More recitals, camps and the 4th of July

In June, Lillie had a Piano Recital and a Gymnastics recital. At her piano recital she played "French Children's Song" and "Let it go." Both of these songs were very hard and we are proud of her.

She was really excited when she received her gymnastics medal.

A week after school was out, Lillie and Sophie started their Soccer and Tennis camps.

Sophie was really excited when the coach helped her balance the ball on the back of her neck.

Lillie enjoyed hitting the tennis ball over the net.

 

 We continued our 4th of July tradition by riding in the Richland Parade.

 Later that evening, we went to a friend's house for swimming, hot dogs and fireworks.

Mother's Day Tea, Field Trip, Excel Expo and Dance Recital

In May, Sophie and I went to her Mother's Day Tea. They sang songs and we had yummy sandwiches and fruit. We also made these great looking hats.

 We went to the Delano Homestead for Sophie's class field trip. We saw lots of farm animals. Afterwards, we were able to visit the Kalamazoo Nature Center building and look at all of the animals found in Michigan. Sophie is in an indoor tree house with preschool friends: Lauren, Addy, Zac and Wendell.  

This year, Lillie did a research project for Excel on Dolphins. She made a Triorama with a clay model of a dolphin. She also made a menu with the types of food dolphins eat and packet of information about her animal.

 On Saturday, Lillie and Sophie had their dance recital. They had a lot of fun and they did a great job. Afterwards, we went to Plainwell ice cream to celebrate.

Happy Easter!

Happy Birthday Lillie

I can't believe that this smart, funny girl is 7. On Saturday, she had a "super seventies" party including tie-dying, making pet rocks and clay jewelry. The inside of her cake was 5 different colors to look like a tie-dye cake. She had a great time with 5 of her friends that were able to come celebrate her birthday.

Questions for Lillie

Brian and Lillie went to the Father-Daughter dance last Saturday and they had a lot of fun.  Lillie enjoyed eating at Applebee's before the dance and dancing with one of her best friend at the event. The dance was a fundraising event for the Gull Lake Community Volunteers.
Favorite color: pink and light blue
Favorite thing to eat: cheese ravioli, mashed potatoes and pineapple
Favorite thing to do: read
Favorite place to go: Air Zoo
Where do you want to go someday:
Favorite toy: Kindle Fire
What do you want to be when you grow up: a singer
Who is your best friend: Charlotte, Mara and Emily
Favorite stuffed animal: big unicorn
Favorite animal: flamingo
Favorite song: "Let it go" from the movie "Frozen"
Favorite thing to wear: tie-dyed shirt
Favorite book: Matilda
Favorite movie or show to watch: Matilda
Favorite thing to do with Daddy: play chess
Favorite thing to do with Mommy: bake cookies

Lillie's Winter Piano Recital

Lillie had her winter piano recital on Sunday. She did a great job playing Cuckoo, Lightly Row, French Children's Song and Yankee Doodle.

Happy Birthday Sophie!

Tuesday, we celebrated Sophie's birthday after preschool with her friends. The party was at McDonald's play place and the kids loved playing on the indoor playground. Her cupcake cake was decorated with the characters from the movie "Frozen." She had a great birthday party and she is still talking about it several days later.

Questions for Sophie

Sophie is going to be 4 years old on Tuesday, but I asked her these questions today. This picture is from last weekend when we at Olive Garden. She was the star child at school and she got to take Clifford home for the weekend.

Favorite color: purple
Favorite thing to eat: peas
Favorite thing to do: paint
Favorite place to go: Chicago (because of the train ride)
Where do you want to go someday: my birthday party
Favorite toy: kitchen set
What do you want to be when you grow up: fire fighter
Who is your best friend: Lauren, Jared and Isabella
Favorite stuffed animal: Clifford
Favorite animal: a dog
Favorite song: Old McDonald
Favorite thing to wear: Sofia outfit
Favorite book: Sofia the First
Favorite show to watch: Sofia the First
Favorite thing to do with Daddy: play airplane and dive bommer
Favorite thing to do with Mommy: cuddle time

Snow Tunnel

On Sunday, it was finally warm enough to go outside and play in the snow. We went sledding down our hill and Brian and I dug a tunnel for the girls to crawl through. They loved it.

