christmas tidings

Star Wars snowflakes | 12.17.2014

My sister Terri sent me a link to this idea, and I thought the girls would love to try making them. Olivia and Violet needed quite a bit of help cutting out the small areas, but when we were done they thought these were so awesome! Love them, you will.

Darth Vader, Yoda, Princess Leia & Chewbacca snowflakes

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day | 2014

Jamie had to work on Christmas Eve, so the girls and I spent the day preparing. We set up a fancy table, and made a meal of beef brisket with homemade sauce, twice baked potatoes, carrots and of course Violet’s favorite – cranberries!! When Jamie got home, we went to church, then came home for our special meal. After we ate, we opened presents, which the girls were of course anxiously waiting for. They received the three original Star Wars movies for their birthday, and they loved them, so most of the things they wanted his year had to do with Star Wars. We took our time openings gifts which was really nice! Olivia and Violet even wrapped up gifts all on their own for Jamie and me. It consisted of things of theirs (toys, nail polish, etc) which reminded me of when my sister Terri and I used to do that for each other. It was really sweet!

I also took them shopping individually so they could buy a birthday and Christmas gift for each other. It was interesting to me how their personalities shined during the shopping trip. Olivia knew what she wanted to get for Violet right away – Star Wars book for birthday and gel pens for Christmas – so it was a pretty quick trip. Violet, on the other hand, wanted to go to multiple stores and look around before making a decision. In the end, Violet got Olivia a Star Wars chapter book for birthday, and a stuffed animal and gel pens for Christmas. I chuckled to myself that they got each other basically the same thing.

Olivia with a Chewbacca stuffed animal

Violet with her Darth Vader pajamas

After we were done opening presents, Olivia and Violet put on a fashion show, displaying all the gifts they had received. Then we put out milk and cookies for Santa. Olivia and Violet thought he needed an entourage, so they laid out a host of characters to greet him, along with notes telling him how much they love him.

Santa's entourage

On Christmas Day morning, Olivia and Violet were so excited that Santa came! There stockings were filled with goodies, and they each had one gift that they were so excited to open. Olivia was thrilled that she got her Princess Leia doll, and Violet had to start building her Millennium Falcon Lego set right away.

Olivia with her Princess Leia doll

Violet with her Millennium Falcon Legos

Thronson Christmas | 12.27.2014

We celebrated with the Thronson Family on December 27. The weather was a little chilly, but not terrible, so the kids all went ice skating on Granny & Grandpa’s pond. All of them had a lot of fun, especially Olivia and Violet who enjoyed trying to play hockey. After we all got ready, Maya & Emma read the Christmas story, and then we ate a delicious meal. Granny decorated the table all fancy, of course! Then the kids put on a talent show. There was singing, dancing, piano playing…and Olivia, Violet and I read a poem about Thronson family Christmas traditions. As the finale, all of the kids wore reindeer noses and performed the Reindeer Pokey. This was organized by Maya and Emma, so all of us were surprised! It was really cute. Then, we played a game where we tried to identify all of the kids from their baby pictures. It was hard!! And finally, we opened gifts. Olivia and Violet were excited to receive their princess palace pets from Granny and Grandpa! It was a fun and very enjoyable time together.

Ice skating

Olivia and Violet

Cousins!!!!

Suchy Christmas | 12.28.2014

The next day, we celebrated Christmas with the Suchy’s. Unfortunately, Nicholas couldn't be with us, so we missed him! But we enjoyed spending time with the rest of the family. We had a delicious meal, then opened gifts one child at a time. Olivia wanted to be last, but as she was opening, she was interrupted by a knock at the door. It was Santa making a special visit! The girls were so excited! Even though Christmas was over, they didn't ask too many questions. Everyone got a gift from Santa, which was pretty exciting. Then Olivia was able to finish opening her gifts, all of the kids opened their stockings, and we all put our special name ornaments on Grandma's little tree. It was a fun day!

Early the next morning, Jamie left on an ice fishing trip. The girls and I hung out with Grandma and Grandpa for most of the day, then headed home in the evening. We enjoyed our family Christmas celebrations!

Cousins!!

Olivia with Grandpa and Grandma Suchy

Santa rules!!

New Year's Eve | 12.31.2014

Jamie was gone on his ice fishing trip over New Years Eve, so Olivia & Violet spent the day at Auntie Terri's while I was at work. They went to the Children's Museum and had a lot of fun together! I headed over to Terri's after work. The kids made their own pizzas for supper - YUM! They had fun and gave a big thumbs up once they tasted the pizzas. We tried to fool them with an early midnight, but it didn't work. so the three older kids were able to see the ball drop and wish each other a Happy New Year with sparkling juice. It was a fun night, and the kids definitely had fun playing with each other!

Making pizza

Hanging out with Auntie Terri

Cheers to sparkling juice! Happy New Year!

celebrations!

