Molly's Dance Outfit

Last Monday afternoon I asked Molly to go upstairs and get ready for dance class. She came downstairs looking like this:

It might be kind of hard to see, but she just has on her panties and tights with her shirt. She doesn't have a leotard, shorts, or a skirt on over her tights like she should have on. It was so hard not to laugh at this! She was absolutely devastated when I told her she needed to go change and put on a leotard, skirt, or something to cover her tights. She saw Lucy in her leotard and pink shorts and wanted to match her, so thought this would work. Poor little thing!

Molly reluctantly picked out a skirt and this is how she ended up going to dance class that day: :)

Kansas City Christmas

We went to Kansas City the weekend before Christmas to celebrate with the Wisemans. We went up there on Friday, the 20th, which is Wanda's birthday, so got to have a birthday celebration with her, too. We had a fun time visiting and the girls and Wanda did their annual tradition of putting together a gingerbread house. They have been doing this for maybe four years now, and the girls really look forward to it. Wanda usually ends up doing probably about 90% of the work on the house each year, but I don't think she minds. :)  This gingerbread house was extra special this year because it came from Germany! Larry and Wanda bought it while on their trip to Germany over Thanksgiving.

Friday night we went shopping for some new tennis shoes for Lucy and had a yummy dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Matt, Jennifer, Tucker, and Haddie came over later that night to visit a little. It was nice to spend time with them and the girls all really seem to love playing together.

Saturday we took a trip to Sheel's to ride the ferris wheel (which we seem to do every year and everyone loves it) and had lunch at a sandwich shop there in the store. It was a great weather day so we decided to go to the zoo that afternoon! It was a perfect day for it, as it wasn't too cold and there was hardly anyone at the zoo! We had fun watching a seal show and then taking a train ride. All in all it was a great Kansas City Christmas.

New Year's Eve

Each New Year's Eve I take a picture of the girls sleeping and post it on Facebook saying "Goodnight and goodbye <> and say what all we've done that year. I also say what we're looking forward to in the new year. I love this tradition and have been doing it ever since Lucy was only 8 months old in 2013. I love having them pop up in my TimeHope app every year on December 31. It's fun to look back on the years.  

MLK Day

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, so Lucy was out of school for the holiday. Both girls had to go to the gym with me and then after that we stopped into Krispy Kreme to get some donuts. (Their hot light was on, so we had to ;) ).

Over the weekend Lucy told us what she learned about MLK day at school so we talked with her and Molly about it and tried explaining it a little more. We told her about the black and white divide in our country, the Civil Rights movement, and how MLK worked to change the culture. We told them that it doesn't matter what color of skin people have, everyone is equal and should be treated the same. It was interesting because she talked about people with black skin and people with white skin. I've never before heard her talk about black skin. Whenever she's described someone she's always said "the one with dark skin" or something like that, but never black. I have really liked the idea that both girls haven't used the term black, but rather dark skinned for people who have a different color of skin than them. I've been careful to try and not say the "black person" or whatever when talking about someone with a darker skin color. I don't know why, but I just really like that they don't see people as black or white...they just see people as people, which is how I think it should be.

The funny thing to me when having this MLK Day conversation with the girls is that I totally felt like we were in the middle of a 1990s sit-com when they had their MLK Day/black vs white episodee; almost like a public service announcement episode that those shows often had. I was half expecting violins to start playing in the background or something. It was just funny to me. :)

Lucy's Report Card

Lucy is doing a great job in school. She just received her second quarter report card and she got all 3s, which equals to all As. She is doing great on her reading, too. Per the tests she takes, she's reading at about a second grade reading level. It's fun (and a little weird getting used to) her reading her books to us! We're so proud of Lucy and her accomplishments so far in school. She's good grade-wise and also behavior-wise.

Family Picture

My sister's birthday was January 4, so we went to their house to celebrate with her. We also finally got to exchange Christmas gifts with them. We took some pictures while there and I think they turned out pretty good!

Retired!

This post is a little late....like one year late! On January 2, 2019, my dad sold his pharmacy and retired! I met him and my mom in the morning after their closing appointment and surprised them with a sign and cinnamon rolls. You can watch it here!

He owned the pharmacy in Ash Grove for 36 1/2 years, a few years ago decided it was time to retire. He sold the phartmacy and retired, but continued (and still does today) working at the pharmacy when needed. We had a retirement party for them last March and Stephanie and I put it all together. We had a fun time working on it and I think it was a very nice party.