Dr. Seuss Birthday

Today is Dr. Seuss's Birthday. When Hunter was a baby someone gave me the book, "The Foot Book". I fell in love. I really really love his books. We have collected several over the past few years. I love the rhyming, the imagination, the silliness and the easy/quick read. These make great bedtime story books. In celebration I brought all our books out and have left them out to be looked at and read all day. I loved hearing Maddie take a book to Hunter and asking him to read it to her. I had fondant up to my elbows or I would have taken a picture of that scene. It was priceless! OOPS! I downloaded the picts backwards so I guess we'll start at the end. I had lots of help making our fun dessert. Can you tell which books they represent? Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat In The Hat (twice) and The Sneetches. The kids favorite was making the cats.

Before dinner I read the fish book. Not having any fish sticks, homemade chicken strips did the trick. Unfortunately I got pre-occupied cleaning up our cupcake mess and forgot the french fries were still in the oven. Oops! So we had left over potato salad instead. The kids will be hungry in a few hours so it's a good thing we've got plenty of cup cakes.

While the older kids were at school Emily and I did a project. Last week I got to thinking of how many projects I used to do with my kids. We did a project everday! Even when they were in preschool we still did projects together at least once a week. Since Hunter and Maddie have gone to school for some reason I've stopped. Last week I vowed to sit down and do a project with Emily a few times a week. She's definetly old enough and it's time to start working with her on the basics. In celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday we made The Cat In The Hat's Hat. She is so proud of her project.

During the 10 minutes it took to do this easy project she kept saying "This is the best day ever", This is so much fun", "You know Hunter and Maddie are going to want to do one when they get home!". I drew the hat, using a paint brush Emily smeared liquid Elmer's Glue and then using a spoon she sprinkled on died red rice. She had a blast.

Wanting to start the day off in celebration we had our version of Green Eggs and Ham. The picture looks disgusting but it was edible. With everyone having seconds and thirds it must have been pretty good.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

This morning the girls and I were putting the finishing touches on one of my latest projects. The girls were using modge podge and I wanted to take a picture of them doing there project. I went to get the camera and the girls started screaming for me. I came running back in to find Brayden had decided to help. He had popped himself out of the bumbo, landed face first into our plate of modge podge and was sucking on the paintbrush covered in the modge podge. Not knowing how toxic modge podge could possibly be I decided to take the brush out of his mouth, wash around his mouth and then take my pict. Isn't he cute??? One of my many latest projects involve a new chore chart/reward system for the kids. It's amazing to see how excited my kids are about this. Obviously it's been a little too long since we tried a chore chart with them. We have tried several different ways to get the kids to do chores and nothing has stuck. I'm hoping with the rewards this one will stick.

I have created chores for before school, before dinner and before scripture study. The 1st set of chores include making there bed, brushing there teeth and brushing there hair. For these things there is no reward except for good hygiene I guess. As of now I do have a real chore of emptying the dishwasher before school. This way once the kids get out the door this lucky mom can do the dishes. Yeah for me!!!

The chores before dinner that don't have a reward is doing there homework. The chores with rewards are putting the folded towels away and Brayden's clothes on laundry day, setting the table for dinner and washing/ putting away the eggs that I have collected out of the chicken coop. For some reason our hens keep pooping on their eggs and I would much rather wash the nasties off before I need to grab an egg out of the fridge.

Most of our chores will take place before scripture study which we have every night at 7. They include clearing the table (everyone clears there own mess but this leaves pots and pans), a clean bedroom for all, picking up Brayden's toys, vacuum if needed, sweeping, emptying the garbage and cleaning the bathroom (wiping the toothpaste smears away from the day, putting bows and piggies away, wiping down the counters, etc.)

The girls got to decorate their magnets this morning. Hunter will get to do his tommorrow. Every monday during family home evening we will rotate the chores for the week. I'm going to leave some of the magnets black and they will mark the things that everyone will be responsible for. I'm sure we'll have to make a few changes but for the most part I'm hoping it will work. Even though our chart hasn't been completely ready the kids started doing there chores this past monday. They are liking it. HAHAHAHAH. We'll see how long that will last for.

Kory and I have talked and we are not ready to give the kids an allowance or pay them in cash for doing things around the house. Some things are just expected for being part of the family. However, being the oldest is only 6 we do feel they need to be rewarded somehow. So I saw this on someone elses blog and this is what we've decided to try. It works for them so we're hoping it will work for us. Introducing our Family Store....

