cinderella

The girls and I went to the play "Cinderella" at the Children's Theater on Friday, December 27th. It was a very modern version of the story, complete with references to Justin Beiber and Twitter hashtags. It was very funny - we spent most of the time laughing! There was also a lot of audience participation and interaction. The play ended with everyone dancing to "YMCA," then as we left the theater, there was a dance party going on in the lobby with the actors. The girls thought it was pretty awesome to dance with people from the play, and they definitely busted out some moves! The lobby was even decorated with a big castle, and a horse and carriage, which the girls thought was pretty cool. It was a fun time!

It has been another great year! It makes me a little sad to think about how fast this year went, but I am so thankful for all the blessings in my life. Happy New Year!

The castle in the lobby

Violet & Olivia in front of the castle

Cinderella's carriage

christmas times

We celebrated Christmas with the Thronson family on Saturday, December 21st. It was chilly with weather in the single digits, but that didn't stop the kids from spending a few hours outside in the afternoon. The guys worked really hard at clearing off the pond, so the cousins loved going ice skating. Olivia learned some hockey skills from her cousins. After skating, the kids hit the driveway hill and went sledding. Finally, they wrapped up their outdoor activities by riding in a big sled behind the snowmobile driven by Uncle Jeff. Once inside, the kids played games and hung out together before getting ready for our official celebration. In the evening, everyone got dressed up. We took a fun but chaotic cousins photo (all of them were wound up), then Maya & Emma read the Christmas story. We had a delicious meal of prime rib and plenty of fixings. After the meal was our family talent show. Performances included Olivia doing a card trick, Violet dancing with William and Evan, Maya and Emma playing piano, William and Noelle making funny faces, Granny telling jokes, and Grandpa & Uncle Aaron singing a Christmas song. The kids finished the show by singing "Jingle Bells." It was a lot of fun to watch! Then we opened presents, which all of the kids were excited for. We tried to get them to open gifts one at a time which lasted a few rounds, then we let them go at their own speed. Violet was excited by her bow and arrow from Granny & Grandpa and her Barbie ornament from Terri & Aaron, and Olivia was excited by her Barbie cash register from Granny & Grandpa. We all stayed overnight at the farm, and spent most of the next day together. It was a very fun time spent with the family we love!

Skating

Sledding

Being pulled behind the snowmobile

Playing Uno with Granny

Olivia & Violet, all dressed up

Cousins…the only picture where you can see everyone's faces :)

Talent show finale: "Jingle Bells"

We celebrated with the Suchy Family on Monday, December 23rd. We had a fun and relaxing day! The girls were pretty excited to have a Christmas cookie after breakfast, what a special treat for a special day. Santa even made an early visit and dropped off some presents. He didn't come in the house, but left some special gifts outside the living room window! The girls were very excited and couldn't believe their eyes! The girls enjoyed opening presents again, and were very lucky (again) to receive many nice gifts. Olivia's favorite was a house for her Calico Critters which she got from Auntie Jill, and they both liked the Legos they received from Grandma & Grandpa Suchy. We had a nice meal in the evening, then hung out together and played games. The girls both put together the Lego sets they had received because they just couldn't wait! It was a fun and enjoyable day with family.

Cookies for breakfast? Only on Christmas!

Cousins!

Early visit from Santa

We headed home on Christmas Eve for our own family celebration. We went to church in the evening, then set the table all fancy for our meal of fettuccine alfredo. We piled the dishes on the counter and decided to leave them for another time so we could exchange gifts. Olivia and Violet were both super animated while opening gifts, they would yell "I love it!" after opening each gift, even before they knew for sure what it was! They also enjoyed watching Daddy open the gifts they bought with their own money (Skittles from Olivia, and Pop Rocks from Violet). The first gifts they wanted to play with were a horse and stable, and dolls, from one of their current favorite movies "Barbie: A Pony Tale." They also loved the new pajamas we gave them, which they changed into right away, even though they already had pajamas on! After gifts, we watched "Charlie Brown Christmas," then left milk and cookies for Santa. The girls said they were going to stay up all night and wait for him!

