Ice Skating!

I'm not gonna lie, this was miserable.  We had a chance to take the girls ice skating for free and thought they might be old enough to enjoy it.  Fail!  Mark and I are not strong ice skaters and the girls were like limp noodles.  It was so hard.  We basically had to hold Paige up and push her around the ice.  She liked it....we did not.  Lainey pooped out after about 1 loop.  So Mark and I took turns taking Paige around.

Umm, soon after this I totally ended up falling on top of Paige.  She cried and I wanted to....Mark captured it on video.....No, we are not going to share!

Art!

Paige wanted me to take a picture of her picture.  The girls have really been enjoying using the dry erase board.  They draw at least once a day on it!

Snowman!

It's not winter until you've built a snowman.  We have had an amazing winter this year.  There has been very little snow.  In fact Lainey was out riding her bike (notice the helmet on her head) when I suggested seeing if we could build a snowman while we waited for Paige to get home from school.  We had to "borrow" snow from the little pile that was left in our neighbors yard.  In fact, I had flip flops on.  Probably the only time in my life I will build a snowman in flip flops.  Lainey was thrilled!

Emily had picked up Paige from school, so all the kids had fun detailing the snowman when they got there. 

Gymnastics!

Paige has been blessed to take Gymnastics again this year.  She is so strong and absolutely loves it.  Here is what she has been up to.

When the weather outside is......

DELIGHTFUL! And it's January 5th in the Midwest and 60+ degrees!  Where should we go.....

But to the park with our friends.

Where we'll climb,

And hide,

and play tag.

We'll cross a bridge,

find a friend,

 and giggle.

We'll fly on the swings,

watch in awe,

 and take a rest.

But best of all, is digging in the dirt,

monkeying around,

and squeezing a pal!  What a great day!

Paige Sings At Church!

I've been waiting for this for 5 years.  Finally, the kids got to sing a couple songs at church.  Now, I really, REALLY wish it had been a Christmas program, but hey, I'm thrilled they got to experience sharing Jesus love with others through song in any capacity.  She was SOOOO excited and picked out her dress, told me how she wanted her hair, and then brought me a necklace to help her put on.  It was so precious.

The first video is Blessed Be and the second is Lord I Lift Your Name on High.  This is your warning, that they are pretty much family interest level videos.  Enjoy!

When you have kids....

You can't neglect things like putting up Christmas lights outside.  They will nag you every day until you put them up.  So up they went.  The girls wanted to help.  It wasn't exactly the warmest of days.  (That's what happens when you wait until mid December!)  The girls came in and out until I finally got the right mix of outerwear on them....snowpants, coat, scarf over their face, hat, mittons, and boots. 

"Lainey - Do NOT put them in your mouth!"

Still thinking about it!

Daddy was very patient with them helping!

Lainey's turn!

Then Lainey brought this up to show me.  You can tell it was pretty cold because this is still intact.

And another one!  I don't have an after picture, but they did a great job and it looks very pretty.  Paige was upset that night when we turned them on and they weren't different colored lights.  (We only had white on hand.)  We told her we would get some after Christmas, so next year it will be colorful!