Sleeping Masks

The girls both have multiple sleeping masks and I'm always surprised and tickled to find them asleep with their masks on! 

Advent Wreath

For the last three years we have been doing a family devotion during the month of December. We've used a book that has a big tree that folds out and you decorate the tree with ornaments. There is a Bible story for each day of the month and an ornament to place on the tree that coincides with the story. The stories begin at creation and lead up to Jesus' birth. It has been a very neat book to go through and we have really enjoyed it. 

This year I decided we needed a change and found a new book to do. This book follows the Advent calendar and has readings for each day of the Advent season. I didn't have an Advent wreath so bought some supplies and made my own. I think it turned out pretty good! I'm excited to start this new book with the girls! 

Starbucks Fail......

Lately, Lucy has been asking to go to Starbucks. She said she either wanted to get a coffee drink or a cake pop there and Molly said she wanted to go, too. I decided to take them to Starbucks last Saturday. I thought it would be fun to get a drink and hang out there drinking it for a bit. 

BAD IDEA! 

Or at least it was a bad idea to go on a Saturday morning! At 10am! <<insert eye roll and face palm emojis here!>> The Starbucks we went to was so busy! I should have thought twice about going into the store when we turned in the parking lot and saw that the drive-thru was backed up all the way to the road! We went in anyway and there were so many people inside just standing around. I quickly realized they were waiting for their orders and we soon became part of that group and ended up waiting 25 minutes for our two drinks! I felt so bad because it wasn't fun for any of us to just wait! I ordered a vanilla latte and we decided to order one vanilla frappachino for Molly. Lucy was going to try it and if she liked it I would get her her own drink. 

After about 10 minutes, we finally got their drink. They both liked it at first, but after a few sips, Molly said she didn't like the coffee taste to it! Lucy finished the drink just as my name was called to pick up my latte, only about 15 minutes later. 

We headed home after getting my drink and I apologized to them for not realizing how busy it would be! If we go back again, we will definitely go at less popular time! 

Molly.......

Last Friday Lucy went to a friend's house for a birthday party sleepover. That meant Molly got to fall asleep in and sleep all night long in our bed! When I went to bed a few hours after she did, I found her like this! It cracked me up because she definitely made herself at home that night! 

Sleeping Surprises

 Molly is so funny! We never know what we'll find when we go in to check on her before we go to bed!

$2.97 Mums!

I wrote about this exact same thing last year and have to write about it again this year! 

In May, I purchased 4 small mums for $2.97 each. I planted four to the left side of my porch and one to the right side of my porch. These mums started off very small and already had flowers on them. You can see how it looked in the picture at the very bottom. 

I watched them slowly grow over the summer and then about two weeks ago they fully bloomed out and look so good! I did this last year and was so impressed as to how well the mums grew! I was hoping for the same this results this year and I got them! The mums from last year did not come back this year - I don't know if that is because I didn't properly cut them back in the fall or if it was just too cold for them last winter. 

I don't really mind if they don't come back again this year because I'm confident I'll have the same results next year with more $2.97 mums! 

1st Quarter Report Cards

We had parent/teacher conferences last week and walked away feeling so proud and thankful for our girls! Both received great reports from their teachers, both on an academic and social/emotional level. 

Now that Lucy is in third grade she is graded on a letter system (A,B,C,D,F) instead of a number system. She received all As and her teacher said she's a good student and a great reader. We are so proud of her!

Molly, first grade, still receives number grades (3, 2, 1, with 3 being like an A) and she all of her marks were 3s. She did received a few 2s, but that is nothing to worry about. Her teacher bragged on her saying she really has nothing negative to say and is so thankful that she can depend on Molly to always be good in class and that she is a great help to her teacher for running errands, etc. 

We are so proud of both girls and are so thankful that they both love going to school! 

Silver Dollar City!

The girls were out of school a few Fridays ago and Ross took the day off so we went to Silver Dollar City. It was a beautiful day with perfect weather and we had a great time! Their pumpkin festival was going on so we got to see tons of intricately carved pumpkins. We stayed a little past dark and all the pumpkins were lit up, so that was fun to see.

We got the girls to ride the Thunderation rollercoaster and that didn't go over as well as we'd thought! Ross and I loved it, but the girls said they never want to do it again! Thunderation is the first roller coaster Silver Dollar City put in and it's been there for probably 25+ years. I hadn't been on it in so very long and had a blast! The girls screamed the entire time and both thought it went way too fast! Ross and I were kind of disappointed about that, but oh well! They still had a fun time riding the tea cups and the swings.