Getting ready to open gifts

Leaving cookies for Santa

On Christmas Day morning, the girls woke up to full stockings and a gift from Santa. They were thrilled that they both received the gift they asked for - a bracelet maker for Violet, and Calico Critters for Olivia. Then we had a good breakfast, and at 10:00 am, received a phone call from Mickey and Minnie Mouse, telling the girls we are going on a Disney cruise in March. After getting over being nervous about rain sinking the boat, and sharks attacking the boat, the girls were quite excited. :) Olivia asked how many days we would be on the cruise, and I told her four. She ran upstairs, and when she didn't come back after awhile, I went to check on her. She had stacked a pile of four pairs of leggings, four long sleeve shirts, and four pairs of socks in the middle of her bedroom floor. She had also packed a backpack of stuff for the plane. Apparently she wanted to get her packing done in plenty of time! I am very excited for the trip, it should be a blast.

Later on Christmas Day, we we went ice fishing on a small lake near our house. We caught a lot of nice crappies! It was a fun day, and a great way to wrap up our Christmas together.

We are blessed in so many ways…I hope that Olivia and Violet continue to appreciate all that we have. It was fun to experience Christmas through their eyes! I feel very fortunate to share my life with a husband and daughters that I love so much!

Violet with her bracelet maker

Olivia with her Calico Critters

fishy fishy in the brook

Jamie took Olivia and Violet ice fishing a few days ago, and they caught some monster crappies. Jamie hooked them, but he said Olivia and Violet reeled them in. The girls were pretty proud of themselves, and had a blast! Jamie even taught them that, if anyone at the lake asked, they should say they weren't having any luck. And not to tell people which lake they were on. :)

Their biggest crappies

Daddy and Violet

Daddy and Olivia

light of the world

This past Sunday, Olivia and Violet were angels in their Sunday School Christmas program, called "Jesus: Light of the World." They did a great job and were very proud to be a part of the program. The kids all did a great job of telling the Christmas story!!

Angels Violet and Olivia

Angels Olivia and Violet with Mary, Baby Jesus and the Shepherds

The girls are VERY excited for Christmas this year. They've been counting the days! I think they are most excited to spend time with their cousins. Violet told me the other day that she has the best cousins, and she loves them so much. :)

giving thanks

We had a fun and relaxing Thanksgiving weekend. The girls didn't have school on Wednesday, so we spent the day running errands and getting things done, such as their annual doctor appointment. We are thankful that both of our daughters are healthy and developing normally! On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, we spent the day home as a family. Olivia and Violet stayed in their pajamas all day, which they thought was pretty cool! We had a pretty traditional Thanksgiving meal, Olivia ate the most mashed potatoes and gravy, and Violet by far ate the most cranberries. We were thankful that we could all spend the day together, happy and healthy.

On Friday, Olivia and Violet turned six. We took them to see the new Disney movie "Frozen," which was excellent. Jamie even liked it, which says a lot. :) The girls loved it and have already been asking to see it again! After the movie, we went out for hamburgers and hot dogs, then we had some chocolate cake at home. The past six years have gone SO fast, and it's amazing how many ways they both have changed my life. I can't remember my life before them, because now I can't imagine my life without them!

On Saturday, we went to downtown Minneapolis and visited Macy's Santaland. It had the same theme as the past several years, "A Day in the Life of an Elf." There weren't many people there, so we walked through the display twice, taking our time and noticing different things each time we passed through. The display showed different scenes depicting an elf's day, such as sleeping, eating breakfast, attending school, tending to the reindeer, baking sweets and sorting mail. At the end, we had a nice visit with Santa. The girls were so excited to see him! The girls even picked out their own "fancy" outfits that they thought Santa would like. They climbed up on his lap right away and talked to him. Violet told him she wants a bracelet maker, and Olivia some Calico Critters. After that, we spent some time at Terri and Aaron's house; the girls were so excited to see their cousins William and Noelle! After a very nice visit, we left their house and then set out to by a Christmas tree. The girls had their heart set on a white one, because they had seen them previously. We came up empty on our first stop, but found white trees on our second stop. The girls picked out a really nice tree, probably the most full one we've ever had. We had fun decorating it together!