Each chore (excluding everday hygiene activites and homework) is worth 1 point. Any time I see good behavior I can also reward with a point card. Earlier today my 5 year old wanted to play on the computer. I said yes. She wasn't on for more then 3 minutes before little sister came asking for a turn. Without hesitating big sis said sure I'll share what game do you want to play. She brought the game up for little sis and let her play while she left to find something else to do. That deserves more then 1 point in my book!

Having about 5 possible points a day plus extra points for good behavior 30 points should be somewhat easy to obtain. The rewards that cost 30 points are pretty simple. I have created cards with different rewards that can be chosen like, plan a play date, go to the library, plan a family walk, go to the park, play a game with mom or dad, read a bedtime story with mom or dad. The 30points are things that are free besides gas.

They do have the option of rollover points (hehehe) so 60 points could be reached in 2 weeks. Some of the rewards are on cards that can be chosen like go with mom or dad and get a candy bar, with mom or dad go get a shake, with mom or dad go get an ice cream, rent a redbox video your choice. I also have a book of stickers, a mini fuzzy poster to color, bubbles, etc. I just happened to have 2 foam crowns and a foam hat in my craft drawer so I threw these in there too for them to decorate. These rewards are about a $1 or less (not bad for 2 weeks of chores). I also wanted to create a way that each child has an opportunity with mom or dad by themselves.

The 90 points will definetly take more then 2 weeks to earn. I'm hoping that each week they will spend some of there points on the above rewards so that these will take about a month to earn. I have 3 different boxes of candy, a dress up necklace, mini TMNT's, a new Jonie B Jones book. I want the kids to earn these but not to easily.

The 120 point rewards are special. These will take a lot of effort and saving to reach. I have a 550 piece puzzle (something my kids have wanted for a while now),and something similar to a Polly Pocket. I have 2 reward cards 1) buy a book from the scholastic paper they bring home monthly and 2)rent a WII game. I know my kids would love to do these things but it will be intresting to see how long it will take them.

For a few days now I have rummaged around my closet to see what treasures I have picked up on the clearance isles with the intent of saving them for a future birthday present. These are what I used to fill our bucket. It will be interesting to see how long it takes the kids to get there rewards and what they like the most. I want them to learn how to save up for something they want without doing it with real money right now. As it starts to get warmer I'll be adding some out side chores. So I'm curious to read your reply's. What have you found that works for your kids?

Kid Advantage

About a year ago something phenomenol started happening around our house. Hunter my then newly 6 year old started wearing holes into the knees of his pants. Having not experienced this before I was becoming quite annoyed that almost every week I discoverred a different pair of jeans with holes. Pretty soon he was down to a single pair. Being summer was just around the corner I took my nice stack of holey jeans and cut/ hemmed them into new shorts. The new shorts lasted all summer. As summer was coming to a close I had to start picking up a few pairs of jeans for the school year. Hunter's school has a strict policy of no holey jeans and they can only wear shorts the 1st 2 and last 2 months of the school year. I was able to pick up several pairs of jeans at some thrift stores and 2 pairs came from 80% off racks at different department stores. I never paid more then $6.00 a pair. When school started he had 6 pairs of jeans. By the end of August I was totally disgusted. All 4 pairs of jeans that came from the thrift store had a hole in them and the other 2 were becoming qute worn and I knew it was just a matter of time before they too got holes. I can not fathom what this child of mine does at school to cause so many holey pairs of jeans. I was complaining to my mom about how we don't have a money tree in our back yard therefore I can't keep spending money on this kid's jeans. At the same time I can't send him to school pantless!

My mom reminded me of Sear's Kid Advantage program. If your child puts holes in his jeans or shoes you can take them back and exchange them for the same brand/size (must be identical) for free. Let me tell you, Sears and I are best friends lately. Back in August I bit the bullet and bought Hunter 2 pairs of Levi's for $21.99 a pair. I have NEVER spent that much on a pair of pants for my kids. Six months later I have replaced these jeans 6 times. Becuase Levi's are sold elsewhere I have to keep the receipt. I have created a file folder for each of my chilren that holds there birth cetificate, ss card, etc. so this is where I keep my receipt. Sears has never given me a hard time about this and each time I ask if there is a limit of how many times I can exchange my holey jeans and they always reply there isn't one. To buy pants for Hunter in season elsewhere there usually about $10-15 unless I can find a pair at a thrift store even then they're still $5.00. I figure I've saved about $60 these past six months on not having to buy jeans for Hunter. Since these 2 pairs of jeans are all Hunter has had he wears each pair 3/4 times a week. Maybe this is why he's putting holes in them so quickly. Recently while I was making one of my monthly exchanges the jeans were on sell for $18.99 so I went ahead and picked him up another pair. I'm hoping having three pairs will help extend the life on his pants. I will definetly continue to buy Hunter's pants from Sears. I figure the last time I replace these pants after Hunter outgrows them I will put them in my 5T bin for when my next little guy reaches that size. I will then contine on the exchanges in size 6 until my soon to be 7 year old quits wearing holes into the knee's.

