The Dane Family: February 2015

Watch Dog Day!

This past Friday was Randy's day to be a Watch Dog at Kendall's school. This is where Dads come and spend the day at the school, and Kendall looks forward to this so much. Randy said he will be sad when the day comes that she is not so excited to have him at her school. For now, she hopped out of bed, got ready so fast, and was giddy all morning. They were on the announcements together, and then Randy spent the day rotating through the first grade, helping with drop-off and also with lunch duty. He was exhausted at the end of the day!

Kendall's class has been learning about the President, and on Friday, they dressed up and pretended to be the President on stage in the cafeteria. So cute!

Chinese New Year 2015!

It is so fun to be able to learn about a new holiday and incorporate it into our celebrations as a family! We celebrated Chinese New Year last year for the first time, and we looked forward to it again this year!

Since it was on a Thursday this year and the girls were in school, we brought presents for them to give their friends - oranges! Fruit is a traditional Chinese New Year gift, so they enjoyed giving one to the friends in their classes.

At the end of their morning, their teachers let me come in and read a book about Chinese New Year, show some pictures, and then make a lantern craft with them. Randy was able to come too, after our Thursday lunch date we have each week. Calli was proud to have us in her class and she enjoyed helping us read the book.

This is her sweet friend in her class that she talks about a lot, and they matched!

Cooper very much wanted to tell her class about Chinese New Year, too, so we took the book to her class when we finished and she got to tell a little about the celebration. So sweet!

We had a family and friends dinner on Saturday night. The Sanders were in town and were able to come over and have dinner with us, so that was super fun! The girls loved seeing Ethan, Ella, and baby Evan! They wore their silks that we bought them in China for dinner.

We decorated the house, had Chinese food, and had a great time learning more about the holiday. Happy New Year 2015!

Valentine's Day 2015

The girls had fun making their Valentines to give to their friends! We had special photo cards made and they loved seeing their picture on them with the Frozen characters. We used some leftover Christmas candy and they spent time taping a piece of candy to the back of each Valentine. Simple!

Calli's and Cooper's parties were on Thursday at their school. I went to be there when they passed out their Valentines and they were so sweet and excited about me being in their class. It was fun to watch Calli interact with her friends and listen to her teachers. She is getting so big!

Cooper was proud of her Valentine bag!

Kendall's party was on Friday. Randy stayed home with Cooper and Calli and I was able to go help with her party. She was in a goofy mood - all of them were pretty wound up!

For dinner, Daddy took us on a date to Chick fil A - where else? We checked the mailbox on our way to dinner, so the girls got to open all their Valentines from their grandparents while we waited for our food. They got fun bracelets, sticker pages, and cards!

Calli made this necklace for me at school on Thursday. She gave it to me on Thursday night, but then took it away from me and put it somewhere. Friday when we were getting ready for dinner, she went and opened my jewelry box, and got the necklace out, which she had put there the night before! She handed it to me to wear to dinner, so of course I was happy to! She was very proud of it. It says, "My heart belongs to you." So sweet!

I'm not sure if you will be able to read this online or not, but this is Kendall's Valentine's activity she brought home from school that week. It talks about all the things she loves. A keeper for sure!

Saturday morning, actually Valentine's day, we got a text from Val asking us to meet them halfway and give them the girls for the weekend so they could go to Gracie's birthday party on Sunday. We called and said yes, and a couple hours later we were in the car, headed to College Station! We met Mike and Anita for dinner at Fuego (one of our new favorites there!) and then turned around and came home for a couple nights without the girls! They had a blast at Gracie's birthday, and then we met back in College Station on Monday to pick them up. Kendall didn't have school on Monday because of President's Day, so it worked out great! Such a fun weekend!

Happy 7th Birthday, Kendall!!!

Kendall's birthday was on a Wednesday this year, so she had school. She was excited, though, about getting to pick out a new outfit to wear, about being with her friends, and about getting to share cupcakes with her class. We got her ready for school, and then the little girls and I had a slow morning, snuggling, and writing birthday cards for Kendall. Cooper has had so much fun celebrating her sister's birthday this year! Sweet girl.

We went up and had lunch with Kendall, and brought pink frosted cupcakes to share with her class.

After school, we went to see Dr. B for her 7 year old check up. I checked first to make sure she wasn't getting any shots, because that would be no fun on your birthday! She had a great check up and is growing well! She is 49.5 inches tall and weighed 58 lbs. She is in the 75th percentile for both. Healthy girl!

For dinner, she requested Chick fil A. We picked Sarah up and brought her with us and all four girls had a lot of fun playing and eating together. For dessert, we went to Cherry Berry!

Kendall Nicole, we are so proud of the young lady you are growing into! These 7 years have been such a blessing to us and we have loved watching you every minute. You are a wonderful big sister and a precious daughter to us. We're proud of how well you do in school, and what a good friend you are. You are so loving and funny, shy one minute and super silly the next. You definitely keep us on our toes and we love you with all our hearts!! Happy birthday, sweet girl!!

Kendall's 7th Birthday - A Skating Party!

We had so much fun celebrating Kendall's 7th birthday with our friends and family! We had her party the Saturday before her birthday on the 31st and she wanted to have a skating party! This was our first time to have a party away from the house and it was a lot of fun!

Granny, Papas, Peeps, Gigi, Val, Gracie, Evy, and Oliver all came down on Saturday for the party, so we opened a few presents before we left the house. Cooper was so sweet. She really wanted to pick out a present for Kendall, so Randy took her shopping to find a pig, because she knows Kendall is loving pigs these days. She was so excited to give it to her, and we just loved watching her watch her sister open her present and be so excited. Cooper has such a sweet, generous heart, and she loves to give things to others. We love it!

And Kendall was so happy about her piggy!

She opened presents from her grandparents and from her aunts and cousins. She got skates from Pops and Kiki, some cute clothes from Granny and Papas and from Aunt Auggie and Uncle Scott, and a puppy from Gracie, Evy, and Oliver. Gigi and Peeps took her on a shopping date on Sunday and she got to pick out what she wanted.

Then we got ready to head to the party! All we were able to bring was a cake, which made it super easy! The girls and I made a tie-dye cake, and then Randy decorated it and he did such a good job! The girls love that he makes their cakes and it's such a fun tradition.

Kendall had lots of sweet friends come and celebrate with her! She had so much fun. Her friends Sarah, Caleb, Jase, Ms. Tiller, Rylee, Mackenlie, Alivia, and Anna were all there, and Gracie, Evy, and Oliver!

And skating was so much fun! I can't think of the last time I skated and I had a blast. I'm thinking I'll have my 33rd birthday there! :) The girls were also excited that Ms. Tiller was there and Kendall had fun skating with her!