Violet & Olivia with Santa

Our Christmas Tree

let's put the art in party

The girls had their friend birthday party last Saturday, November 23. They were so excited leading up to the day that they had a countdown going on our calendar. It was their first friend party, and we had a fun art theme because the girls really enjoy arts and crafts activities. Olivia and Violet even helped decorate by hanging artwork all over the walls. We had an art teacher come in and lead an art activity, which Olivia and Violet chose. They had the girls make jewelry boxes and the boys make treasure chests. After the art projects were done, we had pizza and cake, and then opened presents. The kids were all very good and had a great time!

The decorations

The birthday girls: Olivia and Violet

Art time!

The finished art projects

The whole gang

The cakes

The snacks

october days

The month of October has passed by quickly! On Sunday, October 20, the girls and I went to Disney Junior Live with cousins William and Noelle. The show featured Doc McStuffins, Sofia the First, and Jake & the Neverland Pirates, which are all shows they like to watch. There were even special appearances by Cinderella and Peter Pan! The girls loved it and thought the show was awesome. William and Olivia sat by each other, and giggled with each other throughout the show!

Ready for the show!

Doc McStuffins

Sofia the First

Cinderella & Sofia

Jake & the Neverland Pirates

Grand Finale with Mickey & Minnie

The night of October 22, we put the girls to bed. We could hear them talking to each other in their room for awhile, but then it got quiet. I went into their room to tuck them in before I went to bed, and I found them sleeping like this. Apparently Olivia didn't make it back to her own bed!

On October 26, we celebrated Olivia & Violet's 6th birthday along with cousin Emma's 8th birthday. We had a rock star themed party at Emma's house. The girls had a blast, and were so happy to celebrate with both the Thronson and Suchy families, including all of their cousins. The kids played a couple of games. First, we played "Freeze Dance" where the kids danced to music, then when the music stopped they had to freeze. Anyone still moving was out of the game! Second, we played the Mummy Game. They broke into two teams, and one person for each team was the mummy. The rest of the team members had to wrap their mummy in a whole roll of toilet paper. It was pretty fun to watch!

They also loved opening gifts, of course. Our families were very generous!! The girls were excited about Hello Kitty hats made by Granny Thronson, with a matching one for their dolls. Olivia was also excited to receive from Auntie Jill the Barbie make up she wanted, and Violet was happy about receiving a yo-yo from Auntie Terri and Uncle Aaron (she has been wanting a yo-yo to learn with). They also received a gift of money from Grandma & Grandpa Suchy and Auntie Janell & Uncle Luke; a Wii game and money from Uncle Joey; an awesome keyboard from Auntie Rhonda & Uncle Jeff; and super cute sparkly shirts from Auntie Nikki & Uncle Brian. They are definitely lucky to receive such awesome gifts!!

All of the kids had a blast playing together. Olivia & Violet didn't want the party to end!

Birthday rock stars: Violet, Emma and Olivia

The Mummy Game

Hats made by Granny Thronson

Olivia and her Barbie makeup case

Violet and her yo-yo

Birthday cakes

Then that brings us to Halloween. We started off the morning with pumpkin shaped toasted, covered in peanut butter, with bananas for eyes and raisins for a nose and mouth. The girls had a party at school, where they played games and had special treats. The girls were very pumped about trick or treating this year. They had a blast running from house to house. They even got a trick at two houses, which they thought was pretty cool. There was a person at each house that was dressed up, and sitting in a chair like they were stuffed.  As we walked by, they stood up and started talking to us. The girls said they weren't scared, and I was thankful that the "trickers" kept it pretty tame! When we got home from trick or treating, we told the girls they could have one treat. They took everything out of their bags, organized it by type of candy, and then agonized over what to pick. Oh, the tough decisions they have to make!! It was a great day for them! When they got up the next morning, they asked if it was Halloween again!

Pumpkin toast

Ready for school

To the rescue! Captain America (Olivia) and Batgirl (Violet).

baptism

Today, we had our newest niece Emma's Baptism. The service was very nice; Olivia & Violet even got to help! I was also honored to share Emma's special day as her godmother. We had a great day and look forward to watching Emma grow!

Olivia & Violet helping dry off Emma's head

Me and Emma

Suchy Family