Christmas Checklist

1. Pick out Christmas tree (took us 2 different trips to finally find one this year!)2. Let everyone have a turn cutting it down.

3. Take it home to decorate with LOTS of smiles!! :)

4. Finish shopping, parties, baking, and delivering (ps- cards didn't happen this year... next year for sure!)

5. Read "Tale of Three Trees" and "Night before Christmas", put out cookies and milk, and open new PJ's.

6. Be so excited you can barely sleep, get up early, and wait for parents (and Gma/Papa) to give the okay to come into familyroom. See gifts, squeal with delight, laugh, never stop smiling, and laugh more!! :)

Regan's new mountain bike

Carli's new razor scooter

Mollie's new soccer ball and zhu-zhu pets

New iPod speakers

Bumblebee Pillow pet

Ladybug Pillow pet

7. Remember about the "Pickle" and search the tree for the special ornament. Open an extra present!

8. Check to see if Santa ate the cookies and milk (and gave the carrots to Rudolph).

9. Open the gifts under the tree and completely trash the familyroom...can you even walk in there?

10. Try out the new presents!

11. Get into your sister's new makeup! Beautiful!!

12. Take the new gun out to shoot. The girls LOVE this thing!!

Papa tried it out (couldn't help but get a picture of this!)

AND Dad too!!

13. Have the best Christmas ever (so far!)

We got everything checked off our Christmas list this year!! We love everything about the Christmas season and were so happy that Grandma and Papa Dare could join us this year! Hope next year is just as good!!

Dancing Dares

Dance recital time! Regan and Mollie performed in their dance recital and did such a great job!! They are so serious and so intense when they perform, it's pretty entertaining to watch. Regan absolutely LOVES to dance and sing! It has helped her come out of her "shell" and open up a little bit. This was Mollie's first time in dance and she did so, so good! She was so cute and wasn't even scared....I think she's a natural performer!!

*Sidenote: Carli isn't in dance because (and I quote) "It isn't her thing"

November Events

November was beautiful this year! The month started with a Fall piano recital for my students. I only have girls now that the Nix boys moved, and they all did a great job! I'm so proud of them!!

We have had such great weather this year (unlike last year) so we were able to spend a lot of time outside. These pictures were taken on an afternoon at the Crossley's backyard playing in the leaves. I cannot believe how much fun the kids had with just leaves!! It was a blast! I love the pictures of the girls jumping in the big leaf pile...hilarious!

We spent the week of Thanksgiving in Windsor, CO with Sam and Jill. It was pretty cold, but we still went to a couple of different parks that the girls really enjoyed. Each girl has their favorite "thing" to do at the park...Carli likes to climb & do the monkey bars, Regan likes the swings & things to ride on, and Mollie likes the swings & the curly-slide (ONLY the curly-slide).

Picture courtesy of Carli :)

It was nice to have Thanksgiving with family. The boys smoked the turkey this year and it was really good. We had a great meal and spent a lot of time with Sam, Jill and Aubrey. We watched movies, let the girls play, relaxed, went shopping (I took Jill "Black Friday" shopping for the first time....I think she's hooked!), went to parks, went shopping some more, and even went out on a date to see the new Harry Potter. It was a nice trip.

Overall report: November sure was fun!!