Can't Stop Won't Stop

Hi all. It has been almost 5 months since last posting. That is a horrible new record. While I sometimes think i need to stop these, because obviously I'm having major issues keeping up, I then am reminded that I just can't. Why? Well we print them out as our family yearbooks every year for Christmas and we LOVE looking thru them. Mom often find us and our neighbors reading through past years. It is so much fun! So...here goes my attempt of catching everyone up on the last months.

Geez, how do I even go about doing this? I guess I'll go thru the holidays first. As there were 4 of them since last posting.

Halloween - I LOVE Halloween, maybe because I get to pick what we should be and Heidi and Lena are willing to go along with anything. This year, I wanted to be Wonder Woman. So...we became the Super Steffen Sisters. Heidi was Supergirl and Lena was Bat baby. Given that her bat baby cabbage patch is her favorite thing in the world and - at that time - the only words she said, she was thrilled to be bat baby. We raked in the candy so that was awesome. Yeah! We went to parties at our school, my old pre-school, the annual bash at Avery and Mae's house and then of course trick or treating with our neighbor Avery (Rowan was sick). We keep doing more and more houses every year, because it is so fun! Lena loved going up to the door with us, but she never said trick or treat - or please and thank you. She would just put out her bucket and yell "bat baby!". It seemed to work though. 

Thanksgiving - We made a last minute decision and went up to Hartington for Thanksgiving. We have gone to Lincoln, but never up there. I think it was because we had a whole week off school and they wanted a break. Whatever, I'll take it. It was fun being up there. We had a big kickball game on the golf course. Even nana and papa played! We also got to go see the horses again, watch the Huskers play their last football game over at Matt's house, and of course eat lots of food.

Christmas - Oh boy. Can I tell you HOW excited I was for Christmas this year? I don't think I can put it into words. Pretty sure I started counting down months in advance. So needless to say when Angel our elf on the shelf showed up this year, I was super excited. I started writing lots of notes to Santa hoping I was a good enough girl so he would bring me what I wanted. I wanted an American Girl doll SO bad, and mom says they are way too much money (and I don't play I with dolls) so I was planning on asking Santa for them since $ doesn't matter, but then I discovered that there are other dolls that look just like them when we bought one for church to give to a girl my age who doesn't get any presents. I found a cowgirl one that was perfect. Have I mentioned to you that I LOVE horses and country music? Yep, its true. I want to grow up and live on a farm with lots of animals in Texas or Nebraska. 
Oh speaking of country music. Dad got me a ukulele! A pink one at that. I love Taylor Swift so am learning how to play like her. Well hopefully, our youtube videos may only get us so far. Dad keeps saying I am going to take some lessons. I could go on and on about presents...as I got a lot of things that I love, but you all probably don't care as much. But, I'll put tons of pics in nonetheless.

So let's go back to the activities around Christmas. We of course went to go see Santa again. Even though Lena loves the song Santa Claus is coming to town (she calls 'Ho Ho Ho') she didn't quite like the big guy. So as you can see in the pictures she was none too thrilled when mom put her on his lap. Uh...no. I didn't like him one bit. I mean, I did like the candy cane, but that is it. Actually, we got to see him twice. I liked him the 2nd time, he gave me a bell and I didn't have to touch him. 

Oh yeah, we went on the Polar Express train! One of the last days before break mom and dad surprised us with a drive in our jammies to the train. I was so excited, because I just can't fathom how fast we go to get to the North Pole. I was so excited to see if we would see an ocean on our way. Well...it wasn't fully dark yet, and I just feel like we didn't really go there because I could kind of see. BUT, I could hear the bell which proves I do still believe in Santa, so that is good. Oh well, we had lots of fun drinking hot cocoa and singing carols. Yeah, I thought it was a lot of fun...I loved everything about the train, Santa, all of Christmas. I love our Christmas dresses, I love it all! He must have decided I was nice because he brought me my camera I asked for and I have had lots of fun trying it out. 

