Valentines and Snow

The girls had 2 snow days last week when we got over 10 inches of snow which was blowing and drifting so we made the best of our time off by finishing our handmade Valentines. Ella and Taylor chose to make lollipop flowers and Emma made rockets which were lifesaver rolls and a hershey kiss. They were all super easy and turned out too cute. We also made and decorated cupcakes and Taylor created a ferris wheel out of our K'nex kit that Emma got for Christmas. The girls also had great fun playing in the snow.

Time flys!

Where did January go? I can't believe I haven't posted since Christmas. Seriously, time does fly. Although January was pretty quiet, we did get out and about but I forgot my camera at every outing...VERY bummed about that. We have been extremely lucky and avoided most illnesses this winter. In fact, Taylor had her 9 year doctor well check and wasn't at the doc for anything during the last year. Emma had a stomach bug a while back and Dave took Ella and Taylor sledding where Ella knocked out her front baby tooth. And no it was not ready so I think she will have a hole for quite a while. She didn't even know she did it. She was more concerned that they couldn't find the tooth. She wrote the tooth fairy a note and she still found Ella. We have seen a few movies: Princess and the Frog, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Tooth Fairy, G-Force. Dave and I took Emma and Ella rolling skating while Taylor was sleeping over at a friends. Ella is "hell on wheels". She loves it and has so much fun. Emma has fun but is much more cautious and has to be holding your hand. We also visited Imagination Station which was great. The girls loved it so we ended up buying an annual family pass. Well worth the money. Now we can visit often. All the girls are doing great in school. They are all working on class Valentines and today was the 100th day of school. Emma & Ella are having a special 100 day parade tomorrow. They are also working on a whale unit, LOTS of reading and sight words, writing numbers 11-20, journaling and geometric shapes. Taylor has started multiplication and division, learning about freedom and voting in social studies, motion and friction in science and LOTS of reading for her, too. I can't believe we are already in the 3rd quarter of the year. Spring will be here before we know it. I'm not complaining about that. We have also been puppy shopping. We made a deposit for first pick of a Maltipoo(crossbreed of a Maltese and a Poodle) litter that should be in April. Just a quick recap of whats been happening here. I plan to remember my camera from now on. Keep us in your favorites!

Merry Christmas!

We were very fortunate to spend the holidays with family and friends ejoying good food, laughter and lots of fun this year. We spent Christmas eve at Nana and Grandpa Jim's house with cousins enjoying dinner and candlelight service at church. The girls woke up Christmas morning to find many gifts that they had been wanting from Santa. Emma loved her new American Girl and watch. Ella got a Barbie vet set and Taylor gets to jam to her own tunes on her new iPod. They all enjoyed their new Zhu Zhu pets. We were blessed to have a happy and healthy 2009 and wish the same for everyone in 2010.

Holiday Decorating

As always, the girls had super fun decorating for Christmas this year. It was a little later than normal since we were away for Thanksgiving. The tree usually goes up that weekend. We added another tree in the family room this year that has colored lights and was decorated by the girls. We also made many batches of chex mix, puppy chow, peanut butter blossom cookies and decorated sugar cookies for the holidays.

Happy 9th Birthday Taylor!

Left to Right: Alyssa, Paige, Taylor, Ashley, Paige, Addison and Toree

It is totally crazy to think that Taylor turned 9 this year. I always tell her she is not allowed to go into the double digits so no more birthdays for her. She celebrated in early December with 6 of her friends by getting pedicures and manicures. We then came back to the house for games, cake and ice cream. She said it was her best birthday ever but I think she says that every year. We had a small family birthday with grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and cousins on her actual birthday.

Disney World

This year we spent Thanksgiving at Walt Disney World. We suprised the girls early Tuesday morning, before Thanksgiving, with a 8 day stay at Disney. This had been in the works for some time so pulling it off as a secret was a success in itself. Needless to say, they were SUPER excited! We had great weather all week with the exception of rain one day but you can't let that stop you. We ended up buying ponches and kept on going. We spent that day at Hollywood studios trying to watch most of the indoor theater shows. The girls had great fun swimming in the hotel pool while it was raining that night. We enjoyed time at The Animal Kingdom, HollyWood Studios, Epcot and The Majic Kingdom. Some of the major highlights were a princess lunch with Cinderella, Ariel, Snow White, Aurora(Sleeping Beauty), and Belle, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade and Fireworks show, Dinner and Breakfast at Chef Mickey's where you get to see Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald Duck and Goofy, The Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique where Emma and Taylor got made up as princesses complete with hair, makeup, nails and fairy dust. Ella wanted nothing to do with this. One of the most interesting parts of this trip, compared to our visit 3 years ago, was seeing the girl's different personalities. At 3 years old, we threw Emma & Ella in the stroller and rolled away. They obviously were much more aware of their surroundings this time and were very vocal about what they wanted and didn't want to do. Taylor is very easy going and goes along with most things without complaining. She really enjoyed The American Idol Experience and The Toy Story Mania 3D game. Emma enjoyed seeing all the characters and would want and did sometimes wait in line for hours to see them. She was super excited to see Tinker Bell, Silvermist and Rosetta who are all new at Disney. Ella, well... as always, she was Ella. It depended on her mood what she was up for. Some characters she really enjoyed and others not so much. She really enjoyed the castle shows, parades and theater shows like Finding Nemo, Beauty and The Beast and Little Mermaid. It was a super fun family vacation that I hope the girls will always remember!