Girls Pics

I got the girls new P.J.'s today so I thought it would be cute to take some pictures in front of the Christmas tree.  Anytime I say "pictures", especially "family pictures", Olivia gets this kind of scowl on her face.  She obviously is tired of them for some reason, but did end up smiling for a few tonight.  

You may also notice that "Santa" stopped by our house tonight!!  I quick grabbed the camera & snapped some photos of the jolly guy:)

Finally!!!

Our fireplace is beautiful, but I have been wanting a mantel for it for the longest time!!  There wasn't even any major problems or mishaps.  It looks beautiful - although I still need to stain it.  You know me though - I couldn't wait to put some things on it - so check it out.

Snow Fun!

The weather was so beautiful today, we thought we would take advantage of it and build the year's first snowman.  The snow was perfect!  We even had time to build a "snow slide".  It is only obvious that a snowball fight would be in the cards on a day like this.  However, when you have a 6 year old and a 4 year old participating in it - things can get a little out of hand.  Whether on purpose or by accident - Rhyan hit Olivia in the face with a snowball and suddenly - it was time to call it quits and head into the house.  All in all it was a good time.

1st Performance

Olivia's 1st Christmas Program was great! She was one of three wisemen (the cutest one, in my opinion)  The students at St. Anne's did a wonderful job memorizing their lines and singing.  Olivia and her kindergarten class played the parts of those involved in the Nativity Scene.  There were angels, Mary, Joeseph, baby Jesus (a doll), and the 3 wisemen.  Her class had to sing 2 songs, and I swear I could hear here voice over all the other kids.  She did a great job, but said that she didn't like standing up in front of people because she kept wanting to smile - but it is hard to sing right when you are smiling:)  

The BIG HILL

We finally have enough snow to go sledding!!  Don't get me wrong - I am not really enjoying this weather, but my girls do - so I do what I can.  

Craig took the girls to the "big hill" to do some sledding this weekend.  Now, when I say "big hill" - I mean big (about as long as a 12 ft. slide on your backyard swing set).  But I guess when you are a 4 or 6 year old - that's a "big hill".

So, the sleds were pulled out, snow pants were put on, and faces were covered with ski masks.  Then - off to the hill they went.  It was, in Rhyan's words on her first trip down "AWESOME"!!!  The wind was a little nippy on the nose, but fun was had by all - until snow went down the snow pants onto the tummy skin that is (brrrrrrr).  

P.S. - Craig had the best time of all:)

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving this year at the Larson house.  It was just mom, dad, the girls and us.  We had lots of good food, a short nap and helped grandma put up her Christmas tree.  She decided that the "small tree" would do this year, but of course - we still had to load it up with ornaments. The girls thought it was great and I enjoyed looking at all the things that I used to help hang on the tree.  We may just make this a yearly tradition:)

Oh yeah - we won't be making the "hanging lights out on grandma's front step" a yearly tradition.  At least not a Thanksgiving day yearly tradition - it was freezing!!!

Why Pink?

I know, you are probably wondering why I keep changing the background of our blog.  Well, you see, I really wanted to go with the pink background from the very beginning.  My other half wasn't real keen on the idea of the "Fritz Family Blog" being pink (not a man color - I guess) so I gave in and went with something else - OK a couple something else's. 

 Anyway, Criag's gone ---- hunting for 4 days, so what the heck - I'm changing the background!  Enjoy! 

Halloween 2008

This was the nicest Halloween on record for the Fritz family!  We couldn't get over the fact that we could actually walk from house to house instead of getting in and out of the truck to stay warm.  The Giants football team also played that night so we had band music in the background to add to the fun.  

The girls had a great time and were so excited at the beginning that after we left EVERY SINGLE house Rhyan said "mom, I got more candy!"  Finally, I told her that she was going to get candy at every house and she didn't need to keep telling me that she got more candy.  

