Holiday Pictures

Grandma Pattie and Grandpa Boyd stopped by while we were trying to get a Christmas picture for our card, so we needed one with them too. You will have to wait for the card to see what the girls look like, but trust me it is cute. Grandma and Grandpa have been busy making things to help us celebrate the holidays, including a puppet nativity, pajamas for the girls and pillowcases for everyone! When I was young, we knew it was Christmas when we put on the pillowcases my Aunt Diane had sent us. Thanks Mom for helping us carry on the tradition!

Happy Birthday Holly and Grandpa!

What a great birthday party for Holly and Grandpa. Holly was a pro at blowing out the candles and the other girls helped Grandpa with his cake. Bella helped from the sidelines as she is still afraid of candles. Bella did manage to get Uncle Matt to help her dress up like a princess. No wonder she loves him, he even remembered the crown!
June spent the evening being snuggled by Grandma.

We Need A Little Christmas

We spent the morning getting out the Christmas decorations. The girls were dressed in festive outfits, although June's were a little small!
Bella loved helping Mom open every box and deciding where things should go.

June is a great helper too!

Bella was a great help decorating the tree. She loved opening up each box and seeing each ornament. They were a wonderful surprise to her. The house is ready now, so Christmas here we come.

Later, we met up with some Bakers to see the movie Bolt. I thought it was really cute, but please don't mention it to Bella. She spent most of the movie scared on Grandma's lap!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving at Grandma Chris's house with all the DeYoungs. I am not joking when I say there were about 50 people, but she made it work. I helped the kids make turkey hats, Bella's needed to see really well so she went with 4 eyes.

Playing in the leaves.

My little Pocohantas, every baby should have a suede dress. (Yes it is dry clean only, not one of my finest purchases for a baby!)

I am not a big fan of Thanksgiving Day activities, it seems like so much work for a quick meal. I am glad to have a day to reflect on my life. I am so blessed in many ways. I have a wonderful little family, a great husband and two beautiful girls that are the joy of our lives.

Preschool Thanksgiving

Bella loves feast day at her preschool. She chose to be an Indian again, even though I sent her to school in a Pilgrim dress. She loved the pumpkin pie and nothing beats a rain dance!

Sunday with Family

We went to my family's house the Sunday before Thanksgiving. It was our chance to celebrate our only November birthday, Miss Madie, who I can hardly believe is 12! We also had a little Thanksgiving time since it is the in-law year. June loved snuggling with her Aunt Kristie, notice her holding on to Kristie's hand.
The beautiful birthday girl and her dad.

After dinner and a short lesson, Aunt Katie had everything ready to frost turkey cookies. Bella was very serious about it.

No, that is not playdo, it is Belle's finished cookie.

The boys took the time to wrestle with Bret, not the best picture, but it is hard to catch them, they are always in action!

Sunday Best

I love getting my girls dressed up for church on Sunday. I think they are both so beautiful. Belle was very excited to hold her sister. (You miss mom freaking out in the background!)

Friday Fun at the Zoo

It was a perfect Friday at the Zoo, just a little chilly, but hardly anyone there! Check out my little tigers!All the animals were out and about!
I just thought this was a great picture. The white alligator is gone so Bella wanted to walk through and look for butterflies. (There weren't any, this was about the only living thing left.)

This one penguin was swimming and swimming, Bella thought it was hilarious!

Little bears paws! (How do such little paws make such a big mess?)

Bret was the only one willing to sit on the elephant, and I thought we needed to add more pictures of my cute hubbie!

Kisses for Aunt Heather

I love my chair Aunt Heather, so here are kisses just for you! Thanks!

Telling the Truth!

Bella came up to me tonight and said "Mom, I didn't want to tell you, but I had to tell the truth. I ate the blue marker." What do you say to that?

Happy Veteran's Day!

How many people get Veteran's Day off? Bret does! It was great to have him home on a Tuesday so we decided to go to Jumpin' Jacks.

Even Genevieve got into the action!

We had a hard time catching Belle for a picture she was running and sliding so fast. (We ended up with a lot of pictures of empty slides.) I even tried them and it was really fun!

We are ready to go back soon, let me know if you would like to come along!

Medical Update

We had Genevieve's 2 month appointment today. She is getting big, weighs over 13 lbs! The best news, the doctor couldn't hear her hear murmur, so he believes the hole has sealed itself up. We were so excited for this wonderful news! She was not happy about her shots, for such a easy-going baby, she certain made a fuss!

(P.S. If you are interested, scroll down a bit, I added about 15 new entries for earlier in the month. There is a beautiful picture of June on her blessing day, October 12th that you can't miss! And just to clarify, any thing political is Bret! I just couldn't get into the whole political thing this year, I think the race started too early and lasted too long. )

Even Babies Need Make-Up

Belle is very excited to have a playmate, everyday she tries to get Genevieve to play with her. Today i found her teaching her how to use the pretend make-up in a little purse Belle picked out for the baby before she was born. She started out with a little lipstick!
Then it was a little powder.

After this, she taught her how to touch the buttons on her phone. I can't wait until they can really play!

At The Tepee

Bella's preschool went to a "real" tepee to learn about Native Americans. I have to say that it was freezing, but we braved the weather. At least it was dry if not cold inside. The tepee was set up as part of a Halloween display and there was still a scary witch at the front. It took more than a little coaxing to get Bella to pass her. Finally, she covered her eyes and held my hand as I lead her across the parking lot and inside. It is always drama with Bella around!

Bella was very excited to shake the drum and sing a few songs. Afterwards each kid picked out any pumpkin they wanted as long as they could carry it. Bella picked out a "Cinderella" pumpkin. Then she had to cover her eyes again so we could leave.

Obama

Time for some change.
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