Merry Christmas 2013

Merry Christmss from the Perry Family!  It was a wonderful day spent together - a fun morning and then lazy and laid back as we enjoyed our Christmas treasures.  It turns out our camera has a timer on it....guess I should have figured that out before.... so we attempted a family picture.  Clara wasn't exactly cooperative but at least we all look nice.  This is in front of our fireplace and next to our tree.

Clara is 2 1/2 now so this was the first Christmas with her that she got excited about opening presents and seeing what was in the packages.  One of her gifts was a little kitchen set.  She loved it!

She also received a new Doc McStuffins coloring book and pencils from Samantha as well as some Mickey Mouse flashcards in her stocking.  We use the flashcards to help her learn words and pronounce them a bit better.

Gramma Perry bought the girls new books to read.  Emma LOVES "Diary of a Wimpy Kid."  She finished it the first day!

Art supplies are always a big hit - especially with Samantha.  She spent lots of time coloring pictures.

Sam also received a new bathrobe - it is very soft and warm.  She has been wearing it all day!

This is Clara and her new tricycle... she likes to sit on it but hasn't figured out how to pedal AND steer.

My big gift from Santa was a new bread machine!  I love it and can't wait to use it.  My other one broke this past year so I have been anxious to receive a new one.  Santa knew just what I wanted!!!

Emma received a giant bulletin board.  She wanted to be able to display all of her 4-H and school awards.  This one should do the trick!

The big gift this year was a new basketball hoop.  Emma and Sam love to play basketball but we are no longer close to a park to play.  Santa dropped it off and Daddy spent several hours in the early morning assembling it.  They also received a new basketball from Gramma and Grampa Edwards.  They are set!

There were lots of other gifts given and received - we have enjoyed the Christmas season and we are sad to see it go.  It's hard to think about waiting another year for it to come around again.  We hope your holiday was very special!

Advent Activities

Each December I put together an Advent Calendar of activities for the girls to do.  Hopefully it helps them to enjoy the holiday and spirit of the season.  Some activities are bigger than others but we do something each day.  We have cut out snowflakes, done secret service, watched Christmas movies, and played Christmas games.  One activity that the girls really enjoyed was making homemade snow globes.  They were very easy to make and they turnd out very cute.

I found the figures at the Dollar store and besides needing the jars (which I had), some glitter, and some hot glue that was all we needed.

Another popular activity was homemade Hot Chocolate with all the fixings.  We had whipped cream, peppermint ice cream, hazelnut cookies, sprinkles, marshmallows, etc.  This was super yummy!

We also made reindeer and snowman pancakes - thanks to Pinterest for the reindeer idea!  The girls were really creative and gobbled them up very quickly after they made them.

Its getting harder and harder to come up with activity ideas that the girls will be interested in as they get older.  But it's a fun tradition to have and hopefully they will remember these moments as they get older.

Happy 11th Birthday Emma!

My little girl is now 11 years old...... It's easy for me to feel sentimental about time gone by.  How many times have I written on this blog about wanting time to stand still or to have my babies stop growing?  But then I look at these pictures of Emma and see what a lovely young lady she has grown into and I can feel good about this stage in her life - for a little bit.  Emma is smart, kind, gentle, thoughtful, curious, observant, and faithful.  I can trust her to make good choices - to be a good friend and a good sister.  She just makes people happy and that makes me one proud mama!!!

She had a great day!  Her friends made her day special at school and we had a little family party at home in the evening with a special dinner and root beer floats.  The main thing she really wanted was a new sewing machine for her 4-H projects.  Hopefully this machine will do the job!

She also got a couple of games, lots of cards and spending money from family members, and a new scarf from her aunt and uncle.  There sure are alot of people who LOVE this girl!

We love you very much Emma!  Hope your birthday was the best ever! :)

Clara Colors

Clara has many interests....The Wiggles, Mickey Mouse, her Baby Doll (that she carries around with her everywhere and sleeps with) playdates, and her sisters.  But she has really taken to coloring lately.  She loves Mickey Mouse so she has a couple of Mickey Mouse coloring books and a bag of colored pencils (because sometimes she likes to eat crayons).  She tells me she wants to color and then she runs to her room and drags out her Fairy table with a couple of chairs so she can sit down and concentrate.

She has such a fun time doing it and her art work is gradually getting better....at least for a two year old.

