Character Counts Nominee!

Back in November, Olivia was nominated for the Character Counts Winner in her class. During the month of November they talked about integrity and were encouraged to practice it in class. Mrs. Renshaw said that Olivia always shows integrity by her constant honesty and that she always knew that Olivia would do the right thing.

The November nominees were treated to a delicious pizza party with Mrs. Keller (our principal) and Mrs. Turek (our Social Worker). Jason and I were SO proud of Olivia, and she was very proud of herself!

*I know that this post is late, but I just now got my hands on the picture!

Olivia's Christmas Program

Last night, Olivia performed in her class Christmas program. It was adorable. The class performed several songs, and then after the performance we went back to their classroom to view art projects and enjoy cookies and punch. Olivia also gave Jas and I an early Christmas present...a Christmas rug with Olivia's handprints on it. It is very cute...way to cute to use as a door mat! I will have to find somewhere fun to put it!

I know I say it often, but I absolutely love making all of these memories with Olivia and Joey!...but time is really flying by too fast!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Dressler!

On Sunday, after the play, we celebrated Grandpa Dressler's birthday! It worked out perfectly since he came down for Olivia's play, so we treated him to dinner and yummy cake and ice cream. Olivia and Joey LOVE celebrating birthdays, especially when we sing and they can help blow out the candles!

Happy birthday Dad, we love you very much!

Olivia's Stage Debut!

On Sunday, Olivia performed in her very first play! She played the role of a Crachett girl in "A Dickens of a Christmas." Olivia was beyond excited to be in the play and did a great job! I was worried that she would get really nervous with a big crowd, but after she saw her family in the crowd she was fine.

It was so nice that Grandpa Dressler, Grandma and Jim, and Grandma and Grandpa Heiple were able to drive down for the performance. Mom has been working crazy hours lately, but she was able to sneak out an hour early and race home for it! It meant the world to Olivia to have everyone cheering for her!

The play was an amazing experience for Olivia, and she is already looking forward to next year!

Busy weekend filled with Christmas fun!

This weekend the Heiple clan was busy! On Friday night, Livi, Joey, and I worked hard to put together treat bags for their class. We volunteered to help out with each party, and it worked out nice that we were asked to do treat bags for both classes. So we made up 27 treat bags...which Livi and Joey LOVED doing!

On Saturday, we woke up and cleaned up the messes from Friday night...BIG messes, and then Olivia had play practice for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Joey and I took the opportunity to go run errands and then come back in time to pick Jason and Livi up, and then went to see The Muppets at the movie theatre. It was a great show, and Livi and Joey are still singing some songs from it! After the movie, we hit the road and headed down south to Belleville. Jas and I took Livi and Joey to the mall to walk around and soak in the Christmas craziness, and then we went to Our Lady of Snow Christmas light display. The last time we went there I was eight months pregnant with Olivia, so it had been awhile. It is such a pretty light display with tons of activities to do!

After viewing the Christmas lights, we wearily headed home and crashed in our beds. It was so nice to have a family day out!

Christmas Fun!

You have to have a little Christmas fun! My children (human and furry) are so tolerant!

I love how Joey and Ollie are looking at each other in this one!

A Visit with Santa

Last night Jason and I brought Livi and Joey out to see Santa Claus. We weren't real sure if Joey would want to get close to Santa Claus, but to our surprise he walked right up to Santa and started talking! Livi brought her bag of carrots for the reindeer and a nice picture for Santa. They both did a great job and we captured it with pictures!

Date Night with Daddy

This weekend Olivia had a date night with daddy. The school was hosting a sock hop dance and Jason was Olivia's escourt. They began their evening with dinner at Steak n' Shake (it fit the 50's theme) and then they went to the dance. Olivia danced the night away and literally danced until she couldn't dance another step.

More memories for us to cherish with our little girl!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Over Thanksgiving break, we had mom and Jim over for an early birthday celebration. Mom's birthday is on December 15th, but she will be very busy with work on her birthday, so we thought we would celebrate with dinner and cake before the crazy schedules begin.

Livi and Joey loved having mom, Jim, and Sherman over for the evening and celebrating with grandma. Happy birthday mom/grandma...we love you!

The Heiple Christmas Card Photo Shoot

Here are my favorite pictures from this years Christmas card photo shoot. Everyone cooperated very well, and I think I got some good shots!!!

Happy Thanksgiving...Christmas

This year we spent Thanksgiving with the Heiple clan....and whenever we celebrate Thanksgiving we also celebrate Christmas! We had a great time! This was our first opportunity to meet our new nephew/cousin Abiti. (Ben and Jess adopted a little boy from Ethopia and brought him home in October.) We were also able to spend time with all of our family which is very hard since everyone is spread out in Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Illinois. It was so nice to have time to play games, visit, and let the cousins play, play, play!

A big thank you to grandma and grandpa Heiple for hosting everyone at their house, for all of the delicious meals, and for a fantastic Thanksgiving and Christmas!