Slow January

So January has been a slow month for pictures... and well without pictures the blog really is not that exciting. But I took a few the other night so now I have a reason to post. We have had a snowy January although we haven't really gotten out to enjoy it. Hadley is getting excited for her upcoming birthday and moved up to the 2 yr old room at school. When you ask her how old she is going to be she sometimes answers 1 and sometimes 3. Madeleine is still dancing away and also loves to talk about her birthday although she has a much longer wait. Both girls absolutely love going to a bounce house place by us called Monkey Joes. Jim and I like it because it burns off some energy!

The ballerina in action

Hadley created quite a snuggle place the other night... she loves to cuddle up with all her babies. Her crib is quite full.

Christmas

One of my many goals for 2011 is to post more than I did in 2010... hopefully Jim is going to help with this effort! We had a great Christmas and break afterwards. We were lucky to have Amy, Seth and Dave in town even though Amy and Seth had to leave early to beat the blizzard back to NYC. The girls are having a hard time understanding that Christmas is over. I think they both would love to have a tree in our house year round. Hadley told me today, "miss tree, get another one." After Christmas we spent some time relaxing at the lake... I'll leave Jim to update about that.

Ready to go to Poppy and PaPa's for Christmas Eve

Madeleine and Poppy
One of the biggest hits with the kids... a singing dog that kind of dances too
I just love Hadley's look of awe when seeing her baby who she has named Baby Luna... Madeleine named a baby that once and it has stuck... not sure where that name came from. Also note that Hadley ditched her dress to wear just her slip for opening presents.
Hadley's new Elmo hat... another favorite. She wore it today and told me she wanted to "show Madeleine teachers"
First attempt at a Christmas family picture, someday everyone will look at the camera and smile
Christmas morning Santa brought Madeleine a ballet outfit for the baby she had gotten the night before. She was very excited to dance with her baby that she has named Baby Madeleine Von Lahr Krewet... she fits right in with Jim's family where everyone has the same name.
Madeleine expressed the most excitement over the pink and purple basketball she asked Santa for after seeing it in Target one day. Her reaction was priceless.
Another excited face from Hadley as she sees Santa brought her a book of just her pictures. She loves seeing pics of herself.
This might have been the girls' favorite present. With the press of a button it sings, spins and lights up. Amy and Seth be warned... Jim has promised that you will be getting a similar present when you have a 2yr old.
Christmas Day at D and Butch's

Second attempt at a Christmas family picture... we are getting closer to a good pic
Cousins all in cherries... not planned... they all looked so cute together but the picture thing wasn't really happening

More Christmas Fun

The Christmas fun continues... tonight we visited Santa at the mall. Next year, we will be going in early December. The whole thing took 1 1/2 hours with Santa taking a dinner break and then the elves had technical difficulties as soon as we were at the front of the line. Hadley did sit on his lap without crying! I don't have the picture yet because I need to scan it in. The woman behind us was urging us to just take one with my phone because of the delay but after waiting that long I was determine to pay way too much for the official Santa shot.

Last night Madeleine had a little Christmas show at her dance school. It was very cute and she did great even with a mishap. Her tap shoe went flying off her foot after one kick. She looked a little shocked at first but then smiled, got the shoe, put it back on and started dancing again. Her class got to do their dance twice and the second time she announced that she lost her shoe last time when they got to the part where her shoe went flying. Everyone laughed when her shoe went flying so on the way home she asked me if it was funny when her shoe fell off.

Tomorrow is my last day at work until Jan 4th... I can't wait for the break! Hope everyone has a great Christmas!

