Prayers and Helpers

Our girls make us so proud and happy so many times.

Today we were praying. Emily's prayer was, "Thank you, Lord, for such a lovely meal.  And thank you for my great surprise of getting my ears pierced."

Olivia's prayer, "Dear God, Thank you for my family that I love SOOOO much and that loves me so much. I love my family SOOOO much. Thank you."

Then, after a nice dinner, the girls cleared their dishes, cleared the rest of the table, wipes off the table, and swept the floor.  They are so sweet, great helpers, and great listeners almost all of the time!

New Year's Eve 2013

We spent New Year's Eve with our friends, the Naranjo's.  Onni brought a friend, so we had 6 girls over.  The kids kept busy playing American Girls, watching movies, making necklaces and other activities.  They stayed up to ring in the New Year. Kaiya spent the night and her and Emily went to sleep around 1. It was quite impressive how well behaved the all were, no whining, no arguing. The next day the kids were tired, but still well behaved. Kaiya stayed until 3 or so the next day. Olivia and I went shopping at Ikea on New Year's Day.

The New Year's noise was a bit much for Olivia. 

Bowling With Friends

We had a great time bowling with friends at Brunswick.  The kids often beat the parents in bowling (with bumpers, but still funny).

Kenzie and Olivia

 Kenzie and Emily

Tracey and I

 Kaiya and Emily 

Dave and Olivia racing against Kenzie and Matt

School Pictures

The girls' pictures turned out cute.  Olivia had to do a retake because her first one she didn't smile at all. Her retake turned out great.

Emily - 1st Grade - Age 6

Olivia - PreK - Age 4

Christmas Presentation at Church

The girls were in a Christmas performance at our church. Emily had a short speaking part.  They both did very well and looked so pretty.

 

 

 

 

Emily with her friend's sister. 

 

 

 

St. Nicholas Arrived

St. Nicholas was extra nice this year. He brought the family matching, embroidered Christmas jammies with Mickey Mouse on them.  The girls had fun finding candy and a few other things in their boots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of Leaves

A few weeks before we went to Chicago, the girls went in our front yard and piled all of our leaves by hand. They ended up with a pile that was maybe 8 inches by 5 inches by 1/2 inch.  They jumped in it and had a blast. I remember all the leaves from my midwest childhood and knew they had no clue what piles of leaves were. I told my parents. My dad gathered leaves in their backyard and made a pile almost 5 feet high. They girls had so much fun jumping in it, getting thrown in it, digging in it and everything.  They got all messy and had a blast. It was worth every second to be able to watch their joy.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving in Chicago

We spent Thanksgiving in Chicago with my family.  It was the first time in 4 years that all of us kids (my brother, sister, and I) have been together. It was a great time.