Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is so much fun with the girls.  Chip and I have never really done a whole lot for Valentine's Day, and that is perfectly fine by me.  I have more fun watching the kids have fun with it.  Since I am the party mom for Lily's class, I have been busy for weeks getting the Valentine Party together -- making crafts, games, goodie bags and sugar cookies.  We also had to make a Valentine Box and do Lily's Valentine cards.  It's been busy!!

 Lily passed out Hello Kitty valentines with tattoos and cupcake flavored Goldfish crackers to her class.

 

Her Valentine Box!

  

 

Quick photo shoot before school!

 

 She was excited! :)

 

At the class party, the kids decorated and ate sugar cookies.

  

And made handprint Valentines.

 

Lily and Cora

 Lily and Logan

 

At home going through all her Valentines from the class.

 (and Grandma -- no on from school gave her $$)

 

 My tiniest Valentine saying "cheese" for the camera!

 Trying to get a picture of the two of them . . .

 That's a little better!

 Dance party time!!  We usually end up putting music on and dancing at least once a day -- usually when the girls are getting out of control.  It helps to focus their energy  . . .  and it's fun!  So here are pics from our Valentine dance party!!

 

 Lily showing off the necklace Nathan gave her.

 More dancing

 When Daddy got home it was dinner and present time!  He bought the girls teddy bears as is the tradition.  Lily got a HUGE bear this year.  She was so excited!

 Lily passing out the presents she got for us!  Little teddy bears she bought at school.

 Lily bought Dani a teddy bear too -- Lily really is VERY thoughtful.

 Dani opening her book and Sesame Street characters from Mommy.  It was a good day with like loves -- just like everyday!

Little Miss Personality

Danielle is growing up way too fast.  I can't believe she is nearly 18 months old!!  She has so much little personality and cracks me up constantly.  Here are some pictures I got of my baby this last week:

 I love watching her play with her Little People toys.  I know, it is a totally normal thing to do at this age, but I still think of her as my baby so it trips me out.

 This is her corner.  She grabbed the blanket, books and toys and tucked herself in to play.

 She loves to color and draw and do whatever Lily is doing.  They are so cute together.

 Above is her "cheese" face when taking a picture!!  Cracks me up!!

 Coloring in her hoodie.

 

 She asked to wear this hat while she ate breakfast.  She'll hold up clothes as say "www" which I know means "wear??".

 It was a cold morning walking Lily to school and she looked so cute all bundled up with her Minnie Mouse toys, but was not in the mood for a picture.

 

She put the Santa hat on herself to watch TV.

 

 She didn't sleep well the night before, so she laid like this and watch Mickey for quite some time -- she may have even fallen asleep.

Lily's Class

Lily's teacher, Mrs. Savitch, sent me this class picture from the 100th day of school.

School Work!

I've been bad at posting pictures of Lily's school work this year, but that is mainly because she doesn't have as many arts and crafts projects as she did in preschool -- she has real school work, which isn't as much fun!  Every week she has homework.  Just a quick assignment to do each night that is dues every Monday.  We usually put it off till the weekend to do it since we are so busy during the week.  Here is this week's assignment:

 Lily needs to work on her penmanship.  It is the only area she is falling behind in, but we are working on it and she is definitely improving!!

 They also published books at school.  Lily was in charge of the illustrations and the story.  It is a true story about a fun day -- actually days -- in her life!

That is her Cora and (Maggie, maybe?) at the school playground playing after school.

 I am baiting her in the big bath and Dani in her baby bath.

 Lily and Emily

Lily, Carys and Madelyn.

Playdate

Friday we had Abby over for a playdate.  These two are beyond cute together.  They play so well, it is actually quite amazing for their age.  Here they are on their phones -- at least they are play phones this time.

100th Day of School!

Friday was the 100th day of Kindergarten for Lily!!  They make the day into a big celebration which the kids love and don't even realize that they are learning to count to 100 by 1s, 10s and 5s! :)   They had crafts, games, 100 pretzels, cookies, crackers, etc as a snack.  It was a fun day for the kids.  The also all had to make and wear a t-shirt with 100 things on it.  Lily designed her shirt all by herself (I helped with the gluing).  Her shirt has 100 beads (from Mardi Gras necklaces) in the shape of a heart.  We cut 5 necklaces in strips of 20 beads so we had multi colors.  It was cute -- I am proud of her! 

Dani ran to stand by her, she wanted to be in the picture too! 

Queen of Mardi Gras

Dani is just naturally a very girly girl.  She loves her jewelry.  So she was very excited to find the stash of necklaces we got a few years ago at Mardi Gras (technically Dani was there too, just not born yet).  She piled them on herself and her toys.  I think she thought she was the Mardi Gras queen with her royal court!

 The above picture cracks me up.  I was trying to get her to look up and smile since she was looking down and playing with the beads.  So I grabbed a toy nearby, which happened to be a little Minnie Mouse figurine and held it over my head in an attempt to get her to look up at it. . . .  well, instead the little stinker picked up the Minnie toy next to her and held it over her head too!!  It took me a second to realize what she was doing.  She was laughing too and cracked herself up!! 

Sweet Dreams

Outdoor Fun

We've had beautiful weather this week -- temps in the 70s which have just been perfect.  So one night before dinner we went outside to enjoy the fresh air and play.  It was Dani's first time in the sandbox (I was always afraid she'd try to eat it before).  Of course, she loved it and had so much fun.  Not sure how she got so much in her hair, but sand really sticks in her big curly mop top!!  I can't wait to get her a new water table and play outside more as the weather starts to warm up . . .  Just like Lily did when she was her age and we first moved in here.

Gymboree

Daddy was able to stop by Gymboree for a bit before school on Tuesday,  Dani was SO happy to have him there.  It is so sweet and makes Chip so happy.

Headbands

Dani wants to do whatever big sister does, so she has started to "request" headbands in her hair.  The other day as we were getting ready to go out, I caught her digging through Lily's headband stash and putting the finishing touches on her hair.  She's so cute.