Ari's Winter Recital - "If I Could Fly"

We sure loved Miss Debbie's creative dance class.  Ari always had so much fun and I loved how she was encouraged to explore movement and express herself in so many different ways.  The girls all worked so hard to get ready for their recital, and when the day came Ari was more than ready to spread her wings and fly. ;)

Beauty!

I got to be "dance mom" and keep an eye on the girls during the performance.  It was a fun change from soccer mom!

The girls did a fabulous job, and after the recital they got to have a special celebration with games and the Balloon Guy!

The Balloon Guy made a balloon dancer for each girl that looked just like them at their recital!  How cute is that?!  Here's Ari with sweet Miss Debbie.  

Showing off her balloon dancer.

Darling!

Special time with Nee Nee

For a lot of the month of January, we got to have Celine spend time at our house while her mama was getting ready to have Baby Sister!  We were thrilled to have her with us! :

She played so well with both Owen and Ari.  Cute little artists.

I'm not sure what they were all doing here, but I love seeing them all bunched together.

Cute and cozy.

These pictures of Owie and Nee Nee playing doctor crack me up!  She made a great little patient. :)

Seriously?!  The cuteness of the two of them together is too much!

May they always be such good little buddies!

Visiting the Bean Museum.

Dance party with Uncle Javi in the elevator!  It's always a party with Javi around!

And then the big day finally arrived!  Miracle Baby Carmen was born!!  This is the first time Celine saw Annalece after the baby was born and her seeing a picture of Carmen for the first time. :)  So tender.

We waited so long for this sweet baby and Annalece overcame SO MUCH to get her here!  Talk about miracle after miracle after miracle!  What a blessing it was to be close so we could help welcome her into this world!

Pics of Little O

This little guy is just too cute!  Here he is enjoying some churros on a cold January morning...

 Potty training!

Showing off his muscles. :)

Always a thumbs up!

Hanging with his best buddy, Ari.  Two little peas in a pod!

He makes the best little buddy anywhere we go!  And it helps if I bribe him a little with pancakes at Guru's. :)  Who wouldn't want to hang out with those blue eyes?  Love, love, love.

Snow Day

We hardly got any snow this last winter, so when we got a little we tried to make the most of it!

Owen had a little trouble getting up after his snow angels. :)

Random PA moments (which are often some of the best...)

Some of the best times of a vacation are the times when we're just hanging around the house, not rushing from one place to the next or trying to pull off some big dinner or event.  Times like this, where you just get to love and snuggle. :)   Grandpa's always good for lots of snuggles.  This was when Owen was still feeling a little bit sick to his stomach.  Thankfully it didn't last longer than a couple days...

We loved all the fun game nights we had!  And the best part about this trip was letting Bryan and Matt stay up to join us!  They officially made it to the adult table. :)  Bryan looked forward to games every night!

One night we pulled out our old school projects, like Youth Authors Faire books.  It was so fun to see everything!  Talk about a blast to the past!

The kids got to do fun art projects in the basement one day...

Uncle Nathan and Allison were always so great at playing games or coming up with activities for the kids.  I was so impressed, and the kids had a blast!  Seriously, Nathan has unending patience and creativity! 

Here's Dad laminating the NYC map in preparation for our trip, in typical Dad fashion.  I love him. :)

On our very last day, we got to go and visit Mom and her preschool class.  It was neat to get to meet all her kids and see her in action.  And the girls loved getting to try out some of the class activities!

This little girl loved touching Cami's long hair. :)

We had to say goodbye there in her classroom, which was probably good since we weren't able to get too emotional.  It's always so hard to leave!!  Here's Owen on our plane trip back home.  He was wishing we could go back for more time with Grandma and Grandpa, I'm sure.  We sure had a wonderful trip!