Christmas Morning

Christmas morning is one of my most favorite times of the year.  The excitement building up to the morning is so much fun with kids to share it with.  Addison was up at 5:30 ready to wake up Lauren and open presents.  We convinced her to lay in bed with us until 6:00 at least, then she woke up Lauren.  Lauren still was not feeling great and still had a fever Christmas morning.  We all felt so bad for her.  

Much to our surprise, Santa did sorta bring us a puppy.  The puppy will be born in the next few days and we will get to pick a female puppy 8 weeks after that.  We are all very excited!  I know the girls will be even more excited when we get to bring the puppy home! 

Lauren still did not feel great Christmas morning, but was a great sport with all my picture taking.  She got a Justice gift card from Santa, a Royals cup, a Wii game (Wipe out), Wreck This Journal, the Royals movie, and Tic Tacs. Almost everything she asked for!  

Addison asked Santa for the Grand Hotel Lego Set and he brought it!  We have already started working on it.  It will be so great once it is finished.  

Mark picked up a picture of Hosmer for Lauren.  By far, one of her favorite gifts.  

That definitely brought a smile to her face Christmas morning.  

Mark bought Addison a Barbie Movie about dogs.  This girl loves her animals.  It's really the simple things that the kids want for Christmas.  

She loved it.

We continued with the Want, Need, Wear, Read tradition of gifts this year.  Addison wanted this puppy from Target that does tricks.  It is really cute.  Lauren wanted a drawing pad, slippers, and ear muffs.  They both needed Chrome book covers and I also got them their own blanket to snuggle in in the basement so they don't steal Mark's blanket!  They both got 3 outfits to wear, mostly from Justice.  They love to shop there and the quality of the clothes makes it work it for me.  Addison has even taken her clothes out of the dirty laundry this week to wear them again. She likes the outfits that much.  They both got several books to read.  Lauren has already finished one and is working on her 2nd book.  I think they had a pretty good Christmas.  

Mark and I also do the Want, Need, Wear, Read tradition.  I got this book for him to read, a Royals World Series sweatshirt he wanted, a winter coat he needed...and a surprise for something to wear!

Mark picked out this cute shirt for me (just kidding, I did!) But he wrapped up and gave it to me Christmas morning, along with a Royals World Series sweatshirt.  

Both girls got these adorable ear muffs.  They love them! 

I needed a new computer and I got one!  So far, I love it!

I surprised Mark with a Royals World Series jersey.  He was super excited to open that Christmas morning.  He is rotten I tell ya, rotten.  

Each year, Mark always makes me a calendar for the next year, looking back on all the pictures I took in 2015.  Zoe was on the cover this year and the whole month of January is pictures of Zoe.  I love the calendar and I miss that dog like crazy every single day.  She will never be replaced, but I am looking forward to having another furry friend around the house.  

Even though Lauren was sick, it was still a wonderful Christmas morning.  I made my best batch of monkey bread yet and we all enjoyed a lot of it Christmas morning.  We watched the Royals movie, played Wipe Out, and enjoyed some lunch before heading out to Gramps and Nana's house for dinner Christmas night.  

Christmas Eve

I love spending Christmas Eve with the girls.  We always make cookies for Santa and a cake for Jesus.  The girls love to track Santa and see where he is at, and we usually have Christmas movies on the TV while we bake!  This year was no different.  

However, Lauren was on the couch sick with a fever.  Poor thing.  She felt awful for 3 whole days, and is still not back to her old self.  She still has a stuffed up nose and is so tired at times.  She was really a trooper through the holidays.  She missed church on Christmas Eve, but still wanted to go to Mama's house to see everyone.  She packed up her pillows and blanket and headed over in her PJ's.  

In between fevers she perked up a bit over the 3 days.  The girls were dying to figure out what was in all their presents.  

Addison looked gorgeous in her Christmas dress.  Her and I went to a 4:00 church service.  Mark ended up going to church at 10:00 that night, after the girls were in bed.  Santa must have come late that night, after Mark got home from church! 

I love that she still loves to get all dressed up for Christmas.  You can't see them here, but she had on some black high heels as well.  She looked beautiful.  

After church, we headed to Mama's house and had dinner.  We visted for a few hours with my grandma, parents and sister's family before heading home.  

Lauren felt pretty good before bed.  Milk and cookies were all ready for Santa!  

Santa had several choices to pick from.  This past week we have done lots of baking.  Our favorite new cookie is the peanut butter cookie with the recess peanut butter cup inside.  Yummy.  It is soooo good.  

Can't wait till Christmas morning.  It really is amazing! 

