Christmas Fun!

We have had a lot of fun getting ready for Christmas and have done some pretty fun stuff!  We are so busy during the week that we have really gotten to where we protect our weekends for some good family time.  Now we have 2 weeks off and are excited to be together.  A couple of weeks ago, we went to a shopping center that was giving carriage rides with miniature horses.  The girls had a great time and loved seeing the horses.  After the carriage ride, we ate dinner at Pei Wei which is one of our favorites.  Then, we ended the night with a dessert at the Pie Bar.  All in the same shopping center and so much fun!  

 

 

 

 Gabe and Sadie on the carriage. 

 Claire and Me.   

 

 And the Pie Bar.  It is seriously sooooo good. 

 

 

We also attempted Gingerbread houses for the first time. We are not exactly the most patient people when it comes to art projects and we are definitely not engineers or architects so the Gingerbread houses were done...um...Gillespie style. We did get them together and the girls did get candy decorations on them, but they sure didn't last long. Luckily when they fell down, Gabe just said, "You get to eat the candy now!" That quickly took care of any sadness because they fell down and all was well. We're making some Christmas memories!

 

 

 Sadie decorating.

 

 Claire decorating.

 

The final product. 



Claire turns 3!

We now have a 3 year old and a 5 year old at the Gillespie house!  It's hard to believe.  We had Claire's birthday party last weekend at one of her favorite places... where she goes to Gymnastics!  She absolutely loves gymnastics and was super excited to have her birthday party there.  She has a sweet friend, Mia, and they are just a few days apart so we had a combined birthday party.  Both girls had tons of fun and ran around the gym with each other the whole time.  Part of the time they were just running in circles on the big mat in the middle and were loving it! 

 

Claire has grown so much this year and is such a little girl now.  She told me the other day, "Mama, you can't pick me up anymore, I three years old."  That didn't last too long as Claire loves to be held.  She has a way of working her way into laps or climbing up legs so that she is being held.  She also loves playing with Sadie and making sure she is not missing out on anything that her big sister might be doing.  She makes up laugh everyday and sometimes it is very difficult to keep a straight face when a straight face is needed...and there are many times that a straight face is needed.  Claire is definitely our child that will try to get away with things and Sadie is always right there to tell us about it.  We are blessed more than we can say.  We know that God has big plans for Claire and we are thankful.   

 

 

 

 

 Jumping and jumping.

 

 Claire and Mia taking a rest.

 

 Sadie in the pit. 

 Our attempt at a group picture.  What were we thinking?

 

 After Hannah was thrown in the pit. 

 

 Ready for some cupcakes. 

 Blowing out their candles. 

 

 Mia wanted sprinkle donuts so we had cupcakes and donuts.  Yummm.

 

 Finished with the cupcake.   Gotta love pink icing. 

\

Headed home.  Claire took a great 2 hour nap.  Turning 3 took a lot of energy!



Violin Recital

Well, Sadie has had her third violin recital.  She is actually playing a real song.  She played, "Lightly Row."  Anyway, here she is....

Thanksgiving

We have had a fun week celebrating Thanksgiving at our house!  We had a quiet dinner at home yesterday and spent the day decorating for Christmas and resting.  Gabe made a great turkey with all the fixings and we ate and ate and ate.  Sadie has been looking forward to turkey and pumpkin pie for quite some time now.  The girls really enjoyed watching the parade this year which was a lot of fun.  We recorded it so they have actually watched it several times.  We decided to go bowling this afternoon so I snapped a few pictures while we were there.  We are so thankful for the time we have as a family and for our sweet, sweet girls!  We are truly blessed!

 

  

 

Decorating the Christmas Tree

 



Getting ready to Bowl.  Is it obvious Claire is saying, "Cheese"

 



Go Sadie Go!  

Claire needed a little help to get the ball rolling.

 



Taking a little break.  Bowling can be hard work.  

Gabe with the turkey!  It was soooo good. 

 



Who knew Starbucks would be open on Thanksgiving?  We loved having a coffee and the girls thought they had one too.  Shhh...don't tell them it was hot chocolate.  They were conviced they were having chocolate coffee and watching the parade. 

 



And the picture that loaded out of order.  Just a screen shot of their first bowling match up.  There will probably be many more to come. 

