Impromptu Photo Shoot

The other day we finally had one of those rare sunny nice spring days and I decided to take the camera in the backyard and make the girls pose for me before "releasing" them to play.  They like the "make a silly face" shots too much at this point, sometimes, that's all I get; but this time, I got some nice ones thrown in, too.

All smiles.  Ironically, this is one of the first pictures I took, I could've quit right then and would've been happy with the results.

You can almost hear their giggles

And then I got them to pose again

It's hard to get Annelee to not have her head all the way to the side in a silly pose at the moment.  I'm pretty sure Vivian went through that phase as well.  This one's pretty good though.

I like that you can still see those gaps where she lost the baby teeth

Girl Scout & UU

Vivian and a few of her friends at church earned their "My promise, my faith" pin today which links the UU principles with the the girl scout promise.  They met three times to work through different tasks, cumulating in the artwork they are holding up here, and a presentation of the new pins during the service.  The background of the art is made up from quotes from famous Unitarian women.  Vivian had a lot of fun and learned quite a few things in the process, too.

Proudly posing with their artwork!

Preschool Holiday Party

We attended our last preschool holiday party this month.  As in previous years (Here is 2012, I don't think we were able to make it last year), Santa brought Mrs Claus with him to talk to the children and then the kids sang some songs.  It was the usual fun chaos!  Annelee was super excited about the singing, practicing incessantly at home beforehand.  The girl on her left in the video is her best friend Kelcie, by the way.

Merry Christmas & a wonderful 2015!

With Santa and Mrs Claus

Waiting to go up and sing

Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer. Click here if you can't see the video below.

Gingerbread Houses 2014

Every year, there is an activity to build gingerbread houses in the advent calendar.  This year was no exception.  Just like all the other years, Rowan came over to build one, too.  This year, Annelee was my helper when I pre-assembled and "glued" the houses while Rowan and Vivian were at school.  She also opened up all the candy packages and put them on plates, ready to go.  The houses were decorated pretty much without my help (I did help Annelee with the icing a bit, but that was minimal).  What a change from previous years (here's the first time in 2010).  Apparently, I have been taking pictures, but not posting them in previous years (shocking, I know), so I'm adding the other ones to this post as well.

2014

2013

2012 - color-coordinated in purple

2011 - click for full post

Seven!

So, the blog hasn't quite been revived (but I also haven't given up on it yet), but at least the birthday posts have to continue.

Vivian is seven today!

She's loving school.  She's reading independently, learning Spanish, enjoying music.  Vivian has a bunch of friends at school that she plays with.  She and I started flute lessons together, which is a lot of fun. And she is still very much into drawing, doodling, coloring, writing.  No piece of paper is safe from her.  At least these days, she asks "Mommy, can I write on that?" before she uses it!

Rowan is still her best friend ever, and their play and games are still all about their imagination.  These days, it all revolves around animals instead of princesses, but that's really the only change.

I can't wait to see what next year brings.

Happy birthday, my big girl!

As usual, below is the year in pictures.  Previous years can be found by clicking on the links:  2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008.

December 2013

January 2014

February 2014

March 2014

April 2014

May 2014

June 2014

July 2014

August 2014

September 2014

October 2014

November 2014

Annelee is Four!!!!

There is no better reason to resurrect a severely neglected blog than a birthday.  I'm hoping this will bring me back into the groove.  Because time does indeed fly.  I mean, how can Annelee be 4!  I still remember this day 4 years ago where I texted Katie about the playdate that we had planned and said "Yes, I'm still coming.  There's no way I'm having a baby today."  Famous last words ...  shortly before 11pm that evening, Annelee had arrived.

The strong-headed temper tantrums Annelee has had for part of this year have (hopefully) stopped.  She's grown so much more verbal and expressive and funny, she's a joy to be around.  I went out to breakfast with her this morning, just the two of us, and we both had a great time.  I can't wait to see what 4 will bring.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

Here are the previous posts:   3, 2, 1

August 2013

September 2013

October 2013

November 2013

December 2013

January 2014

February 2014

March 2014

April 2014

May 2014

June 2014

July 2014

A visit from Clifford

Clifford the big red dog has long been a favorite character in our house.  So, imagine Vivian's delight when she finally got to bring home the Clifford-bag from school.  The assignment was to do some activities with Clifford and then add photos and a story to Clifford's travel book.  Double bonus for me, because I got to help Vivian with her homework and got photos for another blog post at the same time.  So, here are Vivian and Clifford in action.  They had a fun weekend!

Playing with playmobil

Reading a story to Annelee and Clifford

Flying high!

Dinner

Planting veggies at church

Playing with Rowan

Cuddling with Annelee

Stylin', waiting for the dentist