december 2013- part 1

Here are our December adventures up until we left for California.

Anna and Levi at the Exxon Christmas party

Santa, Mrs. Claus, Rudolph, and Frosty all arrived at O.C. Taylor Elementary by helicopter. Thank goodness all that money we've donated is going to good use.

Snarkiness aside, Levi thought it was awesome, and Santa really did wave to him from helicopter.

Sam was able to go to Anna's class Christmas party where they made graham cracker ginger bread houses. Anna was very proud of hers, and also eager to eat it.

Mrs. Poda's kindergarten class 

Anna dressed up as a valentine's bunny on one of the first days of Christmas break. The star necklace she's wearing is a gift from the primary president for learning all 13 Articles of Faith. They handed out cards that you could punch holes in as you learned them, and Anna was the only kid to hand it back in, so the primary president, Calli Stanley (one of my mom heroes) called her to the front and asked her if she worked hard and did she feel the spirit. Anna felt so proud, and later Calli gave her this necklace with 13 stars on it that she'd made. I love Calli for loving my child.

Here are the kids in the shirts we gave them when we told them we were going to have another baby. My visiting teacher, Keri Nielsen, suggested I record their reaction when I told them. I'm so glad I did.

The living room as we left it "Christmas" morning before going to bed. We were in bed before 1 AM this year! We did Christmas a little early because we'd be in California on the actual Christmas day.

Here are the kids holding the gifts they made each other. Anna's idea was to make a Cars shirt for Levi. We printed out pictures of them onto freezer paper that helped us paint outlines and windows and such, but we did a lot of the details ourselves. It was a fun project and Levi still loves it. He made a felt butterfly puppet for Anna.

Of course, Levi got Cars. I think this was his last Christmas with a Cars obsession.

Anna with her new Felicity doll who is wearing the dress she picked out from the American Girl Place. Anna wanted the matching dress, but I wasn't about to spend that kind of money on it. I found the dress she's wearing at H&M for $15 and it looked like it'd match pretty well. Turned out, it matched perfectly, and we were both very happy.

november 2013

More catch up!

November started with the fall festival at Anna's school which is one of the big PTA fundraisers of the year. Levi was into all the games, as you can see from the pictures, but Anna mostly did the bounce houses and confetti eggs.

The girl to Anna's right is her 5th grade buddy, Cameron. She and her friends let Anna play with them, and she felt SO cool.

Look at that long hair!

Later we took a trip to the American Girl Place to buy a Christmas present from Grandma Becky. Bitty Baby is all buckled in and ready to go.

I love her face!

This was the outfit she picked out.

Anna spent a lot of time doing this doll's hair, so when I gave her Felicity for Christmas, I made sure to have plenty of clips and hair ties to go with it.

The last day before Thanksgiving break was the Kindergarten Thanksgiving feast. All the parents pitched in parts of the Thanksgiving meal. It was surprisingly fun, and the food was quite good. Anna didn't eat much since she was so excited, but my newly pregnant self scarfed down a plate.

I can't remember what exactly we were playing, but it involved babies, pumpkin cookies, and dress up, so it must have been good.

Levi has claimed this baby for his own. Her name is Alisa when it's a girl and Boy Baby when it's a boy.

We took our friends Lizzie and Allison who live around the corner and go to church and preschool with us to the Perot Museum during Thanksgiving Break. Those girls are so sweet, we had a great time.

Sam ran the Fort Worth Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. It was FREEZING! But he did great and placed well in his age group. 

I don't have any pictures on here from the Exxon Christmas party, but it was the last Thursday in November. (It could have a post of its own. It was AMAZING.) On our way there it started sleeting and kept it up all night. The next morning, a sheet of ice covered everything! Of course school was cancelled the next day and there was no way Sam was getting to work, so we went out to play. We could skate on the road. Lots of our outdoor toys shattered when we started to pry them from the ice. And when I drove the van for the first time since the storm on Tuesday (5 days after!) a huge chunk of ice slid down my windshield and popped off a windshield wiper the first time I braked at a stop sign.