Haircuts & Ballet performance

Last Thursday Alyssa had her ballet performance...she did GREAT! I was so proud of her. The last class she took, which was months ago, she had a hard time paying attention and didn't want to try to learn new steps. If she didn't know how to do what the teacher was asking she would just say, "I can't do it!" and then not try. We've been working on that at home and I told her she couldn't take more classes until I thought she was ready. This time around she tried what she was asked to do, practiced at home, and improved so much...and had a ton of fun doing it! :) It was so fun to watch her at her performance.

We had some time before her recital so we went and got the girls' hair cut. We go to a wonderful lady who does their hair up cute after she cuts it and it just so happens that when we went this time no one was there so she spent a lot of time making sure Alyssa had proper recital hair...curling it, putting it in a bun, and putting glitter all through her hair. She was such a little princess! ...Emi even got to have glitter in her hair. :)

Here's the girls waiting for the show to begin...

Last minute practice ;)

Cousin Ava got to come with Grandma & Grandpa Herbrandson to enjoy the show too!

They did the performance a couple times...this was the best video I got.

We're getting organized!!! :)

Over the past couple weeks Nate and I have been organizing our house...and boy does it feel good!!! For all of you who know me, I am just not the organizing type. ;) ...but with Nate and help from Lexi, I think we got it figured out. Crafts in one area, puzzles/games in another, toys all separated into bins, etc., etc., etc. I LOVE IT!!! It's been so easy to pull out something specific to play with and so easy to put things away at the end of the day. ...now if I could just find the time to finish going through my 'sort through' piles and have a yard sale to get rid of all the stuff we weeded out! ;)

In the midst of organizing we moved the girls into the same room and redid the play room (thanks Lexi!!!).

The girls asleep the first night they roomed together. :)

The 'kind of' before picture of the play room. (we had already started the process)

The finished products! :)

1st - Alyssa's closet (toys, sweaters, jackets, swimsuits, sleeping bags, etc.)

2nd - The Playroom/School-craft room

Lexi helped make sense of the room by creating different areas. She's so good!

This is the craft & school area

This is the reading area

This is the imaginative play area (kitchen, baby stuff, dress-up, etc.)

Misc. pics from the last few weeks

Lena teaching Alyssa had to take a picture at Tyler & Kendall's wedding. Thank you for being so patient Lena, she had so much fun!

So excited to see the picture she took!

Alyssa got to be right up front to see the cake cutting! :) She was very excited!!!

My cute Emi :)

Alyssa holding baby Hannah, Jamie and Josie's new little girl. I can't believe Alyssa asked to hold a baby, that's usually all Emi!

Alyssa getting Emi a treat for going pee-pee on the potty. What a good big sister!

I dropped my camera last week and now some pics come out fuzzy. :( Oh well, Emi & baby Brooklyn still make for a cute picture!

Enjoying a day at the zoo.

They tried 'milking' the cow, but the water wasn't on...they were very disappointed.

For some reason Alyssa really wanted to see goats this time...the petting zoo is not my favorite at all, but I sacrificed for her and we had a good time. :)

Enjoying snuggle time with grandma while watching a movie.

Fun in Flag! :)

After Christmas we were able to go up north for a couple days and play in snow! We had so much fun sledding, making snow angels, enjoying the cold weather, watching snow fall, and eating yummy food. :)

Alyssa LOVED sledding, while

Emi was not a big fan of sledding the first day, but she did really well the second day...probably because it was not as cold and there was no wind, which was FREEZING that first day. I'm so glad the girls had so much fun playing in the snow!!!

My li'l cutie pie! :)

We're almost there!!!

"Mom, it's snowing!"

Hanging out in downtown Flagstaff.

Waiting for Pizzookie... I mean dinner and THEN pizzookie! ;)

The next day we got to meet up with the Steele's and go sledding. Her mom lives up there, so they knew of a great place to go sledding...no people and great hills! SO FUN!!!

Ashley and I with our babies. :)

Enjoying Macy's coffee....YUMMMM!

Snow angels!!!!

Fun bubble bath!

Movie time while we packed up.

The day we headed home we decided to take back roads through Sedona, Jerome & Prescott. It was beautiful and so much fun!

We pulled over to finally fine wet snow (all the snow in Flag was fluffy, which is fun to play in, but it means no snowmen). The girls had fun building our pathetic snowmen. ;)

Here's the one Alyssa and I did with the little amount of snow on the ground.

Here's the mini one Nate and Emi did on the picnic table.

We stopped for lunch in Sedona at our favorite restaurant there...the food's okay, but the view is outstanding!

Jerome was fun...very yummy fudge and Alyssa and I both got new necklaces. :)

FINALLY a nap!

Last stop...dinner at the pizza place in downtown Prescott. Great pizza and great view of the beautiful Christmas lights around in the square. (Thanks Theresa & Mike for the suggestion!)