Thanksgiving Weekend

We enjoyed having Maddie here more this week! It kinda snowed on Wednesday, so we celebrated with hot cocoa and peppermint marshmallows and played Uno!

Sparky came home with Maddie this week from AWANA. He even spent Thanksgiving with us!

He was added to the bedtime lovie collection!

 

We had a great time at the Drums house for Thanksgiving. Geneva couldn't get over Dara's hair!!

  On Friday we went to Reston Town Center Parade with the Seats. 

We had a great time!

 Our family decorated for Christmas on Saturday. The girls helped me make biscuits using Christmas cookie cutters. 

Savannah's PJ Party!

Savannah loves being cozy in her PJ's, along with eating pumpkin pancakes and bacon! 

So, we decided to celebrate with friends doing just that!

 Good morning sunshine!

   There girls were so cute in their jammies making fruit loop necklaces.

 Miss Penny was a hit in her Olaf PJ pants and snowball slippers!

 Jesse and Auntie L were the pancake chefs.

 Yum...pumpkin pancakes, whip cream, strawberries, and bacon!

 Sweet faces!

 During the party Savannah whispered to me, "Mom, this is the best party ever." So cute!

 After breakfast we played pancake on a spatula relay race. Pancakes were flying around the house!!

 Then we had a cozy story time. 

The Napping House and If You Give a Pig a Pancake were the books we chose!

 Next we played the sleeping still game. Nice and quiet until....

 tackle time!!

 Savannah loved all her gifts. Later she asked me how did everyone know what I wanted?!

 This cookie cake is amazing. Penny made a little girl in PJ's holding a blankie.

 There were also short stack pancake cookie for dessert.

Family pic, minus the napping Geneva.

Party favors...

Thanks Auntie L for taking all the pictures!

After the party we went for a bike ride (thanks Papa and Mimi) and had pizza for dinner. 

We had a wonderful day celebrating Savannah's life. She was so thankful and a joy to be with. 

Happy Birthday Savannah Grace!

 She's four. I can't believe it! 

Sweet Savannah loves dressing up like a princess, having PJ parties, playing pretend with small princesses, ballet, listening to stories, and learning. She's doing great practicing her letters and numbers. She's a great little sister and super helpful big sister. I pretty much love everything about this snugly girl. She brings sunshine in my life every day!

 Happy Birthday Savannah!

Maddie at School

It's so fun watching Maddie learn to read, write, do math, make friends, and enjoy her classes and teachers. I've been able to go in and help during Language Arts centers on Friday mornings. It's strange to be on this side of things- I'm the MOM! What? It's crazy how fast your job changes in life. People ask me if I miss teaching. It's a hard question to answer- I'm completely happy at home with my girls teaching them every day all day. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I feel blessed to be a stay at home mom. It's definitely a full time job, much harder and more rewarding than teaching at a school. On the other hand, being in the classroom brings back sweet memories from being a 2nd grade teacher. I have to say, God's timing is perfect. For those years teaching, I was blessed, and now being a mom, I feel even more privileged!!

 This week Maddie's after school art class had an art show. Her owl piece was framed!! 

(Maddie's picture is the one on top).

 First grade also had their Thanksgiving Feast this week. Maddie's class were the Pilgrims. 

 Her favorite part was the salty crackers :)

 The Indians made a toy gift for the Pilgrims. 

Maddie made this doll for her Indian friend.

Love her.

 The kids recited a poem and enjoyed a meal together. What a cute class!

She's Walking

Cuteness

We've been home a lot lately. Sweet Savannah has had pneumonia for about a week. We're working on getting her better! Geneva has been sick, too. 

 Geneva has entered the princess world. Watch out. She rocks it.

 Thanks Aunt Dottie for the new shirts! All the girls are acting out the animal from the front.

 Playing school with the big girls. Geneva is a rebel- already facing the back of the class :)

 So fun! They play school on Maddie's day off!!

 While the little girls napped, Maddie and I scrap booked her school years so far. We had a great time together! I love that her favorite part of preschool was staying home with Mom! Love having her here. Thanks Aunt Jen for the book!

 My little napper.

She sleeps so hard!

Happy Fall!

 Love these cuties!

(2 Rainbow Dashes, 1 ladybug)

 Our cul de sac is such a fun place! We had hot dogs around the fire pit before trick or treating.

 Costumes!

 Savannah loves helping her little sister eat- little pieces of rice cakes for Neva on the chair :)

Here are the 3 amigas in the crib!

 I was able to be a driver on the field trip Maddie's class took to Nall's Produce las week. 

Frozen

We had a pretty special girls outing recently. The three of us went to see Frozen on Ice. 

It was AMAZING :)

The girls were so excited, they wore silver and white with tiaras! 

My little princesses.

 We were pretty excited for the show to start!

 The music, costumes, and ice skating were great. The girls loved it. 

Thanks Papa for babysitting Geneva!

Papa's Visit!

As always, we enjoyed having my dad here for a weeks visit. My mom was unable to come because she was teaching at a women's retreat. 

We enjoyed several walks to Green Springs. I love watching the flowers change with the seasons here. 

Mimi sent this adorable hat with Papa. Thanks for the new winter hats!

Sweet little buddies. Savannah wouldn't leave Papa's side all week!

Papa read LOTS of books. 

One beautiful evening we went to National Harbor and watched the sunset. 

 

Papa treated us to ice cream!

There happened to be fireworks that night- everyone liked it except Geneva- she cried!  

More stories. It was really helpful to have my dad here while Jesse went away this week. 

He helped put them to bed, pick up Maddie from school, and do the dishes!

 While Maddie was at school, we went on another walk.

  Silliness. Love them.

 Aw.

 Poor Papa! The girls "styled" his hair!

 

Movie night! Yes, Geneva is a blur- that girl doesn't sit still for a second!

 There's my dad working in the back yard. I love having him here.

Everyone helping with preschool.

What?! A special run to Target and Donuts. 

We love you Papa and miss you a ton!

(Wish we could have seen you, too, Mimi!)