Bridgette came for a sleepover tonight... her first time at a house that wasn't family (though we feel as though she's family) and Hannah's first time to have a friend come without their family (remembering when Helena was here). Alyssa was part of the action too... they enjoyed popcorn, smores and hot chocolate while watching Hannah's new video, The Little House on the Prairie. When it was time for bed, Bridgette was ready, snuggled between Hannah and Alyssa on an air mattress on the floor in their room. Hannah and Alyssa were not as ready and bounced around, making much noise as poor Bridgette tried to go to sleep. But go to sleep they finally did. When they awoke, Hannah thought it was important for Bridgette to see her mom and dad's room and brought her in to see us peeking out from our blankets at her. It was funny to see Bridgette's expression, a bit unsure of seeing us in our jammies, I guess!
Alyssa loves going to My Gym. She loves the teachers, especially Jammin (but she can still see him in the web show, The Activators). But given our schedule and their schedule, things aren't going to work out. Alyssa is looking forward to turning three so she can go to the dance class that she now watches Hannah doing... while she participates from the other side of the door! 
The girls always love hanging out at Ava and Olivia's house. We first took the train to see Dumbo at the El Capitan Theater, then it was back to have dinner at our friend's house... get these four girls together and watch out!
Last year we read a book about the Twelve Days of Christmas. On that last day we held our first Three Kings Dinner, eating hummus, pita bread, cous cous, dried fruit and chicken. Hannah was all about celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas again this year and Alyssa simply loves hummus, so we celebrated once again the Three Kings Dinner, inviting guests this time to share our meal with us. Along with Aisha and Christopher Virzi, we enjoyed a meal of chicken and veggie kabobs (minus the skewers that I couldn't find), Israeli cous cous (with onions and carrots), red pepper hummus, pita bread, dried fruit and a yummy yogurt dip. Before eating the "Ring" cake that Hannah practically made all by herself (and we don't buy boxed cake mix in this house) we read Tomie dePaola's, The Story of the Three Kings. Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas and Three Kings Day lets us savor the coming of our Savior a bit longer. 
