Native American Festival

Kayla's school combined all the kindergartens (2 morning, 2 afternoon, 1 all-day) for a big Thanksgiving party this morning. We had to go early, and I'm ashamed to admit Kayla got her first blue slip for being late. She is definitely not a morning person, and short of dragging her we were lucky to get there as the bell rang. The kids all had a blast getting to run around the gym.

Kayla's group was the first to partake of the feast. They had chips, jerky, all kinds of dried fruit, Swedish fish, raisins, pretzels, popcorn, sunflower seeds, and water. The kids only had 10 minutes to get their food and eat. Most of them still had full plates when it was time to switch stations. Allie refused to waste perfectly good food. She stayed there and ate with the next group and then the next. She is our eating machine.
After eating the kids made a papoose using brown bags. Then they got to make noodle and fruit loop necklaces. They also got to pick out Native American symbols to have painted on their faces. Kayla choose winter and a tee pee. Allie just got a tee pee.
Then they got to have a tug of war and arm wrestle. They first tried 6 boys against 10 girls; the girls won hands down. Then they took two girls to the boys side to give them 8 verses 8. The all girls side still won easily.

The kids got to go fishing and then cook their fish. They also got to try and spear a buffalo.

Finally they were lucky enough to have some dancers come. The kids were pretty impressed with all the different dances (one of the kindergartners and his family were the performers), but this guy was their favorite. He used up to 29 hoops. He made everything from a flower and a butterfly to an eagle and a galloping horse. I've never seen anything like it before. Then they got all the kids moving in a dance too.

Our Little Artist

Here are Kayla's entries for Reflections. Diamond Castle and Christmas! She was a little disappointed to learn she had to leave them at school for a while, but she had a blast making them. I've created a monster though because now she wants canvas to paint on, and she thinks she needs to use Mommy's paints all the time. "It works better."

Kayla's Reflections Entry

Tomorrow is the deadline for Reflections. Kayla finally finished painting a picture today. She then decided she still had to take a photograph too. Allie was a willing model as Kayla tried to capture "WOW." It was so cute watching her work (Amy you would have been proud.) She get Allie all ready snap a picture, then she'd say, "Okay, now we're going to try... I need you to do.... and pretend..." I wish I'd had the video camera running to capture the photographer.
Kayla narrowed it down to these two photos. She had a hard time deciding which picture to submit. After cropping and removing the red eye all by herself Kayla finally decided to use the second picture. Thank goodness for one hour photo so we can get the picture back, matted, and submitted by noon.

Decorating for Christmas

Hanging the first ornaments. I really wanted the Christmas tree up when we took Halloween decorations down, but I resisted. But I want everything out and perfect before we leave for Thanksgiving; so we can come home to Christmas. The girls sided with me, and Nate set up the tree Monday night. I spent the evening making bows while the girls were sleeping. Tuesday I had Enrichment, so as soon as we finished dinner tonight, everyone was anxious to get decorating.
Allie loved all the glitter. Everyone was pretty much covered by the time we finished.

Kayla was so grown up. She took charge of her little sister, telling her where the best place to hang her ornament was. If Allie lumped too many together, Kayla would sigh, smile, and say, "She just keeps putting these all together. I have to move them again."

See our pretty sparkly ornaments.

Look at that. An ornament for every finger.

Adding a few flowers.

Topping off the tree!!!

What a cute family! We heard about a tradition of letting the kids sleep by the tree the first night it is decorated. We both loved the idea, but as bedtime came, we decided we'd better wait at least one more year before we'll try that one out.

The finished product-almost. Last year after Christmas I bought the NOEL stocking hangers for a steal of a deal, but I'm not real fond of the color. I'm thinking of stopping by Home Depot tomorrow for some paint to remedy that problem. I also made a fun little shopping trip to Tai Pan this year for a few new decorations. Combine that with a bag of balls and ribbon from Costco and this is what we've got.

I had originally bought the balls and presents that are in the fireplace area for this ledge in the front room, since I thought we'd be putting the tree in front of the window. After some furniture moving, and me realizing I want the tree by the fireplace where I can enjoy it all the time, we put the tree in the family room.