Some more December Pics:

At the Glendale Christmas Tree Lighting
Santa at the Glendale Tree Lighting... Hadley did not want to see him this time
Opening St. Nicholas presents
Decorating a gingerbread tree D got us... after we finished I found Madeleine licking the icing off the beater in the mixer
Hadley really just wanted to play with the candies
Hadley loves to stand at the door of Madeleine's dance class and watch
Madeleine at the start of the show, not intimidated at by all the people
Doing her dance
Recovering the shoe

Christmas Time

Time is flying and Christmas is almost here. We have been having lots of pre-Christmas fun. Madeleine is pretty much asking Santa for anything she can think of. Hadley likes Santa from a far but wants nothing to do with him close up. I just spent a fun weekend in NYC with Amy and Seth taking in the Christmas sights and going to see the Nutcracker. Now its time to start working on those cards and shopping!

Here are some pics of the fun we have been having.

On the wagon at the Christmas tree farm
Looking for the perfect tree
Madeleine
Helping Daddy cut down the tree
Sledding in the front yard... apparently they like the flat sledding but not downhill
Breakfast with Santa... Madeleine happily told him her list but Hadley wouldn't even look at him
The first year Madeleine has smiled while visiting with Santa

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween week. Madeleine started off with a party at school on Tuesday... round 1 of the candy. Then on Thursday, Kirkwood had their annual Halloween walk. In addition to the candy, their was a "concert" by Babaloo... big excitement for Madeleine as he is celeb among the St. Louis preschool crowd. Friday was a parade at Hadley's school. On Saturday, we carved our pumpkin and then Sunday was trick or treating. In St. Louis, you have to tell a joke to get your treat so I had prepped Madeleine. She would mumble her joke about the cow who eats grass and then yell Lawn Mooer without a pause. It was very cute. Hadley really got into trick or treating too and was running between houses. Now we are slowly enjoying all the candy.

Before the Halloween Walk... Tinkerbell and the Butterfly
Hadley cozy in her butterfly costume
Carving our pumpkin
Before Trick or Treating
After trick or treating

Go Mizzou!

I'm still waiting for Jim to do a blog post... this whole blog thing was his idea. But for now here are a few pics from the last couple of weeks. And Go Mizzou! I'm not a huge football fan but I'm pretty excited for the Mizzou-Oklahoma game tonight... although I realize the chances of a win are probably slim but it is Homecoming.

The girls in their Mizzou shirts today... they like them because they have a tiger on them. I think I have finally gotten Madeleine to understand that Mizzou is different than the zoo
Playing with hats... it is nearly impossible to get them both to look at the camera and even more impossible to get them to look and smile
Messing around with hats, gloves and her carseat
Madeleine's pumpkin
One year we will get a great pumpkin picture

Fall!

The fall weather is finally here and we have been out enjoying it. We started off with an apple picking trip the day after Jim returned from a week long trip to Germany. The pickings were pretty slim but we did get a few apples to enjoy. On the way home, we took a ferry across the Mississippi. Madeleine was very excited when we told her we were going on a ferry. I think she was thinking more along the lines of Tinkerbell.

We enjoyed going to a friend's pig roast last Saturday where we went on two hayrides and had a yummy dinner. Then Sunday we ended up going to the Wabash railroad and Super Smokers for lunch. Both were a big hit. The railroad has these little trains you ride on. It was fun but the train ride was a little long because you have to wait for their other trains to go by on the track and they go through this whole process of moving the engine because it is the same track out and back. We have been wanting to do that for awhile though and it was a nice day to do it. This weekend is a 12 hour bike race for Jim... maybe he will actually write a blog post after it!

The wagon ride to the apples... fun but kind of pointless because they just drove around in a big circle to get you back to basically where you boarded the wagon in the first place

Hadley picking an apple
This what happens when we tell them to open their eyes for a picture
Proud of her apple
Riding on the ferry
Night hayride at the Pig Roast
Sliding at Simpson Park... this was a great find one day when we were driving around. It has a great playground.
Switching the direction of the train, you can tell how small the train actually is from the size of the engine
Thought this was a funny one from tonight. Madeleine wanted to do a silly face picture and I just love the way Hadley is looking at her.