Our Fun Weekend

We had a nice visit with my dad, my stepmom Debbie, and my nephew TJ this past weekend. They got here on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, my dad and I went to see Daniel in his Christmas program. He was so cute in his white shirt and Santa tie! He didn't sing very much, but he was still adorable. Jonathan loves puzzles, so this Perfection game was right up his alley. He is really good at it. Half of the pieces are scattered around the house by now, but he had fun with it.

Here are Dad and Andrew building my new shelf.

Cookie Decorating time!

Daniel and Papa

We went to Bass Pro Shop on Saturday...

...then to the mall.

What a great weekend!!!

December Fun

Visit with Santa

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to help at Andrew's school and with Jonathan's class last week. On Monday, I went on Andrew's class field trip to the mall to see Santa and ride the train and carousel. He also went to Build A Bear. Where were those field trips when I was a kid? It was so much fun! On Tuesday, I went to Andrew's school to help with their Christmas party. Then on Wednesday, I went to Jonathan's school to help with the Christmas party for his Mom's Morning Out class. Ten 2 year olds is a lot of work! His teacher was grateful for the help! Daniel was there, too, in his preschool class. Here is Jonathan, eating his third piece of pizza!

Halloween 2011

What? I'm only a month behind. Sheesh!

Nathaniel--Optimus Prime from Transformers; he wasn't going to dress up, but then at the last minute he asked me to dig this out.

Daniel--Winnie the Pooh; he has taken a sudden liking to all things Winnie the Pooh lately

Emily--ballerina (of course!); I made that skirt for her at a craft activity

Jonathan--Thomas the Tank Engine; he kept trying to take the costume off, but once he started collecting candy he was fine with it! :-)

Andrew--Batman! again :-)

Jack-O-Lanterns

The kids had a great time Trick or Treating with Daddy while I stayed home to man the door. I was a little worried about Trick or Treating in our neighborhood because there aren't many young children near us, but it was wonderful! The kids got a ton of candy, and I gave away all the candy I had purchased. Happy (late) Halloween!

Family Portraits 2011

The week we did the portraits this year was crazy! I had to get the outfits together and cut everyone's hair--I'm the only one who didn't get a hair cut. We went to Portrait Innovations again. It was weird to go to the studio and not need to bring a stroller. Daniel was much more cooperative this year (we did bribe him by promising to take him to Stevi B's pizza buffet afterwards), but Jonathan was pretty ornery about the whole thing even though he still looks adorable. I'm pretty happy with the pictures, all things considered. Here they are:

My Brain-Eating Zombies

Normally I'm kind of a Halloween scrooge. I don't like to decorate for Halloween and I definitely don't like to dress up. However, for my kids, I'll make an exception (for decorating, I mean, because I still won't dress up). They were pretty excited that I broke out the five pieces of Halloween decor that we own. And I couldn't resist ordering the Jell-O brain mold I found online. They love to make Jell-O molds! We made this one today, and they thought it was so funny to pretend they were zombies eating brains for dessert. The things sticking out of it are (gummy) worms! Look at Jonathan's face. It's like he's saying, "What the heck is wrong with you people? I'm not eating that!" But he actually did. Two helpings!

Happy Halloween!

Busy Weekend

My kids adore their Daddy. Seriously. I think they like to let me sleep in on Saturdays so that they can have more time goofing around with him. They know that as soon as mean old Mommy gets up they'll have to do something productive. Yesterday, I woke up to them dancing to music videos on You Tube.

Michael has been especially busy this past week getting ready for Stake Conference. Our congregation is called a ward, and a group of 8 or so wards make up a Stake. Michael has been the second counselor to our Stake President for two years now. Today, he was released as the second counselor and called to be the first counselor. He is honored to serve and we are honored to support him.

This is Michael and Daniel having fun together a couple weeks ago.

Saturday was schoolwork day. Emily has a big project due on Monday, and we left it until this weekend. In our defense, she just finished a big storytelling book report that required a costume and props and a presentation. Anyway, we spent a majority of the day working on this poster and the report that goes with it. She had to choose a habitat and an animal that lives in it, so she chose grassland and a lion. That poor little zebra is supposed to be the lions dinner!

It was a busy weekend, but we got to spend time together as a family so it was all good!

Visit with Papa

We had a wonderful visit with my dad this weekend. He arrived Thursday afternoon. The boys had a fun time with him, and Andrew, Emily, and Nathaniel soon came home and we had a nice evening together. We ate dinner at Cici's and then came home to finish homework.

Jonathan *loved* sitting on Papa's lap. On Friday we came home after taking Daniel to preschool and running a few errands, and I tried to put Jonathan in his booster seat to feed him his lunch. He wanted nothing to do with that--he fussed until I got him out of his chair and then he darted over to Papa to sit on his lap. So cute!

On Saturday morning, we went to Home Depot for their monthly project. The kids put together their helicopters and painted them. (Jonathan stayed home with Daddy and took a nap.)

It was a fire safety theme, and the kids had fun seeing the fire truck. The dog is fake. :-)

The firefighters let the kids climb up into the cab and even pull the horn. We had a blast!

We also spent some time at the zoo and went to a few garage sales. Nathaniel is still excited about the bargain he found--the first six Harry Potter books (hardcover and in great condition) for only $15. We talked them down from $20.

It has been a wonderful weekend! Jonathan has had a cold, and we're pretty sure Papa got one from him, too, but it was still a great visit. We wish that Nana and TJ could have come too, but we are so grateful to have had the time with Dad. We love you, Papa!!!!

