Christmas Morning!

Christmas Morning!  Our extra special gift was sleep!  Charleigh is usually up everyday at 6am which she woke up today but went back to sleep til 7:30am!  So a late start at our house!

Char loves her car but got to work on the steering wheel

Katie loves her new bike!

Char having her second round of applesauce after sister gave her one too!

Playing the drums!

Our little climber!

Here is the pink pony Santa got for Katie.  She had a specific wish on what kind of pony.  This was as close as we could get.

New Pillow

Sisters!

Can't forget mom!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!  Love the The Rhodes!

Polar Express Train Ride

New adventure this year - took a train ride and saw Santa!  Classic picture at the end of the girls with Santa!

Thanksgiving Onesie

After reviewing these photos, I think a ham applique may have been more appropriate.

Johnny Appleseed Turns 238!

 We celebrated with a play date party.  Katie and I made these party favor bags by squishing a toliet paper tube into an apple shape.  She then stamped them on to the bags.  The smashed bag is Char's contribution to the party preparations.  She didn't get her nickname as the wrecking ball for nothing!

 I allowed Katie to choose the craft activity for the party.  She chose these cute toliet paper tube apple trees.  I was really hoping she'd opt for the homemade apple spice play dough, but lately she's had a thing about getting her hands dirty. 

 The table is set for our little guests.

 Katie is working her craft magic.

 This is my favorite of the party activities.  The (willing) kids wore pots on their heads Appleseed style.  Just cute.

 There was an attempt made to bob for apples which turned into fishing apples out with a spoon, then hands, and then splashing each other with the water.

All this playing made us hungry.  The kids viewed the 1948 Disney version of Johnny Appleseed's life while eating.  The opening song in the movie is "The Lord Is Good to Me".  You can hear it here.  The film depicts God's influence on Appleseed's life.  I love that God used Appleseed's knowledge and talents for His work.  God can use what seems like the most insignificant of skills, in this case apple seed sowing to minister to people.  

 The appley menu:

apple slices on sticks with caramel dip and chocolate chips

trader joe's apple snacks

crescent rolls with ham, cheese, and apple butter

apple juice

 A proud artist show off her work.

Possibly the favorite (unplanned) activity of the day:

throwing apples (in pots, at the fence, to the dog, over the fence, at each other's heads)

Rolling Up His Sleeves

 Jon's got his sleeves rolled up because he is ready to get some work done at his new job.

 The job is with the same company, but is located closer to home.  Yay!  Shorter commute!  Yay!  Yay!

We started the day with the new breakfast of champions - pumpkin pancakes.  It's a Jon thing to eat pumpkin in summer.  I just roll with it.  Maybe it makes him feel cooler.  Like autumnal coolness.  Not like Chuck Norris coolness.  Anyway, I hope he has a great day and many great days at the new job because I think he is great. 

Birthday Girl Party #2

Birthday party #2!  To keep with tradition, picture is taken right when they wake up.  One tradition that we did not keep but will resume when she turns 2 is cake for breakfast.

Look how excited C is!

A new chair but she wanted to sit in the old chair.

She finally decided to sit in the new chair!

She loved cake and even the hat!