Miss Molly and Gracie Girl: January 2011

I can't believe it's time for Gracie to start school!

She started last Monday and goes 3 days a week.

She is at school the same days as Molly and it is so nice that she has Molly there to help her feel comfortable.

We thought she would be fine and she is and loves it as much as Molly does.

I came early to pick her up her first day and ended up staying another 45 minutes because she didn't want to leave. This is a full day program from 9-5 and I can't get my kids to leave!!!

I am so grateful that we found such a wonderful school where our girls feel safe and can thrive.

The girls wanting to stay in school is a good problem to have;0)

Molly is so excited to have Gracie at school with her!

Goodbye hugs and kisses on Gracie's first day.

Harder for Mom than Grace.

Grace never looked back.

By Friday I stopped going to school early to pick up the girls and accepted that Grace is ready.

Putting up the Christmas Tree

The girls did a great job and believe it or not neither of them fell into the tree.

Molly got the honor of placing the star on the tree top.

The Gingerbread House

I am amazed there were enough candies left over to cover the house after the girls were done sampling everything.

The girls did a great job being patient and waiting for the house to dry before decorating.

I think they learned a valuable lesson when our Halloween Haunted House collapsed because we started decorating too soon.

Molly and I go to the Nutcracker together for the first time

She gets to visit with Santa during intermission

Once again I was amazed by Molly!

She was so quiet and still through the performance and absolutely loved it and so did I,

we had a great night.

Over our sushi dinner after the ballet she told me "The snow flake fairy costumes were my favorite. I would like to be that for Halloween next year.

Could you make me that outfit tomorrow?"

She then told me she would like to switch from Hip Hop dance class back to ballet.

The Elf on the Shelf joined our family for Christmas for the first time and he was a big hit.
The girls named him Billy and they were very sad when we told them on Christmas Eve that he wouldn't be back until next Christmas.

Here is a drawing Molly did of Billy where she found him sitting on the shelf in our living room his first morning with us. We didn't take any photos of Billy that morning but this drawing is exactly how he sat on the self that day( next to our family photos and a vase of red berries) and I will always remember thanks to Molly.

Molly and Gracie with Santa

Santa was quite surprised when Gracie jumped right up and was not at all nervous.

Decorating Gingerbread Men with Nana G and Poppy on Christmas Eve

Molly wanted to eat the Gingerbread house that had been sitting on our table for weeks. I saw these kits at Trader Joe's and thought this would be a good compromise and so did the girls.
More torture for Molly when I told her she had to wait until after dinner to dig in.