Anya Reading

Anya has started reading. It has been fun to see her putting sounds together to form words. She is also learning to write her letters. She wrote the words on the paper and spelled them all by herself! She's a quick learner. Our next lesson will be on putting a "two finger space" between words.

If you are wondering, it is Elmo she has under her shirt. She was pretending to be fat.

A Santa Suit for Anya

Anya was telling us she wanted a Santa suit for Christmas. So while the kids and I were decorating for Christmas I put the tree skirt on Anya and she found a Santa hat. She thought it was great. We took this picture and she has not talked about a Santa suit since. How easy to please my kids are! Now what are the chances of them being this easy to please as teenagers?

Picture With Santa

On Saturday we kids got to talk to Santa and have their picture taken. Bass Pro Shops gave us this free picture that I then took a picture of so that you can see it. They both chose not to sit on his lap but Anya didn't break down crying when we stepped away for the picture. She's come a long way. Talmage asked for "bubble gum, the kind you can blow bubbles with" and Anya asked for a "big girl bed". Talmage's is no problem and for Anya we already have a bed frame that matches Talmages but I am still shocked at how expensive twin mattresses are. Santa's little elves better get busy on that one.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we went the more traditional route. We got together with two other families in the ward at a friends house and pulled together a really Thanksgiving meal. None of us really like cranberry sauce or yams so we just left that part out-- what a great meal. I made my mom's wonderful stuffing, butter horn rolls, strawberry jello salad, and vanilla pudding fruit salad. It was a good meal. Here is a family picture of us at our friends house.

The kids loved swinging on the swings while the rest of us ate pie. Both kids flat out refused pie-- they are so weird!Anya's so goofy!

Flashback to Halloween

We didn't get into Halloween very much this year. They kids were going to be knights with there plastic knight costumes. But on the way out the door Anya decided she didn't want to wear the costume because it was scraping her. (It is made for a little older kids) So at the last minute I pulled out some wings and a fairy skirt from the dress up clothes and made a wand (not pictured). She was the flighty fairy and Talmage was "a knight that's right"-- both from a favorite Backyardigans episode.