Christmas Day Fun at Mamaw's

Ella, Gracie, and Kalyn looked pretty cute in their new hats!

 

Ella got the cutest little puppy from Mamaw.  It bounces around and barks, and she LOVES it!

Gracie was excited to get Just Dance for the Wii.  I'm watching her use it right now, and it's pretty fun to watch!

Lucas made a fashion statement in his new ladies slippers!  I think he rather enjoyed the accidental purchase of leopard slippers and he wore them proudly!

 

                                                    
Mason tried out Aunt B's new robe and Ella's pom poms.  It's never dull at our U-ville Christmas!

Christmas Morning at Casa Doolin

Gracie was excited to see that Santa did show up!

Ella was her usual sleepy self for a while, but she perked up.

Ella loved her new Barbies.  She wanted one with weird hair, and this girl had pink hair, and a little sister!

Santa brought Gracie the Hermione wand she wanted (from Harry Potter).

Watch out!  She can cast spells now with her illuminated wand.

Santa brought Ella a dog that walks with a remote controlled leash and barks.

                   Time to start working on learning the states/capitals!

 

                                                  
                                            Our little tomboy is still in love with cars.

Ella's Pre-K Christmas Program

Ella was so excited to have her Tri-County Christmas program.  She was a lamb in the nativity portion of the program, even though she was offered the part of the angel.  Her teacher told me she begged to be a lamb because "she was already an angel in the Christmas parade and she had never been a lamb!"

Ella loves her teacher, Miss Dawn.  This is our second experience with Miss Dawn since Gracie had her also.  Dawn is an amazing teacher!

Eleanor and Anastasia were serious about their bell ringing!

I'm pretty sure Ella didn't miss a note in the song.  She loves to ring the bells, and never took her eyes off of her teacher.  We were very proud of her tonight!

Vacation - Day One

Today we hit the road with Dad and Mom and started on our trip to Wisconsin.  We were supposed to be going to Colorado, but the fires changed our plans.  Instead we are going to Wisconsin Dells.  Tonight we stopped in Dodgeville, WI.  The girls were glad to see that our hotel had an indoor pool with a passage in the wall that led to a small outdoor pool.  They were good travelers today, and enjoyed watching movies, playing games, and reading.  (Mom...you're lucky that I can't get the pictures of you sleeping in the van to rotate, so I'll leave them out!)

 

Happy Fourth!

What do most normal families do on the Fourth of July?  Well, we play dress-up!  We went to Moberly this afternoon and spent the day with my parents.  The girls love to dig through the boxes of dress-up clothes that Nana keeps at her house.  Here's the end result.

 

We didn't play dress-up all day.  We finally got busy with our fireworks.  Gracie wanted to try lighting some of the "tame" fireworks this year, but she had close supervision!

 

This is the only picture you will see of Ella near the fireworks.  She is not a fan!  Surprisingly, we got her to hold a sparkler later in the day, but she was quite cautious.

 

Ella spent most of the time watching the fireworks from the safety of the sun room with Nana Kaser.

 

Our little big girls on the Fourth of July!  They are so much fun!!!

 

Here's the proof that Ella did hold a sparkler...very carefully!

                                    

We went to the Moberly fireworks with Grandpa and Nana, and some of our Macon friends met us there as well.  Good times!

 

A Daddy/Daughter Golf Day

Today I dropped Brent and the girls off at the golf course and went and got a pedicure.  Ella got to use her new clubs for the first time.  Gracie liked using them too, since her clubs are still a little too big for her.  I'm so glad they like to golf with their daddy!

Makeup Fun

The girls asked me if they could play dress-up today.  Next thing I knew, they came out of the bathroom with makeup on.  Not just a little, either.  Gracie did a fine job on herself, but Ella insisted on doing her own makeup.  You can probably see that it wasn't good.

Father's Day 2012

We spent Father's Day in Moberly with my dad.  These girls love their grandpa! 

I couldn't resist a silly picture!  :-)

Neither could Gracie and Ella!  Dad was oblivious to what was going on behind him at first.

Once Ella started making snake noises behind him, I think he figured out we were being silly.

Nana and Gracie were both in yellow and navy today!

Silly Ella Bella!

Brent finally got to Moberly and the girls got to see their daddy for the first time today!  We went to the aquatic center and spent the afternoon swimming, then headed back to Grandpa and Nana's for supper.  Meanwhile, the girls were super excited to begin their revenge on Grandpa.  See, every time we get in our vehicle to leave their house, Dad will find a sweet gum ball that has fallen from his tree and throw it in our van at the girls.  It's just what we have come to expect.  He acts sneaky, the girls act horrified...and so it goes.  Last time we went through this process, the girls decided it was time for revenge.  They spent the week thinking of all kinds of funny things to do to Grandpa.  The worst part of the revenge was saved for the end of the day.  We had filled 2 buckets full of water balloons and bought a can of silly string.  Dad walked up to the van to throw a ball in, and the girls went after him with water balloons.  Once the balloons were gone they got him good with silly string.  He was a really good sport, and the girls thought it was hilarious!