Tis The Season For Parties!

Dancing it up at my holiday party!

Aayla's school invited family and friends to their Holiday Program and celebration. The kids sang, visited with Santa and ate lots of cookies! A great time was had by all!

Excited and ready to get the party started!!

Aayla had a blast decorating our tree. She was disappointed when all the ornaments were hung and decided to improvise. A little while later, our tree was full of every necklace and bracelet she could find. She is very proud of her work!

True Holiday Spirit

Every month Aayla's preschool takes a field trip. For December, the kids went to a local retirement community and sang Christmas songs. Some of the residents were unable to make the trip downstairs to watch the kids, so we took the show to them... The kids did a wonderful job caroling down the hallways. They brought so much joy to their audience!! It was an amazing experience and reminder to appreciate the simple things this holiday season. From our family to yours,

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Kickstarting The Holidays!

Christmas came early and often this year for one lucky little girl. Aayla was thrilled to have a new gift arrive every day for almost a week from Grandma and Grandpa Jensen!

THANKS!!!

Fall Festivites

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Aayla's preschool? Well, just before Thanksgiving, her class had a special friendship lunch where each child invited one special guest for a homemade meal, prepared by the kids. They made soup (they peeled and sliced the veggies), made all the decorations, wore hand made pilgrim costumes and even learned some new songs and surprised their guest with a show. As Grandma was Aayla's special guest, Don and I didn't get to see any of the cuteness first hand. But, we did get before and later pictures...

Headed off to school for the much anticipated event, sporting her favorite pink boots.


Her self made pilgrim costume.

Thanksgiving Dinner #1

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner hosted by Aunt Jody and Uncle Tony. Great food, fun games and good company. What else could you ask for? We are so thankful for our family!

Grandma and Papa with the goofy kids.

Cousins

Jody and Lucas

Thanksgiving Dinner #2

We continued the tradition of enjoying a turkey free Thanksgiving dinner this year with good friends Stacie and Garrett. As always, we had an amazing dinner and wonderful evening. We are thankful to have such great friends!

Chef Aayla!


Olive fingers!!


S & G


J & D

Trick Or Treating Old School Style

And by old school style, I mean outside, at night in the dark, in a neighborhood, going door to door. This is a big deal for us this year because in the past we have only taken Aayla to the mall for trick or treating. Even though she loved it, she was done after about 10 houses and had just as much fun handing out candy back at Aunt Jody's house!!

Running to keep up.


Tired kid enjoying a ride back to Aunt Jody's.


The best part...

Mills And Her Two Besties

Happy Halloween!

Aayla... I mean Strawberry Shortcake... kick started the Halloween weekend with a party at school. All the kids wore their costumes and there was TONS of treats! They practiced trick or treating and made popcorn balls. And she came home with a bag full of goodies!! Sunday we will trick or treat with her cousins around their neighborhood. It's looking to be a spooktacular Halloween!!

Twice Is Nice

Fall is in full force and with that comes adventures to the pumpkin patch. Not once, but twice! We enjoyed a family trip and a trip with Aayla's preschool class... all in one week!

A goofy kid on the way to the patch.

Don't forget to stop and smell the sunflowers.


Riding out to the field.


A perfect place to rest tired legs.


Queen of the hay stack.


Daddy and daughter.


Silly Sally!


Aayla with her preschool friends.


Working hard on her pumpkin.

Bangs!!!

Portland Trail Blazer's Fan Fest = Fun! Fun! Fun!

We are super excited for basketball season this year! We kicked it off by taking Aayla to the Blazer's first public scrimmage at the Rose Garden. We met up with good friends and fans, Stacie and Garrett. It was awesomely fun and can't wait to go to a game over the Thanksgiving holiday!

LET'S GO BLAZERS! LET'S GO!!

Crazy Cat!

Miss Millie is growing into quite the princess. She is also a classic example of a bratty, hand raised kitten. It's a good thing she is so pretty and that Aayla is madly in love with her, because she has become a bit of a handful, to say the least!

Little Golfer

Don recently got Aayla her very own little set of real golf clubs. She likes to wash them just like her daddy!

Nothing like a little daddy daughter time on the golf course!

Goofing around! Don even let her drive the golf cart!

Rain Rain Please Come Today

Aayla couldn't get out the door fast enough when she realized it had started to rain.
She loves her new rain gear!

A New School Year

Aayla started a new preschool this year. It is GREAT!! She loves school so much and is always asking how long until she goes again. These pictures are from the open house before school started.

Excited to get inside to see her classroom.


First stop... the library of course!


On to playdough!


Did someone say puppets?


Next comes the sand pit.


Time for some house play.


Our first teacher parent meeting. AAAAHHHHHH!!!!