Merry Christmas from Goodyear, Arizona! We had a wonderful time celebrating with the girls and the entire Sessoms family, including Todd, Jessica, and Nora who flew in from Shanghai. Kristy started the week off with the flu (and passed it on to Robin) but we still managed to get in tea with Santa, ice skating (on plastic, lol), the children’s museum, pickle ball, swimming, and more. We’re so thankful for this time with family and watching the girls become closer with their cousins, well wishes in 2015!
For the complete set of photos, click here.
Gobble Gobble! We had a busy and fun-filled week celebrating Thanksgiving. Nana, Boppa, and Aunt Martha were here to celebrate with us. We kicked off Thanksgiving morning with our annual ‘turkey hunt’ hike and hosted dinner at our house. Over the weekend we celebrated an early Christmas with the Gray family, including the teddy bear tea at the Hotel Boulderado and Lilly’s second time seeing The Nutcracker. We are so thankful for our wonderful family, Happy Thanksgiving!
For the complete set of photos, click here.
Halloween was a screaming success! The girls chose their costumes this year and decided on ‘Wonder Girl’ (Lilly) and ‘Pink Sparkle Mermaid’ (Robin). They were both cute as can be as they left the house for their school parties in the morning. I was in charge of organizing the Kindergarten party at Mesa and wouldn’t have changed a thing; the kids were busy and happy the entire time and left the party with some fun projects and goodies. Bill helped out with the party at Robin’s school. It is their biggest event of the year and Robin had a blast participating in all of the games for her first time and being part of the parade. Sunflower does a truly amazing job – the photos of Robin’s smile during the parade (Flickr link) are not to be missed!
I was able to watch Lilly’s school parade in the afternoon and we had a short time to rest before heading out for the kids party at Karli & Kaj’s house (1st annual, in their garage). It was fun chatting with friends while the kids played Halloween games, and thanks to Karli’s advertising Heidelberg Dr. was ‘the place’ to trick-or-treat, with hundreds of kids running up and down the street. We had more kids at our house than ever before. Robin was particularly enthusiastic about trick-or-treating this year, running from house to house until she just about ran out of energy at the top of the hill. Bill had fun passing out beers and talking to friends, several of which ended up at our house after trick-or-treating. A great tradition, great neighborhood, great friends, can’t wait to start planning for next year’s event!
For the complete set of photos, click here.
At 3.5 Robin is funny, happy, goofy, sweet, and energetic. She is more reasonable but still coming out of the 3 y/o tantrum phase. Robin is very opinionated about what she wears and has her favorite outfits and favorite shoes that she rotates throughout the week (if a dress she wants to wear is dirty it is a BIG deal). Robin loves to play with dolls and ponies and has a very sweet temperament. She is happy and outgoing at school and loves her rock climbing and ballet/gymnastics classes. She is always making people smile. I can’t believe how much she has changed in 6 months. I am blessed to be her mom.
For her half birthday we baked cupcakes and Lilly helped us decorate them with pink frosting and pink sprinkles in honor of her favorite book, ‘Pinkalicious’ (which we read every night). Happy half birthday, Ro!
To see more of R in her 3.5 year cuteness, click here.
The girls had another sleepover at Nana and Boppa’s condo when they were in town last week. They had a fun time watching a Halloween movie, eating pancakes for breakfast, and going on a nature hike with Nana in the morning. Bill and I also had a great evening and an even better morning – sleeping in until 8am! Thanks Nana and Boppa!
I came across this today and found it resonated with how I feel about being a Mom to my 2 daughters.
In case you didn’t know, we adore this cat. She is loved and spoiled by all of us and we are loved by her in return. Charlotte is sooo incredibly sweet and patient with the girls, who often pick her up and carry her around the house or sit her down for tea parties or have her lay next to them to watch a tv show or ride around in the house on wheely bug. She sleeps with Bill and I every night (often on Bill’s chest) and wants to be around us at all times. Thanks for being such a dream cat, Charlie.
I had to share this. Lilly is becoming more and more self-directed regarding activities and projects that she does. Above are 2 of my favorite examples of her recent work. Last week we got home from a long day and she asked for a piece of paper. I was cooking dinner and a few minutes later noticed that she had a banana in one hand and yellow and brown crayons in the other – she was drawing a realistic portrait of a banana that turned out to be just that. Not a word from me, she just knew what she wanted to do and went to work.
The second photo is also very characteristic of Lilly. For several days in a row she would come home from school and go immediately to her bedroom for a few minutes. Then one day she brought out this box with random things inside and she told me she had been collecting them on the playground during recess AND STORING THEM IN HER SHOE so she could make a project out of them (flowers, hair tie, rock, sticker, pom pom, sequins, etc). Yes, even the large rock was stored IN HER SHOE the entire school day. She spent 2 or 3 days gluing the objects to paper, then decorating with drawings and watercolors. Yep, these are the things our Lilly does on her own time. And I think they are pretty extraordinary.
My parents came in for another visit this past weekend. We had a jam-packed few days including a trip to Breckenridge (the fall colors are spectacular this year), bbq with the neighbors, shopping, movies, and great food. It’s always a fun time when they visit and the girls are counting down the days to Xmas. Thanks for everything!
While my parents were in town we took the opportunity to switch Robin from a toddler bed to a full sized bed. My Dad helped Bill put everything together, move furniture, and patch holes, and my mom helped with the décor. Robin LOVES her new ‘cupcake’ room and had fun inviting all of our neighbors in for a look. She has been sleeping great and enjoys reading stories to herself in her new bed.
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