December 4th

Lucy completed her first school project this week and took it to school today. She had to make a map and present it to the class, explaining everything on it. The project was supposed to be "student produced" (ie - not made by parents!) so when I had to stop and think how to help Lucy do the best job she could without too much pain and suffering, I took a page from my Dad's book of parenting - Everything is better with stickers!! :) We went to Michael's and she picked out something to represent the road, some stickers for all of her places as well as some fun foam to make everything else. She also got a fancy gold sharpie to write with!

Here is her final product!

 She had places like "Snowman Mountains" and "Candy Cane Lane" and a cupcake factory and an ice cream parlor. Her favorite place is "Penguin Pond." (Or so she said last night)

 Part of her grade was her ability to present her work to the class so she practiced on her brothers.

And as we were putting the camera away, Alex ran over for once last "cheese" face! :)

December 3rd

On Sunday, Union UMC had their annual Christmas pageant. Lucy participated again this year as an angel. Here are some pictures from that evening:

One cute angel, ready for the program!

I worked with the kids on a few songs to play on the color bells. Lucy was so excited because she got to play two. (She really just wanted to play the purple bell, but it only played two notes and I figured she could handle more than that!)

Looking at the music for "Joy to the World"

We sang and played bells on "O Come Little Children"

Each child had a small poem to recite at the beginning of the program. Lucy was up first, so she got to welcome everyone.

Angels in the nativity scene

The kids also sang while they were all standing around the manger. 

After the program was over, Santa stopped by for a visit. I wish I had my camera with me when Lucy first saw him - the look on her face was priceless! She was in total awe! She got to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas and then he gave her a candy cane, which she promptly devoured. :)

It was a nice program and a wonderful way to start the season of Advent at the church. Grammy and Poppa stayed with the boys since all this fun went way past their bedtime. Everyone kept saying to me, "Oh, next year, Alex and Charlie will be ready to recite a poem and be in the nativity scene." Hmm . .. I guess we'll have to wait and see!

December 2nd

So I realized when I posted last night, that I didn't put up any pictures from the month of November! So I'm going to back track a little and post some of those . . .  don't worry; you will get your fill of Christmas themed photos in the days to come!

At the end of October, we took the boys to their 2 year old checkup. Both boys were 23 lbs 13 oz and 2 ft. 9 inches. Their doctor was amazed at their similarities. . . even for twins!! Everything about them seemed great, but the pediatrician was concerned about their language. The boys would talk all the time, but most of it was nonsense. She recommended we had them evaluated to see if they qualified for any speech therapy. Well, it took about a month to get the evaluation, and by then their language has taken off. It seems like they are adding new words every hour! Needless to say, we won't need any speech therapy. ;)

The boys have started saying, "Cheese!" and smiling anytime I pick up the camera. It's so cute - I really like this phase! :)

Lucy got her first report card of her school career. She, of course, did a fabulous job, getting all Satisfactory marks and 3s and 4s. Because she got both 3s and 4s, she was a recipient of the Principal's Silver award. She was very proud of her medal. (As were her Mommy and Daddy!)

I had Turkey shirts for the boys to wear for Thanksgiving. Charlie saw his on Tuesday afternoon, stripped off his current shirt and demanded to put on his turkey shirt. He wore it for the next 48 hours. ;)

Remember I said that Alex likes to say, "Cheese!" Well, sometimes, his cheese is a little much! 

Charlie finally had to change shirts because he wet the bed. . . he settled for his bear shirt. ;) And of course, he has no pants on! But it's still a cute picture of Charlie and "Gri Gri" (He can't quite say Grammy yet!)

Charlie and Uncle Lattie playing Memory

I had a brownie in my hand when I snapped this picture  . . . 

Lucy and Grammy

Alex had a big time playing with the princess trashcan after dinner . . .

And this picture just cracks me up! Look at his little leg!!

December 1 - It's the most wonderful time of the year . . . .

25 days of photos has arrived! I know my mom is excited! ;)

For our first installment, we'll have our annual stuffed animal pictures. I love to look at these and see how much everyone has grown. It just amazes me how quickly you forget how little they once were!

Alex and Charlie - 4 months

 16 months

 2 years

Lucy - 6 months

 18 months

 2 years

 3 years

4 years

5 years

Trunk of Treat!

Happy Halloween!! We have had a busy day! We got up this morning and drove to Statesville. We visited with Mamaw and then rode over to see GreatDaddy. He wasn't home so we went up to Johnson's Greenhouse and saw Aunt Cheryl. She spoiled the kids with pumpkins and flowers and Tenzi! (Which we have already played SEVERAL times today!) We had a nice visit with her and then rode back by GreatDaddy's. He still wasn't back and the boys started getting fussy so we headed home. After attempting a nap, we ran some errands and took a walk. Then it was time to get in our costumes and head to High Point. We had dinner with Gramma and Pappy and then headed over to Grammy and Poppa's church. The kids had a big time filling their buckets with candy! :)

We had to eat some of our candy before we left Trunk or Treat and then have a little more once we got home. Now everyone is sound asleep from all our fun! Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!!

Book Character Parade

The Kindergarteners at Lucy's school had a book character parade. At first, Lucy decided she was going to be Elsa. After all, we have tons of Frozen books and she already had the costume. For weeks, she said she was going to be Elsa. Then the week of the parade, Lucy came home and told us that her teacher said that no one could use their Halloween costume for the parade. Lucy is one who like to follow the rules, so we had to come up with a new plan. At first she said that she wanted to be Splat, but then decided that she wanted to be Ramona. We had read several of the Ramona books together over the summer and she really enjoyed them. So we put together our costume. . . .

She had her rain boots like Ramona and a bag of toothpaste. (Remember when Ramona squeezed out a whole tube of toothpaste into the sink?) She also had a name tag with the Q of Quimby drawn with cat ears and whiskers, just like Ramona would write her name.

Michael and the boys went to school to see the parade of book characters. Michael wasn't able to get any pictures from the parade because of all the other parents pushing and shoving in order to get pictures of their kids. That is one thing that annoys me so much from other parents - don't they realize that EVERYONE is there to see their own child? Why is that parent's child more important than mine? Oh well . . . that's a topic for another day. But there is this picture of two cute boys, watching their sister! (They don't look quite awake yet, do they?)

One of the parents did post this group shot on the school PTA facebook page, so I took it off of there. It looks like they had a lot of fun!! :)

Lucy's first field trip

Lucy went on her first real field trip last week. (Her class went to the fire station earlier this month, but since it is located right next door to the elementary school, she didn't go far!) The Kindergartens went to Lazy 5 Ranch. They have been talking about animals in science class so they got to go see several close up! :) Michael was able to go with her and I think both of them had a nice time.

Getting ready to get on the hayride!

Feeding the giraffes

I can't believe how grown up she's looking!

This picture makes me laugh . . Lucy is running away from that cow's big tongue!

Lucy and Lola

Lucy's class photo