I didn't have anything then to put up on the ledge. We're going to have the kids decorate the little 4 foot tree for this room, and so going off the inspiration of a toy room, this is what we ended up with for $0. The girls weren't too happy to see their horse up high, but we don't have any place for it down low right now.

I love the holiday season. I love the happiness it brings. I love how kind people seem to be. I love the twinkling lights. I love the anticipation of having someone you love open that gift that you've kept hidden for months. I love how we remember the true meaning of Christmas and ponder on it. I love how we remember all the things we're thankful for. I love the get togethers with family. I love the gatherings with friends. I love everything about this time of year.

I'm Done!

I finally finished posting our Disneyland Vacation. I hope I didn't bore you with all the pictures, but we had so much fun I had to post a lot. I actually narrowed it down a lot considering we have something like 1300 pictures. Now, on with everyday life.

Disneyland-Thursday

The Halloween decorations are really pretty cool. The characters as pumpkins were really neat, but can you imagine how huge their warehouse must be to store them.
The Mickey head and train station.

It's the castle!!!
This was a common picture. Allie worried it was going to be scary, and me assuring her she'd be fine.

Amy, Mom, and Kayla picked the pink teacup.

Allie, Nate, and I rode in the purple one. (Papa didn't particularly want to get sick; so he skipped this ride.)

The girls got to meet Donald while waiting for some of us to ride Space Mountain.

We'd done the child swap,and Papa had gone with me on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We were planning on riding Mark Twain's Steamboat. I told them if we didn't get done in time to go without us. We almost made it, but not quite.

It's Tiger!!!

Pooh Bear! Both girls liked the Winnie the Pooh ride, but Allie absolutely LOVED it! She got to go on it extra while Kayla braved Splash Mountain (really fun, but definately scary).

Here we are in a Honeypot on the new Winnie the Pooh ride.

I've always thought Autotopia was a boring ride, but it was one of my favorites this time. Kayla wanted to drive Grandma. Amy told Kayla to call Grandma, Miss Daisy. Kayla kept singing about driving Miss Daisy.

Allie was having so much fun driving me. She wouldn't let me touch the steering wheel so it was quite the bumpy ride. I was laughing so hard I cried.

Disneyland Parade of Dreams

At the start of the Parade of Dreams the lucky family chosen to stay in the castle and be Grand Marshal are driven down Main Street first. Then the parade begins.

The Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather stopped to talk to Kayla. Fairy Godmother knelt down and talked to our Princess Cinderella.

That is the kind of expression that makes all the planning, driving, money, and heat worth it. Tinkerbell and Peter Pan lead the first float.

Belle and the Beast dance.

Gepetto and his puppets. Pinocchio of course has no strings; so he walked in front of the float.

Mommy! It's Ariel! (yeah we didn't actually get Ariel in the picture, but who cares we got Allie being excited)

Ursala!

Alice in Wonderland

The Lion King!

Allie has definitely perfected the princess wave. She got the attention of so many of the characters. I kind of felt bad for the kids on either side of us because our girls definitely had more visitors.
Bashful stopped to say hi!

Goofy kissed the princess's hand.

Pluto came to give the girls a hug.

It's Snow White! What was really cute about this princess float is when Aurora came by, she looked down at Kayla and recognized her from the princess lunch. Kayla whispered, "She remembered me!"

Mickey and Minnie finished out the parade all decked in gold.

When you go to Disneyland, make sure and take time to enjoy the parades. They really are fun for the little ones. (They are also a nice time for a little break when you're been up since 6am and the park doesn't close until 11pm.)

Toontown-Friday Morning

Look at those crowds. We arrived over an hour early, and were still a ways back in line. But look at all those people behind us.
We love Minnie Mouse!

Allie still talks about going on the little rollercoaster that was "kinda scary!"

HELP!!! Allie is driving!

Minnie and Mickey along with the gang came out and greeted and danced with those of us lucky enough to get in an hour early. It was really fun and we all got honorary toontown citizens buttons.

M I C K E Y M O U S E!!!

It's Mickey's House

Inside Minnie's House

Roger Rabbit Ride!

Playing around with all the fun things in Toontown!