Ellie's 1st Dance Performance

This morning Ellie had her 1st performance for her ballet class. The dance studio puts on a little Christmas show for the families. I think she did great for only being in ballet a month! Most of all I was so proud of her that she sat with her group (away from us) and performed without any problems at all! She loves ballet and I'm so glad that we decided to put her in it! She looked so sweet up there with her group and she did MOST of the moves (except when she was rearranging the stars on the ground or posing for the camera...haha!)

I spent Thursday making her a red tutu to wear for her Christmas show and I think it looks really cute on her. It didn't turn out exactly how I had wanted it to (it's a little wild), but she loves it and I guess that's what really matters. She told me she feels like a "ballalet princess" in it!

Be sure and make sure you scroll down to the bottom and pause the Christmas music on my music player before you watch the video so you can hear it....

Gingerbread Houses!

I got some kits the other day for the kids to make gingerbread houses. Hayden had a minimum day at school on Monday, so we thought it would be a good day to make them, while Jordyn was napping. It was quite an endeavor to keep them together and they only lasted about a day before they fell apart (and I got tired of the kids eating the candy off of them at every opportunity they could find). Hayden was determined that he was going to give his to Santa on Christmas Eve, but it had "disapeared" (into the garbage...shhh!) and he doesn't seem too worried about it yet, thank goodness! They had a great time putting them together and Ellie especially, was very into the decorating part of it! They worked on them for a couple of hours and had a blast doing them together. I had fun taking pictures and watching them get along so well.

Working hard on their houses...Mmmm...these look yummy! (They actually both did this at the same time without being prompted! haha.)Ellie surprised Hayden with a smooch on the cheek and he gave her one back...

All Finished...

First Cub Scout Pack Meeting

Hayden had his first cubscout pack meeting (with all the cubscout troops) tonight. It was interesting to say the least. He seemed to enjoy it, but there were a lot of "announcements" that the boys had to sit through before they ever got to do their activities. After the announcements, they all made tree ornaments and decorated gingerbread cookies.

After the pack meeting, we went to the street here that goes all out every year to see the fancy Christmas lights. The kids love that street because almost every house has wood cutouts of disney themed movies. Jordyn was absolutely mezmorized by the pretty lights!

Old Friends/New Friends

I heard on Sunday that my good friend Tiffany from Iowa was in town visiting her in laws (who just happen to live in Sacramento) this week and was so excited! We haven't seen each other since my friend Katie (who married Tiffany's brother) got married in Iowa when I was still pregnant with Ellie. Gosh, I cannot believe it's actually been THAT long! Tiffany and I met when she moved out here when her son Noah was a baby. My friend Katie told me that her husband's sister was living out here and she really thought we would make great friends. Well, she was right and we hit it off right away. I was really sad when her and her husband Jeremy moved back to Iowa because she also had a son, Noah, who is only 4 months older than Hayden. The boys always got along great and still talk about each other to this day.

Hayden was in school on Wed., so Tiff just came out with her daughter Emily (who is 4 months older than Ellie) to hang out for the day. It was so nice to see them both and catch up on everything while the girls played. They made cupcakes and played really good together all day - until around 2pm when Ellie was tired and turned into a little monster for awhile. She always picks just the right moments for such things, I swear! Oh well, it was still a great visit and I hope to see them again soon!

The girls rolling around on the floor and catchin' some rays by the window...

Our New Friend

Meet Little Miss Butterfly, our newest friend! We were busy yesterday afternoon putting up some of our outdoor Christmas decorations when Hayden found her in the flower bed. She was crawling all over the kids for about a 1/2 hour until I finally made them "free her" and let her return to her butterfly family! Sorry about all the pictures, but I just had so much fun photographing this moment we had!

Kickin' Off The Christmas Season....

Our little friend Rebecca was in a Parade this morning with her Girl Scout Troop, and Obee had to work overtime today, so the kids and I decided to go see Rebecca and the parade! The kids had a good time and it was nice to get out and do something different in the fresh air. :) Before the parade started, there were some crazy Elves dancing around outside the Magic Circle Theatre telling everyone that Santa was inside. The kids and I went in to check it out and they got to see Santa and tell him what they wanted for Christmas this year. Hayden went on and on about how he wants a "Bakugan Shooter" thing, and Ellie said she didn't need anything. Santa told them that he might get that, or he might surprise them with something different. Thanks Santa, for saying the right thing! My friend Sara took a picture of the kids with Santa, so I'll post that up here when I get it.

