Lucy and Ellory recently.

Christmas was so great back in December! Experiencing it through their eyes is such fun. We were home for Christmas and had some fun family times swimming, ice skating, and sledding. We were able to get together with the De Jongs a few times also, so special! We were supposed to celebrate with Schuts early January, but we found out all three girls had Covid! We tested before seeing family because we found out we were exposed, and were surprised all three of them had it. We quarantined at home for a few days, but thankfully they were all completely asymptomatic the entire time. Other than that, we have been really healthy! For their big Christmas present, we also went to Great Wolf Lodge a couple weeks ago. It was our first vacation just the five of us, and we had such a special time! It was so much fun and a treat to just enjoy our time together. We got to go to Disney on Ice in December too and we loved it! We have a Disney trip coming up with the De Jongs that we can't wait for!

Lucy and Ellory just switched over to S/6 clothes. Bittersweet to say goodbye to the toddler section, but they were ready. Ellory is still wearing an 11 and Lucy a 10 shoe. Ellory is a rock at sleeping through the night, Lucy not so much. She was doing much better for awhile, but for the last bit has been waking in the night a lot again. Lucy occasionally takes a short nap, but not very often (usually it's in the car if she does), and it's super rare that Ellory would nap. Lucy's favorite thing to wear is a t-shirt or sweatshirt and sweatpants, and Ellory really loves to wear dresses.

They are so excited for their upcoming birthday! They are counting down the days. We will have some preschool and Sunday School friends over for a party. Lucy wants a Curious George theme and Ellory wants a heart theme, so a Curious George Heart party it is! They got a 5 pinata they are excited to do with their friends. For their family celebration, we went to Drop Zone and Red Robin in Sioux City. We celebrated their birthday in Des Moines with the Schut side and went out for supper on their birthday with De Jongs.

They are both doing so well at preschool. They enjoy going and it makes us so happy that they are excited to go and love telling us what they did afterwards. They learn a letter a week and get to do so many fun things, like slipper day for S and popcorn/pizza party for P. They are doing so well at practicing their glockenspiel song each week for Kindermusik. Lucy especially is so determined to play it perfectly. They do great at going to Sunday School also. Both Lucy and Ellory sang so well at the church Christmas program. Going to story time at the library is a weekly highlight too. We started watching a friend's kids three mornings a week before Christmas, and they enjoy playing together and mostly get along really well.

Ellory is very thoughtful and asks lots of theological questions. She loves to play with her sisters, but also plays the most independently. She likes magna-tiles, is super detailed at coloring, likes to be the baby or an animal when playing pretend, likes to set up restaurant, play Barbies, and play outside.

Lucy has been giving compliments lately that are so cute, like Kley is good at playing guitar or complimenting my cooking. She likes to play outside, make crafts, Hot Wheels cars, play songs on her playlist, play house and babies, and play Barbies.

Lucy and Ellory, you are so sweet and so much fun. We love you so much and you bring so much light to our family!