It's Christmas!!

We had a really wonderful Christmas this year!

We woke up Christmas morning and the girls were very excited to see that Santa had come!

They opened all their presents, and we had a special Christmas breakfast.

We went to church after presents, and Jason had to go to work :( the Christmas program at church was terrific, and afterwards, we headed over to my mom's house for MORE PRESENTS!

We had a really terrific prime rib dinner, and Jason was able to come over from work to eat with us.  Merry Christmas!

Nutcracker Fun!

At the dance studio where Lizzy and Rachel take ballet, they did a little holiday Nutcracker show!  The girls had a lot of fun, and the dances were so cute!

The funny thing about this picture - my mom's name is Susan, and her fiancee is John!

Ward Christmas Party

This year at our ward Christmas party, my family came and shared in the fun!

Here's grandpa ready to eat dinner!

My sister, Angela, and I played a violin and viola duet together!

Lizzy was so cute singing with the primary - she thought it was too loud!  The leader told them to sing loud so Santa could hear them, and then Santa came out!  Lizzy told Santa what she wanted for Christmas, but Rachel was too scared to do it.  Later, Rachel was upset that Santa wouldn't know what she wanted, since she hadn't asked him for anything, so we wrote him a letter and sent it to the North Pole!

FIVE years old!

My first baby Lizzy is five years old now!  I can hardly believe it!  A real "kid" age - no longer a toddler!  She had a super fun birthday weekend.  Her birthday was Sunday, and Saturday she had her piano recital, so we just had her family birthday party then, since her grandparents were coming up for the recital anyway. 

Here's her Rapunzel birthday cake - with layers like a wedding cake, just as she requested!

She's excited to open her presents!

A cute dog that walks, barks, and pants from Grandma and Grandpa Gale - Lizzy loves it!  Rachel is not so sure.

On Monday we gave her a Chuck-E-Cheese birthday party for her friends and cousins!  She had a blast!

Lizzy with Chuck-E-Cheese

Lizzy and all her friends and cousins with Chuck-E-Cheese.  Rachel and cousins Emeree, Dominique, and Chloe were too scared to go up there, so they're not in the picture!

Finally, Lizzy got to go in the "ticket blaster" and get tickets to cash in for a prize.  She ended up with 650 tickets out of the blaster!  She was a little scared to go in, but was brave and did it anyway!

First Piano Recital!

Lizzy and Rachel had their first piano recital today!  They've been taking Suzuki piano lessons; Lizzy for 8 months, and Rachel for 3 months.  They were so cute!

The girls all dressed up for their big debut!

Waiting to play!

First Snow Day!

The girls were thrilled to wake up this morning to see the yard full of snow for the first time this season!  They immediately put on their snow gear and went out to play!

I don't know why, but kids in their snow gear always look so cute to me!

Happy Halloween!

We had a really fun Halloween this year!  We started on Saturday night.  We went to Syracuse City's pumpkin walk.  The kids really enjoyed seeing all the Jack-O-Lanterns.  For some reason, the girls LOVE anything pineapple, so they were super excited to see a pineapple Jack-O-Lantern and also Minnie and Mickey Mouse.  Lizzy was brave enough to get her picture taken with a Jedi Storm trooper, but Rachel wouldn't do it.  She said, "I don't want to get a picture with the robot!"  Then, today, our friend Celia came over with her 5 kids, and we made some fun treats and crafts!  We made meringue ghosts and eyeballs, and chocolate pretzel spider candies, and the kids also made foam pumpkins and homemade crayons.  Then we watched a Scooby Doo movie, and then... TRICK OR TREATING!  Just one costume was not enough, so the girls wore Alice in Wonderland and Princess costumes during the day in the house, and then switched to nice warm cat costumes to go out trick or treating.  It was such a fun day!

The favorite Pineapple pumpkin!

Minnie and Mickey Mouse!

Lizzy and the Storm Trooper - she actually knew these guys were Star Wars characters - which surprised me because she's never seen any of those movies!

Lizzy in her Alice in Wonderland costume!

All the girls dressed up!

Lizzy and Rachel show off their crafts: foam pumpkins and homemade giant leaf crayons.

In the warm cat costumes, ready to get some candy!

Lizzy's First Story

I taught the girls a little nursery rhyme the other day, and Lizzy decided to write it down. So she sat at her little table and this is what she wrote:

1 2 3 4 5 I HAD COT A FESH U LIV
6 7 8 9 10 VAN I FRO HM BAC UGAN
OI DED U LAT HM GO
CUZ HE BT MI FEGR SO
WAT FEGR DIT E BIT
VEZ LEDL FEGR OVA RIT

Here's the actual rhyme:

1 2 3 4 5 Once I caught a fish alive
6 7 8 9 10 Then I let him go again
Why did you let him go?
Because he bit my finger so.
Which finger did he bite?
This little finger on the right.

Halloween Fun

When I was little, my dad sewed this cat costume for me, and now it fits Lizzy!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

We celebrated my grandpa's 81st birthday this week!  It was such a fun time!  His daughter, my Aunt Brenda, flew into town to celebrate with us.  I made a birthday dinner for him - BBQ baby back ribs, and a chocolate raspberry cake.  We all had a lot of fun!

Rachel with Opa, showing him how she can add on her fingers.

Grandpa about to blow out his candles!

Me, cutting the cake.

Natalie and John.

Katrina, my mom, Rachel, and me and Natalie in the background.

6 Month Statistics

It's always fun to go to the girls' appointments and see how they've grown!  Natalie had her 6 month check-up today, and she is very healthy!

Natalie at 6 months: 14.3 lb, 26 in
Rachel at 6 months: 14.9 lb, 26 in
Lizzy at 6 months: 15.3 lb, 27 in

6 Months Old!

I can hardly believe it - Natalie will be 6 months old on Thursday!  She is getting so big!  Her first 2 bottom teeth came in last week, and I can see the first 2 top teeth just under the gums!  Also, for the first time yesterday, she was able to sit up on her own!  She is so sweet, and such a good, happy baby!  She loves her big sisters so much, and they really love her!

3 Girls Together!

I was looking through my photos the other day and realized I had no picture with all 3 of my girls together!  So I plopped them on the couch and took one!

Dresses!

I made some cute "pillowcase" dresses for my girls, using a tutorial I found online! Cute!

4 Months Old!

It's unbelievable to me - Natalie is 4 months old already!  We had her 4 month check up, and she is healthy - tall and thin, like her sisters and dad (thank goodness!)  Check out these pictures of Lizzy, Rachel, and Natalie all at 4 months...

Rachel at 4 months! 

Natalie at 4 months! 

Lizzy at 4 months!