Knotts Merry Farm

Merry Christmas! I just love Knott's Berry Farm at Christmas. They re-did their Santa experience this year, and it was amazing! Thank goodness it was finally a warm day, too :) Here are our adventures for the day; I didn't get a photo of the ice skating show, but it was spectacular!

Disney on Ice, 12/13

Violet and I went on a date with the Girl Scouts to see Disney on Ice. The best part was sharing the experience with ny big girl!

We Cut Down a Tree!

Today we went to cut down our Christmas tree, and it was a beautiful day for it! This was our second annual tree chopping outing, so we repeated last year's lunch at a great independent burger joint near the farm to get our hiking energy up. I didn't get a good picture of the crazy jeep that took us up and over the mountain to the tree farm, but that ride was certainly a hilight of the day. This year we went a week later than last year, so the lot (and jeep ride!) was more crowded. It was fun sharing the experience with other families. The girls loved picking the tree, and they really loved the hot chocolate and candy canes that came with the experience! Now to decorate it...

Daisy Investiture

Our Violet is a Daisy :)

Thanksgiving road trip

The girls and I drove to Pittsburg on Tuesday, and Erik flew in on Thursday morning. Here are some pictures of our adventures:

Travel pillow cases packed and ready to go

Sleepy girls at 6 am

Daphne loves parks

Ahoy, matey! Pirates in the starboard! Aft! Knots!

Violet climbs

Good morning text to daddy 

Crazy slide hair x 2

Sisters make vacations fun!!

Daphne's Shy, Violet's Not

I just had the funniest conversation with Daphne. She was chatting up a storm, so I said to her, "You talk a lot, don't you Daphne? Do you like to talk?" She replied, "Yeah, but not to big daddies." I thought for a minute then replied, "You mean other big daddies? Not your own daddy; you talk to your daddy." She affirmed, "Yes, because other big daddies I don't talk but only in our house," and then she went on for awhile on that theme.
So there you have it. She doesn't talk to people whom she doesn't know well, and she knows that she doesn't. That she only talks a lot (and I mean a lot) in our house. Isn't that funny??

But before that... Violet and Daphne were playing a game this morning and it was so funny. Violet was the mommy and Daphne was the baby, and Violet had her all wrapped up and was carrying her around. Vwas on and on about the monster that was coming, and when the monster was finally close, I'm telling you I got a little choked up by Violet's cries of, "No! You can't have my baby, monster! RUN baby!" while she bravely stood her ground against the advancing villain (who appeared to be coming from the den). Daphne acted her part well and alternated between cowering behind Violet and running away. These girls are so entertaining!

Happy Halloween 2013

This Halloween was SO FUN. Costume parade in the morning, volunteered in V's classroom (with my helper, Daphne) for special Halloween Center Time in the afternoon, fun afternoon playtime with friends... then a fun round of trick-or-treating with very new friends and very old friends! Our ToT crew was our neighbors up the street, Violet's friend Mia from school, our friends the Ameses, and my friend Master--from HIGH SCHOOL--and her darling family. We hadn't seen each other in almost 15 years. What a super fun day. I'm a little bummed that we didn't get more trick-or-treaters, but numbers seemed to be down everywhere this year.

Violet and friends waiting for the costume parade

 Room 2:

 Strawberry Shortcake

 Sorry it's turned the wrong way. I'll probably never fix that. Two teachers dressed up like Starbucks cups, and it was so cute!

 Room 2

 My center at school- everyone made a ghost! Success!

 Violet's class getting ready to go home to trick-or-treat

 Daphne wanted fairy face paint

 Me too!

 We made spider whoopie pies

 Our group L-R: Giacomo, Vittorio, Charlie, Eve, Camilla, Lucy, Bruce, Daphne, Violet 

Not pictured: Mia

 There's Mia!

 Knock knock! Trick or Treat!!

 Yes, those are full sized bars. 

 Daphne gave up early and got in the stroller, hence, less loot.

 Happy Halloween from the Limas :)