Pumpkin Patch 2015

Sunday was a gorgeous day to be at the pumpkin patch.  With our crazy busy schedule these days, we had to find a way to fit it in sometime and Sunday after church was prefect.  It got a little toasty in the afternoon, but at times there was a nice breeze and overall a gorgeous day.  

The girls seemed to love this scarecrow.  I have no idea why! 

We got to see piglets born 2 days ago.  Even though they were pigs, they were absolutely adorable.  

The inflatable pillow is always fun...for the 4 whole minutes they get to jump.  They could have stayed there all afternoon! 

Lauren actually went back a second time when Addison and I went back to see the piglets. We also watched pumpkins being shot out of a cannon way up into the sky (like super high) and splashing down into the water.  The girls went though a playground maze thing several times, climbed on an old fire truck, and played in the sand a little bit as well.  

The sunflowers were gorgeous.  

If you look real close you can see a bee in the middle of the flower.  The girls were not thrilled to be near the sunflowers. 

The hayride out to the pumpkin patch was fun. Both girls enjoyed it.  There was a nice breeze and we talked about last year when we came out to the pumpkin patch.  It was so muddy and wet, there was mud coming off the tractor tires and getting all over us.  Yuck! This year was much better.  

It was pretty warm by the time we were out finding pumpkins.   But, we were on a hunt for orange pumpkins (of course,) green and white pumpkins.  We were successful in finding all of those. 

Lauren wanted to take a picture of us with my big fancy camera, so I let her...not to bad, huh? 

We searched and searched for the perfect pumpkins and found them.  

After searching for pumpkins we hit the corn maze which ended up being one of the favorite things for the girls. Mark and I could hardly keep up with the girls as they dashed through the maze.   At the end, we were pretty hot and tired, but then it was time for lunch.  After lunch the girls hit a few more things for a second time before heading home.  Such a fun day at the pumpkin patch! 

Easter 2015

It seems like Easter weekend was forever ago.  It was only last weekend, but our weeks are so busy and jam packed days just fly by.  But, I want to remember Easter 2015, so here it finally is! 

High heal sandals and all.  Addison is all about style.  

Lauren was begging to get her dress off seconds after she put in on.  But, don't you think she looks gorgeous?  She is turning into a beautiful young lady. 

Their true personalities shining through.  

Lauren assumed her role of taking care of Sophie and Addison and Claire took off and we hardly ever say them! 

We enjoyed an Easter egg hunt...

Then Lauren wanted to do an egg toss.  We had a lot of fun doing that and enjoying the gorgeous afternoon.  

Addison took part in the fun as well! 

It was a great Easter spent with family.  Definitely some great memories made with our cousins!  

Our Life These Days...

Dance, dance and more dance.  Both girls are in Tap, Jazz and Ballet.  3 more months of dance this season and then we have a few months off.  Dance is definitely a huge commitment since the dance season is 10 months long...But, they both love it (most of the time at least!)

Lauren has probable improved the most in ballet this season. 

Her tap dance will be "Hard Knock Life" from Annie.  It is an adorable routine and the costume is perfect.  

Addison (as you know) will stop, smile and pose for me all day everyday.  

She loves wearing her old dance costumes to dance class from time to time.  This costume was actually Lauren's (Lauren wore it when she was 4!)  I have no idea how it fits Addison, but it does ;)

Addison has tried very hard to perfect her leap this year.  

As always, Lauren loves jazz class.  Her song for recital is "Love Shack" from the B-52's.  It is a great routine so far.  

Soccer is in full swing as well.  2 practices a week and a game or 2 on the weekends.  The first game of the season was gorgeous and this past weekend it was soooo cold.  But, Lauren's team finally won a game and they were so happy! 

We create a tunnel for all the girls to run through at the end of the game.  

Last weekend we had a neighborhood Easter Egg hunt...

Addison found a ton of eggs! 

Here is one more shot of the game last weekend after one of the girls scored a goal!  The whole team was so excited! 

We colored Easter eggs...

We had lunch with Mark over spring break.  

And if you had not heard...I started back at Children's Mercy and I could not be more thrilled.  I am so glad to be back at my old stomping grounds.

For the past 7 years Mark and I have celebrated our anniversary with dinner at The Melting Pot.  We look forward to it every year and we thoroughly enjoy the 4 course meal that is served.  12 years and going strong.  

So there you have it.  Life these days.  Work, kids, soccer, dance, Easter, (not pictured several Girl Scout events) School activities, and the list goes on and on.  We are so ready for summer...counting down the days till school is out!