Wait...back up. Before Santa came we celebrated at church with the candle light service and then our now 4th annual Christmas Eve dinner with the Ungles at Houlihans. Then we came home and got in our jammies and opened our presents! So much fun. Lena really loved opening things up and as you can see, she enjoyed them all. Minnie mouse pajamas, sunglasses, slippers, and new cat baby to friend bat baby. She calls him 'baby roar'. Amelia picked out a huge donut puzzle for me and I love it. In fact, we already finished it. I had a lot of fun just hanging out with the family doing it. 






Anyway, after mom and dad packed up and we showed Elmo everything we made the trek up to nana and papa's again. This drive seemed quite long, but we made it. And everyone was already there to party! We ate, opened a couple presents and had tons of fun playing. I especially have fun playing with all my cousins. Doctor is a house favorite. Doctor! Yes. Lena has a new word, after going to the doctor this week (after 2+ months of coughing), she now loves playing doctor with everyone. 

Bailey! Another new word for Lena. You see...her godmother Bailey is going to get married and she asked Lena at Christmas if she would be her flower girl with this cute light up flower. Lena likes to turn it on and carry it around and say Bailey's name. She has 9 months to keep practicing for the big day. Since me and Amelia are seasoned pros we will try to prep her best we can. 

They got a ton of snow up there, but it was SO cold. So we were inside a lot, until our final day. We braved the cold so Jack could take us and Will out sledding behind the 4 wheeler. It was fun! We then got in the car for a scary ride to Lincoln. Ok, I slept...but apparently dad couldn't see the road there was so much snow. We were suppose to hang out at Tanja and BJ's so dad could put in a A/C...but weather ruined that. We did stop by enough for a quick hello and then off to a Christmas gathering with grandpa McLain! We went to our favorite pizza buffet and we got to meet mommy's sister and brothers. Kind of crazy we hadn't met them yet, but we had fun seeing them all. I especially had fun playing pool! 

Grandpa just made another quick visit with us - in the snow storm - unfortunately, basketball was cancelled so he couldn't watch us. But we did get to go out to eat and of course take a picture!

We had lots of trips looking at Christmas lights

fun with neighbors

Our hand(&foot)made ornaments for this year

New Years - We made it back home in time for what has become a New Years Eve tradition. Packing meals at church for a day of service. This year there were 385,000 meals going to El Salvador! We spent NYE celebrating at the Ungles. And yes, once again all 3 of us made it to midnight. I was in bed at 12:01....and slept till nearly noon the next day. Never forget this girl loves her sleep!

I don't have a video from that packing, but here is some fun from when we volunteer in the food pantry!
Phew....I better move on, so I don't have to update on Valentines day too. Ok...of course, we have now seen that come and go since I started. But trust me, it was fun. The biggest thing about it was that we were all healthy! No one was in the hospital. Take that Children's Mercy!!!

A few other highlights over all this time...


We did a road trip to Branson. I like to look back at old posts and trips to this big house with our friends, and ask why we don't do that anymore. Mom says because no one wants to plan/organize it. But, Shelly did get us all to go to Silver Dollar City together back in November. We got to see the beautiful Christmas lights, ride lots of rides, and stay at a hotel together. Can you say swimming pool?! I finally am tall enough to ride the big roller coasters...and dad decided that he wasn't going to ease me into it. So I started on the crazy Powder Keg coaster. I wasn't too scared, but don't make me go on it again anytime soon! I hear ya sis. Maddie and I were not too thrilled to go on the big ones either!

Bathroom remodel - so here is the fun thing of a 4 month span in posts. Dad's remodel project seems like it went so fast. :) He started and (for the most part) finished within time of posting! I think it turned out to be a bit more work than he planned, but is so pretty!


iFly - We gave nana a surprise when they came for a visit. She went flying with us, she surprised us all and rocked it!

We went to cheerleading clinic at our high school. It was so much fun. Let's go Raiders! Even Lena got in on the cheering fun. I think mom and dad thought it was cool. But when the Chiefs were playing the Raiders they didn't like that we cheered for the "wrong" team. We are to not talk about the Chiefs or football anymore though as they didnt make it to the Super Bowl. We are going to protest watching anything. Well, except the half time show. I like Adam.

