Will's Birthday, Loscutoff Christmas and Christmas Singing...all in one day!

Yesterday, December 14, was the busiest day of our Christmas season.  Maggie sang at church in the morning for her preschool, Kate sang at church in the evening for Kid's choir, it was Will's birthday and we celebrated our Loscutoff Christmas.  Despite the busy schedule, it was a wonderful day, filled with special family time and joyous celebration!

Maggie was excited to sing with her preschool at church.  They sang "Go Tell it on the Mountain".  She did a great job singing up front and performing her hand-motions that went with the song.  She was super duper cute!

Kate was also a very enthusiastic singer!  The kids choir performed 4 songs and were all beautiful sung!  The highlight was  watching Kate's facial expressions while signing.  She was very animated and at times would yawn while singing.

We exchanged gifts with Dedushka, Grammalene, Uncle Peter and Auntie Megan.  There was quite a mess after all the gift opening was complete!

The girls received tennis rackets and balls from Dedushka and Grammalene....all kid-friendly for learning their skills.

We also enjoyed some birthday pumpkin cheesecake!

Kate received a "Sew Cool" threadless sewing machine.  She and Grammalene sewed pillows for the whole family.

First pillow, an adorable owl.  (all supplies provided in a kit)

The men watched football while the girls played.

 Happy family time...unfortunately I am not in the picture since I was behind the camera. :-)

Kate's Christmas dress matched her special doll, Lucy.

After the late Christmas concert at church, the girls were acting a little goofy and ready for bed!

I love my family!!!

Getting ready for Christmas

On Wednesday we started a new annual family tradition...drive to Apple Hill and cut down our Christmas the day before Thanksgiving!  This year we decided to get an early start on our Christmas preparations since Will had to work Thanksgiving night and the following 3 nights afterwards.  Will had Wednesday off from work so we took the opportunity to drive to Placerville and experience Apple Hill and get our tree.  The weather was picture-perfect, there were no crowds and we came home with amazing memories, delicious apple treats and a beautiful 10-foot tree!

First stop...High Hill Ranch!

Unfortunately the majority of tree farms were closed before Thanksgiving but we unexpectedly came across a perfect tree farm that was open with 13-hillside-acres of trees!  It was a true gem to find!

This is a vista point on the hillside looking down upon the whole tree farm.

The tree behind us was the tree we found and cut down...10 feet tall!

The tree farm also had a little wood hut to explore with fur blankets and historical native tools.

We also got to walk through a gold-mine and write our names on the wall.

 At home the girls were thrilled to decorate the tree.  Kate was a huge help with the lights and ornaments.

 We even got our house lights up before Thanksgiving!  After all the day's excitement was done we sat down for a special pre-Thanksgiving meal with Will so he could actually celebrate the holiday.  I made him sweet potato casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing and turkey.  It was seriously one of the best days Will and I could remember.  It was so awesome!!!

On Friday we continued in our annual tradition of decorating gingerbread houses.  I wish I could take credit for making the gingerbread and frosting but I have found it MUCH easier and cheaper to buy a pre-made kit.  The girls LOVE decorating their houses and sneaking lots of candy and frosting as they create their masterpieces.

We are looking forward to a wonderful Christmas season!!!

Cruella Deville

These 2 videos are from Kate's recent musical theater class performance at the Woodland Opera House.  She certainly is a natural performer!

Let's Go Fly A Kite

Maggie's All About Me Day

Last month Maggie got to share with her preschool class some special things about herself.  This video is mainly for the grandparents to see how cute she is. :-)

Kate's Kids Choir Performance

Ever since starting kindergarten, Kate has been participating in our church's kids choir, run by Aunt Carol!  She absolutely LOVES kids choir and is so excited to go to practice each Friday afternoon.  On Sunday, the kids had their first performance in all 4 church services.  They sang "I Will Celebrate."  

Save the date for December 14 for Kate's Christmas Concert with kids choir (in the evening) and Maggie's preschool singing at church (in the morning).  :-)

Trick-or-Treat Time

All day long the rain poured and poured, but around 4:00 the rain stopped and gave us hope that Halloween night wouldn't be cancelled.  Thankfully the rain stayed away and the girls got all dressed up to trick-or-treat around our neighborhood.  We were out trick-or-treating for almost 2 hours!  The girls brought back a ridiculous amount of candy....way too much for them to eat in the next year.  We had lots of fun and we all agree this was the best Halloween yet!

Kate was SO excited to dress up as a beautiful peacock.  She spread her wings each time she rang the doorbell.  Most people didn't quite know what she was, but Kate had no problem informing them that she was a peacock and she would curtsy each time she was given a candy.

Maggie was our adorable bumble bee.  Her costume received a lot of attention and praise since she was so stinking cute!

Ready to hit the neighborhood!

Kate's Halloween Kindergarten Party

This Halloween is a very wet and soggy day.  Despite the rain, Kate's kindergarten class did a little Zoo Phonics parade around the school before starting their party inside.  Zoo Phonics is a very clever way for the kids to learn how to read with associating each letter with an animal friend and the sound it makes...Ali Alligator says "Ah" and Vincent Vampire Bat says "Vuh", etc. The kids got to decide whether to make a Missy Mouse, Robbie Rabbit or Vincent Vampire Bat hats for their parade.  Kate chose the bat since it was the most "Halloweeny."

Starting their parade (Kate is in the pink).

Kate the bat

Party time!

Frosting Halloween cookies

Kate's class

Enjoying the cookies

Maggie and I hung out in the classroom while waiting for Kate's party to wrap up.

Let's hope trick-or-treating is not as wet!