Christmas Eve

I took the opportunity to snap a few photos of us 'dressed up' before church to prove that my children are not always in tank tops and sweats!

Katie in her new "junior" dress:

Emma in typical Emma pose:

My girls:

Yes, it is very much official, Katie is 3 and one half inches taller than me.  (Went for their checkups earlier that week, she is 5'5" and a half!)

One child is still smaller than me!

Daddy and his girls:

The (much slimmer) happy couple:

Merry Christmas everyone!

More Christmas festivities!

Another Christmas tradition is visiting the Messenger's Christmas decorations.  We got there a few days before Christmas.  It was crazy crowded, so I didn't take too many pictures with the girls in them b/c it was quite difficult.  Here are a few scenes:

Emma in front of one of my favorites:

Emma in front of the new scene for 2011.

The new 2011 scene.  I learned on Facebook that there is a nativity in each scene, and I never noticed that, so Mark and Emma and I enjoyed looking for baby Jesus in each one.  

Here is the history wall of each year, how it started, how is moved from Baton Rouge to Denham and so forth.  I boldly suggested to them that Mark and I should be on this "wall of fame" b/c we are like "local celebrities" - we'll see if we make the wall next year!

Katie with her friend Avery, who was spending the night that night and Emma.  As you can tell from their dress, it was a blustery night that night!

On Christmas eve we had our annual visit with Molly and Wayne Williams (who are friends from Belaire Days, and who were also in our wedding!)  This is Katie and Emma with their girls: Avery and Morgan.  

More Christmas activities....

So as the start of our THREE WEEKS OFF OF SCHOOL begins, the activities start to roll.  The next day after Nutcracker, the girls and I (and dad too... sometimes) started some of our traditions.  We always make gingerbread houses.  Here the girls start their projects:

Here's the candy that came with the kits that is supposed to go on the houses.  What percentage of this candy do you think went on the house, as compared to what went in their mouths.....?

.... I rest my case!

Emma concentrating on her decorations:

Emma's finished project - notice the LSU colored pathway (that's my girl!):

Katie's finished project:

If you saw my Facebook page, you saw the post about how Katie's house has some structural issues about 10 minutes later (the roof fell off), and it kinda looked like the 9th ward after Katrina.  Katie and I left to do some Christmas shopping later and Emma actually fixed it while we were gone.  Maybe there is hope for an engineer in the family (... another one, I should say... Paw - paw).

Later that night, we went to see "the blow ups" down the street from us. 

Here are my incredibly shy children in front of some of the inflatables:

Santa and his sleigh:

The girls and I (look mama is actually IN  a picture! - and don't I look H-O-T!)

Katie tried to take a picture of Mark and I, and some little elf jumped in the picture!

Always the dancer:

The Santa collection:

This year, he has a huge screen set up with movies playing in the back.  The Grinch (with Jim Carrey) was playing when we went:

Mark arguing a typically bad call:

Nutcracker ballet 2011

This was Katie's third year to dance in the Baton Rouge Ballet Theater's Nutcracker and she always enjoys it.  As you know if you have been, they do an amazing job with it, and our time committment is not overwhelming.  Last year Katie only danced at one performance (b/c they had a lot of cooks), but this year she danced at 2, so I volunteered to work backstage for one (since I could watch the earlier show) so that I could snap a few costume pictures.  (the BRBT doesn't let you take costumes home b/c they use them each year, so the costumes never leave backstage - and you can't take pics during the performance).  So this year I got some cute pics:

Katie in her cook costume:

Katie and her fellow cooks:

This was their "silly pose":

This was Katie and some of her cooks with the tiny little pages that we also helped to get dressed and such before they went on.  They were soooo... cute!

Here are some family photos afterwards.  Daddy and his girls:

Me and my girls:

The proud parents - Emma takes a darn good picture doesn't she?

I can't say enough how proud of my little ballerina I am.  I get so choked up when she dances on stage even if I've seen the dance a million times and hear the music in my sleep.  We love you Katie Bug - Keep on Twirling!

Birthday festivities

The girls' birthdays came around with some fun festivities this year.  The Saturday after Thanksgiving we had a bowling party for them at Circle Bowl.  They turned 7 and 11 with galactic bowling (loud music and lights) and several friends. 

Here's the birthday table with t-shirts for signing and bowling pins full of drink!

Cute bowling wrap by Jacob's mom for Emma:

Daddy and Emma bowl:

  

Emma bowls with Nannie Kim and Mr. Richard

Katie and her friends:

Emma and her friends:

Emma and Nannie Kim:

Aiden and Jacob fight for Emma's affections:

Emma with Jacob and Addy:

Katie and her friends dance while they bowl:

Mama and her baby Emma:

The birthday girls have Happy Birthday sung to them:

Dancing the Hokey Pokey:

Emma and Jacob:

The cake:

Blowing out the birthday candles:

Katie and Daddy play games with our tokens - Daddy hit 500 tickets!

So the next weekend - the day of their actually birthday - which also happened to be the day of the SEC championship with LSU and Georgia, we ran between activities and managed to squeeze in some birthday time for the girls.  Here we are at home after "Breakfast with Santa" at school and Nutcracker ballet practice and watching the game with friends, having some time to open presents with the girls:

Katie and her new camera:

Emma and her new American Doll.  This is one of the look alike dolls, and Emma has named her Kendra:

Katie's new ballet pendant:

Katie and her gifts:

Emma and Kendra: