Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! Each year gets more exciting as the kids grow. Here are a few pictures from Christmas morning at our house.

Santa!

This year we visited Santa at Beatrix's school's Holiday Pancake Breakfast. It was a great event that had crafts for children, a basket raffle, a breakfast and (of course) a visit from Santa and his wife. Nana and Mima joined us for the event. We ended up winning four of the raffle baskets - a baking basket, a princess basket, a beer basket and a wine basket! (Thanks to Nana and Mima for all of the tickets.)
Beatrix wasn't feeling especially brave that day (Stranger Danger) so she let Tilly sit by herself on Mrs. Clauses knee and although she was able to tell Santa what she'd like for Christmas we were not able to get her ti sit on his knee.

Growing so fast!

Beatrix's ballet class

Beatrix's ballet class has been a mystery to us because the teacher does not allow parents to attend classes. Beatrix has also taken a "mum's the word" approach to the whole thing. For Christmas, the school allowed parents to attend a class and we were extremely excited to do so! It was fairly distracting for the dancers to have their families in class but they still did very well paying attention to their teacher, Miss Sarah, and her young helper, Miss Amelia. The ballet class is actually a creative movement class and deals more with stretching and movement instead of typical ballet moves. The have exercises and "routines that they must practice each week. It was nice to see Beatrix in that kind of environment and she seems to really enjoy her class.

Happy Halloween!

Every holiday seems to get more exciting as the kids get older and Halloween was no exception. Bebe decided in September that she would like to be a pumpkin on Halloween and come October 31^st she was. She trick-or-treated with daddy in his old neighborhood (Derby) and her Mima (Brian's mom, Pam) while Tilly and I (she was dressed up as a Flower Gnome) handed out candy at her house. The neighborhood is packed with children so Tilly and I had lots of fun seeing all the costumes. Bebe was very energetic and polite while trick or treating, and was a little disappointed when she found out she wouldn't get to go again until next year. Another bonus this year was Halloween at her school! The parents were aloud to stay at the beginning of class to take pictures of the adorable kids.

Ballet

Bebe is always dancing around the house whenever we put on Lady Gaga. We were hoping to enroll her in a dance class taught by Lady Gaga, but since she doesn't teach any toddler dance classes in the Buffalo area, we enrolled her in a ballet class up the street instead.  Here are a few pictures of her in her leotard. She isn't allowed to wear a tutu (too distracting for the kids) and we're not allowed to watch the class, so this is all we have for now. We will be able to sit in on a class in the near future so hopefully we'll get some better pictures then.

First Day of School!

We decided in August that Bebe should start school this year! She loves to learn but is stubborn when it comes to us teaching her. We have enrolled her at Amherst Nursery School. It is about a 15 minute drive but well worth it - Beatrix loves school. She even gets to take Spanish classes there as well.