Birthday and Holidays

It has been an incredibly busy month. November and December are fast pace for our family with 2 birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and school functions. I seem to be baking, making and preparing for one thing after another. So here's some pictures of what we've been up to these last few months, newest to oldest.

The girls all sang at church this past Sunday. Emily had a little solo. She did really well, even though she forgot to sing the sheep part the first time around and started out singing the cow. It was cute though! They sang The Friendly Beasts and Go Tell It On The Mountain. Ally and Emily sang especially loud. I could pick up their voices both services.

Emily at the second service...she actually was the cow this time!
Allyson had her school performance, and I think she'll forgive me when she reads this someday but is was a HORRIBLE night. LOL! All the kids looked adorable and did a great job. Even though it was preschool, Ally's teacher miss Cindy asked Emily to be the Ghost of Christmas past, present and future. She did a great job. And Ally opened the play by welcoming the guests and announcing their play title. Unfortunately the room was packed beyond the max. capacity. There was no air in the very hot room, no microphones, no music, no stage. So we couldn't hear a thing. The only person I heard talking was Emily. I leaned over to my dad at one point and told him Emily was the entire play. =). The whole thing was utter chaos and a fellow mom and myself vowed to take over the performance next year. This is not my first unorganized play at this preschool. Thankfully her teacher is very capable in the classroom.
Next up that week was Emily's 8th birthday. Her actual birthday was on a Wednesday so I made blue cupcakes with rings on top (her personal request). Then, Mike and I took just her to dinner. She really wanted Red Lobster but that didn't work out with the restaurant not functioning correctly, so we took her to applebee's. She loved the mozzarella sticks, strawberry lemonade and chicken strips. She had a really good time. It was nice to spend one on one time with her.
On Friday, I was preparing for her Saturday party. Actually, I was all week by running tons of errands looking for the best prices on the things I needed. But the actual baking and prepping was Friday. I made 58 Christmas tree cookies. 30 were being wrapped up for her class to take home along with a candy cane, pencil, and yo yo for their goody bags after her party.
My mom and I made Emily's under the sea cake. It turned out adorable and she absolutely loved it.
We had her party at round table. 4 friends from school came and a bunch of friends and family. It was very fun. We played 2 rounds of bingo, 2 rounds of pin the tail on the donkey, ate pizza, cake and ran around a lot!




For her birthday, Emily received 2 Barne's and Noble's gift cards so on Sunday, Mike and I took her to pick out some books before we took her to the movies. It was a lot of fun, she got great books and we got to hang out with just her for a few hours again. Below is her with her stack of books. She couldn't decide between them all so daddy stepped in and paid over $20! He has a soft spot for his girls!
After picking out books, we took her to see Narnia. She was so excited. She had been waiting months to see it. We splurged and took her to the XD 3D showing. It was definitely worth the money. Below is Emily practically running to the theater.
Here she is with her snacks and glasses waiting for it to start. She never even noticed the camera flash she was so into the movie.
After that busy weekend, it was the final week of school. Ally had pajama/game day. She brought Disney Bingo on DVD. It was a huge hit. Then I made pretzel sticks dipped in white chocolate rolled in either smashed butterfinger, candy canes, mini chocolate chips, or assorted Christmas sprinkles for Emily's class and Mike's office. I sliced cheese and used cookie cutters to make holiday shapes for Emily's class on Friday. It was a lot of work but also very fun. Then, after a crazy day of cooking for Mike's office party, it was FINALLY Christmas break.

Below is the girls making a gingerbread tree. It was a lot of fun. They got to frost the star shaped cookies, then I would stack each layer. Then they put on the star and candy ornaments. It took a decent amount of time, little mess, little explanation and it was just a fun time. I think gingerbread houses are fun but I'm just not patient enough with the ages of my girls. This was perfect because you didn't have to be super careful.


Finished product!
Next up...Christmas and Allyson's birthday.