Christmas Photos

Girls Night Out: The Christmas Carol Play

Mom and Sun
All the Girls

Joel and a whole lotta estrogen

My beautiful girls

Deerkey

Its this crazy new animal out there thats got Joel all excited. Now he can go hunting for 2 of his favorite animals all in the same season.

Another reindeer gone missing

I think Rachel traded in her antlers.

Windsor Christmas

The City of Windsor had their annual Christmas Celebration on the town green a couple of weeks ago and here are some pictures of the event.

This is Elena and her swimming buddy Kaitlyn (and Kaitlyn's sister) in the fire truck.

Mommy and Rachel snuggling
FREE horse drawn carriage rides. Gotta love FREE stuff. Thats our exchange student Sun next to me.

The best gingerbread house ever. This is our neighbors house, the Mortensons' who decorate their house every year. It takes them a week to do it and it is quite a display. They even have their lights coordinate with music on a radio station. You have to see it if you can.

Snowing in our backyard?

It was freezing here last Monday and I was at work so Joel decided to go for a drive up to Geyserville and let the girls play in the snow after school. They didn't have any fun, can you tell?

Here's Hannah winding up for the shot...

I decided that Elena looks very similar to a hobo in this picture.
Elena testing her gymnastics' skills.

And of course my little bugaboo in her daddy's arms the whole time, all snugly and warm. Usually she is trying to get down and run around but she was smart that day and didn't want to move a muscle.

Santa's Missing a Reindeer!!

In case you see Santa with one less reindeer, I think I might know where she is....

though I'm not sure she wants the job.

Exploratorium

The girls and I were treated by a friend of mine, Meadow, to a trip at the exploratorium in San Francisco. I had no idea how much fun it is! Elena got to go in the tactile dome where it is pitch black and you have to feel your way through it. She said there is a lot of crawling and a slide that you go down and I figured she might be a little freaked out but she did great. Here we are sitting in a giant chair.

Hannah making giant bubbles.
I was a little thirsty...

Such flavorful water I thought Hannah should taste..

I do have to say, it was still very weird and uncomfortable drinking from a toilet even though we KNEW that it was made to be a water fountain. The whole point getting over preconditions in the mind. Still weird.

This was their favorite, the black sand and magnet table. They could have stayed there all day.

Fall is Leaving

I love the fall colors. Our tree in front of our house sometimes looks like its on fire with all the red leaves it gets. Hannah decided to "help" Daddy one day after school and rake up the leaves that had fallen. She actually did a pretty good job but after seeing her big pile of leaves she couldn't resist playing in them. Isn't she cute?

Catching up on Rachel's Growth

Recent pictures of giggles at 8 months old.

A little late but theyre still cute. She did not like the costume. She was supposed to be piglet at the fall festival this year but she couldn't stand the outfit.

This face only lasted for a second until she started trying to rip it off and then cry.

They're Fallin' Out Left N' Right.....

At a buck a tooth she is acquiring some serious dollars!
Now she can literally say that "all she wants for Christmas is my 2 front teeth". We've been wondering when Elena's teeth were going to start to fall out and by golly..... they are doing it all at once. She has lost 3 teeth in about 3 weeks. Yes, there is a little lisp now too :-)

Hannah on Western Day at School

Student of the Month

Hannah was awarded student of the month at her school and was given a certificate and a free frozen yogurt coupon. Her teacher has been very proud of her attentiveness lately and so is her mommy and daddy.

Elena finally lost another tooth

After much finagling, Elena worked her loose tooth out and was ready to show off the hole in her face, If you can hardly see it, its the small hole on the bottom left.

More Pumpkin Pictures

she's like "what are you doing to me mommy?"

Harvest Time

I love this time of year with the changing colors of the leaves and grapevines. Of course it wouldn't be complete without the visit to the pumpkin patch. This is Rachels first trip and she seemed to enjoy herself.

Tasting the stem....

Getting a feel for the pumpkin...
Hannah and her friend Katrina

Mommy and Hannah in the corn maze

Hannah and Katrina

Sleep Habits

All I can say is that this is a common occurence in our house. We often go to check on the girls before we go to bed and find things either in Hannah's hands, arms, or mouth. That is a bracelet hanging from her lip......That's our girl.

It Only Took Me 10 Years...

I finally did it. I cut almost 5 inches off my hair. I have been wanting to cut my hair for awhile but I always chicken out while sitting in the seat. I had all the blonde highlights taken out and am back to being fully auburn. Whatcha think? By the way, see my necklace? I made it tonight at a jewelry making party. I even have earrings to match. It was so fun. We got to pray before we made any pieces and ask God to give us creativity (sounds reasonable since He is the ultimate creator and we are made in His image). It was totally fun and relaxing and all the ladies had so much fun! I think I see a new hobby in my future.....

SEVEN

We took the whole family out to dinner at Hikuni Restaurant, a Hibachi style place where they cook the food in front of you and entertain you while they do it. The girls favorite part? The burning volcano onion and the little boy fireman who "pees" on the fire. But before we went to dinner we had to make a pit stop at the mall.

Hard to believe my "baby" is 7 years old. She has been waiting for this day since this is the day Daddy told her it was OK with him if she wanted to get her ears pierced. So what did she ask for when she woke up that morning? Holes in her ears!

Here she is before the needle gun...Our girls wear a birthday tiara all day on their birthday since its a special day.

a little more nervous when she saw the needle gun
after the first piercing, still smiling but fighting back tears
Beautiful princess, she smiled like this all the way out of the mall to the car