Disneyland

 

We took a fabulous family vacation to California.  We left for 8 days.  We spent 4 entire days at Disneyland!  Our kids absolutely enjoyed every minute at Disneyland!!

 

 

 

This was everyone's first time at California Adventure.  Luke and Clara weren't quite tall enough to ride all the rides, but that didn't stop any of the fun.  Ellie had a blast.  She loved the rides too.

 

 

 

 

We were lucky enough to have Uncle Sterling and Aunt Juell join us for 2 of the days.  Luke and Clara loved riding the rides with Sterling and Juell.  

 

 

The most magical part for Ellie was all the characters.  She squealed with delight whenever we saw any characters.  Luke and Clara loved all the shooting rides the best. We were lucky to enjoy very minimal crowds.  The weather was sunny and only slightly chilly.

 

 

It was a perfect vacation! 

Christmas concerts

 

Luke has his Christmas violin concert.  He doesn't like performing in front of people.  He is a bit more shy, and is scared of not performing well.  Playing the violin is not easy.  Minutes before it was time to leave for his recital he was determined not to leave the house.  He invited his first grade teacher to come watch.  She came!!!  When it was Luke's turn to perform, he got up to perform, and performed better than he had ever practice.  We were so proud of him.  Not only was he the youngest child in the recital, he was the only boy.  We couldn't be any more proud of this cute little guy.  I just love the focused look on his face.  He is talented in so many ways.

 

 

Clara LOVES to perform.  She loves to be on stage.  She joined a show choir which has been absolutely perfect for her.  She sings and dances and gets to have solos.  She smiles and is on point through the whole performance.  Her smile is as big as the moon.  She's simply adorable.  You can't help but smile through her whole performance watching her because she truly is the shining star!

 

Happy 7th!

 

For Luke's 7th birthday we decided to celebrate family style by taking the weekend and doing several family activities.  We spent a day at the zoo.  We spent a morning at the local pool.  We spent an afternoon at the nickle arcade and then we went to McDonald's for dinner.  All the activities are exactly what Luke wanted to do!  Luke is such a fun kid!   

An ER visit

 

Our little Ellie gave us quite a scare!  She decided to stand on a chair on take a header directly into the corner of the table splitting her forehead completely open down to the bone.  We rushed her to the ER.  She was quite a feisty patient and had to get stitches.  We spent our whole afternoon in the ER!  This little stinker all fixed up is not slowing down anytime soon! 

Family Pics Fall 2016

my girls

I took my beautiful girls in for birthday photo shoots.  Here they are.  1 year old and 5 years old.  Both beautifully unique!

Back to school

 

Little Miss Clara finally got her turn to start Kindergarten this year.  She is so excited to have her own turn to go to school.  Sometimes she lives so much in Luke's shadow, doing her own things feels like she's waited forever.  Thankfully, she got put in the same classroom as her friends, especially this cutie across the street Swaizey.  They have the same teacher Luke had last year, Mrs. Ellsworth and she's a fantastic teacher.

 

 

The hardest part about back to school was Luke going to first grade.  All of a sudden he's super big, and going to school all day long!  Luke loves it and has a fantastic teacher.  His very best friend Charlie is in his class.  He's going to have a great year!

 

 

Our kids are lucky and they get to go to an amazing elementary school with amazing staff and awesome friends.  Thankfully it's right down the street.  I'm happy my kids love school, but Ellie sure misses them while they are gone!