Queen Elizabeth

Mary Varner's 1st grade play is coming up on Dec.17th.  She is Queen Elizabeth in the play, "Hats".  She is very proud of her line that she is saying in the play, and often practices her part.   I knew she was going to need a costume, so I found this one on clearance after Halloween.  Now, the challenge is keeping her out of it until after the play!

 

Pictures

Janey loves to draw pictures like her sister.  She has started to sign her papers with "f janey f" which stands for "from Janey Frances"

Mary Varner likes to type stories on the computer and then draw an illustration of that story.  This is one she did about the first Thanksgiving.



Here is one she did on her life. She put dates in the story to represent a timeline of when these events happened in her life.  Jim especially liked that he was considered cool!





Fall Party

 

Mary Varner's class had a Fall party on Friday.  I signed up as a parent helper a few weeks ago with plans to take Janey with me.  Jim ended up taking Friday off, so he took Janey to her ballet practice while I went to the party.  Mary Varner's teacher setup the party with four different stations(food, painting, pumpkin craft, and photo booth) for the children to rotate in their groups throughout the classroom.  I was the parent in charge of the pumpkin craft station. 

 

Mary Varner making her jack-o-lantern at my craft station

Her finished product

Making a picture frame, and showing that she had the same shirt on as she did in the picture from the first day of school

having fun making silly faces in the photo booth

Trick or Treat 2013

 

 Mary Varner dressed up as a snow princess, and Janey was a peacock this year for Halloween.  Mary Varner opted for spray glitter in her hair instead of a tiara (to look like ice crystals), but it did not show up like we thought it would.  She was still a very beautiful snow princess!  Janey's peacock costume was also a hit around the neighborhood. 

A few weeks ago, Mary Varner watched this show called, "The Superhero Squad."  On the show was the Incredible Hulk.  She started talking to Jim about painting himself green like the Incredible Hulk for Halloween.  Jim suggested finding a t-shirt with it on there, but Mary Varner persisted with her request for body paint.  Jim agreed and told me that if I could find the paint then he would do it.  I found some green body paint, and he ripped up some old jeans that already had holes in them and transformed into The Incredible Hulk.  He definitely got some "cool daddy" brownie points this year. I wonder how he is going to top this next year???

 

 

Family Photo over at our neighbors before heading out.  I found a peacock mask on clearance to match with Janey's costume!

 

 

Elianna and Jaiden (our next door neighbors) were pirates this year.  Kelsey (a friend from down the street) was Miss America.  This sweet group of girls had a great time trick-or-treating together!!  Great memories!!



Sweet Notes

Mary Varner has been writing encouraging, thoughtful little notes to the family lately.  She put a note in Janey's lunchbox for her to see at preschool(thankfully I found it so I could ask the teacher to read it to Janey), one for Jim was on the coffee pot one morning, and she drew me a picture with a note and put it with the pictures on the refrigerator. She writes the notes in secret and then tries to put them were we will be surprised by finding them.  This has reminded me how a little note can really brighten someone's day. This might just have to be a family thing we do for one another on a regular basis.

 

 

 

 

Pink Day/ Hat Day

Wednesday was hat day for Mary Varner at school, and pink day for Janey.  Mary Varner chose to wear a Santa hat, and of course we had no trouble finding something pink for Janey to wear. Mary Varner's teacher said that she told her that she was Mrs. Clause with a little bling since her shirt was so sparkly.

 

 

Spend the Night friend

 

Last Sunday, our friend Tara came home with us from church, and spent  the night.  The girls were out of school on Monday for a teacher work day.   Tara's parents asked if she could stay with us while they went overnight to Destin, and we gladly said yes.  I love seeing our girls and their sweet friends from church forming friendships!! 

  

Listening to Jim tell a cowboy story!

Sweet friends

Monday morning we went to the park on the bay to play.  It was very overcast, and started to rain on us on the way home.  Janey always tries to do these balance step things when we go to this park, and has not been able to get it.  Well, she finally figured it out this time!!

Mary Varner walking up the slide.  This picture shows how tall(long) she is.  We go today for her seven year old check-up, and I am very interested to see how tall she actually is. 

Janey and Tara had fun swinging and kicking each other in the booty!

Pretty Dresses

Thank you Aunt Vivian and Nana for making these beautiful dresses!! The girls were very proud to tell everyone at church that their dresses were handmade with lots of love!

Fun Week

Jim was off work on Monday for Columbus Day. The girls still had school so Jim and I went to the beach just the two of us that morning before heading back to pick Janey up from preschool. 



B'B' came in on Monday evening to stay for a few days.  The girls enjoyed making brownies one afternoon with B'B'. They had lots of fun licking the bowl too.

Look at the "I am in heaven" look Janey has as she licks the bowl



Wednesday night was "bad hair night" at Awana.  The girls wore brightly colored headbands that had crazy hair pieces attached, and I wore MV's Rapunzel wig that she had from Halloween last year.  The girls did not keep their wild hair on long enough to get a picture.

Mary Varner got to paint her face in art at school on Thursday!

Janey talked all week about going to the beach on Friday with B'B'.  Although it was very cloudy and sprinkled a little, we had fun playing in the sand, and on the beach playground at the Crab Trap.

B'B' has started a tradition of taking the girls to get their nails painted when she comes to town or even when we are in Mississippi.  This time they picked out bright orange and green with black polka dots for Halloween.

 

Kisses goodbye....WE love B'B'