Ashlyn's 8th Birthday!

Ashlyn is now 8!!!  She enjoyed a nice birthday party at home with friends this year, and even her teacher, Miss Early, came to join the party!  They had a blast making wind chimes and acting out the song "Let It Go" from the extremely popular movie, Frozen.  Great times and good friends!  Ashlyn was very excited to get a ukulele for her birthday this year!

 Her friends were:  Ellie Isaacson, Aimee and Erinn Varga, Paige Safly, Abigail O'Rear and Miss Early.

Here are a few things about our 8 year old, Ashlyn:

- still a very energetic, bouncy little girl and a delight :)

- very talented musically.  She continues taking piano lessons from Miss Val, but a new addition this year is a focus on writing her own music!  She creates many songs in her head and now works to get those songs on paper, both by writing them herself and using a computer notation program.  She also has discovered the joy of singing harmony!  I enjoy listening to what she comes up with!

- has a new passion for drawing and art.  She has received some encouragement from friends at school regarding her drawing, so that has helped her to gain some confidence in this area.

- enjoyed playing basketball for the first time this year and continued with Daddy's volleyball clinics

- some other firsts this year are her musical theater class and the worship dance class at church

- still very aware and in tune to others' feelings.  Can be very sensitive at times.

- she's in her 2nd year of allergy shots.  :(  Hopefully we'll be seeing some improvement soon.

So, that somewhat wraps up my crazy, sensitive, musical, artful, athletic, smart little girl!  We love you, Ashlyn!  Happy Birthday!!

Jaclyn's 10th Birthday!

Wow, she's 10!  We're definitely getting into the tween years now and in double digits!

Jaclyn had a fun birthday party at home with friends this year.  There was plenty of giggling, dancing, crafting, and more giggling.  They all had a great time.

 Friends are Sophia Doorn, Amanda Weih, Lydia Cui, Aubrey Miller, Kalin Rotzoll, Abby Anderson, McKenzie Logan and Lydia Hunter.

So, let's list what she's into these days...

- favorite sports are volleyball and cheerleading

- currently taking a musical theater class, piano lessons and worship dance class at church

- best friend is still Abby Anderson, but she is still a social little girl and will play with anyone!  Has many friends at church and at school, but doesn't seem to stick to just one...she tends to gravitate to different people at different times.  She definitely has some leadership skills but is still learning how to navigate the hard task of working with others.

- this year she started a little "kids club" for some of our young neighbors and they actually came!  She had a little Bible lesson and activities set up for them.  She discovered that little kids sometimes don't do exactly what you want them to!  :)

- really enjoys projects at school and research.  She enjoyed being Elias Howe for her class' Inventors Wax Museum.

- still enjoys reenacting plays and musicals for fun at home with her sisters

- has started to experience babysitting.  She helps watch the many kids in our faith family.

Oh, how things are going to start to change as she gets older!  Next year holds many new experiences including school sports and band!  I am looking forward to the years ahead as she navigates becoming a young lady.  May God keep her safe and guard her heart.  I love you, Jaclyn!

Alice in Wonderland

Jaclyn and Ashlyn had a great opportunity this past winter to participate in the musical, Alice in Wonderland!  Not very big parts, but it was a very well done performance, so it was totally worth it to have the experience.  They were talking fish and had a delightful time!

Christmas 2013!

 We had a great Christmas again this year!   The last two years we have been at home for Christmas Eve and Christmas day, which has been really nice!  We've enjoyed a nice Christmas Eve at our church and then a relaxing Christmas day full of presents and playing!

 The day after Christmas we loaded up and headed down to Kansas City to spend time with my family.  We had a wonderful time together and enjoyed our family.  The girls always love to spend time with their cousins!  A highlight for Jaclyn this year was getting her ears pierced!  She was a little nervous but did great and was so glad that she got it done.  Katelyn got to come with us.

 We also enjoyed going to visit our Grammie at the nursing home.   It was nice to watch her smiling as she saw Devyn for the first time.  Our family enjoys putting on a little concert for the residents.  Ashlyn played the recorder and the piano and Jaclyn played the piano.

 Ashlyn was very pleased this year to be able to arrange a version of "Carol of the Bells" with her cousins, Nicholas and Daniel.  They were even asked to play the song for the offertory at church, which delighted Ashlyn, of course.

 We were blessed with a few days of warm weather, so we took the girls to the local school park to try out their new roller blades!  Fun, and nice to get some fresh air!

 And, of course, we had plenty of game time!  Here's Papa, teaching his favorite game, Scrabble, to the girls. 

Thank you, Anderson family, for a wonderful holiday!

Stationery Card

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Snow, Snow, Snow!

Our first snow day!  Church got cancelled this morning as we got about 5 inches of snow last night.  The temperature is dropping quickly, but the girls took advantage of the warmer temps this morning and had a lot of fun!  Definitely having a white Christmas!