Thanksgiving 2014

Ack!  It's the New Year and I'm still stuck back at Thanksgiving!  Ugh.  So much for trying to stay on top of things...

Well, better late than never, right?  Thanksgiving was, as always, wonderful.  We are so lucky to live so close to family and that I have a mother who takes such pride in making her meals both delicious and beautiful.

This was my small contribution, the rolls.
I must say that they were pretty tasty.

 Grandma's house is always fun to play at--she was great at keeping and preserving so many of our toys so now my kids can play with them!

Some post-dinner chatting 'round the table.
Cubby's parents were in town too so Thanksgiving was extra special for us.

Britta did not appreciate Thanksgiving so much...
I think all of the noise and the different surroundings was a bit much for her.
Thank goodness for Great-Grandma--she fell fast asleep on Grandma's shoulder not too long after this picture was taken!

I took more pictures, but with my mom's camera.  Maybe one day I'll be so caught up on everything that I'll be able to go back and add them to this post.  Maybe, but not likely to happen anytime soon {Sigh}.

Little Seamstress

With Emily's birthday approaching, I was busy working on a pennant for her birthday party one afternoon.  Kari came over and asked to use some of my scraps to "sew" with.  Well, this evolved into a wonderful little idea to make Emily a gift!  Kari came up with it all on her own--a pillow with felt flowers sewn onto it.  It was seewwww cute (yes, I'm so punny!).

 We looked up an easy tutorial on YouTube and got to work!  We did most of the work at home and then went to my mom's on Saturday to use her sewing machine and finish it up.

Here's the finished product!  She was so proud.  It was so much fun to do this project with Kari and spend some quality one-on-one time together.  (And, Emily LOVED it!)

Do Gooder

 This sweet girl goes to a wonderful preschool.  It's attached to an assisted living center.  Every now and then the classes go over to "the Village" and read stories or sing songs with the elderly people living there.

One afternoon, children from the various classes were invited to go sing some holiday songs.  One of Kari's sweet friends' moms offered to bring Kari as I wasn't going to be able to take her (both Juliana and Britta take naps in the afternoon).  Kari was so excited to go and all of the kids had a wonderful time.

The "singers" and their teachers.

Kari and her good friend, Ella

Bath time Fun!

As the weather has gotten chillier, we've had to get a bit more creative in the afternoons so the kids won't get too stir crazy and fight (well, more than they already do anyway).  So, one day I broke out the shaving cream and let the little girls have some fun "painting" in the bath.

 Then, not to be left out, the big kids wanted in on the fun!  (Bathing suits were required for them as they are getting older!)

 It was fun being "sneaky" and watching them play and really enjoying themselves.

Sisters, Sisters (like the song)

The littles and I get to spend a lot of time together and both Kari and Juliana have become quite photo happy.  "Take a picture of us, Mommy!"  And, of course, I comply!  They're just too cute!

 I know that in 5 years, these girls will do everything together.  Then, in 10-15 years they may not want to do anything together.  But then, in 20 years, they'll be as close as ever!  Gotta' love sisters!

More Funny Ju Ju

 Our little Juliana has quite the personality.  This was evident one morning at the library.  She got VERY upset with me because I told her we had to go to story time first before we could pick out books and movies.  (This was because we got there later than planned since a certain two-yr old, being two, likes to dawdle).

I finally got her settled down, but that didn't mean that she was pleased with me.  She decided that yes, she would participate in the story time songs, but no, she wasn't going to be happy about it.

"If you're happy and you know it...clap your hands??"  Right Ju Ju??

How Do You Watch TV?

Yeah, pretty sure she won't be too happy with me for posting this when she's a teen, but it's just too funny (and cute!) not to!