Ready for Christmas??

The week before school break was in a word....HECTIC. So much going on in J's class, prep for the party, helping her teacher with hats, costumes, and then the actual party. Some of that is stuff that honestly, I never thought I would be the mom doing. But it's all good. We had a blast. She is fortunate to have an awesome teacher and class this year.

And then my folks got here on Monday so it's been busy here too. Finishing shopping with them, Zoo lights one evening (sorry, forgot my camera that night, but Ray had his so I'll get those pics up soon too). Today was a gingerbread kind of day. We had the pre-made houses to decorate, a tree kit (some really fat trees if you ask me! LOL) and my mom made a gingerbread man for us to decorate. Full day.

So here are some random pics from the last two weeks. Hope you enjoy. Oh and the outfits, are from Aunt Tiny who must really know these girls better than she thinks she does. They fit and the girls LOVE them. :)

Santa

Guess who we saw at the mall last weekend? D was a bit nervous as she had a video from Santa telling her she really needed to work on that temper, but I whispered in her ear, "Do you think he MIGHT tell you that he knows you have been working extra hard, so you're real close to getting that Rapunzel dress?" her eyes got big and the nerves were gone. And truly she has been working very hard, some days she's even got it. LOL. Little by little, step by step. The temper is really the last hurtle we need to get over. Other than that, she really is doing great:)

J is less than one point away from her next Rising Reader level already. She has two books to take in tomorrow if she tests well on those then she will be working toward her next goal of Rising Reader 4. She continues to amaze. Her teacher loves her, she loves her teacher and she is absolutely thriving this year. She can't seem to learn fast enough for her own satisfaction. The book she read to me tonight was well into a 3rd grade level, I'm nervous about her testing on it actually but it was about her current favorite animal, the Panda, so she may very well surprise me again.

It's beginning to look a lot like.....

Just a few quick blips to share with you. It's been a rough month or so. Julia is on her second round of antibiotics for Strep, she had it first around Halloween and again now. In the between time she had a possible UTI, tests came back negative but symptoms were all there and went away after treatment so...??, and last week was a random rash. Oh and before all that an outbreak of lice at school that she naturally got! I am getting to know her drs far too well. We are so ready for Christmas break!!! One more busy week to get through and then Grammie and Grampa will be here from Maine:) We are excited about them joining us for Christmas!

Devyn has been healthy and seems to be settling into the school thing. It's funny, I took her to J's school one morning to drop off something and it was quicker to sign in and take it directly to J so that's what we did. It was D's first time seeing the classroom while class was going on. After we left and were on our way to her school, she says "I didn't think it would be so quiet" I was like "what?" She said "Julia's class, I didn't know they had to be so quiet" (they were doing packet tests) so I said "well yeah honey they were doing their work so it was quiet time". pause "I don't think I like first grade" OOOPS! I did tell her they have lots of fun too but that yes when it's quiet time, they are expected to actually BE quiet. This is something that D already understands is super hard for her, so she'd rather not do it. I think I'm in trouble. LOL That said her preK teacher has said she has made really big strides this year and feels she is going to be just fine in K. Whew! :)

The pics are from our annual card photo shoot this week. Hope you enjoy, the girls and I had fun, getting the dog in there was a ton of work! Hyper little thing that she is! LOL

Lastly I'm going to start sharing some of my Facebook status's with you. I just don't always have the time to blog anymore, but I will make an effort to do at least a post a month, to update. In the between times I will do my best to remember to copy and paste some of status updates that concern the girls and the funny little every day things that come out of their mouths. So if you see just random little posts, that's what they are, and my way of keeping you a bit more up to date, and having a place where I know I can always look back and find those funny little things. :) I'll start with last nights:

the hubby tells me that he was talking to the girls about a package for them today, D throws herself on the floor and very dramatically says "Oh my God!", he says "quit trying to get attention and get back in the playroom", J rolls her eyes and says "at school we just say OMG" I still can't stop laughing.