Our elf Mikey

Santa dropped of and Elf on the Shelf right after Thanksgiving. The elf is here to watch the kids and he reports to Santa every night on their behavior. The girls named our elf Mikey.

Every morning they love trying to find where he is hiding....

Winter Park Parade

Gracie was in the Winter Park Christmas Parade which I have been going to since I was a little girl so it was sort of strange. Daddy happened to be off that day so we had lots of fun. The dance girls were supposed to have their hair like someone from whoville which turned out to be much harder than I thought.

Munchkins are a parade tradition...yummy!

Rylie loved the parade....

The gang.....

and our star............

O Christmas Tree

The girls were thrilled to help put up the Christmas tree. Us girls went to Lowe's and found a good one. When we finished decorating it three quarters of the ornaments were on the bottom front of the tree :) Christopher refers to all the "bulbs" as balls so I had to move them up to the top. I have to say this is one of my favorite trees so far.

Outdoor cuties

I am not sure where Rylie was at this day, she seemed to miss the camera......

Max came over to play

I watched Max Jr. a few days ago for a little while, the girls were so excited. You would think they never had a little brother. He is such a cutie!

Daddy's little Helper

Turkey Trot

Gracie took her turkey on a parade around the school. There were some really fancy turkeys there! The pilgrim near you see is her teacher Mrs. Winemiller...we love her!

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for all our friends and family!
Watching the Macy's parade...Christopher was waving to the TV......

My pilgrim and Indian. These are actually both Gracie's from school but she shared with her sister. They earned feathers if they were able to do certain tasks the teacher asked. We were so proud of Gracie because she earned every single one possible.

The food was delicious (if I can say so myself).....

Grandpa and Rylie......

The girls and Grandma Shirley (Chris' grandmother).....

I want to thank each and every one of you for all your love throughout the year!

Rylie's Feast

I was so happy to be able to go to Rylie's Thanksgiving feast in her class with her. Gracie's was at the same exact time so Daddy went with her.
Check out the girl to boy ratio.....

This girl loves cookies......

Turkeys Turkeys Turkeys

Both girls had take home family projects to make a turkey so we worked on them all together. I am getting lots of good use out of my craft bin this year!

Puzzle Girl

Rylie seems to be going through the puzzle phase now. She did this one all by herself!

Another Park Day

We met up with some friends at a park where we love to feed the turtles. I think the kids ate more of the bread than the turtles did.

Trick or Treat

Ever since Gracie was born we have met up with friends and Trick or Treated in their neighborhood so once again we headed out. This ended up being a very cheap Halloween because once I took the Halloween box out of storage and Rylie spotted the Minnie Mouse gloves she insisted she wanted to be Minnie again. The dress and the shoes both fit still! I was very undecided about Christopher because you never really know how the weather is going to be here and I knew he wouldn't want anything on his head. I finally decided to throw a pirate costume together from things around the house. I am so glad because he didn't even want to wear that. He wouldn't wear the hat even long enough to take a picture.

Barbie Mariposa.....

Captain Christopher.....

The gang.....

Christopher got the hang of getting candy VERY fast....

Rylie seemed to wait until everyone was away from the door so she could make a solo appearance. I heard you get more candy this way?

I was shocked at how far Christopher walked, but on the homestretch he gave in and got in the wagon and still got more candy......

We got lots of candy and a fun night for everyone!

Halloween Parties

We had a bunch of school parties before Halloween. At Rylie school they had to wear a fairytale or nursery rhyme. Therefore Rylie chose to be Cinderella (of course). We had a little parade for the parents around the school.......

I snuck away from my class party for a few minutes to spend some time in her classroom.

All the princesses....

Cinderella and the old woman who swallowed a fly.......

Gracie also had to dress up like a storybook character at her school.

Introducing Fancy Nancy.....

They were required to carry the book that represented their character in the parade. She was acting shy.....

Fortunately her class party was on a Friday so I wasn't working and was able to volunteer. It was lots of fun!

Every year we wear our costumes to dance class too....

Halloween pictures will be next. Stay tuned!!