Elmo came for a visit before she made the big move to Arizona. We of course had a lot of un with her and tried to give her as many real hugs as we could because since then all hugs and kissed are through FaceTime. I ask mom all the time when we are going for a visit, she keeps telling me how we have to figure out money. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we win this lottery they talk about, because then I will be able to go there and Disney and all the other places that they say we can't go to because "money doesn't grow on trees". Ugh. Seriously, why doesn't it? I mean, I could care less for fruit trees.  Oh, Amelia....when she was here visiting she got to come to our school assembly and see me win the first ROAR award of the quarter (geez...we are now in 3rd quarter)...anyway, we have fun talking with Elmo and seeing how much warmer it is there and how much fun she has. Especially, when she is at the dog park with Benny. I like seeing all the puppies!

Well the Arizona weather would be so nice, with the cold we have been having lately. Well these last few weeks for sure. I loved some of the first snows we had. We had a lot of fun sledding, building forts, and just playing with all of our neighbor friends. With all of our practice we have moved to snowboarding on our sleds. And this week we were 'ice sledding'. Now I'm kind of over it though.... and I am tired of snow days. I like school! Bring on Spring. Dad says we are going to be going to school til June now!

Oh...the cold weather, did motivate me to do an ice skating date with mom. I admit it, I was so scared...mom said she was too...but I was brave and eventually skated a bit by myself!

Career day: I want to be a paramedic

School. Here are a few updates. Including school pictures....I do love school. But it has been a bit of a roller coaster because not all kids in my class are nice or good. But I'm still doing super good and moved up to a 1st/2nd grade reading app. We finally got to do our 1st ever field trip and mom came! It was fun. Overall...I love learning! I have met quite a few friends thru girl scouts/daisies. I have had fun doing outings with them and am looking forward to delivering all the cookies I sold soon! Oh, one last thing to note: I have lost my 1st - and now 2nd - tooth! SO exciting!

Look I got to wear the princess crown after meeting
next Miss Kansas

While I may not have the same passion as her, I have had a pretty awesome year. My teacher is so cool and we get to do so many fun things. We were doctors the other day in math, we get to spies, news people come to our room to visit a lot (my teacher's husband works with Gary Lezak!) I think I want to be a weather person like him...and Lindsay who came to visit. Really I just want to be famous. I think I mentioned already my love for Taylor Swift. Oh, and I won the basketball shoot out out at school of all the 2nd graders!

Winter also means basketball season, so that is a bonus. Dad is our coach and we have been doing pretty good so far. We are pretty good. Just the late (7:40) games that have got us. It's past bedtime. I like winning more, but we have fun and are getting better. Go ThunderWolves! Unfortunately we have had so many weather cancellations that will also be going into Spring.

I started my first year of basketball too. I love having dad coach us. And guess what...last week I made my 1st basket!!! AND...it was a buzzer beater. Unfortunately, dad wasn't even there to see it (double booked coaching). Mom and Lena were though...and our neighbors, so promise I'm not making it up! My next door neighbor Avery plays with me which is totally fun. Most of the time I pass it to her to make the shots, but it was fun making one on my own. That hoop is way up there!

I don't play...yet, but I like going to their games. Well sometimes. I love playing with babies, I can't wait to do gymnastics...I do it all the time at home. I have overheard that I should probably make that my choice. Something about my 2 1/2 year check up putting me at 1 and 3rd percentile for weight/height therefore likely not making 5'..when I grow up. Dad says, just wait I may be a late bloomer like I was with walking and talking. Yes...i am now talking up a storm. I can count to 10, know/say colors, animals, 2-3 word sentences. Mom seems to be quite happy...and I have found that it is nice to be able to get my point across. Although, I still do see the benefit to crying and pouting. Those sisters of mine are suckers for it. 

I HATE seeing her upset. But as you can see in the pictures. This sister can show her emotions: pouting, fear (car wash), disgust (see turned head in pic with nana)...but she also hangs with us no matter what we do. Like twister! And loves if we throw her a bone and take a bath with her!





YES. Must put a baby shark clip in here. I mean it is Lena's favorite. She walks around all the time yelling "Alexa...play do, do, do"

Sometimes we mess around and have fun with snapchat!

 

I know that was way too much in one post. I will try to do better. Time to crash.
Steffen Sisters OUT

Dreaming of nicer weather...but not a spring that brings on more of this. We have had enough rain and snow melting rivers!