Birthday Party

I have tried to make a post for Christmas because I'm that far behind, but all I have are videos, and for some reason they are not uploading, so I will just move on. A while ago, the girls were invited to their friend, Kylee's, birthday party. It was at a place that had lots of rides and games and the girls had a blast. Here are Shannon and Kylee smacking the crocodiles.Here is the party. Leah, naturally, really enjoyed the pizza while Shannon couldn't take her eyes off the princess cake.This is Shannon wishing it was her birthday.
I have some cute videos of the girls on some of the rides, but they won't upload either. The funniest was when Shannon rode on the bumper cars and when she finally figured out how to make it go she ran into the wall and did a faceplant into the pillow on the steering wheel. She didn't think it was terribly funny, but she got right back to driving.

Santa

We had a nice ward party last Saturday and the girls got to see Santa. Shannon could hardly wait for her turn and was eager to tell Santa what she wants for Christmas. Leah, on the other hand...

We also made our gingerbread houses with Aunt Jeny's family. Mine is the temple (with Tinkerbell as the Angel Moroni), Matt's is the house with the brown roof, Shannon was very proud of the T she put on her roof, and I think Leah's is the best with one candy on it.

This is a bird I found in our yard the other day. Anyone know what it is? I thought it was very pretty.

Leah is Two

For Leah's birthday we got her a toy piano because she just loves the piano! It was really funny when I had it wrapped up, sitting by an end table and she sat on the box and pretended to play the piano on the end table!We went to Red Robin for her birthday dinner and she got lots of presents. Here she is opening them.Feeding her new baby.Lastly, here she is opening up her piano. She doesn't smile, but her eyes just light up! I love it! She adores her piano and plays it every day. Maybe next year we'll be getting a real one.

Gingerbread Festival

This year the Gingerbread Festival was a last minute thing for us, but we made it in time for the last hour. Here is the candyland that was the most candy I have ever seen used!The Notre Dame cathedral, complete with Quasimodo between the towers.The house from "Up." This had so many details, we probably stared at it for 15 minutes. Very impressive!Another cute one.All that candy and cute things, and the only thing Shannon was interested in was the show! There was a group of middle or high school students singing Christmas songs and Shannon thought that was the best thing ever. After one of the soloists finished a song, Shannon asked if it was her turn. I think she would have been happy to entertain that audience. Here she is with her Nanny, enjoying the show. There are so many other pictures I could post, but these are probably the best houses. Pretty amazing!

Halloween!

Shannon, at the last minute, decided she wanted to be a flower just like Dora (in one of her library books). After 3 hours of sewing, here is the result. Leah was Cinderella.And here is the pumpkin carving mess. We didn't really go trick-or-treating because it was raining. We did a little bit at Walmart, so the girls were happy.Matt did a witch and I did Charlie Brown and Snoopy for Shannon. She really wanted Peter Pan, but I couldn't find a template for it. It was a fun night!

Snow and Cute Girls

Look what we woke up to this morning! After breakfast we got all bundled up, then I shoveled while the girls explored the snow.Then we made a snowman! I was under the impression that since it was "lake effect" snow it would be pretty wet, but I was wrong. I can't believe how dry Utah snow is! It makes it really hard to make a snowman when the snow doesn't pack together, but the girls had fun and they were very proud of their work. A few weeks ago Shannon thought Leah looked tired, so she got her a blanket and a pillow and her pacifier and put her to bed. Leah loved it!

Our girls love books. Here they are after getting some new books at the library, reading together. This is one of their favorite things to do.

I love sleeping kids. I can't stand how cute they are, so I take lots of pictures. I thought this was really cute because of her little hand under her head.

I used all of the rocks that I found in my yard and garden this summer to make a rock barrier for the flower bed in my backyard. Shannon thought I was making a giant snake, so she decided to make one of her own. She took a bunch of rocks to the driveway and made this. I especially loved the smile and the eyes made with sidewalk chalk.

Pumpkin Patch and Stuff

We met with Aunt Jeny at Hee Haw Farms a few weeks ago. Nickell and family were going to come as well, but Kade was sick that day.Here is the giany pumpkin at the entrance. The car in the background was smashed on purpose during this year's pumpkin drop. We didn't get to see that, but I bet it was impressive! This is what Leah does when she doesn't get her nap. She was a very good girl, but she mostly just wanted to snuggle her dad. Shannon went down the big slide all by herself this year, but if you listen carefully you can hear her scared sound. She did a great job, though!

When Aunt Jeny went down with her, she wasn't scared at all. Aunt Jeny, on the other hand... (listen very carefully at the beginning)


Shannon loved the "train" so much this year that she thought we were going to let her ride in every car. We might have had there not been other people waiting for a turn.


Leah didn't want anything to do with the ponies, but Shannon loved it!