Daddy, may I have this dance?

As I have said in the past, Liv is a Daisy Scout.  Friday, February 8th they had their annual Daddy/Daughter Dance at a military base in Woluwe.  Liv was so excited!  Older friends of Liv's have attended these type of dances in the past and she always wondered when her turn would come.  

Liv picked out her outfit and was so excited when Jason told her to pick out his tie.  Jason surprised Liv by buying her a wrist corsage.

Friends of ours have a daughter who is a Brownie.  They also attended the dance so they made it a "Double Date" and off they went.  It just so happened that the dance fell on the same day as all of the Carnival festivities at school.  It was a VERY LONG day for the girls, but they had a wonderful time and were EXHAUSTED when it was over!  Thanks, Dad's for making it such a great night!! 

Tony, Chloe, Jason and Liv

Elementary School's turn at Carnival...

Cole and Liv got in on the action as well.  Cole decided that he was going to dress up as Marty McFly from Back To The Future.  BTTF seems to be his new movie obsession and according to inside sources, Lego is bringing it "back to the now" by releasing Lego kits this Summer.

Cole and his friends waiting for waffles

Liv decided to dress up "Totally 80's" style.  We put a bunch of braids in her hair the night before in the hopes that when we took them all out the next morning we would have the "crimped" look.  It came out awesome!  We took out the braids, and threw in up in a side ponytail and boom...we had our look!  

The ES was treated to a little something special...the Waffle Truck came to visit!  The kids lined up and everyone got a waffle to eat.  Lucky bums!!  I got to pop in to both parties to spend some time with both Cole and Liv.  Both classes created masks too.  The first graders REALLY enjoyed the craft and came up with some beautiful ones that went along with their current Unit of Inquiry...Patterns.

Liv and her teacher, Mr. Savva

Happy Carnival, PreK!

MY BEAUTIFUL DOROTHY

Carnival is BIG in BELGIUM.  St. John's got in on the action by having a day of celebration on February 8th.  The children got to dress up in a costume of their choice...Sophie's...why, Dorothy, of course!  She was so excited to, once again, don her checkered dress and follow the yellow brick road off to the Timbertops building!

The Room Mom's put together a party complete with a carnival mask craft, snack and costume parade.  Piper was all to excited to be allowed in on the fun too!

Sophie and her friends, Asanda and Beatriz

Piper raided the dress-up bin, grabbed her blower, and was ready to march in the parade!

Happy Birthday, Ms. Gahan

THE BIRTHDAY GIRL AND HER STUDENTS

One of Sophie's teachers, Ms. Gahan, celebrated her birthday on January 31st.  It just so happens that I am the room parent for her class--go figure--so I arranged for a special surprise for her.  The kids helped me out and they each made a page to be put into a book that we planned on giving to her.  On their personal page, each of the kids drew a picture of what their gift to her would be.  I put together all of the pages into a book and we presented it to her....it was a huge hit!

Add to that more presents, party blowers and cupcakes and we had ourselves a smashing good time!  Ms. Gahan enjoyed her surprises and the children enjoyed celebrating with her.

THE PARTY GUESTS

Cole Martin, Artist of the Month

Cole's 4th grade class picks an "Artist of the Month" each month.  Cole was the selected Artist for February.  He could draw it, paint it, or do what he chose...build it.  He, once again, went to his "go-to" medium...LEGOS!  He built this "ship" and...boom...an artist was born!

Piper saw me taking pictures of Cole and decided to get in on the action.  She pretended that her Minnie ball was what she made and posed for a picture too.  

Cole Martin a.k.a Lucky the Lion

Liv and Lucky

Ryan, Lucky, and Liv

Cole went to a St. John's basketball game with his friend and our neighbor.  While he was there the Assistant Sports Director asked Cole if he would like to be the mascot for the Saturday games.  Never one to avoid goofing around...he accepted and Cole's run as Lucky the Lion began!

