Disney on Ice

Mike and I decided to bring the girls to Disney on Ice for both of their birthday presents. Lucky for us it ended up being pretty entertaining!

I remembered someone telling me to buy tchotchkes on Amazon instead of shelling out $30+ each at the venue, so that’s what I did. The girls each had a light-up Elsa snowflake wand and a light-up Moana necklace. The necklace was the big winner.

Of course this does not mean we didn’t spend a ridiculous amount of money on snow cones and cotton candy (whoops).

The show was two hours long and I was a little shocked that the girls made it through the whole thing. Disney saved the best for last – Frozen and Moana. I was personally impressed with the Tangled sequence where Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder skated around and then did arial tricks on silks…while still in skates.

That adorable girl behind Mike SCREAMED “Let it Go” while Elsa was singing, while standing up and projecting directly into Mike’s ear. It was pretty funny (for me).

It was a fantastic time and a wonderful birthday present idea!

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DIS Field Day

On Friday (Celine’s birthday), the girls’ school had their yearly field day. The weather was perfect and the girls had a good time!

Happy girls.

There were obstacle courses, potato sack races, egg races, and other fun things.

…and friends, of course. =)

Winter break

The girls get three weeks off from school around Christmas, and the first week flies by with holiday activities and lots of family time. Then we have two extra weeks to fill.

We did a lot of exercising in the frigid weather with the Coco soundtrack on repeat…

…frequenting indoor play areas like Play Street Museum and SOAR!…

…not fully understanding the concept of Hide and Seek but enjoying it anyway…

…warming our backs by the fire…

…oh: and getting Strep throat.

The girls are back at school today and we’re all happy about it!

New Years Eve bags

The girls have been out of school since the 21st, and even though we still have another week before they go back to school (ugh), we’ve gotten close to exhausting all of our activity options – especially since it’s frigid outside (I’m sorry: 18 degrees??). The day before New Years Eve, I got an idea to make goody bags for a few of our friends and deliver them on NYE. It was a good activity for the girls to help with, and we ended up spending over six hours driving around the metroplex delivering them. I might make it a tradition, because it was really fun to have little catch-ups with our friends while the girls had mini play dates. It also gave us something to do during the day while Mike picked up our house and prepped for dinner, which was great!

Happy New Year!

Halloween 2017!

Not even the rain could stop our fun Halloween day!

We had three activities planned for the day: the girls had a parade and party at school, we popped by my work to trick-or-treat, and we did our standard trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with our annual posse of my parents, Taylor, and Hillary.

The girls’ Poppy costumes were quite the hit at school! Louise was briefly concerned that people were laughing at her, but once she realized they were laughing with her we were good to go.

Celine’s primary concern was to get the show on the road so we could go back to her room and eat cupcakes.

The parade was a little overwhelming for both girls, but they were TOTALLY ON BOARD with trick-or-treating at my office. There were stations set up around the office and everyone was very generous with giving the girls the sweets. Celine was also pretty pumped to meet Captain Obvious.

We went home, watched a little TV, and ate dinner while we waited for our group to arrive. Once they did we made some Hot Toddies and headed out around 6:30.

We brought the wagon in case they got tired of walking, but they wanted to get in it after every house. Finally we instituted an “every three house” rule to speed up the process.

The girls were totally into it, going from house to house with gusto. Celine would get candy and then shriek “trick or treat!” as she sprinted back down the walkway. Louise would get offended if the person handing out candy didn’t respond with “you’re welcome” when she said “thank you.” She was sure to point it out to me each time. They’re learning a lot about being good citizens at school and she’s taking it pretty seriously.

We did our standard up-one-street-and-down-the-next path and then retreated back to our house to hand out candy and survey our spoils. Celine was very involved in handing candy out to the trick-or-treaters who came to our door, and always responded with a “trick or treat!” when they said thank you.

Then it was bathtime and bedtime! The girls slept until after 8am this morning which they desperately needed. Success!

First day of school: GS and PS

Another first in the books! Louise is starting kindergarten (I may have teared up after dropping her off), and Celine is in the 3’s program.

Obligatory first-day-of-school-in-front-of-the-door picture:

Party time!

Mike and I both went to the school to see them off.

Celine’s backpack was way smaller than I thought it was going to be when I bought it online – it’s so small, her lunch box doesn’t fit inside! Oh well…there’s no going back to the owl backpack. This mermaid option is just too cool.

I wanted Louise to have a rolling backpack this year (mainly because I get tired of carrying it), and after seeing everyone the first few days, the majority of other parents had the same idea. It also seems like unicorns are the au courant backpack pattern – I spotted three others just in Louise’s class!

This was the first year they both happily posed with the tiger. Celine even greeted him and said goodbye.

Celine had a moment of being overwhelmed when we walked into her new classroom and stood at the door with her bottom lip tucked for about two minutes. Then I asked if she wanted to color with the pink crayon and that snapped her out of it. She happily said goodbye to me and got to work!

Louise was the surprise this year. She was happy and confident all the way until we got to the door of her room, and then she panicked and didn’t want to go in. She kept saying she was too shy. Finally we (gently) muscled her in and left. She was a happy camper when we picked her up, saying she already made a new best friend (for the record, she now has five).

All went well! Here’s to a great year!

Louise’s 20 Questions: Kindergarten

Sort of by accident, Mike and I started a tradition last night where we asked Louise questions on the eve of starting a new school year. We think it would be interesting to see how her answers change each year. Her answer for favorite holiday in particular melts my heart! (And who can forget her sidekick…)