Megan's Recital

 Megan got to dance to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for her mini dance recital and she's just the cutest little thing to watch.  She loves her ballet and tap class, but gets awful shy performing in front of people.  We were expecting the extreme shyness, but she actually came out and did really well! 

Visiting Santa

 Mikayla told me she thought this one was a Santa helper, not the real thing, but that she'd sit on his lap anyway.  Aw, gee, thanks for humoring me.  Looks like our Santa days are numbered.  She asked for a blue Nintendo DS and a Zhu Zhu pets game for it.

 Megan loves seeing Santa Claus and asked for a stuffed Ariel doll.

 Kendra pointed at him and said, "Santa!  Ho Ho Ho!" When it was her turn to sit with him though, she wanted nothing to do with him!  All she wanted was to get her candy cane and get out of there.

I was excited to be able to french braid her hair, finally has enough for 2 braids!

Again, we had a Christmas party at a friend's house and she was so excited to wave to him and say "Ho Ho Ho," but absolutely would NOT sit with him.  I'm glad my friend was able to catch this pic of her in the moment!  haha

Mikayla's dance recital

 She loves her jazz dance class and is learning to shake those hips better than I would like her to! haha

 Mikayla with Mary, a friend from school

Here's a short video of her performing "Forget You" at their mini recital.  Bad filming quality, I know, it's tougher than you'd think to take live video, still shots, watch her dance, and control Kendra at the same time! lol

My Heartbreaker

Who Knew?

 Who knew Mikayla had such showmanship?  She's in a singing, dancing, performing group called TaVaci and just loves it!  They performed at the city's Christmas Tree Lighting and had a full formal performance a few days later.

 She cracked us up with how animated she was and how well she could shake and move those hips! She's the youngest in her group, but that didn't hold her back!

 She sang nice and loud in her duet too!

 Mikayla and her friend Tayla.

She loved being on stage and just shined.  Who knew she had it in her?!

Christmas Light Parade

 We met our friends, the Leishmans, out on Main St. to watch the Santa parade and all the trucks and people singing songs and lit up for the holidays.  We came armed with Snickerdoodles, homemade Oreo's, and hot apple cider.

 Isn't she so cute all bundled up?

 Got a pic of Santa as he came by on his antique firetruck.

 Mikayla, Kendra, and Rylee riding the Santa train.

 Gracie, Bree, and Megan on the train.  I love Gridley.  We sent our 6 kids on the train with no adult supervision, just a 7 yr old and an 8 yr old and they rode the train up and down Main St. and actually came back to us!  Yay for small towns!

They quite loved their independence!

Little Chef!

 Mikayla has been begging to do some baking and cooking for me, so I took her up on it and she made a batch of Snickerdoodles by herself.

 She also made dinner--chicken enchiladas, turned out great!  We're talkin' deboned a chicken by herself and everything people!

 A few days later, she made lasagna.  I browned the meat, she did everything else.

Pre-shredded cheese helps a lot!  So does a little sister that wants to help.  I love having my little chefs help me in the kitchen and love that they're getting to learn how to cook for the family.

Some Matching Dresses I Made

Usually I look at tutorials online for things I want to sew and just freehand it.  I decided it was time to learn to use a pattern.  My mom gave me all this cute brown and blue corduroy material and I found a pattern I liked and went to town. 

It was one of those mornings.  Blanket was not coming off and paci was not coming out.

Mikayla's has pockets, a zipper in back, and mini pom pom trim.

Megan and Kendra have buttons on the straps and pompom trim on the bottom.

love it!

A few favorirte moments from recent history...