juniors: archery

Annabelle’s Juniors Troop met at the Empty Quiver for an archery lesson. Annabelle was very apprehensive of this meeting. She wasn’t sure if she would like it and she was nervous about not doing well. I could tell she was uneasy, but she hopped in the car and off we went. 
Much to her surprise, she absolutely LOVED it. She had a blast and took to it quite quickly. The girls shot those arrows for nearly two hours and she said she could have stayed two more! 

Proud of this girl and her willingness to try something new and not let her nerves get the best of her. That is quite easier said than done.

sleepover

The girls are excited for any opportunity they get to hang out with their cousin, Reagan. Since they don’t have school on Monday Reagan was able to sleepover on Sunday. B made tacos and they had ice cream and they stayed up way too late! They have so much fun together its difficult to get them to go to bed. 
I love the bond these three have together. They never squabble about anyone being left out, which can happen with an odd number. They usually agree on what to play and if they don’t they easily work it out. They are silly and kind and I adore them. 
Cheers! 
Aunt Jen sent a bottle of sparkling apple cider along with Reagan and the girls were toasting the night away. 

fundraiser, movie, and mortons

I have been feeling a bit under the weather this week which is no fun at all. Luckily everyone else is healthy as can be so we’re keeping up with all the happenings around here. 
Tuesday we had dinner at Chipolte to support the girls’ dancing school. Chipolte may be one of B’s favorite places on earth so looks like this was a win all around. 

Wednesday we played hooky from our responsibilities and went to see Sing the movie after school. We still had time for homework when we got home, although a bit rushed, but it was nice to surprise these girls after school with something different.

Thursday evening we met my Dad and Melissa downtown for dinner at Morton’s. These ladies sure do clean up nicely. Unfortunately the lighting in Morton’s is so dark none of my pictures turned out from the dinner. It was a great visit with family and we all ate incredibly well.

chemo

Reagan was back in the hospital this weekend for Chemo treatments. We got to see her the last day of her stay so she was quite ready to go home, but doing great. We were able to catch up with Jen while these little ladies played games. 
This is when I told them we had to go home: 
They quit being mad at me for a little bit and let me take a cute picture of them:

I love how close these girls are and how much they beg to see each other. No matter how long we stay it’s never long enough.

merry christmas morning

Merry, Merry Christmas! 
We were greeted by a very eager Gwyneth at 4;30 a.m. asking if we could please get up at 5 am to open gifts. We had originally requested to not open gifts before 6 am, but that hour was just so darn painful for her. B sent the girls back to bed and at 6:05 we were greeted again and so it was off to open gifts! (Annabelle fell back to asleep, but Gwyneth just laid there counting down the minutes!)
Santa was here! He left lots of fun goodies in their stockings. 
…And lots of gifts under the tree. He gathers gifts from all over to bring them – from Godparents, Grandparents, Friends and Family. Of course he brings a few special treats from the North Pole too. 
Annabelle is emoji crazy!
Seriously crazy. I don’t get this emoji poop craze…especially the rainbow poop. 
It sure does make her happy though and these reactions make my day. 
Dance outfits, sleep masks, emoji socks, oh my!
The girls have been begging for robes for ages. Santa delivered!
Poppy and Melissa sent new American Girl dolls. The new tally of dolls in this house is slightly embarrassing, but they are the most adored and played with dolls and you can see the girls were quite thrilled. 
Poppy and Melissa also sent each of the girls an Osmo kit to use with their iPads. I didn’t really know much about them and they took a few seconds to get set up and for us to download all the apps. Once the girls were set up, these Osmo games became the true hit of the day. They can create their own art masterpieces, run their own pizza store, and play word games. They absolutely LOVE them! 
I’m not a huge fan of iPads, but these are pretty great gadgets. I think they just got tricked right into learning too.
Playing with my new camera gadgets. The ‘picture clicker’ is an awesome gift and we are definitely getting our use out it. We seem to be doing much better with this than with the auto timer or a selfie. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. And I’m loving all the family pictures we can capture. 
Self portraits:
We packed up and headed to Chicago tonight. Thank goodness for good weather and timely flights and easy travelers. We arrived in Chicago at 11 pm and my mom still came to the hotel to see us. The girls were so excited to see their YaYa and she made their day. 

