Ballet!

Whew!  Ok, in my defense, I have been trying to make this post for at least a week, and couldn't figure out how to upload pictures.. I love the way blogger just makes these random changes and expects me to figure them out.  They need to know I am not that smart. 

 

As you all know, Lilly was in a "Princess Ballerina" class from September to December this year.  It was her first experience with a dance class, and she LOVED it!  She did great! 

 

Here are some of her outfit choices (they could wear whatever they wanted)..

 

At first, I noticed she was watching everyone else more than she was really paying attention and following the teacher, but after the first few classes she began to focus and try to emulate what her teacher was doing.  Repetition was the key (and the fact that she was having fun)!

 

In December, they had a recital to show the parents what they had learned.  I know I am biased, but Lilly was definitely the cutest! :)  She is easy to spot in all the photos because she's wearing a white bow.  Also, she has silver writing on her leotard because I bought the one from straight from the dance class, and the other parents were smarter and went and found better deals on their own..

 

 

 This was her favorite little friend, Asa.  I'm glad they hit it off, because I really enjoyed talking with her mom during class.  We have plans to meet them at the museum next week!

 Showing her best plie!

 

 Daddy even left work early so he could come see his baby girl dance!!!  She was so happy to have him there!  Of course Grandma was there too, and even our sweet neighbors, Mike and Donna came.  I think she felt pretty special!

Four years old- Birthday quiz!

Somehow Nate and Lilly are already 4 and a half (how did that happen?), and I know I was supposed to do these quizes on their actual birthday in June, but I ended up asking the questions on their first day of pre-K (September 4).  I meant to get this on the blog months ago, so here it is!  Keep in mind, I just asked the questions (sometimes had to explain) and wrote down the answers- no prompting from me, I promise!)

LILLY
Favorite color- purple
Favorite movie- Hello Kitty
Favorite TV Show- Mickey Mouse
Favorite thing to play- Dollies
Best Friend- Mommy (Awwww!)
What do you want to do when  you grow up?  -Go to work with Mommy and take pictures :))
Favorite sport- Football (?)
Favotire restaurant- Chick-Fil-A
Favorite Book- Tangled
Favorite Lunch- PB and J
Favorite Juice- Milk and Juice
Favorite Song- You Don't Know You're Beautiful (One Direction)
Favorite Snack- Crackers
Favorite Store- Target
Favorite Ice Cream- Chocolate

NATE
Favorite color- Green
Favorite movie- Lion King, Cars
Favorite TV Show- Team Umi-Zoomi
Favorite thing to play- Trucks
Best Friend- Lillly (Awwww, that's for sure)
What do you want to do when you grow up? -sing and dance and drive a car :))
Favorite sport- Baseball
Favotire restaurant- Suzie Q's
Favorite Book- Berenstein Bears
Favorite Lunch- lunchable and yogurt
Favorite Juice- red juice, milk
Favorite Song- Rumor Has It (Adele) Can you tell we listen to MY music in the car??
Favorite Snack- Fruit snacks and graham crackers
Favorite Store- Target
Favorite Ice Cream- Vanilla

ICE at the Gaylord!

This year we got into the Christmas spirit early (Nov. 19th to be exact) by going to a show called ICE at the Gaylord Texan resort/hotel.  SO FUN!  They have the inside of the hotel DECKED out with beautiful bright Christmas decor, and then you enter into a huge FREEZING room, kept at 9 degrees (yes, you read that right), so that their city of ice stays frozen!  We've never been before this year, but every year they have a different theme for the kids, and this year was MADAGASCAR Christmas!  Before you go into the ICE exhibit, they give you these huge blue parkas to put over your coats and hats.  BRRR!

 

Before we hit the ice, we warmed up by the fire in the lobby!

Decorations at the entrance!

 Almost ready to go in!

 Everything behind the kids in this picture is 100% ice!  SO cool!

 More ice!

 Madagascar characters made of colorful ice..

 The kids even went down an ICE SLIDE!

 We went with our sweet neighbors- this is their daughter with Lilly..

 Melman!

 So glad Me-Maw came with us!!  At this point our fingers were really about to freeze off!

 Marty the Zeebra!

 This was a beautiful Nativity scene made of ice at the end of the exhibit.  The picture really doesn't do it justice.. TOO cool.

 After the ice, we even got a balloon snow man and candy cane!  (Never again- they popped and we had MAJOR MELT DOWNS!!!!  But it was fun thes ONE time!) 

 Look at this neat life-size gingerbread house! 

I hope we can do this every year- the kids loved it and it was a fun way to start off the Christmas fun!

Halloween in Colorado!

At this rate I'll have Thanksgiving and Christmas pictures up by Mother's Day :-/  In my defense, I had so many problems uploading these pictures!  I had to redo several times!!!  AAAAHHHH!!

We had a great time visiting Colorado at the end of October for a WHOLE WEEK!  The kids did great in the car.  We broke up the trip again and that seems to do the trick.  We made it just in time to be at cousin Emily's 9th birthday party (YAY!)!

We also had fun carving pumpkins!

Poor Uncle Tom had to carve Lilly's very intricate beauty and the beast design- he was a trooper!

Here is the witch Daddy carved.. not bad!

 

The weather was great, so we decided to spend a day in Estes Park!  The kids enjoyed some huge ice cream cones..

 

We did a lot of fun playing in Me-Ma and Papa's backyard!

 

Miss Priss!

pics out of order- Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes..

 

Cousins eating popcorn and watching cartoons!

 

We spent Halloween Trick-or-Treating in Aunt Pam's neighborhood in Broomfield!  It was the best neighborhood for the best treats!  Tons of kiddos walking around with their families, and so many of the houses were decorated. It was so neat!

Our beautiful ballerina and super tough Batman!



About to set off on foot with all our cousins!

Papa got in on the action with his scary old man mask!

More playing in the backyard.  This was too cute of Nate and Matty!

We went to a fun fall carnival at Me-Maw and Papa's church!  The kids played games for tokens and got their faces painted!

 

and then they played in the beautiful fall leaves!

with sweet cousin Emily!

 

Ok- this marks the beginning of my PHONE PICS of the trip! :)

 

Here the kids are, so excited to play in a patch of snow leftover from a storm they had before we got there (the weather was actually perfect while we were there)!

Sweet pic of Me-Ma reading to the kids by the fire place..

Family photo in the pretty leaves!

Cousins hanging out!

My sweet boy in Estes park..

More Halloween!

What a wonderful trip we had!!  Can't wait to see everyone again in February for

UNCLE DANNY'S WEDDING!!