Wow hard to believe we are in the middle of December already!! Backing up to the beginning of December Ainsley brought her report card home and was super excited to receive all A's... as if there was any doubt.

Little Bug brought his home the next day and got all O's (equivalent of A's) and a G in writing... needs to slow down a bit. He was most excited about his new reading level... he can now check out books in the 3.2 to 4.8 level. Currently he and Ainsley are reading the same series... the Puppy place. It's fun to listen to them talk about the stories.

We kicked off the holiday count down this year with a Lego Star Wars Advent calendar... both have been enjoying this little treat every morning. I'll have to get a collage of all the pieces that have been built... thinking we are going to have to watch some Star Wars over the break to see if we can find all the creations.

My current favorite Lego creation was this... a battle scene from Star Wars...

and Mrs. Obama... I so love his little creative self.

Mulan's 2nd favorite spot... a patch of sunshine..

Mulan cat has been thoroughly entertained this holiday season by the moving skaters on a Christmas village piece... she will sit for hours just like this...

She hasn't bothered them at all.. just likes to watch. I don't know if she'll get brave later on and try to bat at them but for now she's entertained just watching.

Monday after string Ainsley was all but in tears... in class she was busy practicing and the bow slipped out of her slippery hands and landed on the floor... just at the right angle to cause it to split at the top...

A good thing we opted for the insurance! We used up the rest of our luck when we got the bow replaced with the very last one the music store had!

The piano recital went really well... dressed up in her new dress she was as cute as can be.

She had both of her pieces memorized and was a bit nervous once the room got packed with parents but she did great... me being more nervous I'm sure than her... I think I held my breath the entire time!

She headed to the symphony yesterday with her class and all the other 4th and 6th graders in the district. She had a great time and the best part for her was getting to wear your best clothes to school... as she was getting ready she says, "I love being able to dress all fancy for school!"

This picture makes my heart ache...

She is growing so fast... is turning into a wonderful caring person... is constantly testing the limits with her eye rolling... foot stomping... and the always present... huffing and "I know" attitude. Some days are ahhh... what's 13 going to be like? But despite all that she's simply wonderful and we are so unbelievably lucky to call her our daughter.

Tonight is her first piano recital and once again she's excited to get all dressed up! Will report tomorrow on it.

Today at the Lowe's Build and Grow the kiddos made this Science Lab Kit...

The best part of the whole thing was the science experiments that came with it. Walker couldn't wait to get home and try them all out. He started with the "Scaredy Pepper" first. He added his water... then the pepper...

and then with dish soap on his toothpick he touched the water... and sure enough the pepper was scared and went right to the rim of the bowl... he was thoroughly fascinated with this...

Another favorite experiment involved milk, food coloring and again dish soap... made a kaleidoscope effect... fun times.

This morning before heading to the dentist...

he was all smiles... excited to be out of school and even more excited to finally have a tooth for the tooth fairy. He did great and was such a brave kiddo!

Just like that 4 teeth are gone... and one lonely permanent tooth can finally breathe!

Here they are the cute little guys... the two front bottom were ready to come out... the root was just about dissolved.

He's home on the couch with Mama today... told him he could go to school this afternoon if he wanted. He said, "NO" and thought an afternoon curled up with blankets, a movie and a Mama sounded like a better option.

Because of this little... or should I say big shark tooth... Little Bug is getting all 4 bottom baby teeth pulled this week.

Remember when we had a loose tooth... well it decided to go around and pop up behind. I really wanted his first tooth loss to be the normal way... falling out on it's own or wiggling it back and forth until you have the courage to pull it. But this shark tooth is coming up fast... in the long run it will be nice to have all straight teeth coming in no matter how the first ones came out.

He was excited about loosing the 4 when the orthodontist said the dentist would just wiggle them out. Walker told this scenario to Ainsley and she says, "Um... they give you a shot and then get out the pliers!" So yeah we aren't too excited about it now... she tried to smooth things over with, "Well... Mommy will let you eat ice cream for dinner!"

It will be weird to see his little smile change this week... growing up sure is hard on a Mama.

We had our first snowstorm last night and the kiddos couldn't wait to go out this morning...

Walker said, "I knew this day would come... when it snowed!"