sleepover with reagan

We had special sleepover guest this holiday break – Reagan! The girls and I went down to pick her up and we stopped at the American Girl Doll Store. They had all received money for Christmas from their Grandfather so I gave them each a budget and they were able to pick out their own Christmas gift. 
We went home, had pizza, the girls climbed in their pjs and then it appeared an American Girl Doll store exploded in our living room. They had a grand time playing with their cousin. They absolutely loved having her at our house and I hope we can make it happen again very soon for them! 

symphony

Today was a day of maintenance. The girls had doctor’s appointments and hair cuts and all that not so fun stuff that has to get done over break. 
They brought along the bears to their doctor’s appointment in case they needed shots. Thankfully they didn’t. Both are healthy and growing quickly. 
Haircut time. Gwyneth giving me sass and said she was going to get 6 inches cut off. I love her long hair and knew she wouldn’t actually go through with it…but someday I think she’ll get up the nerve…
That evening I had a special surprise planned for the girls. We went for dinner at Pizza Republica…
…and then went to the Symphony. The evening was called “Frosty and Frozen”. It was a sing along of popular Christmas tunes and songs from cold winter movies including The Grinch, Polar Express, and of course, Frozen. 
I snagged $10 tickets and we landed ourselves in the 2nd row! What a steal! Annabelle was really excited because she had a great view of the trumpets. 
I had tried taking them when they were much younger and they got a little bored. This time around was a very different story. We all absolutely loved it. It was such a special night for us and I can’t wait to take them back again. 

build a bear and gingerbread houses

We have another favorite tradition of visiting the Build A Bear Store on Christmas Eve. Well, we are nothing if not flexible around here. I received a coupon for 50% off but it expired on the 19th. We quickly changed our plans to take advantage of the deal and off we went to the store. 
I thought I could talk them in to these Grinches, but it was not to be. 
They decided on matching pink teddy bears

Love these girls together and our traditions. I asked them how old they would be when they grew out of this one and they said “never. never ever”.  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see but we sure do have our fun together.

We were invited to a gingerbread house party at a friend’s house this evening. We gathered up our supplies and headed over. Gwyneth ran around with her friends for a while, but Annabelle wanted to get right to work. She did a great job building a gingerbread tree, but we didn’t give it enough time to settle before decorating. It crumbled as she started adding the candy. She was a really good sport and had a good laugh over the mess!

Gwyneth made a train which she let us help her finish after Annabelle’s tree crumbled . It turned out great and we had fun decorating this sucker together. Notice our family initials on the wheels? That was Gwyneth’s extra special touch.

Gwyneth and her buddy Ruby. 
Ruby’s mom set out super photo booth props and we got a little silly snapping photos. 

holiday parties and botanic garden lights

The last day of school before winter break…and it’s all about the parties!
Lots of celebrating going on in both the girls’ classrooms. The kids were full of happiness, joy and a bit of madness with the anticipation of a long winters break. 
Gwynethy’s party theme was The Grinch and the parents really went all out on these festivities!
This game is one of my favorites and always gets such laughs. 
The theme of Annabelle’s class party was…
well, Christmas and Tweens and Candy I guess, if I had to name a few. 
The played lots of games and you can see they were very enthusiastic and excited
I’ve said it before, this group is fiercely competitive and even at parties there always seems to be someone with hurt feelings. It makes me a bit sad, but I try to focus on my little bundle of joy and make sure she’s always being a good sport….at least we’re trying anyway! 
The silly face pictures are always my favorites. 
After filling the girls with cookies and candies and treats galore, we decided to head downtown to Botanic Gardens for the Lights of Bloom. You really gotta love this family of mine. They sure do go along with some of my wackiest plans. 
I had it in my head we were going and then I checked the weather report. The temps were forecasted in the single digits and there was also a slight chance of snow. I wouldn’t let that deter me. I wanted to take them to see the Lights and I didn’t care about a silly ol’ weather forecast. We  were going to make some jolly holiday memories, damn it! 
We got there and it was COLD! Not a little cold. It was no joke cold! We all bundled up, walked around and enjoyed those beautiful lights and had a grand time. We made record time through the exhibits and our noses and feet were all frozen. 
At one point Annabelle looked pretty miserable and I asked her “What do you think of the lights?”. She simply stared at me and B responded “She’ll see it later honey. Her eyes are frozen.” You gotta love a well-timed Christmas Vacation reference. 
B and I joked on the drive home about these type of adventures. We dread going, we are miserable during, but we create great memories and can’t wait to do it all over again next year! Ha! 
Gwyneth’s friend Ruby joined us for this frigid adventure
Annabelle is turning into quite the little photographer.