It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

This is how we know it's Christmas at our house:

Christmas Choir Concerts

Class Parties

A quick, and very cold visit to Branson

Wearing new Christmas outfits to church

Working together on a gingerbread house

And of course all of the other parties, shopping, wrapping, baking. It's such a busy time, but we love every minute of it.

Merry Christmas!

Sporting a New Smile

Noah finally lost his tooth on the top that has been loose forever. It had been hanging crooked in his mouth for so long that we were ready to pull it out while he was asleep. He looks so cute now that it's out - I wish it would last. Instead we get to look forward to the big tooth that will replace it!

Samantha's Baptism

For the big finale of her 8th birthday, Samantha was baptized the Saturday after her birthday. She has been looking forward to being baptized for so long. We were sad that we couldn't have all of our family here with us, but were so glad that both sets of grandparents and my brother Michael were able to be here. We were also grateful for all of the friends that came out and supported Samantha on this special day.

Noah and Uncle Michael waiting for things to get started.

Grammy and Grampy

Grandma and Grandpa

Samantha was baptized and confirmed by her dad.

She loved wearing her baptism dress - she said she

felt like a princess in it.

She finally got her own set of scriptures and a journal.

Later that night we decided to go out and roast marshmallows.

It was a fun way to end a special day.

Samantha turns 8 - a month long celebration

It took us all of November to celebrate Samantha turning 8. It all began with her birthday party. We let her have a big party this year, and she thought long and hard about what she wanted to do. She decided to have it at Build-a-Bear. Twelve of her most favorite friends came, and they had a great time!

The next week was her first birthday present. We took her us to Kansas City to see Wicked. It was something she has wanted to do ever since I took Megan to see it for her birthday a few months ago. It was supposed to be just her and Mike going to it, but Noah and I were able to go at the last minute when some friends who had the tickets next to ours were unable to go. I don't have any pictures, but Sammy loved every minute of the show. It was a fun get away for our family.

Sammy was fortunate to once again have grandparents in town for her birthday. Her day began with a bagel breakfast at Panera.

She spent a leisurely day shopping, opening presents, and going to Red Robin for dinner.

Sammy loves the peace sign, so wanted to have a peace cake. I was grateful for the simple request.

One of the thing about turning 8 that she has looked forward to for a couple of years was getting her ears pierced. She wanted to have a big audience for it, so she waited to do it a couple of days after her birthday so that Grandma and Grandpa could be there too.

She was so excited when she sat down in the chair.

Until they brought out the piercing guns. Luckily they did both at the same time, otherwise she probably wouldn't have gone through with the second ear.

All done, trying so hard not to cry.

Getting her first look at the final result.

Now that it's a week later, I think she is finally happy that she did it. She was so brave and looks so cute.

Arf

It seemed like we had a lot of dog related events in November. Daisy is getting so big, but continues to think she is still a small puppy. She likes for me to hold her like a baby. I encourage it, so can only blame myself.

The entire 2nd grade at Sammy's school performed a play called "Arf". Sammy had a part in the play - she was Alfie Afgan. Trying to put together a long-haired dog costume was a challenge for me. Having a speaking part was a little out of her comfort zone, but she was actually very excited. She did a great job!

We were a 2 dog family for a week while we dog sat for some friends. There was an age difference of 9 years between Daisy and her new friend Cali. Daisy loved having a new friend to play with, but wouldn't leave poor Cali alone. They would eventually wear each other out.

Photo Shoot

We decided to take advantage of some beautiful late-fall weather and get some pictures of the kids. It took going out 2 different times to get good ones of everyone. Some enjoyed modeling more than others. Just wanted to share the "best of the best":