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The Christmas Day partygoers
Soph loves to stand on things...anything.
Uncle Adam and Soph giving Liesl some pets.
Go Hoosiers!
Soph got a new doggie from Santa.

Capen Christmas

Sophie liked to unwrap the presents and then shred the paper.
Daddy reading "The Night Before Christmas"
Emma putting out Reindeer Food (oatmeal and glitter) in the side yard by the chimney.
Mommy and the girls after seeing Santa at the Indiana State Museum.
Emma making cookies to leave for Santa. She was sure to add plenty of green and red sprinkles.

Merry Christmas!

We are getting ready to head to bed. The girls are both sleeping soundly. Emma went to bed fairly well after listening to Daddy read "The Night Before Christmas." She is super excited about Santa coming tonight. I think she's a little sick of hearing the threat of Santa watching all the time. Too much pressure for a 3 year old. She put out 4 sugar cookies that she made the other night just for Santa, a big glass of milk and a note that told Santa what Soph wanted for Christmas. She was nice enough to tell Santa the other day that Soph would probably like a baby doll.
We also spread some reindeer food on the grass in the side yard. She was concerned that the dogs would eat it, which is a logical concern as I'm convinced Labs would attempt to eat anything that would fit down their throats. Silly dogs! So the reindeer food is outside of the fence area, but near the chimney.
We hope you all have a safe, peaceful and joyous Christmas!

Love, Steph, Tim, Emma, Soph, Tank, Liesl and Max

Capen Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Emma's First Nutcracker Ballet

Emma and Nana

We all had dinner together in Broad Ripple afterwards. Emma was kind of showing off in her poofy skirt.

Mom started taking me to this ballet when I was about 5, so it was pretty special to start the tradition with a new generation.

She got her photo with the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Prince (from the other shows).

The curtains are about to open. The orchestra had just been warming up.

She was pretty excited before the show even started about the Tinkerbell Pez dispenser that Mommy brought as a treat. That kid loves Pez! She did share with all around her.

Yesterday Emma got to go the Nutcracker Ballet at Butler Univ. for the first time. She was so excited to get dressed up in her pretty dress that she had picked out and wear fancy shoes and have her hair done up. She also put on lipstick if you can tell.

"Ariel's" tree

The girls have a little tree up in the playroom that they decorated with paper chains and princess ornaments. Emma puts them all in one spot and Soph likes to pull them all off. Ariel was redecorating today. That's some red hair, huh??

Emma singing

I understand that you might get a stiff neck watching this. So sorry, but I just can't figure out how to rotate it on the blog. I can in Kodak Gallery, but not the blog. I'll send Advil if necessary.

"I Pledge"

Trick or Treat

The girls had a lot of fun trick or treating around our neighborhood. Sophie was especially excited to get out and attempt to run. She's not the best at slowing herself down yet. I'm nervous she's going to smack her face on the concrete, so I always want to hold her hand, which just ticks her off.

Emma was a little under the weather though because, earlier that afternoon, she had dislocated her elbow (nurse maid's elbow) for the fifth time. And because Dr./Uncle Scott was out of town, we had to take a trip to the ER to have it fixed. That was not the most pleasant experience. Emma said to the doctor, "I just want you to leave my arm alone," after he had attempted twice to fix it. It took about 4-5 attempts to fix it, so needless to say it was a bit sore that night. Later, when she felt she could finally use it, we screamed "it's a Halloween miracle!" which she thought was funny.

The New Pack

Liesl seems to be fitting right in. The girls think she's a small pony just like they do Tank. She has gotten into some trouble a few times this week for chewing some things up, but (knock on wood) it hasn't been anything major.

Halloween Party

Listening to a Clifford book.
Sammie, Addie and Emma

Good line kids!

Emma had her Halloween Party at Preschool today and was so excited about wearing her Minnie Mouse costume. The parents got to come to it, so it was really fun to watch her in a different setting away from home. I saw her pick up toys so quickly I didn't think she was my kid! The truth is revealed, I guess.

Sophie Dance (AKA, the "Chris Barr")

So Sophie was dancing in her high chair the other night and Tim and I both thought of our friend Chris and his "special" style of dancing. We have coined this the Sophie's "C.B." dance. For all of you GC friends out there, you totally know what I'm talking about. We love you Chris!! Cooper, I hope Mommy and Daddy let you watch this. When it comes to pulling off this move, you have big shoes to fill, Buddy!

Ice skating in Rockerfeller Plaza.The Mall in Central Park.

Unfortunately, the Letterman show wasn't taping.

Times SquareDinner in Little Italy.

This was taken from the cruise boat. We stayed at the New Yorker Hotel. It's the

building in the middle with the red "New Yorker" letters.

Our 5th Anniversary

Tim and I went to New York over the weekend to celebrate our anniversary and my 30th birthday. There is so much to do in the city, but we finally narrowed it down to a few things. Seems like you hurry and wait a lot while you're there. We had dinner in Little Italy, walked thru Times Square and Central Park, took a harbor cruise around the southern part of Manhattan during the evening, went to a few street fairs in Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side and went to church at Trinity Episcopal. We tried to get stand-by SNL tickets, but weren't so lucky. I think because Palin was there, tickets were pretty limited. In fact, when we watched the show later that night, we noticed there were a lot less seats on the floor of the studio. Must have needed room for more security. Hilarious show, though! We had a wonderful trip. Here are some of the photos.

Kiss from Sophie

It's a GIRL!

Did I trick anyone?? Really, we do have a new little lady in the household but she pretty furry. We adopted her from a friend of a friend over the weekend. She's almost 5mo. old and we've decided to name her Liesl. It was between that or Romy and Emma is insistant on Liesl (like from the Sound of Music). Since her name was CoCo before, we've had to say Liesl/Coco until she adjusts to the new name. The best part is that she already house trained and has been thru puppy obedience class.

Emma and Soph are thrilled to have her. Emma loves for Liesl to chase her around the circle of the house and really, really wants to walk her on the leash. That will be a while, unless Emma wants to be dragged down the street.

Liesl and Tank are slowly getting used to each other. They play pretty hard in the backyard until they're both tuckered out, which is awesome!

This is the best photo I have of her. She' s pretty busy and hard to get a good photo of.

Soph loved seeing Pooh. She actually kissed him on the nose several times. He stuck around at our table a little longer.

Soph was done with this photo.