White Christmas

It feels a little weird to me that Christmas is right around the corner and it was 79F today in Texas (the girls were outside riding bikes without coats!). But I am ok with it because I did get one day of a White Christmas in Calgary earlier this month, and that's good enough for me. :) It didn't snow until the day before we left, but it probably snowed 6 inches that day! And then I got to fly home and not deal with the messiness and the hassle that snow brings. Perfect. :)

As much as I dislike the snow and cold, I do think a heavy snowfall like this is one of the most beautiful sights. My favorite are the bare trees that look like they're frosted with snow. And then the Christmas lights illuminating the snow. So pretty!


The girls of course loved the snow. We got to dress them up in 100 layers: snow suits, hats, gloves, extra socks, boots, and extra of every item of clothing that they were already wearing (this is why right now, I'm glad to not be a Mom of young kids, living in a place where it snows....), and they went outside twice that day to build a snowman, make snow angels and jump in the snow...oh, and eat it of course. Yummy! Afterward we went inside for hot chocolate. This is a favorite childhood memory of mine!

Ironically,
It snowed when I was in Canada last May...and then I spent the first 8 days of this trip wondering if we were even going to get to see any snow in Canada in December....and then the day after I arrived back home, it snowed here in Texas!!

School Days

While we were in Canada earlier this month we decided to visit my Aunt Joan at her school where she teaches grade 2. Elaina always feels like she fits right in with the big kids, and since we pass an Elementary School every time we drive to our house, she loves to talk about going to school. So this was such an adventure for her!

When we walked in, my Aunt showed her to a desk, and she turned to me dismissively and said "Mommy, I have to do my homework." And then she sat there, all grown up, and did her coloring. When Aunt Joan asked the kids a question, Elaina would raise her hand along with them, as if she knew what she was doing. At one point my Aunt invited her to sing a song for the class, so she stood there all by herself, in front of the whole class, and sang "I've Been Dreaming of My True Loves Kiss" (from Enchanted). And then they sang a song for her. She even went outside at recess time with them. She was pretty popular with the big kids - you can see all of them crowding around her and they all wanted her to sit on their lap. No wonder she can't wait to go to school!!

Erin also enjoyed attending grade 2, although she didn't understand what was going on, like Elaina did. This is my Aunt Joan helping Erin with her homework :)

Matchy Matchy

How often does this happen?!?! We were watching our friends' (Jami & David) son a couple weeks ago while they went out, and when they came to pick him up we thought it was pretty funny that we all looked the same:

(And I promise, it wasn't planned! :) )

Fall Leaves

I love this picture of Elaina playing in the leaves this fall with some of her friends.

Fun Videos

Here are some cute videos of the girls!

If You're Happy & You Know It:



Just Dancing:

Videos

Two little Daddy's girls!

Mike's Magic Tricks

Mike has become a popular person with the kids in our ward since doing a few magic tricks at a primary activity several months ago. It's like he has his own little fan club now. Kids come up to him all the time asking him to make things disappear, or to squeak their hand. It's pretty funny. So I of course volunteered him to do a magic booth at the ward Halloween Carnival, and he was a big hit! Here are some pictures of him at the carnival.

Going Back a Few Years (like, 6)...

Since we're on the subject of Halloween, I found this picture on my friend Stacie's blog, from my BYU days and had to share. Man, I miss these girls!!! We dressed up as the Spice Girls that year - in case you can't tell what our costumes are - most people couldn't figure it out, and I remember we were pretty mad :)

Grandma's Visit

Here are some more pictures of our fun time with Mike's Mom last weekend.

A Week of Halloween!

We had such a great (busy) Halloween week! Elaina was a witch and Erin was a fairy.

On Monday our friends invited us to their home for a Halloween Family Home Evening. We sang songs, read stories, played games, ate & decorated yummy food, and Elaina participated in a donut eating contest. It was hilarious to watch. Was a winner declared?!? I don't even know, I just remember how funny it was to watch her attempt to eat a donut on a string, without hands!

On Wednesday our ward had its Halloween Carnival, and the youth were in charge of the booths. I was so busy that night getting everything else ready for the carnival that I forgot Erin's costume! :( That night I had to split my time between supervising Beehives and watching my own kids (because Mike was doing a magic booth -I'll post pictures later - so Elaina actually spent a lot of the night on her own, and she was great (I think, I hope!). She spent most of the night at the cake walk and I don't even want to know how much cake she ate over there! She spent so much time there because earlier in the day I had told her that there would be a costumer parade and she thought this was it. Oh, she cracks me up!

At then end we did a trunk or treat and Erin helped me hand out candy.

All week long the kids talked about Halloween at preschool and on Thursday we did trick or treating with cardboard boxes as our "houses." Then on Friday we did trick or treating at music makers, and so by Friday night the kids already had so much candy, but they still had to go trick or treating! We had 3 other families come over and eat pizza and then they all went trick or treating in our neighborhood, which was fun for them to go with their friends. And the best part is that Grandma was here to go trick or treating with them as well!

In total, the kids (well, Elaina) dressed up 5 times, and I washed her costume 3 times in one week!

A couple more

I had to add a couple more pictures of our pumpkin patch field trip because these two that my friend got are just too cute!

Elaina & Anabelle

Most of our preschool class (Joseph is missing)

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a pumpkin patch for a preschool field trip last week. Well, it wasn't really a pumpkin patch because we've discovered (after a lot of searching for a great pumpkin patch) that pumpkins probably just don't grow very well in Texas. So it was more like a pumpkin-themed park. Regardless, it was a lot of fun. There was a petting zoo, a park, an old fashioned jail, and at the end the kids got to go on "The Great Pumpkin Hunt" and search for their mini pumkins.

I realized recently that I have a lot more pictures of Elaina than Erin. Since Elaina was more interested in being with her friends than hanging out with Mom, it was a fun photo shoot for Erin this time! :)

At the end of the day I dragged the kids to a nearby mall that I like and they got to ride the merry go round.