Skating Princesses

Natalie and I took the girls to Jackson for a Disney on Ice Show and I don't know who enjoyed it more! We saw Princess Wishes and it was just magical. It was a short synopsis of each princess' story and a song or two from their movie all while they were ice skating ! Really worth it.

Gearing up for the big show...

Jasmine and Aladdin

Tink

Beauty and the dancing utensils!

Ariel (our favorite) and the underwater orchestra!

Intermission- $2 for the snow cone and $12 for the commemorative cup!

Boy, do they know they have a captive audience.
The princesses and their princes

The carriage with Cinderella (that shot out fireworks for the finale)

All the lovely princesses (that waved at us throughout the show!)

Reed's on the go

Pictures have been really tough this year. Reed is on the move! She started taking steps the week before Thanksgiving and hasn't slowed down. The 10 month old was cruising around and balancing on her own. Her favorite thing is to just stand up all by herself (nothing to pull up on). Now we are barely crawling anymore.

Sights and lights of Branson

Before Thanksgiving, we went to Branson, MO for a little Hooker family vacation.

We saw a the Chinese Acrobats do amazing things.

We went to Silver Dollar City and enjoyed the artisans, lights, and rides. The park was full of hustle and bustle but we found rides that were just the right size for Hannah Kate. Daniel got to enjoy a grown up ride, too. We watched a parade of lights and the lighting of the Christmas tree in town square.

Look closely to see Daniel and Hannah Kate spinning around.

Reed enjoyed it so much she needed a little nap.

We also went to the Butterfly Palace, which was basically an atrium filled with plants and butterflies. It was early in the morning and there was a storm heading our way, so the butterflies weren't moving around too much (so they said), but we did find a few and enjoyed hunting for them.

Hannah Kate was asked to release a couple of them into the room. She wasn't sure about tossing them out of their cup at first but after the first two, she wanted to throw them all up and watch them fly.

Fall happenings...

Reed has been growing and learning so much! She is so laid back and just soaks everything in. A happy ladybug that loves people, especially her big sister.

We played soccer this fall. It was our first attempt at organized team activity and I think it was a great learning experience. We had to learn about listening, following directions from someone other than mom or dad, and hand/foot coordination. We came leaps and bounds from where we started. First practice we had a hard time standing by ourself listening to the coaches and not using our hands. Final practice we could kick the ball up and down the field into each goal. So fall soccer=success.

(she was using pine straw for antennae)

We went and played with our cousins at a wedding in October. It was a lovely day and a lovely bride and groom and great chance to giggle.

And we had fun being sisters.

Playtime

HK was just hanging out one afternoon in a swimsuit (which was her favorite change of clothes this summer-whether we were going swimming or not) while Reed and I were sitting out front one day. Hannah Kate ran inside and came back out with something to play with...

a ceramic bulldog! And she proceeded to play with it like it was a real puppy!

I guess the child either needs a real dog or will have a fabulous imagination. It's tilted almost as if it's really listening to her...

Man, it's been a while.

Just uploaded some pics from my camera and realized that I haven't updated this blog in a long time. Pics are from the end of the warm weather and today that seems like a very long time ago. Time to back track a little.

It's a great day for a 40th birthday!

Happy Birthday E! You're an amazing 40!

Gigi and Pops on the 4th!

Supper at Lillo's and a good driving certificate for not wearing my seat belt started off the weekend. After stopping at Chillie's for some good bottles of wine, the weekend was off to a much better start.

Reed was so excited to have Gigi and Pops over to play. She was showing how she loved on her ladybug.

Gigi with her oldest granddaughter.

my little waterbugs!

can't help but relax

Daddy thought that everybody needed some watermelon, even Reed. This was her first bite of solid food! Not quite what she's use to, I guess.

But Hannah Kate has sure grown to love it!

Lake fun

We headed down to the lake for a late afternoon motor boat ride and and hamburger grillin' one afternoon and everybody enjoyed it.

HK was so excited she was dancin'.

Reed was ready

And we headed out!