Gingerbread house

We have been trying to stay busy while waiting for the arrival of Baby Gib.  My parents got a cute gingerbread house for us to decorate.  Gabby loved holding my hands to help me pipe the frosting.  We were happy with the results!  Thanks Mom and Dad!

Halloween

We had such a fun Halloween I just had to share the pictures.  Emmy was a Snow Princess and Gabby was a Fairy Princess.

We started our day with a parade and treat party at Emmy's Kindergarten.  It was neat to see her interact with her friends and teachers.

Below is a photo of Emmy and her cute friend, Sara, from Daybreak Academy.

 Below is a photo of Audrey, Emmy and Ava, all from Daybreak Academy.

 Below is a photo of a few of the PINK neighborhood girls at our Halloween, Chili and Cornbread party.

A BIG day

We left the house right on time, that's how you know it's a special day!  Emmy packed her backpack with her art smock, white crocheted blanket, and lunch box containing a tuna fish sandwich with the "skins" (crust) removed, grapes, BBQ potato chips and Cinderella fruit snacks.  I was prepared with the "Food Allergy Action Plan" from the allergist, her Epi pen and Benadryl.  I was worrying about what necessary items had been forgotten when Emmy spotted a PERFECT flower she had to pick to give to her new teacher, Miss Sarah, on her first day of Kindergarten.

Courageous Emmy showed no apprehension when she hopped out of the mini-van and walked down the sidewalk to her new school all by herself.  It appears we were too slow for such an exciting moment!  She said her favorite thing about Kindergarten is playing with so many new friends.  And she is pretty excited about recess.

Gabby was disappointed when she realized she didn't get to stay at Kindergarten with Emmy.  She tried to be brave.  Normally, everyone knows it when she cries.  This time she started to quietly sniffle with a few tears rolling down her cheeks.

We are so excited that Emmy gets to attend Daybreak Academy!  She gets to attend a full-day of Kindergarten in a small class.  They have specialists who teach visual arts, martial arts, Mandarin Chinese, gymnastics, science, music and public speaking/theatre arts.  I am really pleased that she will get a private 30 minute piano lesson every week.  What a wonderful opportunity for her to learn many new and exciting things!

Expecting...

These two cuties are expecting a little brother or sister in December!  Emmy thinks it's a girl and wants to name her Alice, after "Alice the Camel".  Gabby thinks exactly what Emmy thinks... how she admires her big sissy!  We are all so happy and couldn't be more pleased.

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter.  Saturday morning started the celebration with a neighborhood egg hunt.  The girls love to see their friends.

 Sunday morning we met, bright and early, for breakfast with my family.  Good food, good company.  It doesn't get better :)

 Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Sommers house for an Easter Egg hunt.  They especially loved the bubbles and princess jewelry.  My Grandma always knows how to please my girls!

Classic pictue on the blue couch. 

 Easter dinner at Dave and Cheryl's.  Emmy and Gabby adore Emma, Spencer's girlfriend.  Emmy's imaginary friend is named Emma, as well as a toy horse and a baby doll.  What a compliment, right?

Disneyland!

I can't even express how much we loved Disneyland.  Emmy is still talking about it.  Here are the highlights of our trip:

1. The princesses!

Aren't these the most beautiful princesses you've ever seen!  They were adorable dancing and twirling in front of the castle.  We had lunch at Ariel's Grotto.  As we were eating lunch, a trumpet would sound every 15 minutes and a guy dressed as a page boy would merrily introduce the arrival of a princess.

2. The Tower of Terror!  Our fearless four-year old, Emmy, went on the Tower of Terror, twice.  She loved it and was so excited to be just tall enough to ride.

3. Breakfast at the Story Tellers Cafe!  Such good food and fun; the best way to start a Disneyland day.  Rafiki loved my Mom.  He used his finger to draw a heart on his chest and pointed to her.  The kids loved it!

4. The rides!

5. The Hotel! 

6. Family bonding!  I hope these memories always stand as a reminder of how loved my kiddos are by their entire family.

Huntington Beach

We had the opportunity to visit Huntington Beach and Disneyland in February.  A generous and best-ever Christmas gift from my parents!  It was a titch cool but that didn't stop our eager kiddos (and responsible fathers, Gib and Chad) from swimming in the pool.

I captured an action shot of one of Logan's tricks.  What a fun kid!  He is always the life of the party because he has such a magnetic energy.  Love him so much :)

Our Huntington Beach Hilton hotel sponsored a pre-race/pre-Super Bowl party with lots of carbo-loading pasta for the runners.  The party decorations were the best part.

The next morning our runners raced in the Surf City Half Marathon.

