JULIE"S TREE

Hermann has an annual tradition where the Chamber of Commerce hands out little Christmas trees to participating people, and hosts a decorating contest. This year, both Julie and Elly entered trees. I have no picture of Elly's (ahhhh, what kind of a mother am I?)...but you can imagine it with huge sequined polka dots glued all over it. Julie hand crafted animals out of clay and hung them all over her tree. She named it "God made the World". Neither of them won...but they both had a great time trying.

CHRISTMAS DRESSES

Because I shop so many yard sales, and because I tend to shop seasons ahead of my girls...we ended up with a plethora of Christmas dresses this year (16 to be exact). Julie and Elly decided to host a fashion show. Straight from the heart of Missouri into your home, I give you the Pettijohn beauties.

MOMMY AND ME TEA

A friend invited us to a "Mommy and Me' Christmas Tea this year.
We had to drive 30 minutes, but it was so worth it.
The antique place settings and very fancy menu made us feel
ooh la la.
About 56 women attended. All proceeds went to a center for
mentally impaired people. Money well spent!

LANTERN WALK 2009

We had such a fun time at the lantern walk last year,
that we decided to go again this year.
It was still fun.
There was kettle korn, smores, lanterns,
friends, santa, and singing.

Poor Santa's knees.

Oh look! Another cat found us...and followed us for the whole parade.

Lee and Elly bopping along.

Clara, Julie, Isabelle, and Ricki

HELLO KITTY

Another random cat decided to hang around our house one day.
She had a blast climbing up our kitchen door frame.
The girls showered her with attention, and walked from
door to door trying to find its owners.
Eventually the cat just went home.
Thanks for the visit kitty.

ELLY'S 3rd B-DAY

Elly and Julie are so different.
Elly didn't want a party.
She didn't want to invite others to celebrate with her.

She ONLY wanted Caleb and
Madeline to join us at Chuck E. Cheese,
and then spend the day at their house.

Wish granted.

400 tokens and 800 tickets later...we were done
living the Chuck E. Cheese life. Whew!!!

Lee's Trip to Malika, Africa

Hey everyone.
Here's the link to Lee's blog of Africa.
He says he'll be posting pictures soon.
Enjoy!

http://www.leeinmalika.blogspot.com

HALLOWEEN

This year, we decided to go to a church's fall party
in a nearby town. It was nice. They had lots of games,
a bump-n-jump, food, prizes, a petting zoo, a
coloring contest, and a costume contest.
We stayed way to late and were super tired...
but we had fun!!

Meet Dorothy (with Toto) and Cinderella.

ART MUSEUM

Julie took a field trip to the art museum
with her art teacher, Grandma Kay.


She loved the Monet.

And the scuptures.

And, of corse, the ballerina.

SLEEPOVER

Julie's friend Erin came over for her first sleepover.
Her mom made matching pajamas for all the girls to wear.
We watched a movie, ate popcorn, played, and had a long long night!

AUTUMN FUN

We were ALL about the beautiful leaves this autumn.

We hid in them.

Played in them.

Played in them.

And played in them!

Oh, and we also collected some to glue on our picture window.
When the sun shone through them...they were gorgeous!

SOCCER STAR

Julie is a natural born athlete!
We thought we'd give soccer a go this fall.
She loved it and did so well!
She scored 5 out of the 6 goals her first game.

She was scoring 12-15 goals by the end of the
season AND acting as goalie.
What a hoot!

JULIE'S 6th BIRTHDAY/ PARTY

Oh man, did we have a party!
Julie had in her mind that she wanted this to be the
biggest, best party she's ever had. So we did our best!

We had 21 kids attend her Garden Themed Party.
We had planned an elaborate scene outside, only to
wake up to pouring rain. Plan B: inside.

We potted plants, dug for worms, had a
water relay race, and ate ate ate.
It all worked out okay and (as you can see)
everyone had GREAT time!
Happy Birthday Punkin'