PreK Christmas Pageant

Lila attends preschool at a Lutheran church. They really do their Christmas Pageant right - they start the story in Genesis with original sin and the need for a savior. Then they talk about how long God's people waited for the Messiah, and end with the birth of Jesus. It's an adorable show, and guess what part Lila got to play..... the serpent.

I kid you not!! I asked the teacher if there was some typecasting going on, but she denied it. ;) Lila also got a New Testament role - the Innkeeper, "because she has a nice loud voice", according to her teacher. Super. Here are the pictures - so cute!






The video of her walking in is priceless!!

My Five Year Old

Lila turned five last week, and I still can't believe it! What was life like before her?! I have no idea - calm and uneventful, I'm guessing. She sure does keep us on our toes!

She is a wonderful preschooler who thinks she is ten, at least, just like her sister. She loves to play with Trudy, dance (to Radio Disney songs, of course!), and watch movies. Her "new" bear (to replace the completely disgusting and worn out one), Henry, is still her favorite toy. Lip gloss is her addiction - she spends hours transferring ALL of her lipglosses from special boxes to purses and back. Lila is also very good at puzzles and can recognize and write most of her letters - if she's in the mood. ;) She is full of happy mischief and makes us all laugh with her shenanigans. We love you so much, Lila!!

Her birthday was a whirlwind week of celebrating. Tell me why, again, I decided to have a baby the week before Christmas?! Oh yeah - I had very little to do with the timing. It's craziness! We started out with a family party on Monday, because that was literally the only day before Christmas that everyone was available. Lila requested pizza and red velvet cake, and I appreciated the simple menu. She got books, Disney princess Pollys, E.T. (a favorite), and a camera (number one thing she asked for), among other things.

Aunt Becca comes up big... costume for Kit!

How old are you, Lila?

Tuesday, we celebrated her birthday in her class, and I was the helper. We brought her absolute favorite, soft pretzels, for the snack. I also got to watch the reharsal for the Christmas play - hilarious!

Calendar time with Mrs. Olson

Wednesday, her real birthday, we did a bit of shopping and had lunch at Burger King. We had to rush up to church after dinner for the kids choir (both of our girls) to practice for Christmas Eve.

My beautiful 5 year old
"Thanks Tanta!"

Thursday was her kid party. We had four little girls over for a "Mermaid/Under the Sea Party". It was pretty low key, all that mattered to Lila was that there was a pinata. :)

Kit Kitteredge showed up in her mermaid costume

Get out of her way!

Lilly and Lila

So Busy

We are still here. It's just that life has been a bit busier than normal lately. Since my last post, we've had:

A birthday party for Emma - she invited four friends and we took them all to the movies to see Disney's A Christmas Carol in 3D. It was a good movie and a great time. We stopped for pizza on the way home, then had cookie cake and presents at home.

The Women's Christmas Banquet for church - I'm the coordinator of this two-night event for almost 500 women, and the business of it all was even crazier than normal this year! Phew! It was a beautiful night, but I'm so glad it's over!

The Living Nativity at a local church - a very cold, but very wonderful night. A local church does such a wonderful job of telling God's story. The girls love this highlight of the season, so even though Ryan couldn't attend (he was serving at our church), the girls and I went with friends.

A Gingerbread House night - at our house with good friends - but a very sticky floor! :)

Shopping
Crafting
Decorating
Cleaning
Wrapping
Shipping
Etc.
Focusing on the reason for it all

-Oh, and then our normal busy daily life. Lila's birthday is tomorrow, so I'll post about those events soon.

So Thankful!

Once again, I'm overwhelmed with all I have to be thankful for. God has blessed us beyond measure, and Thanksgiving is the perfect day to reflect on that. We had a relatively small (11 people), but bountiful dinner at our house yesterday. I had lots of help with people bringing things, so the head chef was able to relax and enjoy time with family. The girls had a splendid time with my cousins - what could be more fun for two little girls than two men in their late teens/early twenties?! We enjoyed the warm day out on the patio, watched a little football, ate way too much, and had fun chatting. A great time was had by all! We are so thankful!

Ryan carving and Sissy gravy-ing

Getting ready....

... to eat this yummy feast!

My momma and me

Mom (with kooky eyes) and her girls

Traditional After-Dinner Polar Express Party

The end of a great day!

T-E-N!!!

I'm not sure how this happened, but my baby turned ten this week! I'm telling you it was just yesterday that I was holding her in my arms for the first time - so overwhelmingly in love my daughter and scared to death to be in charge of her! She has grown into a young lady that we become more and more proud of every day. Emma Grace is smart, beautiful, compassionate, sensitive, responsible, creative, artistic, and joyful! We are so blessed to be her parents, and can't wait to see all that God has planned for her!

A new bike! -Same size as Mommy's!

"I love it!"

Serenaded by her grandfathers...

Rubic's 360 - one of very few "toys" for this grown up lady

Headed to school, treats in hand, on her special day

Ice Cream Sundae Celebration with her sissy on the actual night of her Bday

Disney "Whirled"

We had an awesome trip to Disney World last week! I'm not sure that I can do the whole trip justice in a blog entry, so I'll just give you the jist. We drove down with Ryan's parents through the night on 10/30. The girls slept all night and woke up to Halloween breakfast at Perkins in Savannah. We stayed at my parents' time share in Orlando. We were so blessed to be able to spend the whole vacation with both sets of grandparents! Our parents not only get along, but actually enjoy each others company - it's wonderful, and I don't take it for granted! The girls got to experience a week at Disney World with all four of their grandparents - unforgettable! :) We had so many great moments, but here are a few:

The only picture of ALL of us together!

Enjoying one of many ice cream treats - it's good thing we did a lot of walking!

Mickey and Minnie together! Yeah!

A rare, but coveted meeting with Cinderella

We met up with three other families, that were also vacationing that week, for Fantasmic - a nighttime show. It was so fun to share part of our vacation with good friends!

Watching the parade

We loved Donald!

Poinsettias and Christmas decor went up overnight!

Gappy was always game for a swim

Our last night at O'hana. Lila fell asleep at dinner and didn't make it to our family picture.

Trunked Treats

OK, I'm frantically trying to update my blog before Ryan's parents arrive tonight and we go to Disney World in a few days!!!!! I can't have lingering pictures and events to post about with all of that excitement about to happen!

So, here are some costume preview shots of the girls from last weekend. Our church has a Trunked Treats night where the adults have basically tailgate parties in the parking lot, and the kids get to go trick-or-treating at each car. We had a great time with our minichurch friends! We'll be away for Halloween, so the girls were super excited that they still got to go get candy!

Princess preparation :)

Sleeping Beauty and Minnie Mouse

....sugared up kids in the back of my van....

We had a pretty cool spot - with a fire, wienies, and marshmallows.

Postponed Field Trip

Our first attempt at this trip was rained out, so I was so glad we had a nice day for Lila's Pre-K Pumpkin Trip. We had fun, and here are the pictures to prove it:

Why did she sit with all of the boys for the lesson part of the trip? No idea. The girls were all at the other end of the row.

Paying close attention to the pumpkin farmer.

Trying to kiss the goat?
Group shot - she's in the center back.

Kate and Lila - victorious over the pumpkins!

She's still working on the self-portrait face...