Tubes...

We're home. This morning this smiley boy had a bright and early appt. (7 am) in Tempe. He and I left the house at 4, arrived at 6, taken from mom at 6:58 and was back in moms arms by 7:10 and back home at 10. Thank goodness this surgery was a lot quicker and easier on the both of us. Brayden has had 5 ear infections in the past 12 weeks. His last ear infection the doctor decided that since the oral antibiotics were not working we got to do shots. For 3 days in a row I had to take him to the pediatrician for a shot in each leg. At that time we were given a referral to a ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat specialist). Unfortunatley no one local takes his insurace hince the trip to Tempe. We were seen by Dr. Chuang last week and I was very surprised to hear he had an opening this week for tubes. I jumped on it not wanting to go through another round of shots when ear infection #6 decided to rear it's ugly head. For a week now I have been biting my nails awaiting for the awnery, sick, high fevered ear infected baby to return. He didn't. Last night I was complaing to Kory how I didn't want to go through another surgery again. It hasn't been long enough for the last surgery memories to fade yet. "This is the longest he's gone without an infection (in the past 12 weeks). Maybe we're done with this. Maybe we should wait and see if he gets another infection? I don't want to go through another surgery. I don't want to go. He's not sick right now. He's happy." All things I mentioned yesterday trying to talk myself into cancelling his appt.

So this morning after the tubes had been placed the Doctor was telling me how everything went, I was told Brayden had very sick little ears. BOTH ears were infected and drained a nasty thick elmers glue fluid. Gross! I'm still surprised he had another double ear infection as we haven't had any of the regular signs. I'm so glad I followed through and didn't cancel his appt. I hope these tubes really help this little guy. Hopefully we won't have another infection for a long while. He's acting a little clingy this afternoon but otherwise is acting normal. He's been crawling after his big sister's to let him play with them. This surgery was much more smoother then the last. Yeah!!!!

Valentines

Growing up I always looked forward to the holiday's, even the more simplar ones. My mom always did something fun in acknowledging of the holiday. Usually it involved fun foods. I'm trying to carry on her tradition. Valentines morning the kids were greeted with HEART pancakes, strawberry syrup and fresh whipped cream. The pancakes lasted long enough to be oohed and aahhed over and then quickly devoued. The kids woke up to red and white streamers, balloons, and a red tablecloth with individualized chocolate boxes. Brayden was pleased with a sucker!

For dinner we had homemade heart shaped raviolli, garlic bread and a fun 3 layered jello cup for everyone. Dessert was followed by homemade cream puffs which were gone before I could take a picture. I don't know if I'll ever make the raviolli again. It was good but a lot of work and not having a dough maker the noodles ended up being a little thicker then I would have liked. Oh well!

CPS came to my house...

Yesterday Hunter and Maddie both had their yearly Well Child Check-Up. While we were there the doctor heard the nurse teasing me about how often I have been to their office lately and how I had another appt. this coming Thurs. Being the wonderful doctor that she is she went ahead and did the follow up on Brayden's ears so that I wouldn't have to come back on thursday. Unfortunately both ears were still quite infected. Brayden has had these reoccuring ear infections since October. The doctor laughed and said "So much for you not having to come back this week." Instead of an oral Rx it is given through a syringe. Starting yesterday, monday , through wed I will be taking him in for one shot in each leg. After the shots we have to wait 20min. to make sure he doesn't have an allergic reaction. Thursday he will have a post op and if his ears are still infected we will be going to a specialist for tubes. I had to take Hunter and Maddie out of school for this appt. and had every intention of taking them back. An hour's appt. ended up being 3 hours. We didn't get home until 2:15. Why take them back for the last 40 minutes?

