Ella's 3rd Birthday!

 Ella's actual birthday was Friday, January 13th!  W can't believe she is 3!  It was a beautiful day, but a little chilly.  She woke up with muffins and blew out 3 candles.  She went to gymnastics, then to lunch with her friend Avery.  Then, we had a playdate at our house with our closest friends.  The kids went on a bug hunt, decorated flower pots and bug jars.  Then, we all had cupcakes.  She had a great time!!!

 Presents from mommy, daddy, and Emily:  a Bitty Baby doll and high chair!  She was VERY excited!

 Ella's birthday cake

Our 3 year-old

On Saturday, we had family over to celebrate Ella's birthday.  We had a great time eating pizza, cake, and opening presents.  Ella was a little ham with her Rapunzel dress and wig! 

New Year's Eve

Uncle Matt and Aunt Neha were in town for New Year's Eve, so we drove down to Fort Smith to see them!  We had a different, yet fun, New Year's Eve! We met Neha and my mom at a Mexican restaurant for lunch.  After lunch, we decided to show Matt and Neha The Nature Center (and this was Ella's first time there as well).  We got there with only about 45 min. until it closed.  The kids had a great time exploring the place and I think Uncle Matt got some good pics with his camera.   Then, my parents showed us a neat bike trail in Fort Smith with this awesome view. 

On a side note,  I'm really excited and relieved that I have these above pictures.  My camera got stolen at a school I work at and I was afraid these pictures weren't downloaded yet.  However, they were and I found them tonight!  I have finally updated the blog through Christmas.  Next, is to upload Ella's birthday pictures and post!!!!  I got a call late last week that my camera had been found.  All my pictures were deleted, but I'm so happy to have the camera back!  Now, I can upload pics again.  :)

Christmas 2012

 Christmas Eve children's mass

 We went to church children's mass on Christmas Eve.  Emily was very excited to be in the Christmas program this year as an angel!  Cita and Poppy came up on Christmas Eve and got to see Emily as an angel.  Then, we had a nice dinner at our house.  We opened presents from Cita and Poppy + ones my brothers sent us.  We put cookies and milk out for santa.  The girls threw some magical reindeer food outside as well. 

Christmas morning santa came!  The girls had a great time opening all their gifts.  They must have been very good girls this year!  Later that day, we went down to Fort Smith to spend Christmas with Roy's family.  The girls love seeing their cousins.  We had a wonderful Christmas with family this year.  I wish my brothers could have been there though.

Christmas in LR

 We will always remember the free LONG trolley ride.  ;)

We had a great time visiting family in Little Rock.  We had Christmas at Aunt Barbara's house, which is always fun seeing all the cousins.  We spent the night at Mimi and Aunt Katie's house, which is a highlight for the girls.  :)  We went to downtown LR to see the skating rink and rode the trolley.  We didn't realize that the "free trolley ride" was a very long tour of LR.  ha!  It was a fun time though!  We had a nice breakfast with Mimi and Katie then opened presents that morning. 

School parties

 Ella's MW school had a little Christmas program.  Their class said the prayer.  Ella chose to sit with her teacher instead of me during the program.  After the program, they had pizza and cupcakes!

 Then, we went over to Emily's school where she was having her school party.  They had a fun day where Ashton's mom (the homeroom mom) read a book about a gingerbread man, then they decorated gingerbread cookies.

Ella had the cutest Christmas program at her school.  They sang 2 songs, "Frosty" and "Jingle Bells".  They came out dressed like a snowman with scarves and a top hat.  SO cute!

Pre-Christmas Activites

Making Gingerbread houses

 Winter Wonderland in Fort Smith was fun!

Going to The Nutcracker with Cita and mom

A big highlight every year is going to the square!  They both rode the ponies and Emily got to ride the camel!

Polar Express

We headed to Branson last weekend for the Polar Express.  I got pretty sick with a *BAD* cold last week (lost my voice too) but since we had non-refundable tickets and hotel I had to go.  We had a great time and the girls absolutely loved it!  They read the story The Polar Express, had cookies, hot cocoa.  The girls danced around, sang Christmas carols, saw The North Pole.  Santa came and gave them bells.  The conductor stopped by at the end and put their initials on their tickets.   We hope to go back again one day.