Birthdays!

Busy days in the Gillespie house.

2 Birthdays and a trip to New Orleans. Whew, glad that's done, just in time for Christmas, which usually keeps the kids on an even keel.

Anna was very excited to show off her new ballerina clothes and coloring book.


Look dad, boxes!


They each got to decorate a cake themselves, and blow out the candles.


My attempt at a mickey mouse cake. Not bad, but from this angle mickey may have had one too many Mickey's before the party.


Laura showing off her ballerina dress.


Emily and the kids made a gingerbread house, Anna's eating the gingerbread man.


Emily did a great job with the house, look at those bows.


The next weekend Laura got her first 'Friends' birthday. 11 Preschoolers plus some school age cousins makes for a VERY full house. We survived, and managed to avoid tears. Here Anna is pinning the belly badge on the care bear. (My knowledge of Care Bears has gone up dramatically in the past year.)


Laura's clothes included a flowery dress and a care bear cape. She picked all her own clothes.


Here she's making a wish.


Blow out those candles!

Welcome Winter

We had the first snowfall of the year. Naturally the kids wanted to get out and play in it.

Winter's back!


Anna loved eating the snow. Just no yellow snow, ok Anna?


Emily trimmed some evergreens, so Laura planted a new 'tree'.


Laura was proud of her little tree.


Anna and her snow mustache.

Happy Halloween

Halloween is here! The whole family got involved.

Anna wanted to be a pink spider. Emily did a great job making the costume.


Laura changed her mind a couple of time, but ended up being a graceful ballerina. She even made the costume herself with clothes from around the house.


Emily as a candy corn witch. It's ok, she's a good witch.


I threw together an Indy costume.

Princess Laura

Not to be outdone, Laura had her photo shoot too. Since she's a princess, she chose to wear all her princess dresses. She helped me pick out and set up the background and was more than willing to ham it up during the shoot.

Laura as Iradessa, the light fairy.


I think this is Ariel.


Laura makes a great Rapunzel, but at least she lets us cut her hair.


Rapunzel giving a kiss.


Laura as Rani, a water fairy.


Strike a pose!


Laura showing off her arm muscles. Flex!


Thanks, Laura, that was fun.

Anna's hat

Anna enjoyed trying on my hat, so naturally I have to take some snapshots.

"My hat now, daddy!"


Don't even think of taking it back.


The fedora / flower combination is a good look.


Usually I see this smirk right before she's going to cause mischief!


Ohhh, The iPad!!!


Laura, let me have a turn!

Up in the Sky

In order to catch some fall colors, we visited the Hyland Hills park in Bloomington. They had an event where they turned on the chairlifts and took you to the top of the hill to get the great fall views.

Laura was SUPER excited to ride 'The Chairlifter'. She wasn't even nervous about flying 20 feet in the air.


Emily and Anna on the chair lifter.


Laura loved watching the trees go under her and see all the kids running down the hills.


Here's our feet dangling above the slopes.


You can see downtown Minneapolis off in the distance. After the chairlifter, the kids played games, looked through telescopes, saw raptors from the nature center, and ate smores right off the campfire.

Haircuts!

Now that it is back to school, we decided to get the girls a haircut. We've had them on the Bumpa haircutting program: twice a year, whether they need it or not.


Laura wanted to keep her hair long... like Rapunzel. So a neat little trim.


The curls are like mine... they do what they do. Any effort to control them is in vain.


Anna wanted her hair short, so we cut off a good 3 inches.


Just enough curl to make for a nice cut.


And still plenty sassy, which fits her personality.


Nice haircut Anna!