When we got home Hunter realized that he didn't have his his coat, back pack or folder. He wanted to go back to school and get these things along with the makeup work he'd have that he had missed. I wanted to oblige him and also thought it would be a good idea to get the work that Maddie had missed too. However, when asked both Maddie and Emily did not want to go to the school. I called Kory but he wasn't able to come home right then to watch the girls . I wanted to go the school real quick but I didn't want to have to take all 4 kids with me knowing 2 of them really didn't want to go. It takes me about 3 min. to get to the school so I made a rash, quick decision. Knowing one of my best friends who lives across the street was home I told Maddie that she and her sister could stay home by themselves. I reminded them not to answer the door or phone while I was gone and if they needed ANYTHING to go to April's (right across the street). So Hunter, Brayden and I left. 15 minutes later I walked into the door and had the following converstion with Maddie:

Mom- Maddie I'm home. Did you do O.K while I was gone?
Maddie- Yeah mom, CPS (child protective services) came.
Mom- CPS came?????? (OhCrap!!!)
Maddie- Yeah, right after you left they came.
Mom- And you opened the door. Maddie I told you, you do not open the door if I'm not there! (Oh crap! Oh Crap! Oh Crap!)
Maddie- But mom it was CPS, there right there. (pointing behind me)
Mom-(Oh Crap! Oh Crap! CPS is right behind me what do I say? I know I lost all coloring in my face. I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. I leave my 5 year old and 3 year old home alone for 15 min. and CPS shows up. Oh Crap! And why the heck is CPS showing up on my door step?) I turned around to see a bright orange box sitting on the floor. I said, "Maddie CPS gave this to you?"
Maddie- No mom that guy rang the door bell and left. I didn't open the door until he was gone!
Mom- Ohhhhhhhhhh! UPS came while I was gone?
Maddie- Yeah mom CPS came.

That package was my school books that I had ordered online. I don't think I'll be leaving my kids home alone for a very long time. That gave me quite the scare. We've had a couple in the ward that recently had a run in with CPS that lasted almost 5 months. The past couple of weeks I've heard a few more stories of people run in's with CPS. Even with April right across the street I don't know when the next time will be leaving the kids home alone even for just a few minutes.

Did you know...

I don't know much about technology but it never ceases to amaze me what "they" can do with it. In early May Kory and I finally bought our 1st camera. It's a Nikon L100. We bought it from Target for about $200. Of course it didn't come with rechargeable batteries, memory card, or a case which made our purchase a bit more. The target salesmen was very helpful and picked out the best "charger that came with rechargeable batteries" that would work best with our camera. Of course when we got home we swaped the Alkanine reg. batteries with the Alkanine rechargeables.

The camera's been working great until just a few weeks ago. I was getting a low battery signal so after charging the *re-chargebale batteries* the camera would work for a few days and then I'd have to do it all over again. It soon got to that I'd have to *re chare* the batteries on a daily basis. Then one day even though the batteries had been charged all day and night they still didn't work. So I threw them away. The alkaline normal batteries that came with the camera were sitting on top of my extra batteries so they went in first. My camera's been working great till last week . The camera started telling me the batteries were getting low and then a few days ago the camera would turn on long enough to tell me the batteries needed replaced and then would turn itself off. So I went to my case of new batteries and pulled out brand new Energizers as thats all we had, does the brand really matter? Apparently it does! My camera still wouldn't turn on. Being it is still under warranty I called Nikon and was told there is nothing wrong with my camera but the batteries I am using. The Nikon L100 will only work off of Alkaline AA Batteries. Did you know "they" could do that? I thought all AA batteries were the same just sold with a different brand. Apparently NOT! Not wanting to leave the house do the outpour of rain we were recieving and not wanting to take 4 children out in it. I opened every component that might have a battery in it. I found 2 AA Alkalines. Using those 2 and 2 energizers my camera works, didn't think it would but I'm glad I tried or I would have missed out on yesterday's picts of our snow that it already gone. Nikon has emailed me directions on how to download an update to my camera so that it will accept other AA batteries. I'm still amazed that technology can program my camera to only accept one type of AA batteries!

It's a Snow Day....

Yesterday morning we woke up to this.... Standing on my front porch all by myself. It was so peaceful.

It was still a little dark. There were no lights shining out of anyones windows.

No tracks in the fresh snow.

It was kinda cool.

The front yard measured 4.5-5 inches. The back yard was 4inches.

Needless to say it became a "Snow Day". Kory's always amazed when we have snow days. He just happened to be in his home town yesterday morning and laughed when I told him the kids wouldn't be going to school. He said Alton recieved 10+ inches of snow, the roads had been plowed, the buses still came at 6:15am and the kids were at school on time. Talking to my mother-in-law yesterday afternoon after Kory had left they received an additional 4 inches in about an hours time and it was still coming down fast. I love visiting Alton but I'm sure glad I don't live there. I couldn't handle that much snow. Even though we had quite a bit of snow for Prescott Valley starting early afternoon it rained and rained and rained. By bedtime the snow was gone. We enjoy it while we've got it knowing in a day or two it'll be all gone.