The uniform sale was going on in the cafeteria and our friends happened to be there.  We were laughing when our friend, Ryan didn't want to strike a pose with Lucky.  He was a little freaked out, but once he figured out that Cole was under the mane, he was all smiles!

It just so happened that it was the same day as the kick-off for the sales of the Girl Scout Cookies.  Liv and I were selling in the cafeteria at the uniform sale, and he was working hard in the gym.  He loved it!  He had a lot of fun and can't wait until he is asked again!

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas...la, di, da...da-da!

The Sprouts must have been EXTRA good this year!  Santa Claus was VERY GOOD to them!  While it was a "One Direction" kind of year for Liv, Cole was super excited to get his PlayStation Vita.  Santa brought Sophie a lot of Barbie's and Piper was so excited to get her monkey rolling luggage.  

Their gifts were a hit...THANK YOU, SANTA!

Since Great Nana was still "under the weather" we decided to move Christmas Dinner over to her house instead of having it at Gina's.  It was a fun relaxing day.  Our added bonus was that we got to see Aunt Kelly, Uncle John-John, Aaron, Brandon and Hannah.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the day...

Uncle John-John, Aunt Kelly and the girlies

Great Nana and Cole

Dad and Mom

Our resident Little Mermaid

Piper and Aaron

Ohhhh....these two!!

Uncle John-John and the girls reenacting the Nativity Scene...he named Piper "Baby Jesalina"

Cole and Aaron

Hail, hail...the gang's all here!!

Merry Christmas Eve

It took some finagling, but we got the kids all suited up and were ready for the Children's Mass at Sacred Heart on Christmas Eve.  For as long as I remember, it is something that I have looked forward to.  Growing up in that church, going to mass every Sunday, we got used to seeing the same faces.  Now those faces have grown older, moved away, had children of their own, but everyone seems to come back for Christmas.  It is so nice to see everyone, all of the families that we have grown up with.  

After Mass we headed over to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Lauren's.  We couldn't believe it when there was a knock on the door and Santa Claus was there.  He had come for a visit!!

ALL OF THE KIDS POSE WITH SANTA

All of the kids were called up to sit on Santa's lap and he had a special surprise for everyone.  It was too cute to see how excited the kids were that he had taken time out of his busy night to spend a few minutes with us.  Thanks again, Santa!

JEFF, LAUREN, JASON AND KAREN

Good times with Aunt Gigi...

How blessed are these kid's?  

It has been a few year's since we have been home for the holidays.  For the past couple of years my parents have been coming to us during the holidays.  It was nice to finally be back in Erie spending time with everyone, including Aunt Gigi!  

Thanks so much for all of our great presents!  You rock, Gigi!!

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's

One of the great things about being home for the holidays is being able to spend so much special time with our family.  A couple of days before Christmas we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for our special Christmas celebration.

We got to spend some great time with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Lauren, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Lauren and the boys.  It was so much fun seeing everyone open their presents!

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!

Happy 5th Birthday, Sophie!

It's so hard to believe, but our "Barbie-girl" Sophie is 5!  She was so excited that she would get to have a birthday party for family and friends while we were home for the holidays.  After deliberating for about 2 minutes, she settled on her theme...Barbie.  I know...shocker, right?!

WATCH OUT...MATTEL, THERE'S A NEW BARBIE IN TOWN!

I consulted my "go-to's", Etsy and Pinterest, to see if there was anything cute that would add to the festivities without looking like it came out of a plastic wrapper.  I was very impressed when I found some great decorations that were handmade.  I also found a little side project for myself...a Barbie box.  Well...what would a Barbie party be without the Barbie box?!  

I think that we have...almost...every Barbie out there, so we were glad when Sophie declared her request for a birthday gift.  She wanted an American Girl doll that looked just like her.  Bada-bing, bada-boom...Sophie Too was born.

SOPHIE AND SOPHIE TOO

Good times were had by all...well...unless you were the Barbie box.  It didn't fare so well, and I am sure it is enjoying its new digs...the trash mound at Waste Management:)

OUR OWN LITTLE MARIPOSA BARBIE