A few photos from Christmas 2010 at the Beetner House

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.

Christmas Morning

The girls put on a concert with Molly's new Karaoke machine.

  

Yes, morning lollipops.  It's Christmas!

My Christmas morning surprise from Molly.  This drawing was hidden behind the tree and I was not allowed to look until Christmas morning.

Molly's interpretation of Christmas at the Beetner's  with Santa flying over our house.

Time to play blog catch-up . . .

Since we last posted we had Grandma and Grandpa Beetner visit in early November.

  Nana Dawn and Pop Pop came out to visit over the Thanksgiving holiday for the first time since Gracie came home.  

We learned that Gracie must be watched closely when using markers

Gracie learned to ride a trike.

Molly very proud of her little sister.

 Gracie loves wearing her hat and gloves around the house.  

Yes, we still live in Southern California and we do put on the heat when it gets cold here.

Molly started taking a Hip Hop dance class.

Gracie in her forever home for a year today!

Happy Gotcha Day Gracie Girl!

One year ago today we held our Gracie Girl for the first time and we became a family of four.  It hasn't always been easy over the last year but it's amazing to see the transformation Gracie has gone through.
We fondly call her our sweet and sour girl and our family would not be complete without her.
We love you Gracie!

Halloween

This year Molly insisted we have a Halloween party at our place.  Halloween has become Molly's favorite holiday, we start reading Halloween books in September and probably will continue to read them until the Christmas stories come out.  We had a fun pot luck dinner of Apple Squash Soup, Bat, spider and pumpkin shaped pasta and chicken legs.  Then we headed out for some trick-or-treating and the kids came back to our place to hand out candy and to check out their loot.  

Molly's Daphne (from Scooby Doo) costume for her school party.

Gracie's first Halloween and she had a great time and caught on quick!

Our witch and sea princess.

Flu season is here again . . .

Well Molly is the first one in the Beetner home to come down with the stomach flu this fall.  My poor girl couldn't keep a thing down all day. She didn't get much of a nap today and fell asleep at 6:30p.m. - that can't be good.  We brought her mattress into our room and she is sleeping with Mom and Dad tonight.  Eric is putting Gracie to bed now and not sure how she is going to take Molly not sleeping in their bedroom?
I am ready for a long night!

More great photos taken by Dad