Quick Pics

Just thought I'd say hi. More to come soon I hope.

Silly hat I made at candy night at school

Ben and me. He will be one next Saruday! Love him!
Easter morning

Christmas Flashback

I know this is out of season and that everyone is over it and looking forward to the spring warm up now, but I also know that I have a couple of grandmas and a couple of great aunts who will want to see these even if they are way past due.

Santa and me at Arends Awe. Daddy asked for a new combine, but Santa didn't deliver for him. I, however, got all 4 things on my list!

Christmas at Grandma Pam's with those crazy Coon kids

A new ornament from Grandma to add to my collection.
THE Barbie jet! Jaycie and I were very excited about these. Notice the huge Barbie townhouse box in the background. I was in Barbie heaven.

Helping Mommy bake cookies for friends, family, teachers, and the church cookie walk. Mom likes to see how much I have grown year to year by how much more I can help out with the cookies. This year I poured a lot of the ingredients myself before adding them to the mixer and could crack the eggs really well without shell pieces falling in.

This is my gingerbread house masterpiece from school.

Geordan and I at Grandma Bonnie's for our Christmas party.

Pretty excited to dive into the goods.

Aunt Sissy and Mommy laughed and decided that Kira is going to be very embarassed of this gift bow headband and "look how awesome I am" face someday. It will be a good one for her senior year photo montage, don't you think?

Here I am having a snack at my school Christmas party.

On Christmas Eve we did all of our day before rituals: went to church, sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn, opened new pjs to wear to bed, Daddy read the account of Chirst's birth from Luke, put out the cookies (chocoalte covered cherry this year) and milk for Santa, and FINALLY went to bed and read The Night Before Christmas

I woke Mom and Dad up around 7:00 on Christmas morning. We were finally able to "light" the Christ candle in the Advnet wreath I made at school. I was so excited about this one and the candle of joy.

Look what Santa left for Ella!

Mom and Dad really liked the present I made for them at school. After all of the presents were opened we played all day, and had family over for supper that night.

I hope that everyone alse had a wonderful Christmas season too. 'Til next time.

Go Ask Alice

I am a little bit late on posting the Halloween pics, but thought I would share them anyway. I convinced Dad an Mom to dress up JUST THIS ONCE. I picked out all of the costumes. I was very concerned with staying in character and gave Dad and Mom lines to recite from the movie.

Alice with the mean Queen of Hearts and the very silly Mad Hatter

Ella was the Cheshire Cat and I had a white rabbit purse

Leaving the house to start trick or treating
First stop was Great Grandma's...While there we ran into Daddy's cousin Jason, his wife Dana, and little Grant, their adorable cowboy

After Aunt Nancy's I went to Granny and Great Grandpa's

Next I went to Grandma Bonnie and Papa's house

After going to see our friends John and Ruth, I ended the night at Grandma Pam's

Hi 5!

I am finally 5! 5 is my favorite number so I was extra excited for this birthday. I had a great day including taking a special snack to school, choclate chip cookies. Then it was a fun but low key night at home with Mom and Dad on the big day. I had a great swimming party with my cousins and school friends, and had family over for a pizza party the Saturday after my birthday. I am still loving school and especially love going every day this year. I had the chance to go with Daddy a few times in the combine, and am happy to report that the harvest is complete! I also went on a really fantastic shopping trip with Grandma and Mom last month where we shopped til we very nearly dropped. Last weekend I spent the night with Aunt Amy and we went to a pumpkin farm which I really enjoyed. Here at home I am still very much in love with Ben and want to help Mom with him all the time and play with him every minute he is here. I am also learning knew things everyday with Mom when we do our "pretend" school. We have a lot of fun fall activities coming up like wiener roasts and helping at the church pumpkin patch. I am very much looking forward to Halloween too. This year it is going to be SUPER fun!

My friend Lakin and me before the swimming party started

Blowing out candles for the second of three times...this was also at the swimming party
Jaycie gave me a big kiss when she left the party at my house...we love each other so much
Daddy and me in the combineWorking at the pumpkin patch with Mommy Mommy and I out together this candy haunted house kit on Monday and it is still standing!

Memo

Just a quick little update this time:

Leaving for my first day of school. I am going five afternoons a week this year and loving it! We had a teddy bear party on Friday.

Here are some comparison pics for you.....Here are Jake and me last year on our first day...
...And here are my main man and me going into school a week ago

Don't we look so grown up? I went straight to the classroom library & strarted reading books when I arrived. No big surprise there!

