Oma and Opa came to visit

Since Oma and Opa decided to visit during the holidays we decided to wait for them to get our tree. The girls were so excited to have Oma and Opa here and it made getting ready for Christmas so much more special. The girls had fun running around looking at the different Christmas trees and at the end they all got candy canes. After we brought our tree home I lugged out all the decorations and enjoyed all my little helpers this year. Claire and Grace put up all the ornaments (with some Oma help) this year. The girls enjoyed looking at all the Christmas books and putting up the nativity set while I baked the Kruis almond cookies. I have been baking these for the holidays for the last 7 years and they are always a big hit. Last year Claire was old enough to help me decorate them but this year Gracie was ready to help. I couldn't frost the cookies fast enough for those girls. We finished in record time. Oma and Opa were able to be here for our church's candlelight service. This is extra special because all the kids perform Christmas songs. This year Claire and Grace were up on stage together singing "Away in the Manger". They were so sweet up on stage singing their hearts out. The girls were so sad to see their grandparents leave. 

My Claire is growing up too fast.

My sweet girls

Look at them run towards those trees

We found our tree

Oma and my sweet Luke

Love this cuddle picture of Daddy and Hannie

They were so excited about their candy canes

I love her ears in the picture

It's Gone!

My sweet baby boy was born with long locks of dark hair. Over the last 6 months his hair had gotten so long that his daddy kept saying he looked, 'goofy'. Ok, so maybe it did look a little goofy but I still didn't want to cut his hair. So on Saturday, his dad decided it was time and yes I shed just one tear watching all that hair come off. Luke looks like an entirely different baby now. He had more hair the day he was born that he does now. Well, all that to say I really do love his new hair-do. He definitely looks more masculine with his short hair.

That was only some of his hair

After daddy cut his hair then he took out the trimmers

It's a first-trimming your 6 month olds hair!

My different baby

As my brother said, "What a stud"

6 months and a new look

Some pictures of my girls

I can't believe how grown up these two look!

My 3 crazy girls

Hannah nursing her Winnie doll

Gracie Grace

Dallas Arboretum- Pumpkin Day

For our October pumpkin outing we chose to visit the Dallas Arboretum for the first time. We had heard about their pumpkin village and decided to check it out. The girls had fun running through the pumpkin houses, the haystack maze, sitting in Cinderella's coach and playing with friends. We had a nice picnic lunch and the kids loved exploring. 

What a cutie

,

Running through the haystacks

Grace, Mommy, and Claire

Claire and Hannah

Grace and Hannah

The girls running to be near Luke

Hannah and Grace

Cinderella's coach

Sweet friends

There's Daddy

Jane, Claire, and Grace

Hannah is 2

Hannah woke up ready to party on her birthday. We had a birthday breakfast before heading off to ride the train through trinity park. The girls all got popcorn on the train ride and loved it. Hannah picked out a huge chocolate cupcake for her dessert. 

Hannah still rules this household with her feisty and funny personality. Out of all the my kids Hannah is the one who can make the funniest faces. Her expressions are so exaggerated and when she smiles she has about 4 dimples. She is talking so much more now and I am starting to understand full sentences from her. She loves to sing but loves to dance even more. She can't help but wiggle when she hears a good beat. She loves to be like her big sisters so I often find her drawing pictures, playing games, and doing all the things her big sisters do. The only thing she can't do is climb up on Claire's bunk bed, but I'm sure it will only be a matter of time. I found her the other day on top of Luke's changing table so I know she can climb. She can hold her own with her big sisters and loves playing hide n seek with them. She can even count to ten and and sing her ABCs.  I can't believe my baby Hannah is 2!

Luke at 5 months

I'm a little late in posting these pictures considering Luke is now 6 months but I still wanted to post them. He is such a fun little guy with the craziest baby hair around! Luke loves to stand up in his discovery center, squeal really loudly, suck on his thumb, grab everything he can get his hands on. He had his first ear infection this month but was such a good baby through it all even when he perforated his eardrum. He is such a sweet, fun blessing to us.

Claire's Book Party

This month we celebrated Claire's big reading accomplishment. When she turned 4 back in February I started our first ever reading curriculum with her. It is the Logic of English reading curriculum called Foundations and it was given to us by our sweet Aunt Katie. Aunt Katie has a passion for teaching reading the correct way, the phonetic way so she picked this curriculum as one of her favorites. Claire worked through the Level A starting in February and finished in September (and we took 3 months off while I had Luke). I am so proud of her and just love hearing her sound out words and read. I know we have a long way to go still but what a blessing to begin to open her world to the joy of reading. 

So to celebrate we had some friends over to make bookmarks, do a short presentation on their favorite book(s), eat alphabet cupcakes and popcorn, and play some games. We pinned the breve mark on the vowel and did another little game where they knocked over books (that I made out of old snack boxes). Claire wanted to present 2 books as her favorite, 'There was a coyote who swallowed a flea' and 'The legend of the Teddy Bear'. It was sweet to hear all the little ones talk about their favorite books. We even had a sweet 3 year old get up and present. 

Next up, Claire and I will be starting the Level B Foundations curriculum and adding in our first math curriculum. Jason, our school director, bought me a Rod and Staff 1st grade math curriculum to start with Claire. So this year we are stepping it up with 2 curriculums as Claire works through her Kindergarten year. But for now we are taking a short break and doing a fun art unit before jumping back into full time school. We are still doing fun review sheets to make sure she still gets a good dose of reading, writing, and math. 

Making bookmarks

Book presentations

Claire presenting her book

The treats

Pin the Breve mark on the A

Knocking over the bookshhroifyufignuriv