This Year's Christmas Performances

Every year we, of course, have some performances that occur around the Christmas season.  Whether it's due to wrapping up a semester of classes or celebrating the season, we are happy to get our fill of music!  This year, the girls participated in 2 performances.  The first one was to share what they had been learning in their worship dance class that takes place at our church.  This has been a fun, low-stress way for them to learn some movement techniques, all while worshiping our God!  It has been really fun for the girls and I don't have to worry about inappropriate music or movements!  Here are a few pictures from their performance night.  (It was hard to get decent pictures with everyone moving, but hopefully you can see the focal point!)

The girls also had two opportunities to sing in a Christmas choir.  The first one was with our church, and the second one was with school.  Unfortunately, Jaclyn ended up getting sick the morning of the church performance, so Craig had to stay home with her, but Ashlyn did a great job!  She is getting more and more comfortable with singing in front of an audience, so she's thankful for that!

Both girls were able to be in the school performance, and it was a great evening.  The 4th grade class recited all of Luke 2, so Jaclyn was able to participate in that as well.

Family Pictures 2013

This has been a crazy fall, BUT we were able to squeeze in some family pictures!  I am really happy with them, so I wanted to share them with others.  Jaclyn is 9, Ashlyn is 7, and Kendall is 4.

Thanksgiving with the Pitchers

This year we had a combination Thanksgiving and Christmas with the Pitcher side of the family. Aunt Jill has recently moved to Georgia, so she was only able to be in town for one of the holidays, so Thanksgiving it was! We had a great time, and the girls had an especially fun time entertaining the crew with a play and a dance from each. They were thrilled to be able to "perform" for everyone, and we are thankful for such a supportive family!

Fall Events

Just a few events from this past fall that I wanted to include. The first one is a pretty big project that all 4th graders get to participate in: The Wax Museum of Inventors. Jaclyn was Elias Howe, the inventor of the sewing machine, so here she is as Mr. Howe. She had a lot of fun. :)

Jaclyn and I had the opportunity to go to a Secret Keeper Girl event together with some friends. The whole event is geared toward "tween" girls and the worldly pressures they are facing like body image, etc. We got to hear One Girl Nation and had a great time!

We were also happy to participate in Heritage's Veteran's Day program this year. Both Jaclyn and Ashlyn sang in the Heritage Singers chorus and participated in honoring the many veterans that were in attendance. At the end, all students get a chance to shake the veterans' hands and thank them. It's a pretty special event, and I'm thankful that Heritage takes the time to place honor where it is due!

And, we can't forget the Daddy/Daughter Ball at our church. What a fun time for father and daughter to spend together! Ashlyn got to go this year too, so Dad had 2 dates. :)

Halloween 2013!

I'm definitely a little late in getting a lot of these posts posted, but I wanted to include some pictures from this past Halloween. This was the first year that we had enough houses to trick-or-treat only in our neighborhood. We had a lot of fun, and we were glad to have a "quiet" evening near home. Jaclyn was a cowgirl, Ashlyn was a leopard, and Kendall was Princess Sophia.

Switchin'

Well, most of you have figured out by now that I'm not afraid to change directions!  If I feel that God is calling me to make a change, I pretty much do it.

So, when Heritage Christian School contacted us back in October to say that both girls could now get in, we decided to make yet another switch.  Of course, I don't make these decisions lightly.  It was a huge surprise to us and there were many prayers born out of sheer confusion as to what God was doing.  But, after much prayer and thought, we decided to send the girls to school.

And, it is the right decision for us.

The girls are doing great and have always loved being in a school environment.  I am now very hesitant to say that we will be anywhere long-term, but I am hopeful that we can stay at this school.  :)  I never know what God's plans are for us, but we are thankful to be back and hope that it continues to be a great place for us.

Just a few "first-day-of-school (again)" pictures.

 We are thankful that both girls already had friends in each of their classes, both from 2 years ago when they were at Heritage and from church.  What a blessing!  It was as if they had never left!

Happy 4th Birthday, Kendall!

Wow, she's really 4! We had a great time celebrating Kendall's birthday back in October. A fun time at home with friends is all she needed to feel loved and have a special day. Thank you to the Hunters and VanHorns for celebrating this special day with us!

Kendall's growth in personality has really been evident recently.  Gone are the baby days!  I have loved watching her pretend and play lately.  She is now able to be in her own world or in a world of pretend with her sisters.  It's really fun to see all 3 of them pretending together and enjoying it!  She's definitely "girly", often loving to dress-up and wear fancy shoes, but isn't afraid to play in the dirt either!  It's interesting that she's somewhat a mixture of the other two in many areas of her life!  Such a special part of our family.

I'll try to list a few of her favorite things:

Favorite toys:  Has always loved stuffed animals.  Likes to take care of them and pretend with them.  She also loves the ipad and ipod...especially taking videos with them!

Favorite drinks:  chocolate milk and apple juice (actually...almost any drink!  She would prefer to drink over eating!)

Favorite foods:  she actually can be kinda picky, so here are a few, but she'll eat them one day and not the next! - applesauce, yogurt and blueberries, chocolate muffins

Favorite show:  Paw Patrol!

Favorite color:  violet (not purple!)

I'm sure there's so much more that I'll think of later, but to sum it up, she's just a delightful little girl.  Of course, she has her bad days, but she has always been a pretty flexible, easy-going little one.  We are so thankful for her and are blessed to have her smile to brighten our days.

We love you, Kendall!