!

No rain, no snow, minimal mud.  It was a good time! 

 

Annalise found her tree.....

And it didn't take us long to find the perfect tree. 

 
Now we need to get it up and decorated!  Happy Holidays!!!!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

(cue music)....I'm dreaming of a WHITE Thanksgiving.....
What a GREAT surprise to wake up to a couple inches of snow on Thanksgiving!

We started the day with a great breakfast!!

 And the girls spent most of the morning playing Barbies! 

Avery took a break while Annalise napped to help bake the pumpkin pie!!  YUM!  She did a great job!

Dinner being a team event.....Mark even pitched in and made the cornbread stuffing!

It snowed almost all day and by the end of it, we had an accumulation of about 4 or 5 inches. PLENTY to get out and play in!!!

 It was definitely time for hot chocolate!!  It was Annalise's first time....think it was a HIT! 
Especially the whipped cream!!!

We got all warm and dry and settled in for a really nice evening.
We have MUCH to be thankful for!  It was a lovely Thanksgiving.

Cousins

It was fun having the cousins (and Paul and Katrina! :) ) here to visit!
They came for the weekend and the girls had a blast together! Avery and Bella LOVED having a sleepover in the living room and hot cocoa together in the morning.

Elsa and Annalise had fun chasing each other around with the baby strollers and screaming and dancing....

This was also the weekend of the Girl Scout night hike around Lake Padden. Avery invited Bella to be a guest scout for the night. It was pouring down rain ALL day...but we still decided to brave it out and give the hike a try! It was actually a LOT of fun....and the girls all did great....no complaining and actually had a great time as well!

How could they NOT enjoy a pirate themed 2 1/2 mile hike in the dark?? They also got to have a blind pirate sword fight, shoot pistols (Nerf guns), follow a map to find a treasure chest of doubloons, and walk on planks.

Not to mention the popcorn, hot dogs and hot cocoa they had as a reward at the end?! :) Good times!

Happy Halloween!!!

Avery and Annalise love the book, The Little Witch Sisters.

So when Avery thought she wanted to be a witch for Halloween, she immediately thought Annalise should be a witch, too!  THEN....they could be Tinka and Plinka, the little witch sisters! :)  Annalise went right along with it....as long as Avery was doing it....she was all about it!  They looked so cute!

They were ready to go!!!

The rain and cold even held off long enough for them to get around the neighborhood!  

It was another great Halloween!

Grams and Gramps

We were so excited that Grams and Gramps were coming over just before Halloween this year! It was a little later than their usual October visit, so we got to go to the pumpkin patch with them! The rain held off JUST long enough for us to get out and get the pumpkins!

The girls had a blast riding the tractor train....




....and watching them launch pumpkins into the field with their pumpkin launcher! For the last few years, they've been aiming for a couple of outhouses in the field....this year they hit them TWICE while we were there!!! It must've been our luck! :) (you can see three of them lined up below...ready to be hit!)
Once we had our pumpkins it was back to the house to start carving!!

Annalise wasn't so sure about the pumpkin guts....

And oddly enough....the only CARVED pumpkin that I actually remembered to take a picture of was Annalise's. Oh well...guess there's always next year! :)