Morning Carline Fun!

We have to wait in a carline each morning before the girls can go into school. The bell to let the kids into school rings at 8:30 and the girls like to be there right at 8:30, so we usually get to school about 8:20-8:25 and wait in the carline. While driving they both sit in the way back of the van, but while waiting in the carline they come up to the middle or front seat to wait. Molly loves to stick her head out the window and play. One day this week she discovered the rearview mirror on my door and had fun smiling at me in it from the back seat. :) 

Snowman And Spray Paint

It snowed a few weekends ago and although we didn't get a lot of snow, we did get just enough to make a snowman. It was actually really good "snowman" snow, making it easy to make our snowman. When it came time to put a face on it, I had the brilliant idea to use spray paint for the face. We had some leftover green spray paint, so we used that to make the face and also added some hair. Both girls, of course, wanted a turn at spraying the paint on the snowman. Lucy did it pretty well, but Molly needed help. It was hard for her to press down on the nozzle to get the paint to come out. Molly did get some paint on the snowman, but unfortunately, she also got some paint on her coat! I was not paying attention to her and all of a sudden she comes over to me crying because she had sprayed herself! She said she couldn't figure out which way to point the can when spraying, so she sprayed anyway and it was pointed right at her! 

She had green spray paint on her left sleeve cuff and a very light "dusting" of spray paint on the front of her coat. I immediately took the coat in and used Dawn dish soap, Oxyclean, laundry detergent, and paint thinner to try and get the paint out. I didn't come out completely, but did get enough out to where it doesn't look too bad now. Lesson learned! (And by the way, I'm so glad I'M the one who had to learn that lesson instead of the other adult in our house. I probably wouldn't have been very happy with the other adult for letting that happen!) 

Report Cards

The girls came home with their second quarter report cards a few weeks ago. We are so proud of their reports and for how well they are doing in school. In grades K-2, the grading system goes off of a scale of 1-3. 1 being needs work, 2 being working on it, and 3 being mastered the particular skill. They both scored all 2s and 3s and overall have a great report! 

TWO MVPs!

Our school has a word that they focus on each month such as respectful, depedable, integrity, etc. Two students from each class who best represent that word are chosen at the end of the month to be MVPs. Lucy received the MVP award in kindergarten for the word kind and in first grade for the word responsible. And in December BOTH of my girls were chosen as MVPs for their class for the word integrity. I was so proud of them and thought it so neat that both girls got it for the same word!

Christmas Server

We had a nice dinner in our dining room on Christmas Eve and we had an even nicer server that night! Molly dressed up as a server, complete with meal ticket and all, and took everyone's order and also served us our food. She did a great job and had a fun time, too! 

Snow Fun!

 We had a few days of off and on snow flurries the week between Christmas and New Year. One day when it snowed Lucy had a friend over to play, so they went outside and had a fun time playing with each other. We were even able to build a snowman who the girls named Pickles! 

One Saturday it snowed all afternoon and although it didn't really accumulate, we were still able to go outside and have some fun. You can watch that here! Today is a very cold, windy, wintery day with snow flurries flying. I'm afriad, though, this won't accumulate either! I wish we could have one good snow, maybe 4-5inches so we could really play in it! 

Prime Rib!

Ross like to make different kinds of meat, whether on the grill, smoker, or in the oven. He decided to try his hand at making prime rib for our Christmas dinner and I think it turned out great! He did a good job for his first time making it and had a yummy seasoning/rub that he put on the outside of it. Good job, Ross! 

Christmas Eve

We had a very nice Christmas celebration this year! It began on 12/23 when we went to my parents' house to have Christmas with them and my sister's family. We had a nice time together eating dinner and opening presents. I was so proud of the girls for being very thankful for all their gifts!

Ross' parents came down on 12/24 and we had a good time together. Wanda and Molly put together a gingerbread house that afternoon and then we had chili for dinner. After dinner we did our traditional reading of the Christmas story by candlelight and then also sang some Christmas carols around the piano, played by Lucy! She did a great job playing and you can watch her play here! 

This year we decided to drive around and look at Christmas lights after singing together. There's one house that we all really love and it's close by, so we drove over to it and then back home to get ready for bed. The girls put out cookies for Santa and reindeer food on the deck. It was a really nice night!