Olivia and Violet celebrated their 7th birthday on November 22nd. They had a party with friends at the Big Thrill Factory, a local activities center. They invited four friends from school along with four of Jamie’s cousin’s kids. We started in a party room, where the kids had the biggest pizza I have ever seen! While they ate, they played a game to see who knew Olivia and Violet the best. Then, the kids went for a ride on the bump-and-spin cars. After that, we played two games of laser tag. Jamie and I joined in, and it was a blast! That is, until Olivia cried because she didn’t want to be on my team, saying I was too wimpy! J All of the kids were great, and we all had an awesome time.

Birthday girls Violet & Olivia

The whole birthday crew

Pizza!!

On Thanksgiving, November 27th, we went to my sister Terri’s house. My mom and dad were there; we spent the day just hanging out and relaxing. The girls went sledding for awhile with cousins William and Noelle, but it was pretty cold outside so they didn’t last very long! It was a very enjoyable and relaxing day.

Thanksgiving with cousins

On Olivia and Violet’s actual birthday, November 29th, we took them out for donuts at a local bakery. We then went downtown Minneapolis to see Santa at Macy’s. Olivia asked him for a Princess Leia doll, and Violet asked him for Millennium Falcon (a ship from Star Wars) Legos. Santa smiled and said to both of them, “Star Wars stuff, huh?” It was pretty cute! They were very excited to see Santa this year.

Birthday girls with Santa

On the way home, we stopped and picked out our Christmas tree. The girls originally wanted a white one, but unfortunately we couldn’t find one so they picked out a really nice green one. We spent the rest of the day decorating our tree, putting up lights outside and other Christmas decorations inside. I had to help the girls put the lights on the top of the tree where they couldn’t reach, but otherwise they decorated the tree themselves. It was fun to get into the Christmas mood!

Violet really enjoyed lacrosse class in November and December. I would say it was the sport she has been most excited about so far. Her favorite move with her lacrosse stick was “walk the dog,” which involved moving her stick back and forth with the ball in it, so the others couldn’t take it away. She hopes to continue with lacrosse class sometime next year!

Violet (pink shirt) at lacrosse class

Olivia and Violet have been counting down the days until Christmas. I really can’t believe it is only a week away; this month has gone so fast. We will have a pretty quiet Christmas Eve and Christmas Day; we will be celebrating at our house with just the four of us. We are looking forward to enjoying some quiet family time. We have the Thronson family celebration on December 27th and the Suchy family celebration on December 28th, so that will be a busy weekend! We are looking forward to celebrating with our families and participating in our annual Christmas traditions.

Hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

fall update

Since my last post was about summer activities, and we just encountered our first winter snow storm today, I figured it was about time for me to post an update.

In September, Olivia and Violet went to their first birthday party of the school season. It was a party for one of their classmates, with a Disney "Frozen" theme. It was probably the most elaborate birthday party I've ever been to, and included an appearance by Anna and Elsa themselves. I've never seen so many excited girls belting "Let It Go" all in unison! Anna and Elsa played games with the girls, read them stories, and posed for pictures. Olivia and Violet thought it was pretty awesome!

Violet with Anna and Elsa

Olivia with Anna and Elsa

The girls and I also went to a Minnesota Twins game on September 19th. I received some free tickets from work, and the seats were in a special area that had its own concessions. When we were inside the concessions area getting some food, TC Bear walked in! He walked up to us and pretended to start eating our food. The girls thought that was pretty funny! They were pretty excited to see him. They also received free Twins hats as a giveaway item, which matched the hat TC Bear was wearing. It was a fun night with my girls!

Violet and Olivia with TC Bear

Girls night at Target Field

We had our first conferences of the year on October 7th. It was nice to have them early in the year so we could touch base with their teacher and see how things were going. We are very proud of both Olivia and Violet, they are doing well in school and are really enjoying first grade.

On October 25, we celebrated Olivia and Violet's 7th birthday along with their cousin Emma's 9th birthday. The party was at Emma's house, and we had a Halloween theme so most of the kids wore their Halloween costumes. Olivia was dressed as Princess Anna and Violet as Queen Elsa, both from the Disney movie Frozen. Both the Thronson and Suchy families were there, which was really fun. The kids went on a scavenger hunt for candy, and of course played outside with each other.

Olivia as Princess Anna

Violet as Queen Elsa

Time for cake! Birthday girls Olivia, Emma and Violet

During the months of September and October, Olivia and Violet participated in swimming lessons. Due to the time the lessons started, Jamie was the one who took them. I made it to the last week though and was amazed at how far they've come! They could swim the length of the pool doing actual strokes. They really enjoyed it.

Now that swimming is over, they are doing separate activities. Olivia went back to tennis, and Violet is trying lacrosse for the first time. Olivia says tennis is her favorite sport, and Violet loved her first week of lacrosse.

Olivia and Violet had a fun Halloween too. They had a party during the day at school, and we carved a pumpkin before trick-or-treating. Well, Daddy actually carved it, but Olivia and Violet drew a picture of what they wanted it to look like. I think they had a pretty fun day!

Olivia & Violet's class on Halloween

The pumpkin Olivia & Violet designed, and Daddy carved