*MAREN'S BDAY PARTY AT SCHOOL*

Maren got to celebrate her birthday at school by bringing in treats. I asked to take a couple snapshots of her having her special day!

*ALEXA'S 80'S TALENT SHOW*

Alexa had a talent show right after Maren's Birthday Party. Her and her friends worked hard for 6 weeks preparing. Alexa wanted to do a dance to Vanessa Hudgens' Snearkernight since the talent show the year before, so she was excited this year when it was time to do the dance.
Alexa and I agreed to invite every little girl in class to dance with her at the talent show, so that nobody was left out. We had 17 girls (one ended up having to miss the show) that ended up joining the dance. It was so fun to all get together and practice.

*MAREN'S BIRTHDAY PARTY*

Maren's 5th birthday is already here. I figured I would just have a couple of family members over and keep it all pretty low key, but I made the mistake of asking Maren this question: "Maren, who are you excited to see at your birthday party?" Thinking she would say family members, she quickly replied by saying every name in her class. I started to feel quilty, so the Monday before her birthday I threw together invites for her party for all the kids in her pre-k class. I couldn't believe that all but one could come.
We decided to do Kaliedescope and then have her birthday party at Crown Center in this little lunch area. Jay got there early and reserved the area for the party while I went and played with all the kids and their parents at Kaliedescope. They had fun running around and doing crafts.
Afterwards we headed to the little lunch area, had cupcakes and opened presents. Maren had so much fun seeing all of her friends at her party!

*SHREK THE MUSICAL*

We got tickets to see Shrek the Musical in November and I have been counting down the days for it to come.
We started out the night by going to Houston's to grab a bite to eat and then went to the musical at the Music Hall. The girls had watched all of the movies, so they really enjoyed the musical and all of the silly songs.

*ALEXA'S 3RD GRADE BIBLE EXPLORATION*

Alexa was presented her bible earlier this month with all the 3rd graders at COR, so they had a class to teach them about the bible to get them started. I volunteered as a helper, however, my co-leader cancelled at the last minute. I ended up getting this 8th grader that was really good with the kids. I really enjoyed getting to spend the evening with Alexa and having fun with our Group 11. We even came up with a group name, "Heaven Eleven."

*MAREN & DADDY ICE SKATING*

Alexa and I went to Alexa's Bible Exploration at COR, so Jay decided to take Maren ice skating. He said she did a wonderful job once she got the hang of it and really took off.

*NEW YEAR'S DAY*

This year we went to Science City to celebrate the new year. We had a nice and relaxing time playing in all of the different areas. Of course we had to get our traditional picture in front of the dinosaur.