Now if only we can teach her to pick up after she is done!

Fall Concert

Childrens' Choir started up again in September.  Emma opted to take a break this semester but Samantha was eager to join up again.  They have learned lots of fun songs from all over the world and she has had a great time doing it.  She had her fall concert on Thursday evening where choirs from all over the valley came to perform.  Their first song each child was able to play an African drum with a drum teacher that taught them some beats from West Africa.  Then they sang a beautiful song called "Liberty."

Clara thoroughly enjoyed herself but mostly wanted her picture taken.

She lasted through about half of the program and then it was time to take this stinker home!  We are really grateful that our girls love to share their talents!

School Programs

Within the last week the girls have had special events at their elementary school which have been wonderful to participate in!  The first event was the annual Veterans Day Assembly.  Apparently this is a long standing tradition within this school to invite all the veterans in the area to come and watch a patriotic program put on by the students.  It started with the Boy Scouts displaying the colors and everyone saying the Pledge of Allegiance.  Then the children started singing and it was beautiful!

They did some songs where everyone sang, including the audience.  Then they did the anthems of the five branches of the military.  Sam's grade sang about the Navy and Emma's grade sang for the Coast Guard.  The principal said that it was usually an emotional and touching program and it certainly didn't disappoint!  As a parent, I am thrilled that our children are learning about the meaning of Veterans Day and what it represents.

On Friday the school had an awards assembly which they hold every nine weeks (for each quarter).  This is a time when they honor the childrens' accomplishments and the parents are invited to attend.  Each class chose three students who excelled in reading and three students who excelled in math.  Then they were announced in the front of the school and given a certificate.  Samantha received an award for her excellence in reading!

Here is the certificate she was given:

She also had an award for 100% attendance so far this year!  She loves to be at school!

Emma's name was called for her reading achievements as well.  Here she is coming up to the front to accept her award.

These were the rest of the fifth graders....

And her special award....

Then the principal recognized everyone who participated in intramural volleyball.  Each student received an award and had their picture taken with their team.

 Here is her certificate....

Emma had an award for her attendance as well: 98%

I love that these kids at this school are being recognized for their hard work.  It is motivating for them and you can see how excited they all were to have wonderful things said about them.  Kudos to the staff at the elementary for making it such a great place to learn!

Raspberries

One of the things that we love about our home is our raspberry patch.  However, we only had a slight harvest with them this summer - mostly because they hadn't been watered for a while during the moving transition and also because they weren't being taken care of as they should have been.  Mark did a lot of research and we knew we had to change things up.  This is a picture from about a month ago of our raspberries.  They were very overgrown.

Now this is how they look.  Last weekend Mark spent almost an entire day trimming and transplanting.  He cut them down to a good height, spread them out, and added some wire fencing to contain them and keep them upright.  We went from having 20 feet of overgrown raspberries to now having 40 feet!  It is so much more spacious on that side of the house and the berries look much healthier!

We have to do a few more thing to brighten up the area but we are really pleased with how well it looks now.

Cross your fingers with us that we will have an abundant harvest next summer!

Halloween Festivities!

Happy Halloween!  We've had a fun Halloween week here.  The girls only had school on Monday and Tuesday so we've been playing all week and getting into the Halloween Spirit.  They had class parties on Tuesday that were lots of fun and had a ward party on Wednesday night.  We had a chili cookoff and Mark's chili won the prize for best sweet chili.  His prize was an oven mitt filled with candy!  This picture is of Clara holding the big prize!

Thursday we went downtown to trick or treat in the afternoon.  The girls scored lots of candy!  Then we came home and had pizza and then did a little more trick-or-treating.  Clara's costume this year was a fairy - she was adorable but the wings didn't last too long.

Samantha went as a gypsy!

Emma dressed up as a nerd.  She was so cute!

It was a fun day and we have so much candy in the house.  We are definitely ready to move on to Thanksgiving!  We hope your Halloween was filled with fun!

Pretty Girls

I love the fall season.  I love the changing colors and the mountains here in La Grande are full of bright colors this time of year.  We have a really large bush/hedge in our front yard that has turned the most gorgeous shade of red so I thought I would take a few snapshots of my pretty girls in front of it.  They are growing too quickly and I feel like I have to capture every moment!

They are probably so tired of me taking their picture but look at those faces!!!  I am one proud mama!

We hope you are enjoying this season as well!