Pre-Christmas Fun!

Since we didn't celebrate Thanksgiving with the Acuff's, we missed Caroline's birthday. So, we had a separate celebration.  I made her this cake to celebrate her 7th birthday!

 

I think she liked it :)

Happy Birthday Caroline!

Each of the girls had winter recitals.  They weren't the big recitals for the year (those are in May), but just where they prepared something and the parents could come in and watch what they have learned.  Abbey's class did a little dance number to the song "Baby It's Cold Outside".  Unfortunately, Abbey has been going through some separation issues lately and as soon as I entered the class she clung to me the entire time and would not go dance.  I was so disappointed, but it has been happening any time I go to her classroom at school or try to leave her at Sunday school (which she loves, but it is a big drama to let me go and stay in there while I go to mass).  So, I have a few pictures of her from the end of class, but she would not participate in the dance with her class :(

 

Juliette, on the other hand, loved having us watch her. 

Her dance was to "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow".  I am trying to upload the video because it is so cute.  Hopefully I will get it to work.

One last one of Abbey...this is what she did while the rest of her class performed their dance...

The girls also had sing alongs at school.  Juliette loved this and swayed and sang all the songs!

Abbey did really well in her sing along too.  I was a little worried how she would do after the dance recital, but she was up on a stage so I think that separation helped.  She couldn't really come to me, so she did fine.  Plus I stood in the back until they got started and then slowly moved up to where she could see me.  She did fantastic!

I know it is something she will outgrow, but it's a little difficult to deal with while waiting for it to pass!

Visiting Santa Claus!

Well, before I get to what we did over Christmas, I have a few pre-Christmas posts to make! Our Church had a cookies with Santa that we went to and really enjoyed. As you can tell, Abbey was a little nervous to see the big guy...

And would not look at him for a while at first...

So Juliette told him what she wanted (a barbie on a bicycle - first time she had ever said that, but consistently stuck to that story from then until Christmas, which was only about a week away at that point).

 

Then Abbey told Santa what she wanted.  She wouldn't hug him or smile, but she could at least tell him what she wanted!

Then it was Ben's turn.

After our visit with Santa, there were rooms set up with crafts for the kids, which was pretty neat.  

 

Overall a great time was had by all!  

After Thanksgiving!

We had a lot of fun after Thanksgiving too! Mama Kay and Papa stayed at a hotel close to our house and generously took each child for a night during their stay. The children really enjoyed their special sleepover with their grandparents and we got to spend extra time with 2 out of 3 each night! Abbey up early one morning eating an apple at their hotel...they may have not quite realized how early the kids get up when they offered to take them overnight!

On Saturday they took all the kids to their hotel to play in the pool.  Then they took them out to lunch and an afternoon treat of ice cream!  Meanwhile, Paul and I went on an 8 mile run together (which we never get to do), went out to lunch and watched some football.  It was a very relaxing day!  Thank you Mama Kay and Papa!

On Sunday we set to decorate the house for Christmas.  This is always fun and always a lot of work, so we really appreciated all the help from Mama Kay and Papa!  Ben decorating the tree...

Abbey...

Juliette...

Thanks for your help Mama Kay!

Then it was time to put the angel on top of the tree...each child had a turn to try to put it on top!

Looks like we needed Daddy to do it!

We had such a great Thanksgiving and we have so much to be thankful for.  Most of all, we are thankful for our family, both near and far.  Mama Kay and Papa, thank you for spending the holiday with us - we had such a fun time with you and were so glad you came. 

Museum of Science and Industry

The day after Thanksgiving we loaded into the car to go downtown to our favorite museum! Everyone comfy back there?

The museum was all decorated for Christmas, so we couldn't resist the opportunity to take a picture of the kids in front of the beautiful tree!

They had Christmas trees from around the world.  Mama Kay showed Abbey one of the trees.

Look at these clowns we found!

Even more crazy clowns!

Then we waited for the imax movie about place racing.  I never knew that existed and it sounds incredibly dangerous.

The seats were comfy, the theater was dark...you can guess what happened next.  That's right, several people in our group fell asleep for a nice little afternoon nap!

That worked out well as it gave everyone a little boost of energy.  So we headed over to the submarine tour, which was really cool.  We have never been inside the sub before, but the tour was very well done...I highly recommend it.

Then they had a sub that the kids got to balance and drive down into the water.  They really enjoyed that!

And the subs had very small sleeping bunks, but plenty big enough for these two!

Papa would have had trouble sleeping in one though!

Then it was a quick trip to the members lounge for some coffee and hot chocolate (and a cute photo opp of Juju in front of the tree).

Another great trip to the museum!

Thanksgiving!

I know that Thanksgiving was a while ago now, but it's never too late to update the blog...right? We were so happy to have Mama Kay and Papa come up to visit us for Thanksgiving this year.  They arrived on Wednesday afternoon and we went to Make A Messterpiece for the afternoon.  Mama Kay and Abbey playing with the pumpkin play dough...

Juliette liked that station a lot too.

Abbey was making some pumpkin pies! 

Meanwhile, Ben was working on his own messterpiece!

On Thanksgiving day the weather was beautiful!  So we rode bikes and went to the park for a while.  Abbey really enjoyed riding her bike as it has been a while since we have done that!

Ben was happy to show off his biking skills as well.

While we were outside playing, look what was inside cooking!!!

Our beautiful table!  Check out those napkin ring holders the kids made last year.  Mama Kay commented that she liked them and Abbey reminded her that she had seen them before!

Abbey is ready to eat!  Too bad she only ate a roll!

Ha, our failed attempt at a family picture by the feast!

While we were digesting the dinner (and making room for pie), Mama Kay taught the kids how to play marbles.

It was a great day!