Daddy and I are still doing our running. Here we are at the Waverly picnic kids run. I am getting faster and so is Daddy!

Mom wondered if I would be less interested in my favorite little buddy Ben after a little while. NO! I am so excited to see him each time he comes to our house and want to help do anything Mom does to take care of him. I even want to look at pictures of him when he isn't here. I just can't get enough of him.

Isn't he so cute! I like to call him Little Bean. He is rolling over now and has started his own really funny, loud "talking".

Today was my first day back at dance. Once again I am taking tap and tumbling. I am one of the oldest ones in the class now after being a shrimp for the past two years. I even got to be the leader in class today.

Here I am practicing my curtsey with Mrs. Stevens and Miss Amy. Mommy loves this so much she just HAD to share it! They were her dance teachers when she was a litte girl too.

Marching out of the studio

Another comparison...Here I am at my very first dance class in 2008...

...And here I am today

Also, the harvest is officially under way. We will keep everyone updated on the progress. Mommy, Grandma Pam, and I are headed to the Ozarks next weekend for some serious power shopping. I am sure I will have an update when we get back. Enjoy the rest of the long weekend everybody.

Vacation

It has been almost a week since we returned from our vacation to Jamaica, and I thought I would share some photos. We had a great time, but we always do when we're together. For those curious, we flew into Montego Bay and stayed at the Beaches Resort in Negril on Seven Mile Beach.

This was the view from our table one morning at breakfast. Four of the five restaraunts, including this one, were open air. There was another pool with a swim-up bar too. I loved getting Sprites to drink without having to get out of the pool.

This is a small part of the beach as seen from one of the pool decks.
There was a small water park area. Here are Dad and me on the lazy river. This was one of my favorite things to do. We were on it for at least an hour everyday.

I thought the beach needed watering! The water was beautiful, warm, calm, and shallow for a good ways out which was perfect for littler beach goers like me. Of course we had plenty of beach time each day.

The weather was great! It was about 85 every day, but there were island rains every afternoon. Mommy and I took advantage of the rainy times to do other fun activities like decorating this shell and bug at a craft class.

I also went to the spa and had my fingernails and toenails painted while it was raining. Mom and Dad each went to the spa for a massage too.

Beaches partners with Sesame Street for their kid's club program. On Thursday afternoon all of the Sesame gang led a parade through the resort that ended on the beach. I danced with all of them and of course wanted my picture with all of them. (My face is pianted like a butterfly in this picture).

I had been talking about building this sand castle for months. Dad, Mom, and I all worked togehter on it. Daddy built a moat around it that would fill with water when the water came close enough. He has such good ideas.

I am having a sunset snack here in a lounging area. We also went to tea at this spot one afternoon. The tea was essential as so many of the guests were British. It was neat to meet other kids from different places, not just Jamaica.

This Poster changed every day according to the event being held in the ampitheatre. I was very happy when I saw what was coming up on this day. The show was When I Grow Up and all of the kids were asked to come out on the floor to sing and dance along. Fun stuff! On Saturday morning we went on a Cattamaran trip. Daddy and I are checking out the water. Even farther out like this we could still see to the bottom. The water was just so pretty. Mommy and I saw quite a few stingrays on the boat ride.

We stopped to snorkel which was an experience. I do NOT like to have salt water in my mouth so I wouldn't put my face in to see all of the sea life. Mommy took me with the slower beginner group, and luckily we had the best group leader ever! He held me almost the whole time while Mommy enjoyed the snorkeling. He also dove down several times and picked up things for me to hold like sea urchins and a starfish. So cool!

Mom and I went to lots of activities at the kid camp. Here I am making cookies with Cookie Monster. We also went to storytime with Elmo, treasure hunting with Abby Cadabby, and exploring with Grover among other things.

On Sunday we had breakfast with all of the Sesame Street characters. Here I am with Zoe. My favorite of course was Abby Cadabby who made a big deal all week when she would see me and hear that my name was Abby too.

Wasting away in Margaritaville in this last picture. We went on a long walk down the beach on Sunday morning to see something outside of our resort, and Margaritaville was the only place Mom was willing to stop. We saw some interesting (questionable) places on that walk, but Mom and Dad were glad we ventured out at least a very little bit. While we were stopped here, Mom and I decided to swim out a litle distance to the trampolines and do some jumping. Glad we did!

We had so many terrific experiences there! Also, the food was great, our room was really nice, and we learned a lot about the customs and people in Jamaica. Even without all of this great stuff, as Daddy says, "The bus ride was worth the whole trip!"