Daniel Pumpernickel

If I am getting impatient with Daniel, and I say, "Daniel James!" he'll say, "No, Mommy, I'm Daniel Pumpernickel." He got it from a Disney show, and it makes me laugh every time. He has had so many cute sayings lately that I have to devote a post to it--

"Mommy, I dreamed that one of my friends got my trains and he took them home--it was a nightmare!"

After coming out of the YMCA where he held the door for us, then held it for a lady also, he said, "Mom, I helped a old lady!" Really loud. Luckily she was already inside.

After the YMCA we stopped by the library to drop off a book. As we were pulling out he said, "Mommy, are you sure this is the way home?" He says this A LOT. Like he has zero faith in my ability to find my way home.

"I was right and you were wrong, Mommy!" I can't remember what happened exactly, but he was right and I was wrong. It was just funny to hear it coming from his mouth.

"Why do we have to wear pants every day?"

"What if we wear play clothes to church? Will they lock us out?"

OK, so maybe these little sayings aren't as funny to others as they are to me, but he makes me laugh every day and I am so grateful to be his mommy!!!

Scouts

We had fun watching both Nathaniel and Michael receive scouting awards last month. Nathaniel earned his Tenderfoot award, and Michael was given his Woodbadge award.

I love this picture because of Michael's smile! He spent some time down in northern Florida for training and did a lot of work to earn this award. We're so proud of him!

Is that a cool necklace or what? Haha! He later hung this on the back of his tricycle. I think this picture was taken in the afternoon. I had just bought these pajamas for him the day before, and he refused to change out of them.

Here's my sweet Jonathan playing with cords. We have another Andrew in the making!

First Day of School

Daniel was so excited to start preschool. He calls it "Little Kids School," and he would beg to go there every time we passed it all summer long--which was often because it is practically across the street from our neighborhood. Finally, he started at the beginning of August and he loves it!

Andrew is doing well in 1st grade at his new elementary school. They closed the school he was at, and we are very happy with the new one. We were surprised to find out that his teacher is someone we know from church, and we are very happy about that!

It turns out, a bus comes to our neighborhood in the mornings and afternoons to pick up and drop off Andrew. Emily can take the same bus to Andrew's school and get on her magnet school bus, but she doesn't get bussed home after school. I was surprised to hear that there would be a bus in our neighborhood because that wasn't the case last year. I guess we are far enough away from the new school. Anyway, my intention was to put him and Emily on the bus the first day and then go to Andrew's school to walk him to his classroom. There was a lot of traffic and the bus beat me there. I was so worried about Andrew getting to his class because he had only been there once! I didn't need to worry, though, because once I got there he was sitting quietly at his desk and coloring. He even looked at Daniel, Jonathan, and I and asked, "What are you doing here?" I was so proud of him for finding his class all by himself.

Emily is in 3rd grade this year. She has a planner and is very responsible. She will still take piano and dance as well.

Nathaniel was pretty worried about going to middle school, but I kept telling him he would love it. I was right! He did! We had taken him to the open house so he had a pretty good idea about where his classes were. The school is downtown and it has four floors! He said he found his way around and that he enjoys his classes and is making new friends.

I'm so glad the school year is off to a great start! Jonathan and I enjoy our quiet days on Monday and Friday when Daniel is at preschool. Jonathan even goes to "baby school"--he goes to Mom's Morning Out on Wednesdays at the same place where Daniel goes to preschool, from 9:30am-1:30pm. It's wonderful and he loves it!

Birthdays

I call Jonathan and Andrew my twins--born four years apart. :-)

Jonathan's birthday was on the 13th. We had a family celebration at home. He got some cute new toys and he loves them. He really loves to wear this cute Elmo shirt--he'll pull it out of the drawer and hand it to me to put on him. I can't believe he is 2 already! I'm so grateful he is walking, and he is trying harder to talk these days.
Enjoying his birthday cake

Andrew turned 6 on the 18th and we had a party for him with a few friends at the house. He had fun going to Publix with me to choose his birthday cake, and we also got him a helium canister so that we could have balloons at the party. He chose a Phineas and Ferb theme.

The kids had fun playing musical chairs, freeze dance, and limbo. We also had pizza and opened gifts at the party. I think everyone had a nice time. :-)

Our trip to Blue Ridge, GA

We had so much fun on our fishing trip up to Blue Ridge. We stayed for four nights in a cute cabin right on the Toccoa River. It was my kind of camping! Michael loved taking the kids fishing. He and Nathaniel both caught a trout, and Emily caught what Michael called a sucker. The kids all said that the hot tub at the cabin was their favorite part of the trip. :-) Nathaniel also loved catching his fish and playing pool.

Jonathan loved sitting by the river and watching the kids fish. He sat happily on his little rock the whole time.

Andrew loved fishing and helping Daddy take care of the poles and bait.

Nathaniel was quite the fisherman. He and Michael walked down the river our first day there; that is where Michael caught his trout.

Emily, looking pretty as always. She has her new orthodontic appliance in, called a twin block. The goal is to bring her jaw out where it is supposed to be. Anyway, she enjoyed fishing just as much as the boys.

Daniel served as the entertainment.

Andrew fell into the river--right after I turned off the video camera. I think we could have made it onto America's Funniest Videos if I had been recording it. He wasn't hurt, and he was pretty excited about getting all wet.

Nathaniel with his trout. This was on our third day.

The kids really enjoyed this swing on the porch at the cabin. Another fun thing they enjoyed was tying a rope to a basket and lowering things down from the loft in the cabin. They overheard me tell Michael that they had created their own dumbwaiter, and so from then on they called it the dumb-evator.

Seriously?

I was so glad we got to go on this trip! Michael has been wanting to take the kids on a fishing trip forever. It was wonderful!!!