Tree Decorating 2015

 Having picked up our tree yesterday the girls were very anxious to decorate it today!  I made chocolate chip cookies with crushed candy cane for a tree-decorating treat.

 Decorating with these two can be a little wild.  I had to call in reinforcements.

 At the end of the day the girls got their new ornaments, slippers and Christmas-themed PJs (I like giving them to them when they decorate the tree so they can wear them all December :)

Christmas Tree Hunt 2015

 Last year we skipped getting a Christmas tree since we were traveling over the holidays - so this year we went ALL OUT.  Meaning we actually visited a farm, took a tractor ride out and hiked to find the 'perfect' tree.  The girls loved the adventure.  (The pic above is Heidi's 'Cheese!' face)

 Heidi wanted a 'little' tree.  As there was a 5 foot minimum charge her idea did not fly.

 Allison got to help Mark chop our tree down....by trying to push it over.

 Heidi's excitement over watching the tree fall.

 Someone got a little muddy!

 I love the trailers - they were all decked out for Christmas (and had old bus seats - quite a bit more comfortable than hay bales!),

 Cookies & Cocoa while we waited for our tree to get shaken and cleaned up (gotta make sure there are no mice living in it!! :)

And the Heidi-bug w/ her awesome hat hair helped me make applesauce while Mark set-up the tree!

Christmas Dresses 2015

 Jodi & I took advantage of the weather, a perfect backdrop and no-agenda day to get pictures of the the girls in their Christmas dresses.  It was a bit chilly without their jackets on but the girls were all good sports.  

 Allison & Heidi ran laps in the grass to stay warm while they waited for Bekah.

 These three.  Love them.  Especially when the are all dressed up!

 Realized at the last minute that I forgot to get individual pics of my girls....we'll have to dress up again since these turned out a bit blurry! :)

Thanksgiving 2015

 Thanksgiving this year has been fabulous.  Allison hasn't had school all week and I've taken several days off, too.  Which means lots of craft time, sewing time & piano practice (Christmas music!).  The girls made the turkey kits Grammie sent on Tuesday night.

 We started our actual Thanksgiving with our annual tradition of running in the Little Gobblers Turkey Trot race.  This year Heidi was old enough to race, too.  She was excited!  And very bundled up!

 We saw the Hoffmans at the race, too!

 We actually stuck around this year - the girls had to go in to collect their participant medals (with prizes) and then they entered their bib #s in a drawing.....Heidi was the 2nd number called....and she walked out with a tray of brownies & pumpkin cream cheese bars from Great Harvest....there was no way she was going to grab bread when that was there!  Allison's number was called much later and she ended up with a loaf of cinnamon chip bread!

 The girls all had Thanksgiving crafts from school around things they are thankful for.  I needed to record them!  For Allison it was - Family, Friends, Toilet, Food & Church.  She specifically would point out she needed to be thankful for toilets because 'hundreds of people in the world' don't have them.

 Heidi was thankful for 'My Allison.'  Warms my heart!

 And Bekah wrote an essay.  Thankful for Family, Friends & Jesus.

 We had dinner with the Wagner family.  These three have so much fun playing together!

And the whole crew!  (I'm thankful Mark is patient enough to teach me and reteach me how to use the self-timer on my camera! :)).