NDSU Wins 4th FCS Championship!

Miles, Bailey, Travis, Tyler, Caden, Grandma Kate, and Grandpa Wayne took a trip to Texas to watch the Bison play for their 4th FCS Championship.  It was a great game, and NDSU won!  It was a special weekend for the kids and adults.

The Quietest Week Ever!

Miles loaded up the girls and Winston and headed to Harvey a couple of days after Christmas.  They stayed for a week!  The house was incredibly quiet, and I filled my time with projects, sleeping, and lots of Netflix.  I enjoyed the "break" but I was ready for them to come home.  Despite the very cold weather in North Dakota, everyone had a great time at the farm. Josie keeps saying she needs to go home to Harvey.  She has also informed me that I can't go with her, only Dad.  I am trying not to let it hurt my feelings. 

Josie was so proud of her tower.

Dad braved the cold to do some pheasant hunting.

Bailey also braved the cold for ice fishing.

BRRRRRR!

Hanging out with Grandpa.

Christmas 2014

So it is January 25th and I haven't blogged about Christmas yet.  It isn't because it wasn't a very nice Christmas, it was.  It is because I was TERRIBLE at taking pictures.  I will post what I have, but it isn't much.  My poor daughters will have little to no documentation of this Christmas.  We all got very spoiled though, and we really enjoyed the time we got to spend with family and friends. 

Here is a side view of Bailey's Christmas program.  I was working that day so I was back stage keeping an eye on my class.

Unfortunately Bailey was very sick on her program day and barely make it through.  I got this smile out of her though.

Breakfast with Santa is always fun for the girls.  Josie walked right up and got on Santa's lap.

Traig, Laura, and the kids came to visit us and Elyse came along to see Santa.

The girls got to open one present before church on Christmas Eve.

We had a wonderful supper of Prime Rib on Christmas Eve.

I took zero pictures of everyone opening their gifts.  I was enjoying the evening.  Here is Josie in the mess afterwards .

Ella, our Elf on a Shelf, left a note saying good-bye for the year.  She sure did some sneaky things at our house.

We thought Santa could use some protein and juice instead of more cookies and milk, and carrots for the reindeer of course.

Santa brought Bailey lots of Squinkies!

And a Furby Boom!

A couple of days after Christmas we met up with a bunch of friends to go Rock-n-Bowling. 

Josie and our friend Trafton.

Anticipation

We took the girls to see Santa at the hospital, and they were so excited!  Waiting in line was excruciating. But I did get a sweet picture of the girls right before their turn.  Holy Rosary has a photographer each year, and she got a couple of cute shots of the girls. 

I love this picture!  They made it to the front of the line!

Handing over their lists.

"A Fairy Tale Christmas Carol" and Holiday Preparations

Our community theater company, The Barn Players, held auditions for a Christmas play.  Bailey really wanted to try out.  Her nerves almost got the best of her, but she made it through the audition and got a very cute part.  She even had lines to memorize.  The play was based on A Christmas Carol, but all of the characters were from fairy tales.  Bailey was Fan, the Ugly Duckling.  They put on two performances, and she did GREAT!  I was so proud of her.  She seemed so grown up throughout the process which involved lots of rehearsals with mostly adult actors.  She loved it all, and cried on closing night.  She is excited for the next play, Peter Pan. 

Dress Rehearsal

Play goers were treated to lots of yummy desserts at the show.  It was standing room only both nights.

Most of her costume was supplied, but I needed to make some duck feet to go over her shoes.  I think they turned out quite cute.

Closing  Night

The cast and crew were wonderful, and they were so kind to Bailey. What a great group!

On the same weekend as the play we decided it was time to decorate for Christmas.  Up went the tree and all the fun decorations.  The girls really enjoyed hanging ornaments and finding places for everything.  Josie is finally old enough to sort of figure out what is happening.

Well obviously we didn't trudge out into the woods to get our tree.  I think that tradition passed when we moved from Bozeman. Bailey and Miles have started a new tradition of buying a tied up tree and seeing how it turns out.

The tree settled perfectly!

So many decorations, so little space in our house.

Josie was a blur in all the pictures because she never stays still.

The finishing touch!

I try to make gifts for my nieces and nephews each year, and this year it was blocks.  There was something different on each side, and boy was it a huge project.  I am so happy with how they turned out though. 

The sides that didn't have letters had funny animals or characters that mix and match.