Ashlyn's 1st Birthday!

Sunday, January 22:
Ashlyn had her first birthday party at her mamaw and papaw's house!  It was such a joy to celebrate with her!
   

                                       
 Keelin and Emmy with Ashlyn...they just love her!

 Cake time!  "What is that, Daddy?"

                                   "This tastes good!"

 Keelin and Emmy enjoyed the cake show!

                               Cake in my hair!

                                 Just stuff it in!

                                    Ashlyn shares too!

Time for presents!

balloon fun! 

My Birthday and A Tired Girl

Friday, January 13th:  Drew surprised me with flowers, gifts, and donut bank cake for my birthday!  I knew we had a really busy week...so I didn't think he was going to get me anything.

Saturday, January 14th:  Emmy falls asleep on the floor!
Keelin and I were playing a game of UNO on the kitchen counter.  Emmy was being pretty cranky.  She laid down on the floor behind us and started doing her "rocking".  (Emmy rocks and hums herself to sleep.)  Keelin and continued to play and then we noticed Emmy's humming stopped.  We found her fast asleep.  She actually slept there for about 25 minutes.

tired girl!

Keelin's Gymnastics

Thursday, January 12:  Keelin Starts Gymnastics!

After much deliberation...Keelin finally decided on doing gymnastics again.  She has been talking about taking ballet, but then goes back to gymnastics...and around and around and around.  She is one of the youngest girls in her class but I hope that will motivate her to try hard to catch up to them.

(Keelin is far left)

Stretching!

She could work on her flexibility!

I am proud of her!  She got her head off the floor!

Walking on high toe!

Good balance!

She was the only girl who could not jump up on the bar all by herself...in time she will get stronger!  It is a goal of hers now!

Right after her mom's heart...playing in the chalk box!

She immediately ran up to me after her class was over and showed me her hands!

"Look...mom...CHALK!"  She was so excited. And she proceeded to tell me that it helps you stay on the bars.  (And she was asking me what the bigger girls were wearing on their hands!...grips!)

She couldn't hold this very long.

She got to swing on the men's high bar...high above the foam pit.  The first time she was too scared to drop down...but the second time around she dropped down into the pit.

Christmas in Evansville

We celebrated Christmas with Drew's family on Monday, January 2nd.

Everyone together!

Our niece Ashlyn's first Christmas!

Ashlyn likes hats!

The girls got new backpacks from their mamaw and papaw!

Emmy loves her cousin!

The girls went for a ride on the Kabota decked out in lights!

Their playhouse even had lights on it!

Christmas in Michigan Part II

On Tuesday, December 27th we spent most of the day touring the UP.  We drove up to the Lower and Upper Tahquamenon Falls.

At the lower falls we had to hike into them because they close the road during the winter.  Emmy did most of the hiking on her own!  She is such an independent little lady!

 

Keelin and her grandma on the trail in the woods.

Our family picture with the small falls.

The girls with their grandma and grandpa.

Shauna and Jeff

Our family picture at the big falls.

After going to the falls we drove to Pine Stump (tavern/bar) to have dinner.  Jeff and I figured out it had been around 15 years since we had been out to Pine Stump!!!  We use to go there all the time when we were younger.

After dinner we went to visit with my Grandma Perry.

4 generations!

My good friend, Nicole, came over from Holland with her kids, Brady and Taya, for a visit once we got back to Mason.  Our kids had a great time playing together while we caught up.

Christmas in Michigan Part I

For Christmas this year we traveled to Michigan for 10 days.  We drove to Mason on Wednesday, December 21st.  We spent Thursday in Mason at my parents' house and then on Friday we traveled up to the UP to my Grandma Planck's house.  We stayed there until Wednesday, December 28th.

Drew has to read his paper!  I think Emmy is going to be a paper reader like her daddy!  She sat and looked at the Toys'R'Us ad for awhile!

On Saturday, Christmas Eve, Keelin and Emmy opened their new Christmas dresses from their great grandma so they could wear them to Christmas Eve Mass.  My grandma always does such a great job picking them out BEAUTIFUL dresses!  She loves to do it!

SNOW!  The girls love to play in the snow!

We don't get much down in Indiana.

Keelin was throwing snowballs at everyone!

fun with daddy!

snow angels!

Ready for Christmas Eve Mass. 

We had a spaghetti dinner at my Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jeff's house after Mass.

Emmy is trying to wake her sister up on Christmas morning!

They found a huge castle from Santa, along with coloring items and a hopscotch game.

At the Perry Christmas, Keelin was introduced to "Angry Birds". She played on Tara's phone and Jen's phone. 

At the Planck Christmas, Emmy enjoyed Tracey's new Tiger pillow pet!  She even got a tiger Cabbage Patch doll from her! 

And our annual Christmas run!  We look so festive this year!  We ran 3 miles.  (Drew is missing from this picture because he ran earlier that morning on his own...3 miles was not enough for him!)