Princesses and more princesses

 

Well, we made it through Sadie's birthday and it was on to Halloween. The girls were of course, princesses. Nana sent us a great costume for Claire and Sadie wanted to be Belle so we found her a costume too. We went to the fall festival at Gabe (and Sadie's) school. It is always great and we come home with way too much candy! Our plan was to take the girls trick or treating on our street on Halloween night since we had not done that before, but Gabe called after school and said that Sadie was running a fever. We all got home, checked Clarie and guess what? Fever. So, our Halloween was spent at the walk in clinic getting antibiotics. They both had a virus, cough, crouppy thing. Claire was not as bad as Sadie, but it was rough. The doctor at the clinic felt really bad that they were not going to get to go trick or treating so he gave them a plastic bag and let them go in his office. It was really sweet. I tried to tell him we had plenty of candy, but he still filled their bags. I guess they must have looked pitiful. I will admit that they seem to know how to turn on the charm when candy is involved. 

 

 

 

 Princess Claire

 

 Princess Belle

 

 

 Face painting

Playing games with friends.  

Sadie turns 5!



Well, I thought that I was just going to do a fall recap, but I have ended up with too many pictures for one post, so here is the first with Sadie's birthday.  

 

 

 

We had her party at one of her favorite places.  She calls it the "princess store" but the name is really Sweet and Sassy.  It is a dress up store for little girls.  My girls love it and we knew Sadie would love to have her party there.  The girls all dressed up in princess costumes, had their hair and nails done, and then danced on a runway.  It was a great group of girls and they had so much fun!  Claire was old enough to participate and it was fun to see her with the "big girls." 

 

Sadie has started Pre-K and is definitely not our little Sadie anymore.  She is very friendly and very outgoing.  She is loving learning and loves school.  We are so excited for who she is becoming and the plans that God has for her.  I am so thankful that I get to watch her grow and be a part of what God has planned. 



Dressing up!

Getting their hair and nails done.

 



Preston, Sadie, and Kaitlyn. Such sweet friends.

 



Two princesses

 



Dancing on the runway. 

 



Getting ready to dance. 

 



And of course some cupcakes for our big 5 year old. 

 



A Day of Firsts...



It was a day of firsts for the Gillespies this morning.  The most exciting for all of us was Sadie's first day of Pre-K.  She started this morning at Gabe's school in the dual language program.  She was so excited and had a great day.  She came home saying that she learned Spanish.  She said, "Uno, dos, tres, quatro, banana."  Gabe said, "Banana?"  She said, "Yeah Dad, it means Thank you."  Banana, denada, they're close right? Gabe started his first year teaching third grade today.  Of course it was great.  He is such a natural teacher.  I had my first school day as an Assistant Principal.  It went really well and I am loving it.  Our only mishap for the day was that we put dinner in the crockpot this morning and forgot to plug it in, so it turned into a pizza night.  Not bad for a first day!  

 

 

 

Sadie (and Gabe's) school started standardized dress this year.  We are thrilled and loving not having to decide what Sadie (or Gabe) will wear every day. 

 



Of course Claire had to have a backpack too.  She thinks she is just sooooo big. 

 



Sadie with her friend AnnaBell before school. 

Here we are walking in.  I was so grateful that Carla was there to snap a picture.  .

Sea World

The Gillespies could not have a summer vacation without a stop at Sea World.  Shamu is a common topic of conversation at our house.  It was on our way to the beach and they are still offering free season passes for teachers so how could we really say no.  Especially to those cute faces!   Sadie was all about taking a picture with the dancer from the dolphin show, but do not get her close to a character in a costume!  She totally freaks out!  We are hoping that will get better as she gets older.  She even would try talking herself up by telling Claire that they are only people in costumes, but she couldn't quite do it this time.  Maybe next year.  Her's a few pictures from the fun we had.

Claire was tall enough this year to ride more of the kiddie rides so she was super excited.  

Of course the Merry Go Round is always a favorite.  

 Sadie being a great big sister to "show Claire around" now that she could ride some of the rides.  

Feeding the dolphins.  Claire was all about it, but Sadie wanted to stand back and watch. 

I just had to include this picture because ever since we started Claire in gymnastics about a  month ago, she has wanted to turn EVERYTHING into a bar and hang on it.  This includes sinks in bathrooms, tables, and any other bar she can find.  When she stared hanging while she was looking at the penguins, I had to snap a picture.  

Gabe and Daddy on some twisty caterpillar ride.  Claire and I were sitting across from them.  So fun!

 I love this picture of Sadie at the Shamu show.  She was so excited.  Shamu came out early and was hanging out in the pool.  Gabe took her down and she got to get pretty close.  With the dolphin show and the shamu show, the animals wanted to play around in the pool so they had to delay the shows a little while.  I thought it was really cute when the girls were "re-inacting" the shows later and Sadie would say that it was time for the Shamu show.  She would then say that Shamu is wanting to play around for a few minutes so we will be back later to start the show.   

 Claire said her favorite part of the show was when , "dat durl dave Shamu fish to eat."  

A couple more pictures of feeding the dolphins that got a little out of order.