Addie shopping

Our most recent preschool activities have had to do with grocery shopping. So, at the end of the week, Addie got to make a grocery list (pictures of food items cut out of the weekly ad and glued onto a piece of paper) to take to the store. It was a "girls only" trip to the grocery store, and as Addie put it "I get to push the cart and you have to walk." Apparently, having to walk without pushing a cart at the grocery store is torturous for her normally and she wanted me to have to do it for once. We took her grocery cart from home with us and had a great time shopping. Addie even carried her purse and used her frequent shoppers card, coupons, and cash in the check out line! It was lots of fun. Here are some pictures from our trip:

Levi praying

Our family has always had the tradition of holding hands when we pray. However, Levi randomly decided he was no longer going to hold our hands to pray. Instead, as soon as he realizes it's time to pray, he pulls his hands away and does this:
What I really love about this picture is that you can see he snuck a bite of pb and j. As my Poppop always used to say, "Unblessed food!"

Snowmen

So far, we have not had any significant snowfall this winter, but that has not kept us from learning about snowmen! Here are some pics of our snowman-themed preschool lessons:

Levi's cotton ball snowman:

Addie's Frosty:

Next, we mixed some batter,

And Addie mixed it some more,

Then, we cut out a snowman shaped brownie (after baking the batter, of course), covered it in confectioner's sugar, put icing eyes on,

and M&M buttons to create...

a delicious snowman!

Addie's latest memorization

I have been working on a new song with Addie for exactly a week. Here is what she has learned (you have to click on the link-apparently the video was too long to upload to blogger):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH_9B3DwHRY&feature=youtu.be

Virginia Angove Christmas/New Year

The weekend after Christmas, we headed up to Roanoke to visit the Angove side of the family and celebrate Christmas as well as the new year with them. Here are some pics from our visit.

All the cousins:

Addie got lots of great presents...one of which was a Princess purse-great gift, Uncle John, thank you!

Also, a Princess book that plays songs!

And a tow truck for Levi:

Our dare devil.

Addie loves to "play" the piano-maybe Michaela can actually teach her how to play!

Christmas Morning

For the first time in our 6 1/2 years of marriage, we were at home on Christmas morning! It was so great, I think we're going to do all we can to make that happen in future years...we'll see how it goes. It was so nice to be able to just do things at the pace the kids wanted. It took us the entire morning to get all the presents opened since after each gift, the kids just wanted to play with their new toy(s), so we let them! Here are some pics from our day together.

Levi got a Quad. When he first got on it and pressed the button, it obviously moved. He laughed hysterically, then hit the button again. After each time he pressed the button, it resulted in laughter-it was awesome.

Levi also got a tent/tunnel he enjoyed.
And a new workbench!

Addie got a big wheel...

Accessories for her baby doll,

And a dollhouse!

Riding down the hallway:Levi as Santa:Early on when asked what she wanted for Christmas, all Addie would say was "a hat like Levi and Daddy have." So, it was Daddy's job to get her a hat. She was so excited when she opened it!

Levi got a little doggy...and showed his love for it quickly:

Addie and myself both got rolling pins!

New ornaments (as well as Addie showing off her new toothbrush)!

Daddy got a tent from the kiddos for Christmas-he's hoping to take them camping before too long!

Levi had a blast and was exhausted by about 10:30 (after having got up at 7:30 that morning)-he just couldn't handle all the excitement for too long!

Later, we were able to take some new toys outside to try them out. Hurrah for warm temperatures on Christmas!

Nothing like riding a big wheel in your Christmas dress...

The kids also helped Mommy make cupcakes for Jesus' birthday!Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Trying out more of her new toys:

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We came back from Atlanta on Christmas Eve and headed to our church's candlelight service. After that, we came back home, had hot chocolate, read the Christmas story, sang some Christmas carols, and exchange a few gifts. It was so fun to be on our own at our house this year!

Trying out our new tripod-turned out a great family picture!

Having our own candlelight service...

Reading Luke 2:

Addie giving Levi a classic headlock hug while giving him the Christmas present she picked out for him.

Cookie monster!

Levi giving a hug as he gives Addie her gift.

A princess keyboard!

A gift for Mommy from the kids to be used the following morning-a waffle maker with fun shapes!

A gift for Daddy from the kids...homemade ornaments!