An American Girl Party

Raleigh wanted to have an American Girl party, so that is what we did.  I offered to take her to the store with a couple of friends, but she didn't want to leave anyone out and wanted to invite more than I was going to let her.  She's a girl with many friends!  Since they had Holiday Hotcakes at school on Saturday morning, we had the party on Friday night.  Other than it being quick after school, it was great.  We had pizza and then cake and ice cream.  The girls made necklaces for their doll and themselves.  Then Raleigh opened her presents.  She definitely enjoyed herself!

 Our two little men...Garner & Hayes

 Raleigh & Tori

 Raleigh & Isabel

 Raleigh & Samantha

 Raleigh & Ivy

 Raleigh & Payton

 Raleigh & Aubrey

 Raleigh & Cierra

 Raleigh & Sierra

23 months

Garner's almost 2...hard to believe! Garner continues to grow and get cuter every day.  He's much more independent than Raleigh ever thought about being.  He thinks he's as big as any other kid he's around. This means he thinks he can do the same things they can and causes some frustration when we tell him no.  He really loves trains...especially Thomas.  We want to take him on a train ride for his birthday, but all the ones we want to do are closed in January.  :(  He is still limited on talking.  I'm just thinking he's slow and will one day catch up.  :)  The only time it bothers me is when he really wants something and I don't have a clue what he wants.  I'm sure this next month will fly by and before we know it we'll have a 2 year old running around!

Tap & Ballet Parent Watch Week

We were able to enjoy watching Raleigh during tap and ballet on her birthday.  It's so cute to watch her in tap because she's still learning and hasn't mastered her balance completely.  She has definitely improved from her first couple of weeks!  She loves ballet and has made improvements in it as well from last year.  I love getting to watch her do something she enjoys!

Happy 6th Birthday, Raleigh!!

It is so hard to believe that Raleigh is 6 and half way through her first year of school!  She has grown and changed so much this year.  She is starting to read, she's writing so much more now, and has become even more independent.  She loves all things art and music, princesses, and dolls.  I hope her love for dolls and princesses continues for a few more years!  I'm not ready for her to outgrow that yet.

To celebrate, our elf brought doughnuts for breakfast.  Then she went to school and I went to eat lunch with her.  After school she had tap and ballet and it was parent watch week so we were able to sit in the room and watch her.  Then after ballet we went to eat at Texas Roadhouse because Raleigh loves steak!  She finally got to open her presents from us when we got home.  I think she had a wonderful, but busy day!

Choir Christmas Program

Raleigh's Kindergarten choir had there performance and she was asked to sing a solo.  Considering how shy she is when talking to someone it surprises me that she so bravely stands in front of a crowd to sing.  However she does it beautifully and we are so proud of her!  Their program was titled "Cookin' Up Christmas" and is why they are wearing aprons.