Bookmark contest

We had our girl scout cookie rally tonight.......as girl scout cookie sales start on SATURDAY!!!!  All the girl scouts entered a bookmark contest....and Kelly WON for the Daisies!!!!  She was SO EXCITED!  She earned a special patch and gets her bookmark "published".  (They print the winning designs and make into real bookmarks).  She is really happy!

Kelly with all the bookmark contest winners!

Snow Slushies!

This is our second cancelled school day this week....and it's only Wednesday!  (Monday we were off due to the ice storm and today is a snow day!) ...did I mention it was 50 degrees yesterday and we set a temperature high for the day? ....and it's going to be 4 degrees tomorrow with a wind chill to make it -15 degrees!  Mother Nature is very confusing!

Kelly has been especially bummed with no school these two days....because she loves school AND it's Catholic Schools Week and there are fun activities planned each day too!

Since Kelly is missing her fun activity for the day.....I decided we should have our own little fun activity....so we made SNOW SLUSHIES!

 The girls LOVED IT!

 Molly pouring in the milk!

 Stirring in the grape kool-aid

 Enjoying purple snow slushies!

Silly girls!

Kelly's first piano lesson

Kelly had her fist piano lesson tonight at our house.  The band teacher at Xavier is teaching Kelly lessons....and she comes to your house! (One benefit of living in a small town and everyone living so close!)  Kelly has been looking forward to starting piano lessons....and she anxiously waited for her piano teacher to arrive.  She learned  A LOT in 25 minutes!  She has already practiced the 4 pages for homework twice....once with me and once with Brian.  I hope her excitement continues for playing the piano!!!!

 Kelly anxiously waiting to begin her first lesson

Practicing after her first lesson

Game time!

The girls LOVE playing games.....and look forward to the weekends when we can play board games as a family.  The week day nights are so busy with homework, supper, etc.  Grandma and Papa came out to our house to see all the girls Christmas presents and visit....and the girls asked them to play Molly's new game that we gave her for Christmas.  The both love "The Ladybug Game"

Kelly's HALF birthday

Kelly celebrated her HALF birthday at school today!  (We decided to celebrate Jan.17.....since Dec.17 is so busy with the holidays).  She was so excited to bring in a cookie cake and lemonade juice bags!  She had a great day!

My excited first grader with her cookie cake

 Standing up front while the class was singing to her.....

 .....and blessing her!

 Kelly and her teacher, Mrs. Reuter

Kelly standing by her "Read All About Me" birthday poster

Sewing.....

Kelly had her third sewing lesson today with Grandma Peggy!  She brought her sewing machine home(for the first time)....and didn't waste much time.  She set it up in her room, shut the door, and got right to work!  She thinks she is hot stuff....and she definitely knows more than her MOM when it comes to sewing!

 Concentrating....

She was showing me that she sewed the two rectangle fabric pieces together.

Saints Hockey Game

We had a family night at the Dubuque Fighting Saints Hockey Game tonight.  Brian got 4 free tickets from work! :)  Kelly had already been to two games before (one last year and one a couple months ago) and loved all the fun music and watching the game.  This was Molly's first game.  The game didn't start until 7:35pm....so we knew it was going to be a late night!  We arrived around 6:45pm, walked around, found our seats, and the girls enjoyed dancing to the music and hanging out!

 Molly was having a lot of fun dancing!!!

 Kelly is growing up.....she looks so much older here!

 Kelly & Daddy

 Molly didn't even last through the first period!!!  She fell sound asleep on my lap.....

.....and stayed there for the last 1.5 hours of the game!

Readers Theatre

The first grade classes at Xavier performed their Readers Theatre this morning at school.  (It was originally scheduled for before Christmas break but got postponed due to a snow day!)

Each class had a different play - Kelly's class was "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss.  Kelly was Cindy Lou in the play....as well as "Who 14".  It was really cute!  Kelly was VERY ANIMATED in her performance!!!  It was a lot of fun to watch these 6 and 7 year olds!

