The joy of being a kid

 Alice does this cleaning ritual of her toes often.  She says, "my toes dirty.  All clean".  She loves to clean out the lint from between her toes.  She will miss that in the summer when she isn't wearing socks all of the time.  

 Alice found this bowl and wore it for hours that first day and still wears it occasionally. She says, "Where my bowl."  

 The Young Women in my ward heart attacked my door.  It was so cute and thoughtful.  They delivered decorated cookies also.  It really made my night.

 Another January day at the Park.  We had fun riding scooters and playing tennis.

 Alice had fun too!!!

 I love the view from our balcony in the evening when the sun sets.  We get to see this often.  Alice likes to identify the colors.  Abby and Madison took this photo with my phone.

 I just had to take a picture of the girls sleeping.  They are so cute when they sleep.  They are dead to the world and sleep so deep.  To be a kid again and go to sleep and not wake up until the morning:-)

Soup, good weather, and crazy Hair Day

 I got the flu was was laid up for a few days and when we had to cancel our date that Sat. night, the babysitter we had asked to babysit (who is one of my 13 year old YW) offered to bring us dinner.  She made a delicious vegetable soup and some amazing artisan bread.  It felt so good on my sore throat and was what I ate for a few days until I felt better.  I am not so worried about the future of our youth if they do service like this for others.

 January in Medford!  Shortsleeved shirt and a day at the playground!  We were able to paint the girls nails and enjoy the wonderful weather.  It's times like these that I don't miss MI so much.  I miss the people, not so much the winters:-)

 Alice at the Mall Play area on the big bear:-)

 It was crazy hair day at school for the girls and Alice wanted to be a part of it all too!

 Abby went for more of the cute hair do verses the crazy one Madison did:-)

Happy Second Birthday Alice

 Alice wanted a Doc McStuffins cake.  This is what we came up with.  It's chocolate with Cream Cheese frosting.

 I made doc Mcstuffins dr. coats from boys shirts for the occasion.  The girls loved them.  They were complete with a name tag, pockets, and a Dr. _______ for each girl:-)

 Alice practiced blowing out candles, but when it came to the big day she needed a bit of help from Abby to get them blown out.  

 She was so cute about it:-)

I can't believe our little girl is two!  She is so big and so fun to have around.  She speaks very well and in full sentences.  She loves to "cuddle you", give kisses with her pointer finger, play pretend, read books, watch Mickey Mouse Play house, eat oatmeal (oatminal), and be outside.  She loves her sisters and would rather be with them than anyone else.  They also love her and treat her like the little princess she is:-)

Tender Mercies from the Lord

Funny times in the Evans home

 Alice loves a green smoothie, but when she doesn't have a straw, it can get a bit messy:-)

 Alice reading scriptures in the morning sporting our nerd Halloween dress-up glasses and pink boots all while still in pajamas:-)

 I came upon Alice like this...she was in awe of the air coming out of the vent and liked the feel of it on her hair.  She said, "Feel so good."

 The girls bonding with DAD!

 How fun...a tea party before church.  I love how the girls all get dressed well before church and play all morning in their dresses.

 This is Alice's seat in the Wal-Mart bathroom.  Isn't it funny.  She just loves it!

 Madison made these amazing lemon glazed muffins using the cook book Grandma McVea gave her for Christmas.  She has since made three other muffins/cupcakes from this recipe book.

Treehouse Adventure

 The girls in the tree house making a face at me.  They had so much fun!

 We took off on the friday after Christmas and headed up to the tree houses.  We stopped in at subway for dinner and then checked in.  The girls were so excited anticipating the fun we would have.  The following day we saw the horses and fed them and then swung from a tire swing suspended from a zip-line.  

 We had a fire that first night and roasted marshmallows and drank hot chocolate.  The girls also swung on a swing nearby and we checked out some of the other tree houses.

 We loved watching the sparks fly up from the fire.

 This is what our one room tree house looked like inside. 

This is what it looked like from the outside.  

Christmas Festivities

We went up to Mount Ashland and cut down our own tree this year.  It was a bit sparse, but the kids loved it.

Abby with the treehouse they built from the lego set from the Evans' Grandparents.

We were able to act out the nativity as a family for Family Home Evening.

Madison was the angel, I was the wise man and Joseph,  Abby was a shepherd, and Alice was Mary. 

The girls lining up in the hallway Christmas morning as they wait to see the tree and presents.

Saying cheese for Grandma and Grandpa Evans on face-time Christmas morning.  These are the presents from Grandma and Grandpa Evans

This is a lego treehouse from Grandma and Grandpa E. that they built that morning.

Madison planned and made this meal for the family.  It was so delicious and Madison was so proud of herself.  She did it for her Duty to God assignment.

This is a taco salad in a bowl.

Alice in Daddy's new chair he received when he graduated from University of Michigan Anesthesia program. 

The other two lego sets.  One is a beauty shop and the other one is a pet shop.  

This is our home made elf on the shelf.  His name is Jingle and he can be very sneaking and get into lots of trouble.  He got stuck in the tree one night, ate some of the girls candy, was caught eating popcorn and watching a movie with Hello Kitty, made a snow angel in the flour, and did many other things we won't mention here:-)

For the ward Christmas party they acted out the nativity and the girls were all angels.  

The polar express was there too!  Talk about a lot of work!  The girls loved it!

Gingerbread house making time.  This is a yearly tradition that even Alice really got into.  She said she wanted 'lots' of candy on her Christmas house.

We went to ride the polar express and this is us waiting in line.  It was a long line, but the girls felt it was worth it.  They loved seeing all the lights and riding on the train.

Keeping warm:-)

This was Abigails Christmas party at school.  She got to decorate a Gingerbread house and loved it.  

Alice got to participate also.  On the car ride home she said, "That was fun.  Thank you helping me Christmas House."  I was so touched.  She wasn't even two yet.

Alice was Mary.

On the bus to the Polar Express. 

Alice at Abby's Christmas Party.

The girls posing for Grandma and Grandpa Evans.

On the weekends and when they are out of school they get to sleep in the same bed together.  They say they love it because they are best friends.  I'm not sure they get very good sleep as you can see Madison's hand on Abby's face, but they love it!