Phone Download

Date night at the Drunken Fish

Love my new ring from Riley and Grammy! 

Doing dishes at big Jake's house

Crazy slide hair

Going "super high" as requested

Being silly with daddy at Fuzzy's taco shop

Science Center

Running, running, running with friends

Doing something(?) with Ella

Jumping with Jake

They thought they were hilarious!

Tuesdays with the Tenholders

Giving her baby a bath

Dishing out ice cream at the Magic House

Dr. Violet learning about stethoscopes (and  boy privates).

A quick lunch then right back to the babies

Mirror time!  Thanks for the dress, Riley :-)

Delivering cuteness

Thanksgiving #2

A new show we're piloting: Sibs on the Stairs

Violet's blinding beauty during trivia at Ginny's house.  Favorite line of the night: in reference to how many people present have blue eyes and Heather's name on the list, Heather says, "My eyes are green!" and Ginny responds, "No, they're blue."  Hilarious!

Thanksgiving #1

We visited Grandma and Papa in Cape Girardeau on Thanksgiving Day and had a very nice relaxing day.  Violet was excited to play with Maggie!

Papa showed her some of Nate's old toys

More time with Maggie

Our traditional post-meal walk around the block

 

 

 

We also went downtown to see the Christmas display at a local furniture store.  While we were there we had our picture taken by the Southeast Missourian newspaper and our picture made the paper!  We were above the flap in full color!! :-)    Southeast Missourian

 

 

Random

Violet took this picture herself and when she showed it to me she said, "Look at that bugger, mom!"

Violet and Daddy made a house for tiny Vi Vi (a tiny doll with blonde hair like her).  They made it have doors, windows, and a roof.  Lately she has been drawing houses and she even wants to put a roof everything.  We are trying to teach her that putting a roof on top of the letter "V" makes it a triangle but it's going right over her head. 

Macy's Christmas Celebration

 One reason we love living in a city is the amount of cool free events happening.  Last weekend we went downtown to the Macy's Christmas tree lighting and parade.  It was a lot of fun! 

Riding the Metro downtown.  She was showing her baby the tunnel.

She got a glow necklace and was putting it on her baby.  Her baby goes with her EVERYWHERE.

There was a stage set up in Kiener Plaza and they had performances from the Rockettes and a drumline.  It was super cool!

Enjoying a salted caramel cupcake from a food truck.

They even had a firework display at 6:00!  This was her first time seeing fireworks.  She thought they were pretty and loud.  Mostly loud!

Trying to muffle the sound!

We then walked in a parade to Macy's just a few blocks away

They had stations set up all over the Macy's with music, treats, and story readings.  We tried to go to a few but it was so CRAZY and crowded.  So we went to the Starbucks across the street and had hot chocolate instead :-)   It was a very fun and kid-friendly event and I'm sure we'll be back next year!

Abby hat

Violet loves Abby from Sesame Street almost as much as she loves Elmo.  We found this awesome Abby hat and she loves wearing it!

She also often asks to wear 2 ponies so she can be just like Abby!

What we're doing lately

  Dinner with the Shooks and DiMartinis. With four kids there was plenty of entertainment and mayhem.

Getting ready for dance and music class at Parents As Teachers. Of course we had to bring her tutu and Angelina Ballerina book.

 Playing at Monkey Joe's. As you can see she has excellent climbing skills.

 She sat at the top of the slide for several minutes, a little too scared to go down. She was at the top crying for a few minutes, just out of our reach and surrounded by big kids, until we convinced her to climb back down.

Pretending to be a turtle using the shell I made out of a box, construction paper, and marker. In our house, turtles are blue (we are out of green paper) and wear a nametag identifying it as a turtle.

Ballet at the Museum

 Another morning well spent at the Contemporary Art Museum.  We love this place!  They have free coffee and pastries, an art project, and an activity.  And of course a super cool building to explore.  This morning was extra fun because dancers from the Nutcracker came to perform for the kids.  It was amazing!  Violet was mesmerized and couldn't wait to meet the ballerinas.  When they were done she took a turn dancing on the stage and had some surprisingly good ballet moves. She came home and put her tutu on and is asking about taking her own dance class.  So cute!

Sharing a snack with friends

Making a shadow box

Ring-around-the-rosie with Felicity

Watching the performance

She was actually excited, you guys. Not sure about the face.

Yay!

what do you see?

Where other kids see a mouth she sees a mustache.  Love this girl!

More Halloween!

Our Halloween party with our playgroup was a crazy fun time!  Violet and Rudy held down the snack table. 

Just another Olympian and princess holding hands.  You know, the usual.

All of the kids.  Whoa.

Ready to trick-or-treat!

Pretty crafty with the paint, eh?

She LOVED walking up the the houses, knocking on the door, and saying trick-or-treat.  She told every house "thank you" in a big strong voice.  We were out for 2 and a half hours!!

She pulled her own wagon most of the way.  So much fun!