Town Hall Tree Lighting

Last Friday night was the annual Tree Lighting at the Genoa Town Hall. Daddy was working so I took the girls up for the festivities. We gathered around the tree and waited for the guest of honor!

And then the old fashioned tire truck pulled up! They had arrived!!

We had a count down and then the lights came on! 

After the lighting, we headed into the town hall for cookies and hot chocolate. And maybe a little visit. 

And let the holidays begin!

Addy's 2015 Fall Picture

Nana's Knee Replacement

One week ago today, Nana had a knee replacement on her left knee. She is healing nicely and we even went to lunch today! But while she spent time in the hospital, these 2 little girls found lots of ways to entertain themselves.

Emily is such good company

And we ran into Dr. Buck. He is an orthopedic doctor who treated all of Em and Nate's broken bones through the years. They both have brittle bone disease which means we had LOTS of broken bones in our family. 

Nana has a road to recovery but she is doing so well!

And no pictures of Nana. She would kill me. For reals. 

Addy's Cheer Competition!!

Last weekend was Addy's first cheer competition. We went to the neighboring school and she was so excited!!!

I was unsure of how she would do. Whenever we try to get her to do her routine at home for others, she's too shy. But.....she did AWESOME! She never missed a beat and had so much fun!

Next time I will take a video. Promise. 

And a special thanks to Nana for coming out to support!

Baby Olivia

Our neighbor has a friend named Emily who is staying with them for a bit. Emily has a 3 month old daughter whose name is Olivia. She is a super precious baby and we got to spend some time with her last week! Olivia is a pretty sick baby who is scheduled for open heart surgery this week. So, say a little prayer for her!

Ava LOVED her. And rarely left her side. She even fell asleep next to her seat. 

Looking forward to many more snuggles with this little one!

Youth Ambassador Exchange Program

So...we have news. 

Our family has signed up with YAE. What does that mean??

We will be hosting an exchange student for 3 weeks from CHINA!! 

We haven't been matched with our student yet, but we know she will be a girl and she will be in Middle School. 

Unfortunately our school district does not participate so we will have to do an open enrollment from a neighboring district.

We also do not have exact dates but we will know it will be during the January or February months and over Chinese New Year. 

Stay tuned! We are super excited for this opportunity!

Jack Frost

We have had a very low key week and weekend. It's been so nice! Laundry is caught up, house is cleaned, Christmas cards are stuffed and ready to go. BUT...I still haven't put up the tree. Ava keeps asking but I just cannot do it until after Thanksgiving.

This week we had a visit from Jack Frost and the girls were so excited thinking it snowed! Addy started jumping up and down yelling "Nowman!" After I told them we would not be building a snowman because it was only frost. They were still excited and couldn't wait to see their breath!

Check back in February. They will be complaining. I guarantee. Ha!

#houghtalinggirls

Before Ava's surgery, I had sent out a Facebook post asking for friends and family to asking the send a card to her during her recovery! The outcome was amazing. We haven't counted yet because they are still coming!!

Ava's class earned a reward and they got to wear their pajamas to school!

Ava has decided she wants to try to stop sucking her thumb. One of our techniques. The jury is still out. Stay tuned. 

Hannah and Caden's Homecoming!

Popcorn for dinner. We love Target! 

A good report from Dr. Erin, our dentist!

One of my soccer mom's made me my own plate of pumpkin cookies!

We're getting there!!!

Nana, Jojo, and Emily went camping. So we went to visit for lunch and it was so cold and windy, we stayed in the tent the whole time!

Football Friday! For the first time in 8 years, we didn't make the playoff's. But we enjoyed it while we could!

Hot tubbing with Daddy!

One of my most happiest moments in life is watching Addy in cheerleading. You guys. It's out of this world adorable!

Girls Day Out to take in Hotel Transylvania 2

Absolutely love this picture! 

Got my vote on!

Baby snuggles make everything warm and fuzzy

Celebrating Straight A's and a fantastic parent/teacher conference!!

Happy Halloween 2015!!

We headed up to Grandma's for Halloween this year! Nana made chili and others brought food so it was such a wonderful fall evening! We got the girls in their costumes and made them pose for pictures before we headed out for the candy!

We took off down the street and we had to keep yelling at Addy to slow down. She was so excited!!!

But we were pushing Ava in the wheelchair so we couldn't keep up!

We went to quite a few houses before we headed back to Grandma's and the girls inspected their loot!

Another fun Halloween in the books!