Annalise's Christmas Program

Annalise has been waiting weeks for her Christmas program!!!
She's been singing the songs (when prompted).
Mostly she's been eyeing her pretty dress and shoes.
The night finally arrived!!!!
And it went off without a hitch!!!!

This year Avery's school decided not to do a Winter Program.  She was quite disappointed....especially since Auntie Rea Rea had sent her a very pretty dress to wear!!!  SO....she dressed up for Annalise's night! :)

But Annalise was quick to tell us that it was HER night!

There was no hesitating once she got up there either!  She was singing right along.  No stage fright with this one!

The audience was ready.....

Scotty, Mary, Oma and Irene were there to cheer Henry and Annalise on, too! :)

And here they are:
     (I apologize for the graininess (sp?) of the video!  Think it may be time to invest in a new camera!)

After all of that hard work it was time for treats!
The cake pops were a hit!

We got them all together for a final picture....



It was a great program!

I'm so excited for Annalise! 

She's getting so big and is getting to take part in all of these

 "big kid" things she's seen Avery get to do.

A great start to the holidays!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Art Studio Day!!

We were invited to an "Art Studio Day" at my Aunt Sue's in Seattle.The girls were super excited so finding time to do it was a MUST! 
We went last Sunday and I am so glad we did.  We all had a great time!

Avery was the most excited! She LOVES art! 
She has LOVED any kind of "craftin" since she was super little. 
Remember this??

December 2006

Auntie Rea Rea had lunch waiting for us when we got there.  We talked a little about what sort of projects we might like to do while we were eating.  The girls couldn't wait to get started.
Avery started right away on making a "stamp" to do some relief printing on Auntie Rea Rea's press.  She was making a Christmas tree.

 Annalise was going to start off with the markers (note the INTENSE concentration!).

Once the stamp was ready, it was time to get it inked!

Once inked, it was time to roll it through the press!!

Then it was Annalise's turn to ink and press!
She didn't make her own stamp, she chose to use one of Auntie Rea Rea's.  A bird. 

Avery was anxious to make another....this time a beautiful flower!!!

It was a great visit!!!  Uncle Robbie even popped over to say "HI"!
We really need to make it down to Seattle more often!  It was so fun seeing them!
After a walk down to the lake we needed a couple of last pictures before we headed home....

Thanks for having our little artists in your studio Auntie Rea Rea! We had a great time! :)

Annual Olde Fashioned Christmas

Here we are again!
Our third annual trip to Ferndale's Olde Fashioned Christmas in Pioneer Park.
We were joined this year by Katie, Lauren and Allie.
First stop was the school house to write their letter to Santa Claus.

Annalise needed a little help.  So she dictated while I wrote:

I'm sure Santa will really appreciate some help with his homework.

The girls were much quicker this year with all of the crafts.  In fact, in most of the cabins I was too slow to get any pictures!  I was able to get a picture of them making their cookies in the Jenni House....

And stopping to pose for a photo op in the barn.....
(Don't they look thrilled?!)

Annalise couldn't wait to get to the house with Santa in it!
She was the ONLY kid in our group to get anywhere near him.

Avery later explained that she knew it wasn't the REAL Santa.  He's just too busy at the North Pole to be in Ferndale.  So sitting on some stranger's lap was just a little weird for her.  Hmmmm. Seriously...how do you argue that?!  Needless to say....I think our days of Santa pictures with Avery are over.  And with that kind of reasoning....I'm okay with it!

Next we were off to the church for a little bit of caroling...

And our last stop was one Avery has been waiting 3 years for!!!
The horse carriage ride through town.
It's been SUPER cold and windy every other year we've done the Olde Fashioned Christmas.  So we haven't wanted to wait outside in line and then spend 15 minutes riding around in the cold. 
This year we PROMISED!!!!  So the wait wasn't long and it wasn't windy and cold.
She was giddy!!!!!!

Another great time at the Olde Fashioned Christmas!
I love this tradition!!!

The Tree!!!

Once again....we hit the weather perfectly on the day after Thanksgiving!!
We took full advantage and headed out to the tree farm.

The place was not busy at all, so we were able to get in there and find our tree with no problem!

Avery was sure this was the one!!!

When we got home we got right to work on wrapping up our books for the month of December.
(One of our traditions is that the girls open a Christmas book each night up until Christmas!)
Grams was more than happy to put her wrapping skills to the test.
She and Avery were plowing through them.

Annalise did 1 then called it quits.

And by the end of the next day, the tree was up and decorated!!!!

Including the train!!!! 

I think it's a new record!!!
Mark's motto this year...."The day after Thanksgiving....Christmas shows up and throws up".
It certainly did!!!  Our house is festive and we are feeling the Christmas spirit!!! 
We just love this time of year!!!