Dancer Girls

The little sisters were in the Nutcracker this year for their dance recital. It was really fun to see them up on the stage dancing. Lizzy as usual is quite the performer and was so cute up on the stage. She doesn't have any shyness when it comes to performing, and I love that about her.

I was surprised that Nellie did as good as she did also. She wasn't shy up there either, it was cute because balloons fall down during their performance and they are supposed to play with and bop them around and Nellie was just trying to collect them, and when she couldn't collect them all she just decided to try and kick them, typical Nellie. One also went off the stage into the orchestra pit and Nellie went after it, she was hanging off the stage trying to reach it, and it freaked me out, and I shouted out her name really loud to get her attention, it was kind of embarrassing. She was really excited to be all dressed up and loved getting to wear makeup. What a pretty little angel she was.

Lizzy has the longest eyelashes they are twice as long as mine. It was crazy putting mascara on them, I am a little jealous. It was fun to do their hair all curly but we had to do it two days in a row for the dress rehearsal and for the performance and it took quite a bit of time.

I loved getting to see Nellie being big enough to dance up there. She did such a great job.

She was so good at doing her dance, she really takes things like this quite seriously.

Nellie got to take a balloon home at the end and that made her happy, but mostly she was happy to be a part of the spotlight with Lizzy.

Thanksgiving Trip to SacTown!!

We always love visiting Sacramento. We love the company, we love the weather, we love how there is everything we could possibly want within a short drive. Maybe someday we can live there. Lizzy sure wouldn't mind. She keeps telling me everyday that she wants to live in Roseville because it is where Grandma lives and because it is so warm. We were able to go for two whole weeks. It was awesome but too short, ( I know that it ridiculous, but I am never ready to get back to Kansas) We got to stay with my parents in their new beautiful house. It was so great because there was so much room for everyone. We were so lucky because almost everyone was able to make it for Thanksgiving. It was so much fun to see everyone. We always have a fun time spending time laughing and eating, making food and watching shows together. This was Lizzy's bed. She manages to make herself at home where ever she goes. Including hanging stuff up on the walls. She is so silly.

The girls had fun with Austin's two girls doing girly stuff. It was so cute watching Sara Jane put makeup on Nellie.

It was fun to get the babies together and see how much they have grown. I just couldn't get a picture with both of them looking.

Nellie was just thrilled to see her buddy Max. They play so well together. She was having a hard time before Max got there, Lizzy was leaving her out sometimes, and she was all sad. But once Max got there she was so happy and they played so much together the whole time.

They played so hard, that by the end of the week they couldn't stay awake in the afternoon, which if you know Nellie, NEVER happens, so she must have really been tired.

Lizzy and her buddy Ozzie Bozzie as she likes to call him. They have so much fun together.

One day we took the kids to the park, it was such a beautiful day, The whole time we were there it was in the 60's and 70's. It hasn't broken 30 degrees since we got back to Kansas and it was a hard adjustment after such nice weather.

Nellie and Lizzy were having fun picking up leaves and collecting them. The leaves were just beginning to fall when we got there. The colors were so beautiful, we had already lost all our leaves in Kansas so it was fun to see all the colors again. Fall is my favorite time of year.

We took the kids to one of those bounce places, and they had this one that had ball shooting guns. Of course this is where Kevin spent pretty much all his time. I think he might have had more fun than the kids did. Men can be such little kids with certain things.

Little bouncer. I love her smile

Gotta love when you can eat Thanksgiving dinner outside. Another beautiful day. Look at all these cute kids. There were 16 of the 24 grand kids for Thanksgiving. They had so much fun being together. It makes me a little sad that my kids only get to see their cousins on my side a couple times a year. Oh well that's life.

Jane hung with Dad for much of the day because I was busy making food and cleaning up. Jane became a lot more attached to Kevin over this trip. Kevin was such a good help with the girls, so I could help with all the cooking and cleaning. It is amazing how much work it is to feed that many people, but totally worth it to have everyone together. It was so much fun to bake with my sisters and Mom.

All the men watching Football. It is amazing how into a game they can get into when they don't even like either team.

I just love this picture. SO cute.

These little cuties had fun decorating the tablecloth. Nellie just loves having little buddies to play with.

The last night that we were all together we had a little family home evening talent show, They kids sang and did other talents. Austin told us a story with puppets about Thanksgiving, and just the other day Lizzy told me "Ozzie did such a good job telling his story" It is so cute that she remembered that.

Lizzy is such a performer. She loves to get up in front of people. She sang a couple of solos, of primary songs. I enjoy watching her sing so much because she loves to do it so much. I love seeing my children and their little spirits and how different and special each one is.

It was such a special vacation to get to spend time with family. I just treasure the memories I have now. Lizzy and Nellie really got to know Grandma this trip and Lizzy cried for almost an hour at the airport because she didn't want to leave Grandma. It was really sweet that she has come to love my parents so much even though she hasn't gotten to spend very much time with them.

Our First Snow

A couple of days before we left on our trip we got our first snow of the season and the girls were dying to get out there and make a snowman. Luckily it was really wet snow, so the girls could make the snowman that they couldn't make last year because the snow was never the wet kind. Kevy was so cute with the girlies, helping them make their snowman that they named Frosty (big surprise). They waited until he got home to make it with him. He is such a good dad to his little girls.

Janie is growing so fast

My baby is 11 months old! This has been the fastest year of my life. I swear I just barely had Jane. Maybe it is because she has been the best baby. She is so sweet. She just barely became mobile this past month. It has actually been really nice that she was so slow with getting around, I enjoyed knowing that wherever I put her she would stay. Now she is everywhere and follows me wherever I go, but I am enjoying that too. It has been really interesting how different she is than the other two. She is so laid back. She is so much like her Daddy. Plus almost everyone tells us she looks like him. Lizzy just loves her to pieces. And Nellie loves her so much too. These three little girls are so much fun together.

She loves to feed herself and hasn't let me feed her at all for months now. She is really good at it though and is s super good eater. The only thing she won't eat is anything like mashed potatoes or anything that is the texture of baby food, she wants big chunks that she can feed herself.

She is a total mam's girl right now and I am loving it! She will be perfectly happy with someone else but if she sees or hears me she starts whining until I pick her up and then she is just happy as can be.

At her 9 month but really about ten month appointment, she was 15 lbs. 9 oz. fully clothed, so she is small just like all our girls have been, but I really like having little girls, I think they are extra cute.

Jane is such a water baby. She LOVES her baths so much. Lately she has been playing with this little water spout, she puts it in her mouth and breathes like Darth Vader through the little holes. She will do it for ten straight minutes or more without taking it out,it is really funny.

Buddies

I am going to try and catch up on everything we have been up to in the past month. Key word being try, with all the Christmas stuff happening it will be a miracle if I can catch up.

We have some friend who have boys the same age as Lizzy and Nellie, and they all have so much fun when we get together. Lizzy and her friend Taye were in preschool together last year, but he is in Kindergarten now, they were both pretty sad about not being together anymore in school, but they still have a special place in each others heart's. They both talk about marrying each other, it is really cute. It is funny too how well Nellie and Peyton get along because they are both firecrackers, but they really play soo well together.