Has it really been THIS long?

This month seems to have just passed us by so quickly! I cannot believe I haven't posted anything on here since Halloween. Between the two of us going to school four days a week, Obee working, school, cub scouts, soccer, yard work and birthday's we have been VERY busy here! I'll try to play catch up as best as I can, but I don't have pictures of everything with me now.

SOCCER:

Well, soccer is over for the year and Hayden had his end of the year party last week. He was very excited to get his trophy and he has noticed that they get bigger each year. :) We made a little coaster album for his coach and she actually cried when he gave it to her, so I think she liked it!

VACATION TO MARS:

Hayden was in a play with his class this month that was not only super cute, but really funny too! It was called Vacation to Mars and was about a family that takes a vacation around the solar system. Hayden played a Mechanic and was a Ring of Saturn. In October they learned all there was to learn about the solar system so this was a fun way for them to finish up all they had learned!

A WHOLE NEW YARD:

Well, sort of! We finally ordered up some bark for our front and back yard, which was almost completely out of bark in the bark area's from the bad storms last year. We ordered 8 yards of bark and STILL didn't have enough to finish everything! We spent the entire weekend, last weekend, planting, digging, weeding, transplanting plants and spreading out the bark. I am MUCH happier with the way the front and back looks now and I think come spring it will look really pretty. We planted 200 bulbs in pots and in the front flower bed that should begin to bloom in a few months. We also moved our lemon tree and another random plant to the other side of our backyard, to make room for a "play area." We moved the swing set and the sandbox off of the lawn and now we have a nicer area for the kids to play that won't kill our lawn in the meantime. Also, for some strange reason, the kids will never play on the side of the yard where our lawn is, so the swings and sand will get alot more use where they are now (hopefully!) Hayden spent Saturday night at Grandma and Grampa's, so the yard work was left up to us and the girls!

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS:

This month we had many birthday's to celebrate! Happy birthday to Alis, Anna, Melissa and my MOM! On the 8th, my friends Alis and Lupita and I went to San Francisco to celebrate the 30th birthday of my friend Anna. Anna and I have been friends since we were 9 years old, and we had so much fun going to dinner and dancing in the city. On the 16th, we celebrated the birthday of Alis, who I've been friends with since we were 15. We went to lunch at Il Fornaio (not really sure if I spelled that right!) and had fun just hanging out. Finally, on Wed. the 19th, we celebrated my mom's 57th birthday here at our house. We had some yummy tri-tip and salad for dinner and afterward we watched old home movies. It was exciting watching the movies all together and showing the kids what we all looked like way back when!

MY SICK GIRL:

Last week my poor Elliebelle was so sick! She woke up on Tuesday morning so excited about her new ballet class she was going to start that day, but ended up throwing up her breakfast and not being able to keep ANYTHING down for the next two days. She looked so sad and pathetic, poor baby. She literally stayed on the couch in the SAME position ALL day. On Wednesday, I had to go to the store to buy food for my mom's birthday dinner, and she slept in the cart the whole time we were there, then came home and slept on the couch another 5 hours! I took some pictures of her so sick on the couch. :(

1ST GRADE FEAST:On Wednesday, Hayden also had his last day of school before Thanksgiving break. My mom came over and watched the girls so I could go to his Feast at school and watch their little presentation. The kids each got up and said what they are thankful for and then they all sang a cute song with their turkey hats on.

BALLET:

Ellie started her ballet class today and although she refused to participate in almost the entire class, she claims that she loves it and can't wait to go back again! Sheesh this girl. She was all gung ho about going and it's been all she's talked about this last month. We got there and she went out for the first 2 minutes, then she looked back at me, got nervous and didn't want to participate anymore! She finally decided to loosen up a bit when the class was ending, but I had to go out on the floor with her so I didn't get any photos of her doing her thing! Hopefully Tuesday's class will go better! She stilled looked pretty darn cute though, don't ya think?!