It was a pleasure to have my first chance to see Dani run a race.  Way to go Aunt Dani!  It was fun to share in Trae's excitement as I held him on my shoulders to see his parents cross the finish line.  My Uncle Dave (not pictured) ran, too.  I'm not sure how I missed him in the photo, boo.  I love my family's commitment to running and good health.  It motivated me to begin running, again.  As a Mom and full-time chemist, it's been a challenge to find the time.  But, I've been creative with time management and have been running for the past six weeks.  I would like to say it's been fun, but it hurt like a mother in the beginning.  When it hurts I think of my family and remember when I used to enjoy running.  I will get there soon, hopefully!  

OK... back to Huntington Beach... we rented these great four-wheeled bicycles and paraded the whole family down the boardwalk.

Collecting seashells, building sandcastles and chasing waves on the beach was delightful.

Early the next morning we piled into a shuttle bus and went to Disneyland.  I will post Disneyland pics, shortly...

Christmas in PA

Before we left Utah, I told Gib how much I wanted a white Christmas.  Thankfully, the PA climate did not disappoint!  It snowed and snowed and snowed.  By the time we left PA to travel back to Utah, we had over 2.5 feet of fresh snow on the ground.

We had an amazing Christmas with Gib's family.  The girls were in heaven!  Spending time with family was the best part.  We miss them so much.  Everything feels so quiet without everyone around.

We did our traditional Christmas Eve pajamas.  No surprise, but a fun tradition, nonetheless.

Santa brought Emmy's and Gabby's gifts to Gib's Nan's house.  Nan said the excitement was like she was a kid on Christmas, all over again.

Dave and Cheryl planned a few games to play on Christmas evening.  All the kids had a competition to toss marshmallows into a bucket.  It was Gabby's turn first.  Cheryl gave her a marshmallow and told her to get it in the bucket.  So she grabbed it in her hand, walked to the bucket and dropped it in.  Smart girl, why stand back and throw it when you could just walk to the bucket?

Then the men had a competition that was hilarious.  Each guy was given a pair of pantyhose and they were given a few minutes to stuff balloons into the pantyhose to make reindeer antlers.  The women laughed so hard!

The final game was family trivia.  The questions were entertaining, for example, "What was Cheryl's favorite flavor of snow-cone when she was a child?"  And guess who got the right answer, ME!  It was a really fun and positive way to interact with everyone on Christmas.  There were prizes that were wrapped so we didn't know what they were when we chose them.  One of the popular prizes was a toilet plunger.

A couple of the guys got new guns for Christmas.  They cleaned their guns and anxiously awaited the snow storm to calm so they could go shoot.  On our way home from shooting, Justin's truck got stuck in the middle of no-where and the boys had to shovel it out.  It took hours of work to clear about a quarter of an acre of snow.  Greg said it is all part of the plan of my redneck conversion, like it's a right of passage or something :)  To complete my redneck conversion, I just need to wear my Snuggie to the Curwensville Snappy's and I would fit right in.  Our rental car got stuck in the snow several times so Gib and I are now pros at getting a car out of the snow.

On the weekend and on New Year's Eve, we played Catch Phrase.  I love playing Catch Phrase, it is one of my favorite games.  I love the combination of skill and luck.  We always play teams: men vs. women.  The first time we played the women won 3 games in a row.  We were the champions, but, the men begged for another chance.  Yup, you guessed it, they came back and creamed us.  They also killed us on New Year's Eve.  Gib says it is because the men are the "grand communicators".  I think he has heard my Dad say that a few times, GRRRR.  It drives me crazy that the men won on two different nights.  I am anxiously awaiting our rematch!  Emmy had a ton of sleepovers with her cousins.  She desperately misses them, now that we are home.

Nine year-old Grace organized a couple family talent shows.  Grace, Natalie, Emmy and Gabby danced and sang.

Aunt Kimberly told jokes and recited poems.  Aunt Mel showed us her talent applying Emmy's make-up.  Cheryl acted like a schizophrenic.  Dave had two talents.  The first was a monkey trainer and the second was standing on one leg (haha).  I made faces and Gib acted mute and dumb.  The highlight of the talent show was when Nick and Avery dressed as girls and danced to Beyonce's "Single Ladies".  Freaking hilarious!

Below is a picture that cracks me up, when Avery lost his tata's.

We also had fun proposing talents for those who didn't participate.  It was suggested that Justin's talent was watching movie trailers and eating.  It was suggested that my talent was buoyancy.  Ha ha, figure that out.

We went sightseeing and we got a few beautiful pics at Parker Dam.

We loved being there for Christmas and will never forget our experience.  We can't wait to go back to PA, when the weather is warmer :)  I was hoping for some relief when we returned to Utah but it was 7°F when our plane landed.  Boo.