For breakfast the kids had *fresh* snow cones. mmmmm yum!!!

We spent half the day in our jammies playing with legos. The other half of the day was spent coloring, playing with barbies who were getting attacked by pirates, reading Junie B. Jones and watching a movie. Due to technichal difficuties with my camera I didn't get many photos of our snow day.

Making History...

This past weekend we went to Phoenix for a gorgeous little girls batptism that I will post about later. While we were in the valley saturday mid morning Hunter started complaining that his ear tickled. By that afternoon he was close to tears telling me how much his ear hurt. Being he had been a little emotional all day, he had stayed up late the previous three nights and we had to wake the kids up at 5:30 that morning to get to the baptism on time, I talked it up to being his ears needed to pop and being overly tired. I went ahead gave him some Motrin and immediately he was off running around with his cousins. He's really sick right! So all the way home he was moaning and complaining how his ear tickled/hurt. I was having him do everything I could think of to get his ears to pop. I was having him yawn, chew gum, gave him a cup with a straw to suck on hoping that would help. He said he had little pops but still his ear hurt. By the time we got home he was in tears. Being it was late and all the doctors offices were closed I sent Hunter to bed with more Motrin and the promise of taking him to the Dr.'s in the morning if his ear still hurt. Morning couldn't come soon enough. He was up numerous times due to his ear. Being it was sunday he and I went to the nearest Urgent Care. The office opened at 9:00 am and we signed it at 8:55, with 4 patiens ahead of us. Why it took 3 incredibly long hours for us to be seen with only the 4 patients and us in the waiting room I will never understand. The doctor looked in Hunter's ears and accusingly asked me when Hunter started complaing about an ear ache. Yesterday, I answered. Hunter ended up having an infection in his ear canal and in his ear drum. The doctor let me know that his ear was quite red, swollen and angry. His ear looked like he had had an infectin for a few days now. He told me how lucky we were that his ear drum didn't rupture on our trip home. So Hunter is on a RX 3 times a day for 10 days along with ear drops 4x a day for 7 days.

Starting sunday afternoon Little Miss started complaining that her ears hurt. I figured she was a little jealous of the attention big brother was having. She would complain and then run off to play. Sunday before bed she had a slight fever and was still complaining that her ear hurt. I told her that if her ear still hurt in the morning that I would take her to the doctor too. She then told me how she hates going to the doctor so her ear won't be hurting by morning. Once again Kory and I were up with both Emily and Brayden several times through the night. Brayden still has a cold and is quite stuffy. He just can't breathe well or starts coughing horribly when we lay him down. So come monday morning Emily still claims she doesn't feel good but her ear doesn't hurt. She said her throat didn't hurt, her arms and legs didn't hurt, nothing hurt she just didn't feel good but she still had a fever.

When Emily woke up from her nap later that day she still have a fever and her body was now covered with a red rash underneath her clothes. She said she didn't feel good but was up and playing with her siblings just fine. She seemed fine. Tuesday Emily's rash was now all over her body. It was in her ears, all over her neck on the tops of her feet, just everywhere. By bedtime she was complaining that she itched all over. We kept slathering her little body with lotion which seemed to help. She still had a fever but still claimed that nothing hurt. Maddie once got a rash with a high fever and when I took her to the doctors I was told the side effect of the fever was the rash, there was nothing to do for it. Not wanting to go to the doctors just to be sent home to ride this thing out I kept her doctored up with many popsicles, Motrin and Tylenol. Tuesday night she was up most of the night whimpering how she didn't feel very good and itched like crazy.

The best way to describe her skin tuesday night was that it wasn't really a rash anymore but she was now covered in goose bumps. As long as she was high on drugs you could see the bumps but they weren't bothersome. When the tylenol was wearing off the bumps turned red and started to itch again.

