Makes This Momma Smile

This morning, we were ready for school a few minutes early.  Usually, the girls are running around, playing, and being silly until time to head out to the school house.  This morning, however, they were unusually quiet.  I thought I'd better go check and make sure they weren't up to something.  Instead of trouble, I found them sitting quietly on the toy room floor, listening to their TAG readers read books to them.  Don't you just love it when you find your kids making great choices?!?

Playing with Christmas Presents

Emma giving Ella a push

Ella

Ella using the dust pan and hand broom from their new
cleaning trolley to clean our bathroom door.

Working Together

Emma using the Mop and Bucket 

Beauty and the Beast in 3D

Pretty much everyone who knows us, knows we are huge Disney fans.  Our house is full of Mickey Mouse memorabilia, we own at least one copy of almost every fully animated Disney movie, and our dream vacations usually include trying to see The Mouse in person.  So, when Beauty and the Beast came back out in theaters in 3D, we had to go see it.  Ella and Emma have seen it multiple times on DVD, and they've seen a couple of movies on the big screen.  However, this would be their first 3D movie.  What a great time we had!

We told the girls we had a surprise for them.  They tried to guess the whole time we were in the car, and actually guessed the movies, but we would neither confirm nor deny their guesses.  We took them into the building and walked over to the movie poster to show them what we were watching.  (The picture is a bit fuzzy because they were jumping up and down in excitement.)

We then headed to the theater.  They were so excited.  They wanted to put their 3D glasses on immediately, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well they kept the glasses on during the film.  (We did help Emma put hers on the correct way before the movie started.)

They were memorized by the movie and loved every minute of it, with the possible exception of when Emma was so enthralled, she was sitting on the very edge of her seat causing her to fall to the floor with the booster seat falling on top of her.  A quick hug and having her sit on my lap, along with the diversion of the movie and that ordeal was over very quickly.  The film was as wonderful as ever, and spending time with my family was the best part of all!

Blake's Birthday at Mr. Gatti's

We helped Bryan's cousin Blake celebrate his 9th birthday at Mr. Gatti's this year with Datt while his parents were in Hawaii.  Blake and his sister Berkley spent most of their time trying to get enough tickets to buy a large bouncy ball, so I didn't get any pictures of them.  Our girls had fun playing on all the games/ rides they were big enough to do, including riding the roller coaster simulations.

Ella

Emma

Daddy's helping us row our raft down the river.

Emma

Ella

Welcome 2012

Tickles, Giggles, Squeals of Delight
Screams, Quarrels, and Tears
Growing, Changing, Moving Forward

Holidays, Birthdays, Vacations
Time spent with Family
Blessings in Each and Every Day

Where will God's path lead us this year?
I don't know yet,
But I'm looking forward to finding out.