Dana Turns 6

Aunt Christy bought Dana this shirt to wear on her special day. She loved wearing it to her Bible Buddies class and taking cupcakes to share with her friends.
She doesn't look like a baby anymore! We haven't lost any teeth yet, but I'm sure it's just around the corner:(
Grammie got Molly (American Girl doll) for Dana. When Dana got up this morning she wanted to dress up like Molly. This is the best I could come up with:)
Dana and Molly
Dana LOVES her Molly doll and is already half way through her Molly story collection this morning:)She just blurted out (while I was uploading these pictures) "Mom! The Nazis are in this book!" One of our school books this year was about some Jewish children that were hiding from the Nazis. It's fun to see her putting all these little facts together in her brain. She is growing up so fast!!!

Christmas Cradle

I was enjoying my family so much on Christmas day that, sadly, I didn't take any pictures. We did take a picture the next day of the beautiful cradle that Don made for Dana.

I had a cradle when I was a little girl and in October I asked Don if he thought he could build one for Dana. I had no idea it would be so gorgeous!!! I am always so amazed at my hubbies ability to make things happen. He drew up a sketch of what he wanted it to look like and piece by piece he started to build it. He didn't even have all the proper tools, but he is so creative and found a way to make it happen. This cradle is built to last (no nails-all dowels!). It will be a family heirloom for sure! Dana loves the fact that it's big enough for a real baby:)

I wanted to be a part of her gift too, so found a piece of foam for the mattress and made a sheet, pillow case and silky blanket to go in it.

I am so thrilled with the finished product!!!

Sneak Preview of Poppy's Book

My Dad wrote an amazing book this year called "Amazing Horse Facts and Trivia" (by Gary Mullen). It will be out in the Spring at Barnes and Noble! He got his hands on a few copies for our family and we have been thoroughly enjoying it:) If you even like horses, you've got to see this book! We are so proud of him and thankful that he did this just for us:)

Christmas Eve

My Dad came to spend Christmas with us this year. The kids just love their Poppy. The kids made a gingerbread house with him last Thanksgiving and a tradition began. This years gingerbread house was a definite improvement over last years. We found a lot of fun Christmas candy around the house to improve the simple kit we bought. My Dad is so much fun!

Dana left for cookies for Santa, which happened to be Daddy's favorite (Mint Milanos).

Growing Up So Fast

Jordan is changing so much right now. For the last couple of years he has been obsessed with letters. I am excited that he is finally starting to show an interest in other things. He loves to play with his toy cars right now and Veggie Tales Silly Songs is his favorite movie (at the moment). He loves to sing and we can hear him humming in his bed at night:) Oh, and I think his absolute favorite thing to do is chase his sister around the house and make her scream. He just loves to irritate her. They are really starting to play together, it just doesn't usually end well.

The Houston Ballet's Nutcracker

We took Dana and her cousin, Kiley to see the Houston Ballet perform The Nutcracker. It was our first time, too (and Don and I both agreed it was VERY long). It seems like it would be so much more interesting with dialog:) It's sooo much dancing and the moves start to look the same. The girls really seemed to enjoy it, though. The sets and costumes were beautiful. The girls both brought their Bitty Baby dolls (which they both named Claire). After the show we ate at a Thai restaraunt for lunch---delicious.

Dana's New Glasses

We discovered Dana needed glasses when she asked if she could move forward in church to see what the speaker was writing on the whiteboard. She moved forward and still couldn't see, so we printed out an eye chart off the internet and did a home test. Sure enough, she is nearsighted. I feel horrible that she has been seeing the world through blurry eyes. She is excited to see the individual leaves on the trees now:)

The "Just for Fun Princess Party"

Dana asked if she could throw a dress up party for her friends--- just for fun---I told her we could invite 5 little girls. She planned and planned for 2 months!!! She talked about it everyday---Literally!!! She has never had a birthday party with friends so she was really excited about it. I don't know if you can read her "Plans for the Dress-up Party for Girls" photo, but Mom's job was to "bake cookies" and "make sure we are not fighting". I think she had a good time:)

More Cuddles

Dana was reading to the boys right before bed. She loves animals and she frequently picks this book (full of unusual species) to read.

Fall Festival 2008

I almost didn't dress the kids up for the Fall Festival, but when I found these costumes for 75% off on Oct. 30th I grabbed them. I'm glad I did because they were so thrilled. They begged to wear them all day:)

Playing Peacefully

The kids were playing in Dana's room and giggling away in a cowboy hat and construction hat. They were being so sweet to eachother I just had to grab the camera.

New Pics on the Blog

The camera was sitting out on Sunday Morning and we happened to be ready unusually early, so Don offered to snap some pictures of us.



I just love this smile!


She was in a mood to pose---which is rare:)



We got our ears pierced together! I went first to show her it wasn't so bad.


Jordan got his first remote control car this weekend!