Being she still had a fever, the itchy rash, not wanting to eat and by now being quite tempermental and lathargic I took her to the doctors. The nurse came in took her temp it was again back up to 102. When I asked her about the rash she said it was probably a side effect from the high fever. After the bazillion questions that I was asked the nurse said that Strep was going around and so wanted to go ahead and swab her throat even though she wasn't complaining about a sore throat. The nurse left to do the in office test and came back a few minutes later. The nurse said,"Well I have an answer for you now about the rash. Emily has "SCARLET FEVER". Seriously!!!!! The Scarlet Fever is the same strain as strep throat only it also comes with a body rash. As you can imagine the Scarlet Fever is very rare but still happens. Emily made history today as being the 1st patient to be treated for Scarlet Fever in this paticular doctors office. The doctor had seen this only once before when she was an intern. Many of the nures kept coming in to see their first "Scarlet Fever" patient. Emily is being treated the same way as if she just had strep. She's on RX 2x a day for 10 days.

Since we had so much attention at the doctors office everyone could hear how congested and what a horrible cough Brayden had. Since strep throat is so contagious the doctor had Brayden tested as a percaution. Can you believe it came back positive. Brayden made history of being the youngest to be treated for Strep. He to is on a RX 2x a day for 10 days now. Since Hunter is already on an RX he should be O.K. I'm a little worried about Madelyn, being she sleeps next to her sister. So far she's good. No fever and no complaining she's not feeling well. If she gets this I hope it will show its signs today or tommorrow so we don't have to do another Urgent Care on the weekend. The office was thrilled to see the history we were making. I just wish it was in another way. I guess when it was rains it pours. But really we're doing O.K. The kids all slept very well last night including this mom. The kiddo's are happy and getting along this morning. We're doing better than I thought we would be yesterday. Hopefully everyone's good mood will keep through the long weekend.

Is it really January?

Kory and I were talking just last night about how wonderful the weather is here. How when we move the #1 thing we will probably miss the most (besides our friends) is the weather. It's the beginning of January and my kids can play outside in tshirts. When Hunter and Maddie get home from school they grab a snack and then head outside to ride bikes with friends. If you noticed, Hunter's pedals are missing. There is a Youtube video about how to teach your kids to ride a bike in a day. You simply take the pedals off so

they focus on balancing instead of peddaling and balancing. Hunter is doing very well and we could probably put his pedals back on. A few weeks ago Maddie crashed and she's been riding the 3wheeler since. She's scared she'll fall again and scrape her knee. One day we'll be able to convine her to get back on!
I bought the 3 wheeler at a garge sale soon after moving into our house. I am so glad I did. This is the most prized after outside possesion we have.

I love living in a cul-de-sac. What little traffic we do get is usually our older neighbors who are very cautious drivers when they see all the kids out on the roads.

Brayden may be too little to ride a bike but he usually gets a few pushes in the stroller up and down the street too. The other day the girls decided to switch him from his stroller to the baby doll stroller. They hit a bump and out came baby which explains the red bump on his head. Poor guy! His sister's do love him.

Another Sunbeam

This is our 3rd to be a Sunbeam now! I 've decided it doesn't get easier with each one. Its such a sad/happy day. It's great to see my baby girl getting bigger and becoming a little more and more independent each day. But becoming a Sunbeam solidifies that fact she's not a baby anymore. She was/is so excited to go to the big kid Primary! She was so excited to come home with a new "Sunbeam" shirt and her very first, her very own CTR ring.

Look who's in the CTR 6 class. Is she really? I don't want her to grow up either!

Maddie's been looking forward to this day for a few weeks now. She loves saying she is in the CTR 6 class but she's still only 5.

My beautiful girls! I'm so glad you both had such a great 1st day in your new classes. ( Daddy and Hunter both stayed home due to them both having the stomach flu.)

New Year's Day

New Years Day Brayden woke up a new baby. He was back to his happy self. By that afternnon Kory and I decided we all needed to get out of the house so we headed on down to the bowling alley. Lucky for us during the weekdays between 3:30-5 kids bowl for $1.69 and shoes are FREE. Brayden was very content to sit in the stroller and watch.

Emily didn't care about the points just that each turn she got to bowl 2 TIMES.

Hunter would use this nifty device every other bowl. He actually did better on his own.

Can you guess what happened? It's a horrible pict but it shows her excitement. Yeah Maddie!!!! You got a STRIKE!!! Good Job!!!

New Years Day morning we spent quite a bit of time outside. I love our weather!

I love our Swingset!

I love this guy who loves to make goofey faces when he sees mom's got the camera!

I love this little girl who is also trying to copy her big brother in the making funnyfaces. Only this time I'm not sure what kind of a face this is.

I love these kids! The weather has been so good lately. It's great having the kidddo's run off some energy outside. And they like to be outside so why not? Our New Years Day started off the new year perfectly. We enjoyed the weather and the time we had with each other.