Ethan (The Grinch) and Kelly (Cindy Lou).....everyone else in the class was a "Who"

 Isabel, Kelly, Sarah, and Grant

Kelly smiled right at me during the performance!

Doctor Dreadful

The girls gave Brian a "Doctor Dreadful" Alien Autopsy set for his birthday.  Daddy and the girls saw them advertised on TV before Christmas......and Brian (and Kelly) thought they were cool.  It advertises it as "looks GROSS.....tastes GREAT!"  You eat EVERYTHING you make!

***Sidenote - I was grossed out on the commercial and in person!

Anyway, the girls always pick something little out for Brian and I for our birthdays.  They really wanted to get him Doctor Dreaful set, but the cheapest one was $30.....and once again....I was grossed out by the whole thing.  Needless to say....we are shopping at Target and Kelly spots this set.....and it's clearanced 50% off after Christmas....so we bought it.  The girls gave it to Brian on Saturday morning but our weekend was crazy....and then girl scouts Monday night.....so the girls AND DADDY tried it on on Tuesday night after supper and before bedtime!  

All 3 of them enjoyed SLURPING ALIEN INTESTINES!   

GROSS!!!

I'm glad they all had fun....and the girls are already looking forward to playing with the Doctor Dreadful alien autopsy again soon....to gulp some alien guts, eat lung bugs, and slurp some more intestines!!!!

 Daddy's girls!!!!

 Funny faces for the alien

 Molly trying some alien intestines

Kelly's turn!

Happy Birthday BRIAN!

We've had a busy weekend.....and a very special birthday!  Brian's birthday was yesterday (1/5) but we didn't have any time to celebrate.  I had a girl scout leader meeting, Brian worked an invitational swim meet in Dubuque, we went to church, and the girls went to Grandma and Grandpa's while Brian and I attended my Xavier Christmas party.  We celebrated by going out to eat on Friday night with Tom & Pat and then had cake and ice cream this afternoon (after Kelly's dance showcase performance).  It has been a busy weekend!  Happy Birthday Brian!  We love you!

 Daddy and his girls!

 The girls put a few "trick" candles on Daddy's cake.....so I love Molly's smile in this picture....knowing Daddy wasn't going to be able to blow all the candles out!

 I thought it would be fun to take a Father and Son picture......since both of them were wearing black Iowa Hawkeye sweatshirts.  Tom never cooperates for pictures so I was trying to make them laugh when I took this picture.  Brian is smiling good at least!

Happy Birthday Brian/Daddy!

Beckman Dance Showcase

Kelly performed at the Beckman Dance Showcase today.  They did the routine from dance camp over Christmas break.  It was hard to get a good picture of her with where we were seated as there were 40 dance routines performed at the dance event today!  Kelly was the first performance of the day....and we stayed to watch some more....but left at the first intermission.  Kelly enjoys dancing!

All smiles while they are waiting to start

Kelly doing the "Monster Mash!"

Molly's preschool party

Molly celebrated Baby Jesus birthday today with her preschool class.  (It was originally scheduled for the Thursday before Christmas but they had a snow day!)  I was able to change my schedule around at school and go to her party!  We played four different games and sang to Baby Jesus.  It was a fun time with Molly's class!

 Molly with her 3 year old preschool class

Molly with her best friend from preschool - Paige (with long hair)

Friends through the years....

Kelly has had a best friend for many years......she has so many wonderful friends but Kelly and Sophia share a special bond.  They have known each other since they were 18 months old.  They started with going to daycare together, storytime at the library, preschool, T-Ball, girl scouts, soccer, and have been in the same grade at Xavier for 3 years.  Kelly asked me to have a playdate with Sophia before they go back to school tomorrow.  These two are great friends!  Here are a few pictures through the years.....

 January 2, 2013

 June 13, 2012

 March 17, 2012

September 12, 2011

June 17, 2011

 March 13, 2010

 April 11, 2009

 February 2, 2009