Cold and Snow Days

On Sunday, We got a snow storm and it dumped 14" of snow on us. We already had 8" on the ground, so the snow is piled up to the mailbox.

Before the cold arctic air came in, we went outside to enjoy the snow by sledding down the hill. It was almost too deep to go sledding.

We made ice cream out of snow. It was really yummy and easy to make.

We had a snow day on Monday, because of the snow and we had a snow day today, because the windchill was too cold. We got another call tonight and we will have a third snow day tomorrow for the cold windchill.

Merry Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year. Lillie got a two wheeled scooter from Santa and Sophie got a Sofia the First castle from Santa.
Lillie woke us up at 7:15 on Christmas morning to open presents. They loved all of their presents and we had fun playing the games and putting their toys together too.

We took this picture of the girls on Christmas eve. Lillie's smile looks funny in this picture because she had a loose tooth and it was hanging at a weird angle. She finally lost that top tooth tonight. The tooth came out too late for us to sing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth."

Santa and Nativity

Today, we went to see Santa and we saw a Christmas miracle. Sophie did not cry when she sat on his lap. She has cried the last two years.

Lillie and Sophie told him what they wanted for Christmas. After, we went to decorate bags and write a letter to Santa.
Later this afternoon, Lillie played an angel in the Nativity play. She played angel 2 and 3. She whispered in Joseph's ear and she appeared to the shepherds.

Earlier this week, I joined Lillie on her class field trip to the Delano Homestead at the Kalamazoo Nature Center. Most of the field trip was outside and it was only 5 degrees outside.Lillie got to grind grain, make candles, fleece wool, make gingerbread cookies. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit for Thanksgiving.

We had a great week. We played games, watched Lillie at gymnastics, went shopping, went to see the movie "Frozen" and updated the mantel on the fireplace.

Happy Halloween

Sophie had her first Halloween Party at Preschool. Sophie is in the back row, in purple, as Sofia the first.

We played games at her school, 

made a trick or treat bag, and trunk or treated.

Later that afternoon, I went to Lillie's school for her class Halloween party. Lillie is in the front row, with the Hello Kitty hat on.

Lillie's class played games, 

ate snacks, and had a school parade. Lillie is between Sponge Bob and Iron Man.

Later that night, we went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Sophie told me "This is the best day ever."

Visit from Grandpa

Last week, Grandpa came to visit. He helped us carve our pumpkins.

He got to see Lillie at her gymnastics class. He also got to see Lillie and Sophie's schools.

On Tuesday, we trunk or treated at the Gilmore Car Museum and we rode a double decker bus.

On Wednesday, we visited the Bird Sanctuary and Dairy farm to watch the robots milk the cows.

It was a great week.

Sophie's New Earrings and Lillie Cheers for Gull Lake High School

Yesterday, was an exciting day for us. Sophie got her ears pierced. She picked out purple earrings.

She let out a quick cry after they did them, but I picked her up and she stopped. She didn't cry any tears. The pinch just scared her.

Later that night, we watch Lillie cheer at the Gull Lake High School football game. 

She is the one, on the right side of the picture below. She cheered for 15 minutes of the game.

The night before she had a practice to learn some of the cheers, jumps and stunts. Including this stunt below. It was a great experience for Lillie and we got to see Gull Lake play for the first time. Gull Lake unfortunately lost the game, but Lillie had a great time.

Lillie and her friends from Kellogg Elementary school. 2nd grader, Ella, Grace, Lillie, 2nd grader.

 Lillie and other Jack and Jill Preschool Friends. Lilyanna, Ashley, Lillie, Amanda, Rylee.

Lillie lost her first tooth

Since May, Lillie has had 2 permanent coming in behind her bottom baby teeth. The Dentist said that she would have the 2 baby teeth out between the 4th of July and Labor Day. He was wrong.
She finally lost her first one tonight. She was scared that it was going to hurt. I told her to go wiggle it in the mirror and watch her tooth go sideways. She wiggled it sideways and then practically fell out. I hope that the gift from the Tooth Fairy will motivate her to keep wiggling the other 4 teeth that are loose.

She is holding her baby tooth in the picture above. School picture day is tomorrow and it is going to be a cute picture.