Ashley is very into writing notes. She will ask, "how do you spell...". On this night, I don't think I was home when she was going to bed so she had told daddy she wanted to write a note. Daddy wrote the note for her (right) but that isn't what she wanted...she wanted to write the note. What Ashley wanted her note to say was "Mom, don't forget to hug & kiss me before you go to work! Love Ashley." (Daddy got it right on his scribed note.) Ashley's simply said "Mom, Don't Love you. Ashley" I laughed and laughed. Boy do I love that little peanut!
This may have been one of the only snowfalls this winter...and you won't find me complaining about that!! We dressed up the kids and headed out to play in it.
Ashley Jane
Big sister pulling lil' brother for a sled ride.
Down the hill they go! Wheeeee! You can see from Ashley's face, she loved it!! Jack...not so sure. Actually, he really likes going down the hill, he just doesn't like when it stops at the end or having to walk back up the hill to do it again. 
Disney on Ice! Sheli & I took our girls to go see Disney on Ice, featuring the infamous Rapunzel. As you can see, both girls are wearing purple dresses, just like Rapunzel. Maddy even had the hair! Crazy thing is, half of it is Maddy's real hair!
Sheli and I both picked up glowing trinkets for the show in hopes we could escape the $25 gimmicks at the show. It worked, but it still took dragging them away from the booths that were selling it! Imagine paying $25 for a headband with long hair like Rapunzel.
Three cuties! Maddy, Allie & Ashley
Pretty awesome event...here are all of the Disney prince and princesses and there was even floating lanterns just like the movie Tangled.
The annual Christmas cookie baking day at Grandma's. Jake & Ashley helping Grandma. Can you see Ashley's tongue is sticking out? A sign of how hard she was concentrating? :)
Ashley & Jack on Christmas Eve. Ashley and I made pretty poinsettia barrettes that morning.
Ahhhhhh.
Christmas eve at Grandma Schuette's! We have quite a crew and this isn't even all of us! Pretty great picture considering we all just got in to position and no one instructed anyone to sit, stand or adjust into place.
Christmas morning! Yay! Ashley is holding up a wedding girl barbie from Santa!
Jackapoo taking a ride on his present from Santa.
Daddy got a new watch!
Christmas day at G & G J's. This year we also had my sister in law Lydia's mother & father in town from Kentucky and her sister too all the way from S. Korea. It was a great time.
Christmas at G'ma Terry & G'pa Randy's. Jack's sporting his new sweater. Such a handsome boy!
Jake, Marianne, Dennis, Luke, me, Ashley, Matt, Jack, G'ma Terry, Doug, Dallas, Dougie, G'pa Randy. 
Ashley got an awesome girls pedicure kit from Uncle Doug for Christmas. I think we did pedicures for the next 4 or 5 nights after receiving this gift. She loved warming up her feet in the warm water. 
Jack wanted to participate in pedicures too. Wrong end buddy!We still spend a lot of time dancing and singing at our house. Ashley now has her own ipod (an old one of ours) that's loaded with my dance music...most not appropriate for a 4 year old but we haven't gone through and edited her play list yet.
Other events in December: On 12/2 McDonald's opened in Chisago. BIG NEWS for this little town we live in. 12/3 Matt & I went to see the St Paul Chamber Orchestra at the Orpheum with Sue & Larry. Larry scored some good tickets off of Livingsocial. Pretty amazing and talented musicians. I couldn't get over the oddities or mannerisms of the conductor but I was told by my husband that is all very old customs and they all had their own significance and to stop laughing. Haha! Major case of the giggles. On 12/6 I took Ashley to the dentist in the last attempts to get two cavities filled. If this visit wasn't successful, we'd have to take her to Children's and have her put under to have them fixed. Well, Ashley had been begging for Squinkies for about 3 weeks. I bought Squinkies and put them into what I called my magic bag (a velvet jewelry bag) and used the Squinkies to bribe her into cooperating...she got one for sitting up in the chair, she got two for letting them put on the "kitty nose" which was really the gas mask and they started the gas, she of course cooperated. I was so proud of her. Two people sticking their big adult sized hands into her mouth with the tools etc. We take her to a pediatric dentist which of course is specialized in kids and everything is kid oriented and they have fun kid friendly names for all of the tools but that didn't make a difference to Ashley in our first 4 or so visits. Squinkies saved the day...or at least saved us from having to shell out mega bucks for the procedure at Children's. After the visit Ashley told me, well mom, that wasn't so bad. I wasn't even scared. Good thing too because we were headed back the next week to get the second cavity filled. Yes, this too required a new package of Squinkies. Daddy got connected with a job doing construction work again mid December so Jack started back at daycare full time on 12/12. On 12/12, I took Jack to have his hearing evaluated on recommendation from our doctor to have his speech evaluated. When scheduling the speech eval, I asked if they'd be checking his hearing to which the answer was no. She suggested if I had concerns I should take him for a hearing eval first. So, I did that and learned Jack wasn't hearing. My insurance coverage through work was changing as of 1/1 so I made the quick decision to take advantage of a free surgery and scheduled him for tubes on 12/23. This procedure was free because we had already met our out of pocket maximum due to Jack's 5 day stay at Children's 9 months earlier in March. The week of 12/12 was insane with doc appts. Jacks hearing eval, AJ was at the dentist, I was at the dermatologist, Matt had his procedure, Jack had a preop appt and all along I was working remote or going into work after the appts or working late at night to make up the hours. Exhausting! On 12/20 I went to see Cinderella at the Orpheum with Sue, Lydia, and Lydia's mother Penny and sister Georgia. We went to the St Paul Grill for dinner. Fun evening! 12/21 I took PTO and I surprised AJ by picking her up from school and taking her to the movies. We say the Muppets. 12/23 was Jack's surgery. 12/24 was Christmas, 12/25 was Christmas, 12/26 was Christmas. 12/29 our friends Reed & Stacey took us to Running Aces for their seafood buffet as a thank you for passing down a bunch of kids clothes and a bunch of our other friends joined us too. 12/30 I took another day of PTO. I don't think I have ever had the chance to take the last day of the year off in the last 11 years. It was awesome to sneak in a long weekend. 12/31 Gma Terry took the kids overnight and we got to go up to the Dinnerbel for bingo with our friends and then everyone came over to our house to bring in the new year. Lastly, Ashley no longer takes naps. The days of a sneaking in chores and bills etc while the kids nap are over.
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