Christmas Time!

During the Christmas Season we did lots of fun things . . .

Here are the girls in their dresses.

The girls taught their friends and babies all about Baby Jesus's Birthday.

Maddie got to help wrap Daddy's presents. She did a great job and was a huge help!

Maddie got to sing in the children's Christmas pageant at church. She's the pink shirt in the middle looking behind her.

We made cards out of glitter and cookie cutters for our cousins. (Thanks Emilee and Caroline for the great idea!)

The girls also got to decorate a lot of cookies and in this picture they are dipping pretzel sticks in chocolate and then in sprinkles. They had lots of fun and I survived the mess.

We celebrated Christmas just the four of us the day before Christmas Eve. Santa even came the night before as a special request. And people wonder how Santa makes it to every child's home in one night! Our day was filled with opening presents, eating lots of food, hanging out and watching our new movies (Tinker Bell and Mary Poppins).

Here was our special little tree - I picked it up on clearance at Target the year before for $5 after Christmas was over. It only fell over a couple of times but I eventually figured out how to prop it up. It's always fun to see all the presents wrapped and placed under the tree. It was sad as the morning went on, the presents got pulled from the tree to be opened by the girls and then the rest to be divided into family stacks.

The girls love their baby dolls and new accessories are always a winner.

For Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we went to Memphis to spend Eve with the Garey side of the family and Day with Grammy, Grandaddy, Aunt Holley and Uncle Luke and Rob.

Baby Jesus is Born!

Aunt Holley and Uncle Luke

Here is a picture of Uncle Luke tidying up . . .

Grammy opening up her special present from Maddie.

The day after Christmas we headed up to Cleveland to have Christmas with Mammy and Popo.

First we opened presents with my parents and my brother and sister-in-law.

!

Uncle Rob

We made a big, fun mess! Can't get any better than that!

Then we had our Christmas with the Kisses. These are most of my cousins.

The girls enjoyed our first real snow fall of the season at my parents' house. The snowman later got ran over.

Can't forget the snow angels.

Attempt at Snowman #2. The girls loved the snow. Having grown up in it, I can live without. I feel bad saying this, but I'm glad we missed all of the other snowfalls that came across the country this winter. It seemed like no matter where the snow fell, StL or Memphis, we would leave before it came. There will be more next year!

Katie's 3!

Katie got to celebrate her birthday (at least) 3 times . . .

Mammy's house

Her Birthday present from Mammy and Popo was a Scooter - very fun!

Uncle Rob and Aunt Angela went the safe route and got her the helmet and knee pads.

Katie's Birthday landed on a Sunday so after church we took the girls to their favorite restaurant, Chili's.

After Chili's we went to the Carousel. It's a fun Birthday treat. This time we rode on the second level of the Carousel.

Then back home for cake and presents. Katie wanted balloons for her big day so Maddie and I took her to the party store and let her pick her own out. I couldn't persuade her to go with the Hello Kitty theme. And since, I have found out that her favorite colors are orange and yellow.

Then last but not least, Grammy's house!!

She also got to celebrate her Birthday with Grandy and Pop and Aunt Holley and Uncle Luke during our January visit to Memphis. The celebration lasted for a couple of weeks.

J-Term Break

During our break in January we got to do lots of fun things . . . .

Play with our cousins, Rachel and Clara . . . .

Daddy shot a few ducks . . . .

Hang out with Grammy . . . .

Sing and play the piano with Grandy . . . .

Bake a cake with Aunt Holley . . . .

Learn a Bible story while the cake is baking . . . .

These pictures don't include all of our friends that we got to visit with. We loved being reminded of the blessings God has given us thru our church in Memphis!

Ballet

We were so excited when we found out that Maddie's teacher added a 3 year old class to her schedule so Katie could go to ballet. It's so fun for them to dance around the house during their little ballet steps.

How cute are they!?

Maddie and Katie's Geese

The girls love their Daddy. And they love anything he loves . . . even dead animals. Spence brought home a couple of snow geese to show them at the end of January when duck hunting season ended and snow geese season started. They were so excited! So excited they were labeled as their geese and very sad when they disappeared one day. Disappeared to be eaten. Oh my! They will be very well rounded girls as they grow up.

Spence cooked the geese for some of the guys on campus. It was his first time to eat it along with the other guys and they all liked it.

Ice Skating

We got to take the girls for their first ice skating outing. Katie did good but she got bored with it so she and Daddy went to get some nachos and watched the pros - me and Maddie - make a few rounds around the rink. Maddie did great! She loved it. I can't wait to do it again with her.

Spence's Birthday

Spence's birthday was February 24. Spence and I went out on dinner date and then came home to had ice cream cake from DQ with the girls and opened presents. Woo hoo . . . a Wii! Something to do for a break from all that reading . . . Happy Birthday, Dadday - you're the best!

Disney On Ice

At the beginning of March we surprised the girls with tickets to see Disney on Ice. They enjoyed seeing all their favorite characters - the princesses and Tinker Bell!