We got tired of trick-or-treating earlier than I thought, but still got loads of candy - my brother -in-law told me that statistics show that parents eat 90% of collected halloween candy - I think they're right!  

Olivia's 6th Birthday

Today was Olivia's 6th birthday.  I know, I can hardly believe that 6 years ago I was lying in the hospital - watching the ELECTION!!  That November was warm like it has been so far this year and we were so excited to have a new little person in our lives.  Tonight we headed to the Pizza Ranch to celebrate with a couple of Olivia's friends from school.  She got lots of great stuff and will be busy on the webkinz website for the next year or so.  Her pink pony's name is "Rose".  We had a great time and are cherishing our days when the girls still want to spend time with us.  God knows that won't last forever!

About her birthday...

Olivia - "It was fun and I love my presents"

Family Pictures - Take 2

Well, the last try at family pictures didn't turn out too well.  It was windy so we couldn't take the pictures on the deck.  We improvised and went to the garage, but for some reason all the pictures had little whites specks on them.  For our second take we decided that grandpa and grandma with just the grandkids would be good since the pictures are for their Christmas cards anyway.  So, we got the kids together and tried again.  I think it went well.  The weather was nice and we got to take the pictures outside (much better lighting).  All the kids cooperated and we were done in a jiffy.  Take a look!

Fritz family pictures

The Fritz clan is getting larger by the year so we always have to capture the new members before the Christmas cards go out.  Pictures went well this year other than the fact that the weather wasn't as nice as we had hoped it would be.  We had a "smiling contest" so that nobody would have frowns on their faces (like Olivia did last year).  The prize - a quarter!  You would be surprised at how many people want a quarter these days!

I will post "entire family" pictures when I get a copy from someone.

Halloween Carnival

The local Community Center hosts a Halloween Carnival every year the Sunday before Halloween.  We decided to go right away this year and it was the best time we have ever had.  Many of the families didn't get their right away, so it wasn't too packed in the game area.  They handed out free hot chocolate, popcorn, and juice - let the kids decorate their own cookies (way to much frosting) - and did scary skating.  It was a good time had by all.  As you can see from the pictures, Rhyan dressed as a Bride and Olivia was the cutest spider I have ever seen. 

The games were fun, but we have one very competitive daughter (Olivia) and then another that is not so competitive (Rhyan) - someday this will be good, but when you are playing games like: throw darts at balloons, pic a pumpkin out of a small pool and check the bottom, and shoot the puck and the competitive one doesn't get it on the first try, but the not competitive one does - it's not so fun!!  

About the Carnival...

Olivia: "I loved the food and drinks."

Rhyan: "Um, I loved it."

High School Musical 3

Finally!!  We have been waiting for High School Musical 3 since the day after High School Musical 2 aired on TV!  I bought the tickets the day before just to be sure the girls would have a seat.  They went with Val (their favorite babysitter), Veronica, & Kelsey.  

About the movie...

Olivia: "I loved it."

Rhyan: "Um, I love Val for my babysitter."  "And Veronica"

Mom: "It was nice to have a quiet night at home."

Playing Outside

The girls enjoyed one of the last few nice days playing outside, building forts, and jumping in the leaves.  They also spent some time setting up a "haunted house" in our backyard with Dad.  It was sooooooo scary!!  Check out Rhyan posing with the scary pumpkin-head man.

Children's Museum - Rhyan

I felt a little like "John & Kate + 8 during our trip to the Children's Museum.  When you look at little kids for that long they all start to look like yours.  I was impressed with the girls behavior - they didn't even ask for food until about a 1/2 hour into the trip!  We all enjoyed ourselves and they had some great stuff there.  The best part about it - all the exhibits are in different rooms - so if you have someone stand at the door - your kids can't escape.  The last thing we did was let the girls get their faces painted.  Little did we know - the spot set up had the kids paint their own!  As you can see from the pictures - they used up a lot of the paint and had to be reminded a couple of times that it wasn't make - up and should be kept off the lips.