Christmas in BA

Laney helping Grandma open her presents!

Austen got a Giraffe pillow pet which goes perfectly with her Giraffe lovey...affectionately known as Gerri!

 Look closely..Laney is wearing two of the Christmas stockings!

Here they are modeling Dru and Dac's old 'BA' jackets!

Aunt Klanci (or as Austen says Aunt Cee-Cee) was a good sport to play dress up with Laney! 

Laney helping Dac with his presents!

 It was a pillow pet Christmas! Laney was so excited to add brown bear to her collection!

Love this picture of Austen on the car ride back to KC. 

Christmas Morning

Here's a shot of Santa gifts! Wow, Santa got some fun stuff for these girls!

Austen loved her new duck slippers. She's obsessed with socks and shoes! 

Laney showing off her hula hoop skills!

Wow - a picture of Debbie!  She's notoriously the camera girl! 

Laney wanted Nana to try out her chair!

It was crazy cold outside but they had to try out the new sled Christmas morning. 

Austen kept trying to eat the cookies we left out for Santa!

Christmas 2012

This playset was the big surprise for Laney and Austen this Christmas! The installer came the Friday before Christmas and had to shovel snow for an hour before he could even start. Laney's reaction when she saw it for the first time was priceless. She collapsed to the floor and starting kicking her feet!

Such a cute picture of these three! We had a fun dinner on the Country Club Plaza a few days before Christmas. 

 This picture is a little blurry but they are throwing pennies into the fountain. It was freezing that night so our walk to see the lights was cut pretty short.

Christmas 2012

Here's Laney after her school Christmas performance. She sang 3 songs and knew every word!

Austen kept saying Laney...(it sounds like yeah-knee)...over and over again and couldn't wait to run up on stage with her!

We tried to visit Santa at Crown Center one Sunday but it was a 2 hour wait. So we opted for the Sea Life Aquarium instead. They loved it! 

 Laney takes gymnastics and loves it! Here she is getting her ribbon and medal after the Christmas performance. 

 Another picture from our afternoon at Crown Center!

Keeping Busy!

Today was our first really cold day so we spent the afternoon trying on all our cold weather gear!

First ride in the jeep in our back yard!

 Both girls had hair cuts and got their hair braided. I don't know how the heck they got Austen's in a braid!

 I think they are just excited as Dru to ride the new lawn mower!

Halloween

We had lots of fun with Halloween this year! Laney decided at the last minute that she didn't want to be Tigres (from Kung Fu Panda) so Austen's Po costume became a little random (but so cute)!  Laney went with Rapunzel. 

 Big foot came to visit us! Isn't he scary?

Happiest Place on Earth!

Things are looking up...we have our internet connection! I'm determined to get back to more routine posts. In the midst of our transition to Parkville we took an awesome trip to Disney World. It really is the happiest place on earth. I can't wait to take Austen back when she's older so she can experience Disney in the same way Laney did. I think 5 is the perfect age to go for the first time. Laney's favorite character was Pluto. She was obsessed with her Pluto hat!

 We had breakfast at Chef Mickey's one morning and got several autographs...including one from Goofy!

We also had breakfast at the Tuscar House in Animal Kingdom. Austen loved waving to all the characters but the minute they got close to her she started screaming! 

We got soaked a few times! Here they are in their ponchos on one of the bus rides.

 There were a million highlights but one of my most favorites was lunch at the Castle in Magic Kingdom.  We saw Ariel, Belle, Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora and more.

Before our lunch at the castle Laney and Dawson got princess makeovers. Love how Austen is looking up in awe of the big girls!