Random Phone Photo Dump

Here are some random pictures from my phone from the past few weeks.

Kate is loving our screened in porch these days! She asks to go out all the time.

Zoe wanted to try on my Derby hat….she looks super cute in it!

Winnie wasn’t thrilled with the girls playing dress up with her.

When Zoe asks me to take her picture, I happily oblige.

Ava had some fun dress up days the last 3 Friday's before Christmas break. I only got a picture on the first day - Wacky Christmas Day

Free hair day before having it braided again by Ms. Tiffany

Zoe’s last day of school before Christmas break was the day she’s been waiting for all year - PJ day!!

Twinkle Bear Tree

Zoe’s dance studio was asked to sponsor a Christmas tree at the Hyatt this year. They had each of the dancers decorate Twinkle Bear ornaments during class that they put on the tree. We made sure to take the girls to see Zoe’s tree and all the other fun trees. We just love our dance studio!

Zoe’s Dance Costume

I convinced Zoe to let me take some portraits of her in her recital costume….well, in part of it at least. She looked so cute dressed as a penguin during her dance. She didn’t want to wear all the accessories in the pictures so I worked with what she was willing to do. And of course, in true Zoe fashion, she got super silly during the pictures. We love our little penguin dancer!

Zoe’s Winter Showcase 2021

Zoe had her dance recital the first Saturday in December. This was her first real recital on a big stage because of COVID. The recital was at Furman and we were so excited to be able to share this special event with family. This was the first time Ava and grandparents were able to come see Zoe perform live, again because of COVID. The dance studio was so excited to finally be able to put on this showcase and it was such a fun event, especially with the surprise guest, Anna! Zoe did such a great job during her dance. I wasn’t able to take pictures during the performance but we will get professional photos in a few weeks, hopefully. We are so proud of our little dancer!

Christmas Tree 2021

After almost not being able to cut our own tree last year, we decided to go get our tree a week early this year. We headed out the day after Thanksgiving to cut our tree this year. We drove past a farm in Greenville but they didn’t have many trees and the parking lot was packed. So, we headed on to the farm we went to 2 years ago (and tried to go to last year) near Liberty. Thankfully, this farm had tons of beautiful trees and we were able to pick out a great tree. We love cutting our tree down each year and the girls had a blast picking it out and then decorating that afternoon (with the dogs’ help).

Family Portraits 2021

We had our family portraits taken again this fall and our friend, Katelyn, did a great job capturing our family as usual! There are just too many good ones to share….

Basketball

This fall we entered a new world…the world of team sports. Ava started playing on her very first sports team this fall, the Trinity Blue Angels 7-9 year old girls basketball team. We were not pursuing basketball but our pastor’s wife texted one day asking if Ava would like to play on her team. She was coaching her daughter’s team through a different church and needed some more players. We asked Ava if she was interested and she said she was. She was super nervous the first couple of practices and the first game but she quickly fell in love with the game. And apparently we ended up with a great team - their first game was a major shut out and they are currently undefeated! It is fun to watch her play and DJ is super excited to have a basketball buddy.

Occupational Therapy

The Monday before Thanksgiving was a big day for Ava. It was her last day in Occupational Therapy! She started OT when she was 3 years old and has been going weekly since then (with a short break when things shut down because of COVID). Over the years she’s worked with several different OTs - Miss Lauren, Miss Nikki, Mrs. Gayle, Mrs. Sarah, Mrs. Regan and Miss Blaire. I think she saw almost every single OT that worked in the clinic at some point when her regular OT was out. And for a few years she was also in PT, working with Mrs. Lisa (and the other Mrs. Lauren when Lisa was out). Needless to say, the people at ATS Kids have become like family. We are so thankful for all the time they poured into Ava’s life over the past 6 years. It was hard to say goodbye to them but we knew it was time for Ava to move on. She learned so much (as did DJ and I) from these ladies and we are forever grateful to them! Her last day she actually got to spend time with her very first OT, Miss Lauren, and her last OT, Miss Blaire. We are so thankful for ATS Kids and so proud of how far Ava has come in the past 6 years!

Preschool Portraits

Zoe’s preschool had fall portraits taken this year. The photographer captured some great shots of Zoe! Cannot believe this girl will be in big girl school next year!

Halloween 2021

Halloween this year was pretty low key again, due to COVID. We did not want to go trick or treating again this year with COVID starting to surge again so we opted for a friend’s outdoor party instead. Our friends, the Scogins, invited us to their chili dinner/book swap/smores party. It was a really fun evening and a chance to catch up with several friends we hadn’t seen in a long time (again thanks to COVID). The girls had a great time and especially loved their smores. Zoe decided to be Mira the Royal Detective this year and Ava dressed up as a unicorn. Zoe even got to wear her costume 3 times this year - once at dance, once at school and on Halloween. I didn’t get great pictures of the girls (little one didn’t want to take any) but thankfully we got a couple on our phones for the memories.