zoolight safari

We had fun!

{sponsor}

joining the Gingerbread Village... hmmm.

 maybe not a bad idea.

a passerby offered to take our photo. 

Corban was asleep in the stroller...

getting ready to ride the train

 this child... {smiles}

me & my girls!

my lil' angels...

 dressed up for singing in the Cantata

 Anya & Mikalah were angels in a Manger Scene 

[Anya was asked to be Mary but declined.]

 TADA!

and now,

some CORBAN love!

 I just {melt}

 he is the sweetest sleeper!

and he LOVES his BIGgest sister

and she loves holding him when she comes home from school!

sittin' strong!

Christmas preparation {wrapping paper}

We made our own wrapping paper this year!

 brown packaging paper from the Dollar Tree 

 Christmas foam stamps from the same store 

[3 packs=6 stamps {ink included}]

each girl did a section and as it was finished

we just rolled it back up on the other side

 a few designs...

 it was lots of fun

I think we'll do it again next year!

sweet baby Jesus

Kyria's choir class

12.4.11

Well. Happy New Year!

Christmas Chapel

 2010 - Kyria was a star for her class poem/song 

and the choir leader liked it so much she asked her to wear it 

while the elementary choir sang 'Behold the Star'

Kyria's Christmas Recital

 She played 'Away in A Manger' and 'We Three Kings'

I hope to have the video ready to upload sometime next week.

Kyria with her new scarf from Grandma
(and snow on her lip or something)

Anya

Mikalah

It actually snowed on Christmas day here in the south. We had a wonderful Christmas and spent some special time with our girls though hubby and I were both quite ill the whole week of Christmas and are still recovering into the new year. We did share some special news as a Christmas surprise:

Baby Piatt
due June 2011

a fun MESS!

the icing came out a bit runny... next time I will know better what consistency is needed.

gingerbread house

This being the first time EVER that we have made one, I think they did a great job :)

Anya's side... not finished, but as you can see, it was dripping :)

and HERE is the MAIN reason for doing this -

HAPPY GIRLS!! playing TOGETHER!!!

the front - hmmm....

there WAS a door and...

there WAS a corner window...

this is Kyria's side.. and all that purple WAS a window...

BUT... it was fun, and colorful... and occupied them for a while in which I cleaned up the rest of the kitchen! YEAH :) No one liked any of the candies (I know, I have strange kids) except Mikalah - whose middle name seems to be SUGAR, GIVE ME SUGAR!!! So, some of it was eaten... :)

and all this AFTER...

homemade PIZZA on the couch! :D FUN NIGHT...

"late" with some...

pictures from Christmas...

WOW... I'm a bit behind the action here!! so much going on... The girls had a great Christmas - John and I did too!! :D He had almost a full 2 weeks of vacation - YEAH.... we relaxed and had fun. As you can see - Mikalah keeps us laughing :) --she's the one hanging upside down!! We have fought some sniffles, but PRAISE THE LORD, we have not been very ill so far this winter. God sends us so many blessings! Kyria has new school shoes - nice ones - from the thrift store!! barely any wear on them!! Anya was given a nice church coat; thus Mikalah now has Anya's old coat. I have been commissioned to make several sewing pieces - clothing and purses - And I am loving it!! I have made as well as fixed several items for Kyria for school - which she is LOVIN', by the way. She is reading and is SOO excited. She tries to sound out every word she sees... but, of course, not all words fit into the rules she has learned so far... so it can be interesting :D... The girls received several nice toys for Christmas - so they have been busy making even MORE messes :D

well, I must run for now... but there are some other pictures (we made a gingerbread house - well, the icing was runny and the girls did all the decorating!! so... it's pretty FUN!!) I must share SOON!!

Jingle Bells...

Christmas Recital

lobby of the Winfrey Hotel,

Birmingham, AL

Friday, December 18, 6:00 pm...

waiting her turn...

pretty dress from Grandma!!

Kyria playing "Jingle Bells" with her teacher

with friends after the performance

fellow performer and "bestest friend"

We are so very proud of our girl! She had so much fun and her "bestest friend" played the violin with her mom accompanying on the piano (and her mom happens to be Kyria's teacher) :D We are excited about her learning to play the piano and having such an interest in music. She will be advancing to the next books soon after Christmas break (new books are Christmas presents) :D

I will likely not be posting much until after the new year as we are busy and John is off... FAMILY TIME! YEAH!! But I am sure there will be much to report!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

May Jesus Christ be the center

of your lives this season

and all the year long!

CHRISTMAS IS HERE!!!

Kyria's class party... I got very few pictures -just come unexpected complications....

Kyria in her desk with her gift

Mikalah with a full mouth---

Anya's pretty happy about her bag of candy :)

"nope, Mom - we didn't do it!!!"

"what Christmas means to us" by k-4/5

K4-3rd grade choir - I was a little late getting started :)

Finally, some more... for the Grandparents

As you can see...

I got a new crockpot :)

It's the kind that has a locking lid.

John liked this movie LOTS more than I did :) 

Kyria thought it was pretty neat though - 

a mouse COOKING - she loves to cook!

a few fun learning books - 

she is having a blast with them

Hi-Ho Cheeryo!

This game is a LOT of fun :)

ABC cards...

that have "hologram" pictures on them

that's FUN!

my pretty girl...

being silly...

the girls each got new 

"princess"

"spinning" outfits

Here is a little blurp of them right after all the presents were opened.

please excuse all the mess :

I thought that John had gotten more pictures with his camera - we were both taking pictures...

Anyway, it was a memorable day. We opened gifts on Christmas Eve, and spent Christmas Day with some good friends from church. They have 2 little boys that the girls love to play with... It was a great time of fellowship, and it was very nice to just all be together for a while.

I get spoiled when John is home for even a day (I get spoiled every Saturday!). 

Thanks for stopping by...

Looking forward to church tomorrow...