Thanksgiving Part 1

On Thanksgiving Day we drove into Auburn to celebrate on the Copp side of the family. Jane fell asleep in the car on the way in but Kevin didn't mind holding her 😊

With all the different family schedules there weren't a ton of people there and Hailie, Seth, Anna, and Jane were the only great-grandkids. While I always love getting to see everyone I also enjoyed having the opportunity to talk more with those that were there. 

Anna goofing off with Seth and Hailie

 I took advantage of a chance to get a picture with Grandad and Grandmom. 

After leaving the farm we went to over to my Mom and Dad's house for a few hours to visit and play. 

Anna enjoyed the car tracks. 

Jane always manages to find Grandpa and get a few snuggles in. 

We did get them to stop snuggling long enough to get in on building a longer track. 

When Hailie and Seth were little I used to get tons of pictures with them so I made them take a selfie with me. Seth only protested a little bit and even managed to get a little silly giving me bunny ears. 

 Jane insisted on giving Seth a hug too while we were saying goodbye. 

Usually her hugs are followed by a kiss but Seth was NOT that interested. 

Of course this made Anna want to kiss Seth too and she has a strong grip which can make it tough to get away!

Attacking Seth then led to attacking Hailie. She's such a good sport!

This picture cracks me up!

Anna's 4th Birthday Party

Anna told us right after her third birthday that she wanted a space party next and she never wavered in her decision. It was pretty fun planning it although I admit I may have spent a little too much time on some of the decorations. We had a really big push to finish the floor and get the trim up in our family room before the party and while it was more than a little stressful we are thrilled to have this stage of the project done!

Planets everywhere!

One of the most time consuming projects I took on was making all the planets out of paper lanterns and styrofoam balls. The sizes are not to scale and if you give me grief about it I may hurt you ;) but I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. We plan to hang them up in Anna's room so they will get used more than once (if we ever get them up).

Anna had requested a space shuttle and this is what we came up with. Kevin did the initial construction and some of the tape and I did the painting. 

This was the first party we've had at our house and we were excited to finally have a bunch of people over to help us celebrate Anna turning 4. 

There were space shuttles for decorating and space pages for coloring and stamping. 

We lucked out with the weather being mild and we were able to put the bouncy house up outside for all the kiddos to jump on. 

It was a big hit!

Finally it was cake time and all the kids were excited. 

I was pretty pumped too. I decided to take on my own cake this year and although it doesn't look exactly as I'd intended I was still happy with it.

Moon cake!

This was definitely the most fun birthday party for me. Not only did I love the theme but Anna is at such an amazing age for it. She was so incredibly excited about everything for her birthday. 

Watching her as we sang 'Happy Birthday' was so much fun so there are a ton of pictures.

We also had cupcakes.

And star, planet, and #4 cookies!

We hadn't intended to open gifts but Anna really wanted to and I think her friends were excited to watch. Everyone was so generous and thoughtful and Anna was ecstatic about everything. 

As usual I wish I had taken more pictures of the party decor and of people but it's so tough when you are hosting. We did get my Mom to take a family picture before they left though. 

Sparkly Grandma found a red NASA shirt for Anna...amazing!

I still can't believe that my little girl is 4 years old already. At her 4 year appointment she was around 60% for weight and 20% for height- I think. I can't find the paperwork and I've been terrible about writing things down. (I will edit this if/when I find it). Everything else is looking good for her though. We have a spirited, loving, sweet, bright little girl on our hands and we love her so much.

Gingerbread Homes for the Holidays

It can sometimes be tough to find things to do on Friday's with the girls so when I saw that there was a fun event in Topeka I decided to drive in. The Topeka Performing Arts Center was holding their annual Gingerbread Homes for the Holidays fundraiser and I thought the girls might enjoy it. 

I was a little surprised at how few gingerbread houses there were on display (although some of them were really cool). I thought I had gone to this in college or earlier and remembered it being a little more impressive. The girls were only mildly enthused about it but it was for arts education so at least the money went for something important. 

While we were waiting for our turn to go in and make our own gingerbread houses they had a Santa Claus. Anna and Jane were both excited about seeing Santa but when it came to going up to talk to him Jane wanted absolutely nothing to do with him

I did get a pretty cute picture of Anna though!

Even though the first part of the event was a little lackluster,  the girls loved making their own gingerbread houses. I had to help a lot with the initial construction but once the houses were standing Anna and Jane did a great job decorating.

Since we'd made the trip into Topeka we stopped by my Mom and Dad's afterwards and the girls had fun playing with their cousins. 

This is random but I wanted it posted. Last year Anna received a Lite-Brite for Christmas and she's really enjoyed it. When we first started playing with it she needed a lot of help finding the pieces to match the patterns. Over the summer she started being able to do it mainly by herself. We would encourage her to make her own picture rather than using the patterns but she wanted nothing to do with that. Then one day she had it out and said "I want to make my own picture". We love it because it is just like these little people that Anna has been drawing this past year. 

She was pretty proud of herself and we were pretty excited about it too. 

Christmas Tree Farm Family Pictures

We had some family pictures taken in November at a Christmas Tree Farm. Our photographer over at Glass Lantern Photography was doing mini sessions and after seeing the pictures from her mini session there last year I knew I had to take advantage of the opportunity. Some of the pictures were on Facebook and our Holiday cards but here are some of the others too. 

Jane was a little grumpy in the beginning and refused to look at the camera for a long time. (Apparently I went through a similar stage at around the same age). Although I would have preferred her looking at the camera, I think it's funny and I believe we will cherish these pictures.

Anna was enjoying herself though. The little red lantern was a big hit. 

Eventually Anna was able to get Jane to hold the lantern and we finally started getting her to look up

. 

Eventually we even got a few smiles!

We had Elena take a few of just me and Kevin. This was our favorite. 

We still couldn't get Jane to smile in a family shot but she's at least looking in this one. I love it anyway.