Matching Jammies

I got the girls matching jammies for Christmas morning so they will look so cute when opening their presents. They chose these gowns because they have matching doll dresses. They LOVE them, and they are so soft and warm. Steve and I had a hard time matching the girls' PJ's, so we will have coordinating ones for just us...Steve is thrilled! He LOVES matching things...NOT!!!! Oh well, he gives in every now and then. I also threw in a little "jamming" session with Daddy in their new "jammies"! :) These are the last pictures until Christmas morning. I would love to show you the cute crafts that the girls did for their grandparents, but it will have to wait until they open them on Thursday. Merry Christmas everyone!

Jillian's class party

Jillian also had a class party on Thursday. I remember 2 years ago on that day I went to Abby's party and then to Jacksons birth! It's hard to believe it's been 2 years! Anyway, Jillian had a great time. They made a little candy cane craft and then had snacks. She was glad that I came (and brought Jackson for a little while)! :)

Abby's Class Party

Abby did have a great party last Thursday, but her silly Mom remembered everything but the camera! I did sneak in and take a couple of pictures of her and her teacher after Jillian's party that afternoon. Sugar was had, and that is really all that matters!:)

Festival of Light 2008

My family (including my parents) have made it a tradition to go see the lights in Chickasha every Christmas season. We usually go earlier in the year, but it didn't work out this time. We went on the 12th, and had a great time. We always take the carraige ride thru the lights, but this year the girls got to sit up front with the driver! They were so excited! We always go in the gift shop there because they have such unique ornaments and gifts, and of course to get some hot chocolate. Then we walk down to the bridge of lights and take our picture. Daddy got some food to feed the ducks this year, and the girls loved it. While they were doing that, Papa was hanging out around the bridge and was asked if he could take a picture of a couple. He gladly did. When we got across the bridge, we heard this clapping and saw the girl crying. They had just gotten engaged! We felt so special that we helped them with their special evening, and of course Steve took their picture for them again. It was a great time this year! :)

Gingerbread Houses

Abby's class made Gingerbread Houses last week at school. She had a great time and it was eaten by the family that night (the candy that is, the graham crackers were attached to a milk carton).

Christmas Card 2008

Merry Christmas everyone! :) i couldn't get my scanner to cooperate, so you will just have to imagine it. I used these 2 pictures of my cute family.

Basketball/ Cheering

Abby decided that she didn't want to cheer this winter season. She would rather play Basketball instead. I was shocked, but decided to let her give it a try. She does a pretty good job. She is a good defender, great at running the court, and awesome at dribbling. We're still working at passing and shooting. For her first year, I'd say she's doing great. The only thing that's hard is that her games are at different times on different courts each Saturday. That makes it hard when her sister is Cheering at the same time in a different place. Glad there is only 2 of them!
Jillian is finally old enough this year to be a cheerleader. She is SO cute! She remembers all the cheers from last year when Abby was a cheerleader, and has even been known to correct the coach a time or two! The smallest you could order of the uniforms was a youth small which is a size 6/6X. For a girl that wears a 4, it's pretty big! :) The uniform isn't too bad (glad for a drawstring waist), but the mock turtleneck is a joke. No biggie, we just put a plain white t-shirt underneath. It's been a lot of fun watching them this year so far. They are both good at sports (unlike thier Mom), and really like atheletic activities. I'm good at coming to the games, supporting them and bringing the snacks. Steve does the coaching. :)

Decorating Stockings/ Stone Soup

My fear came true. I was always afraid that the girls would have 2 different things going on in their classrooms at the same time and only 1 Mommy to be there taking pictures. Jillian's class was decorating their stockings preparing them for candy/ trinket handouts later in the week. Abby's class had just finished the story "Stone Soup" and was making it in class. Jillian's class was suppose to have plenty of helpers and I was just going to be there to take pictures of Jillian while she made her stocking. The other Mom's didn't show up so it was just me and the homeroom Mom. Since we were the only 2 there, they let our children go first. I was hoping Jillian would go later since Abby's class was already making stone soup. No fear! Jillian got started and was being very careful as she worked. Which was great except it made the decorating go slow. Jillian finally finished and I ran to Abby's room to try to catch some of the stone soup. Abby was sad that i was late. She said "you told me you would be here and you weren't". I told her that I was here now and so sorry that I was late, but sister has things going on in her classroom too! I managed to get a few pictures of the end of Stone soup and help quickly clean up and head back to jillian's room to help the only other Mom that was there with the stockings and lots of little Kindergartners. It was crazy, but fun. I'm glad I got to go to both events, but will try to plan better in the future! :)

Thanksgiving in Newton

Yet another trip in November. See why I haven't updated my blog since Hawaii? I was only home 12 days out of 30 in November. I don't know how people that travel all the time do it! We drove to Newton, KS to spend thanksgiving with my side of the family. We had a great time playing games (wii), and shopping with cousins on Black Friday. I love having a Dodge van. The storage compartments for the middle 2 seats make great smuggling holds for Christmas presents! We also put the pies there when we traveled and they did great! We had a heavy heart missing Uncle Mike Tieszen and Aunt Sharon Morton this year. It has been a really hard year for our family. Who would have guessed that I would lose an Aunt and an Uncle only in their 50's? The 2nd cousins had a great time playing together, and I'm pretty sure that the 1st cousins had a great time too. They played football, helped kids fly kites, and played Wii games. It was a really good Thanksgiving!

Trip to Michigan

4 days after getting back from Hawaii, all 4 of us boarded a plane to Michigan. Talk about culture shock. It was close to 90 in Hawaii, and snowing and in the 20's in Michigan! Steve's last grandma passed away in late October, and we flew up for the Memorial. The girls had a great time on the plane. My Dad had 2 frequent flier miles that he let us have, but they were on 2 different airlines. The girls and I flew together and checked all the luggage since we had a direct flight, and Steve had 1 stop and a longer flight, but no kids. It took some moving around since we couldn't get seats together, but people were nice and switched with me so that I could sit across from the girls and they could sit together. Despite the reason we went to Michigan, we had a great time. We got to see cousins and 2nd cousins that we hadn't seen in years. Steve and I also got to meet up with a good friend of ours, Michael Thomas. hea was a groomsman in our wedding, and is now married too! We got to meet his fiancee at the time (now his wife :)), and she is great! I think they will be really good together. The kids favorite part of the trip was swimming in the hotel pool with thier cousins. Since they moved to NC, we don't get to see them anymore. It was a great time and we got a lot of great pictures. Check out facebook to see them all.