Early Christmas Presents

About a month ago, Sarah told me she wasn't scared to get her ears pierced. Emily said she'd like to get hers done, too. So we decided that they'd get them done for Christmas. We went to Walmart yesterday to get them done, but the girls didn't know until we got there!





Emily went first (She just climbed up into the chair!)


Here, the lady is marking the spots for the earrings to go.
















1,2,3 ....











all done!

















Sarah was a little more nervous about it and held Grandma's hand the whole time.


Marking the spots.










1,2,3....















all done!

They got butterflies in their birthstone. They came with matching necklaces!

I Must be Slipping!

I was just noticing that in 2008, I wrote 149 blog posts, but in 2009 I only wrote 120. Well, this year, so far, I've written a measly 96! I think it's called being busy with the kids!

Our first "Snow Day"

It happened to be a Sunday and we had no church, but we still felt like it was a snow day! (We did end up with a school snow day today, though!)

The kids outside playing in the "Snowman Snow". The girls are working on a snow wall.

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Turns out, Sarah was going for an igloo, so while they had rest time, I worked on finishing the igloo since the temperatures were falling and I didn't know how long the snow would be packing.

All finished!

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Sarah inside (Emily had gone in the house and William wouldn't go into the igloo!)

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Sarah and I inside.

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I had put a bowl outside to catch the snow so we could make Snow Ice Cream.

Our ingredients:

1 cup milk

½ cup sugar

½ TBS vanilla

½ gallon snow

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Emily adding the milk

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All finished!! It did taste like ice cream although ours was ice crystal-y since the first snow I "caught" was slush. I think we'll try again when it is non-packing snow (ie fluffy snow!)

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The kids trying it out (Sarah wouldn't try it)

2010 Carriage Ride

Thursday was the 1st time we could ride on the annual free horse and carriage ride in nearby Rockford.




This is a shot of the first riders coming around the final corner.



























Andrew liked the horses.














Andrew had a lot of fun watching the people in the hair stylist shop.











We got to ride in Gus' carriage. (Gus was the horse!)

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The 2nd carriage horse kept coming next to us and Andrew kept waving at him.

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Saying hi to Gus after our ride.

Shattered Memento

When we got Emily's 9 month pictures taken, we purchased an ornament with a picture of the 2 girls on it.

Arrow showing the ornament in 2008

Arrow showing the ornament in 2009

The ornament in 2010.

Andrew some how got ahold of it while we were decorating the tree and was banging it together with another ornament (He thought they were balls) and it shattered.

Here is what is left of the pictures.

I decided to see if I could find a replacement ornament. I found that both Walmart and Meijer had ceramic ornaments, but Walmart's was cheaper, so I ordered one from there. It isn't exactly the same, but it still has the girls' picture on it.

Just Like Daddy

Dan was brushing his teeth and Andrew wanted to brush his, too!

(Dan was finished by the time I could get the camera)

Hometown Christmas Parade

This year our town had a Christmas parade. I don't know if they have had them before, but this is the first one we've heard about. The kids and I along with my parents and sister's kids decided to go.


They had crafts beforehand.
























































Gathering for the parade













We found a bench to wait on.














This is William during the firetrucks and police cars.



















The pictures don't show up very well since it was dark, but here they are!