Gracie's Writing

Chloe has been trying to "teach" Gracie to write for awhile now, but Gracie's never really had any desire to write letters (or "numbers" as she calls them). But this week we made a couple of cards, and she decided she wanted to sign her own name. So, I pointed out the letters, and she wrote her name.

This is a "thank you" card she made for her gymnastics teacher, and the first time she wrote her name. (She likes to write LOTS of lines for her E). The picture is of her and her teacher (who has long hair...can you tell?)

Then, for Ben's birthday this week, she wanted to write her name again, and also wrote "daddy".  She was very proud!!  And then on the back of the card is a birthday cake.  She was so excited to give the card to Ben!!

A Chilly Hike by the Lehigh River

We went hiking by the Lehigh River again on Sunday afternoon. We've been wanting to go ever since Thanksgiving (Ben had to miss out on our Thanksgiving Day hike here, so he'd been wanting to go see it). It had been really cold the several weekends we'd tried to go, so finally we had a little warmer day (it was 45, so WARM is a relative term here), so we decided to head out and have a picnic lunch.

We've had lots of rain the last week or so, so the river was really full and really moving! It was interesting to see the difference from when we were there just a couple weeks ago.

Here's Julia having our picnic. I thought she looked so big, sitting there at the picnic table all by herself...

Here's Ben & the girls. We even got to see the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway train go by. The girls had fun waving at all the people on the train. It was the highlight of the day (especially since the wind started to pick up during our picnic, making us all extremely cold).


We were ready to head back after our picnic and get to the warm car...

Chloe's First Grade Christmas Show

Chloe had her First Grade Christmas Show last week. There are 4 first grade classes...they each had a separate little show, and then all came together for a few songs at the end. It was fun to see all the hard work come together into a cute show. Chloe had 2 little lines by herself, and she did really well. (I'll see if I can post a little video clip later). She went right up to the microphone and said her lines, and had a great time singing her heart out with the rest of her class.

Gracie & Julia had a good time watching the show (although it was a little long, and by the time it was time for Chloe's class, they were both done with their attention span). Julia had a great time clapping for everyone. She wasn't really paying attention, but as soon as everyone started clapping, she would perk up, and clap her hands right along with the crowd.

Here's another of the 1st grade classes. They did a play about Christmas trees (notice the "woodsmen" on the left....they come and cut down the trees)

Chloe's play was about a bear family who learns that Christmas is not about the presents you receive, but about spending time with family. (Chloe's in the middle in a red shirt)

And here are all the classes together singing a few songs. Chloe's in the middle of the back row.

Here's the video. Chloe's line is "I want a Ninteddy DS". The bears are all asking for what they want for Christmas and then the song is "Gimme Santa". But later on in the play, they learn that if they get presents, their big brother can't come home from Bear College, so they all give up their presents and learn that family is the most important thing.

You'll have to pardon the shakiness & baby sounds in the video. Julia was in my lap, and Gracie was climbing on me...so, it's not the best, but thought I'd post it anyway so you can get a little piece of the show.

Here's another video of all 4 classes singing a couple of songs. (Once again, you'll have to ignore the giggling in the background...Gracie and Julia were so bored at this point, they'd resorted to poking each other...which they both thought was hilarious...)

Our Disco Party

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Decorating for Christmas

Chloe was so excited to decorate for Christmas. We started setting up the Christmas tree, and the girls were very helpful...at first.

Here are Chloe and Gracie helping to put the branches on the tree...

Before long, Gracie gave up and started reading... and Chloe decided that she'd rather be "the boss". She grabbed the instructions and helped me to know which color branches went on next.

Izzy enjoyed playing in the branches, getting tangled up and chewing on her ball.

But once we got the tree up and the lights on, the girls were excited to get started putting the ornaments on.

Julia was taking a nap during all of this, so she was SO excited to come downstairs and see this new, exciting thing set up downstairs.

She walked around and around the tree, just looking at all the ornaments, pointing at them, and pulling some off (although she's been better than I thought she'd be...at least so far... about not taking all the ornaments off).

Here's the finished product...Chloe took these pictures because she was so proud of how beautiful it looked!

...And our official Christmas picture for this year... Aren't they cute?...even Izzy got in on the action!

After Thanksgiving & Julia's dedication

The girls had a great time climbing on dad, playing Popeye with him, and generally piling on top of him...

On Sunday, we had Julia's baby dedication. We were glad they were able to fit the dedication in while mom & dad were here.

On Sunday afternoon, we decorated a gingerbread house. The girls really enjoyed putting the candy on the house to make it look beautiful (and I was very grateful for a 2nd set of hands to help).

Thanksgiving

Joe & Jenny (& their dog, Bliss) came up from Washington, DC to spend Thanksgiving with us. Chloe & Gracie absolutely loved spending time with them...wanting to sit by them at the table, and having a great time playing with them.

Here are Bliss and Julia looking out the window.

On Thanksgiving morning (while the turkey was cooking), we went out to a trail near us that runs along the Lehigh River. It was a cold morning, but nice to get out, stretch our legs, and let the dogs run free.

Then we came back home, for a nice Thanksgiving meal.

Our Fanning tradition, (when we were growing up) on Thanksgiving was to take a picture of each of the kids with mom (& then some family shots as well). It's fun to look through the Thanksgiving albums and watch the kids grow up, so we've continued that tradition with our family.

Unfortunately, we didn't get a good shot of our whole family...we took about 10 pictures, but this is the best we've got...

Here's the whole crew together.

Here's Grandmama & Grandaddy with the girls.

On Friday, we went for a walk around downtown Jim Thorpe. Here we are in the square (with the courthouse behind us and the girls on the huge piece of coal)

Here we are with the statue of Jim Thorpe (notice that Julia is looking at Jim Thorpe and not at the camera...she was fascinated by this huge man above us)