*June or January? It was such a wonderful weekend. Jon was off, and everyone enjoyed some time outside! I thought the sleeveless shirt and flip flops were a bit over the top, but, as Natalie declared, it was such a "hot winter day!"
*The kids thought it was fun to read at night late one evening on the back porch. Kate said she wanted a "trapter" book too. She switched "trapter" books after a couple of minutes and therefore needed a bookmark to place on Chapter 5. Oh how she wants to be just like Scott & Natalie!
*The performances live on...
*The cousins are always all so happy to see one another!
*Today was the 100th day of school. Natalie was
supposed to wear 100 of something, so she wore 100 pony tail holders!
Hopefully Kate will forget that her big sister did this when she gets to
first grade and will instead opt for the simple 100 beads on a
necklace. :)
*Me- Have you seen the tape? I feel like I've seen it in a weird spot.
Kate- Then look in the weird spot. (Duh!!)
*Kate's been on a cotton kick lately. I have no idea where it came
from. She's requesting "cotton" clothing. As she's getting dressed,
she will ask, "Is this made of cotton?" Regardless of the material, if I lie affirm that it is made of cotton, she says, "YAY!" and happily puts it
on. ?!?!?! Goober.
*Scott is our self-appointed seatbelt police. He takes his sisters' buckling very seriously. Of course, we do too. However, he takes it upon himself to tattle or try to adjust their shoulder strap clips on their booster seats if they get moved. He says things like, "You're gonna get your head chopped off!" The girls do not like the seatbelt police and get very annoyed with him when he lectures about their seatbelt placement. We think he is trying to look out for them and is genuinely concerned for their well-being, however sometimes it does get to be too much!
*Kate rescued a toy from the Goodwill pile. Sigh.
*Kate was "reading" an ABC book out loud to herself one afternoon. She didn't know I was listening, so I had to hide my laughter. She said, "S stands for sun, T stands for tree, U stands for umbrella, V stands for...(pause)...flower bucket, I guess..."
The tradition continues onto another generation to know nothing about vases or flowers! Jon- if you're reading this- DO NOT buy me flowers for Valentine's Day this year. :) He knows better anyway! I wouldn't even have the right flower bucket to put them in.
I'm learning the blogging is a bit like my weekly BSF lesson. It's more fun done in small, regular intervals instead of major catch up sessions. Anyway, I'm almost caught up. Last blog post of 2016!
The kids woke up to this on Christmas morning...don't look too closely at our sad tree. I let the kids fully decorate it, and I didn't change one thing. I obviously set this up the night before, and Jon said that these three snowmen startled him in the dark when he was doing his last walk through the house prior to coming to bed. Perhaps it was those scary carrot noses. Boo!
If you want to get Scott talking, ask him about his drone. LOVES IT! With all of the basement practice, he'll be a pro when he takes it to the yard this spring!
Sleepover Silliness!
Countdown to midnight (a.k.a 8:00 p.m.) about to begin...
As 2016 comes to a close, we can all say that we've been continually blessed by God's graciousness and abundant provision. We look forward to seeing what the coming year holds. I crawled into Natalie's bed the other night to read with her. I usually sit on the side of her bed, but this time I was cold and actually got under her covers. She got wide eyes and said, "Can my bed hold this much?" So, perhaps the New Year will hold resolutions to diet and exercise. We'll see...regardless, Happy New Year to all!
We celebrated Christmas a week early with my family. On the morning of, Natalie exclaimed, "I can't wait to open up the gifts and see what's inside!!!" She then stopped and said, "I mean I can't wait to celebrate Jesus's birthday with family and friends."
It's okay, Natalie. We can be excited for both!!!
Love this picture with my Grandma Joyce!
This picture was taken AFTER the kids Christmas program at school. Kate was tired and the other two were a bit giddy- relieved it was over.
Jon inherited his grandfather's very extensive train collection. It had been something that Scott had been wanting to set up for a long time, so we finally decided to make it happen as part of his Christmas this year. Jon & Scott designed and built a train table one afternoon, made two trips to quaint train stores to search for a new power source, and spent a few sessions trying and troubleshooting. As of yesterday, the old trains are up and running! I'm thinking that this will become a fun hobby for Scott- just as it was for Jon's grandpa.
Don't tell the guys, but when the trains weren't working for awhile, my mind started to come up with ideas for repurposing the table...huge scrapbooking layouts? storage above and below? a cat loft?...Much to their delight though, the trains are running smoothly so permanent train table it is!
The kids loved the snow a couple of weeks ago! They are hoping for much more of it in the coming months.
Kate was learning about her five senses one week. Later that afternoon, we were making some type of dessert with frosting. Very seriously she said, "Can I eat some to use my senses?"
Another time she opened the pantry and said, "I really need more food to get energy because I used it all up."
Clever ways to ask for a junky snack if you ask me.
Kate wasn't thrilled about doing this, but Natalie convinced her to just go along with it. It's sometimes tough being the little sister.
Natalie made a gingerbread house at school, and then Grandpa & Grandma did it with the others so that they could get in on the decorating action as well. Such fun! (Messes completed at school and at the grandparents house...added bonus!)
Goober 1, Goober 2, and Goober 3
So we started a new tradition this year that I just know the kids will be asking for again next December. As a spin off of Elf on the Shelf, the kids followed the wisemen on their journey to find Baby Jesus. Some days, their hiding spots seemed like they were the Three Wise Guys instead of the Three Wisemen, but in the end, they succeeded and made it to the manger. The kids raced to be the first one up each day to find where they were hiding. (So, I made need to rethink that next year since sleeping in was not rewarded.) Anyhoo...the kids all loved this and really got into it. Last night, I breathed a sigh of relief when my nightly reminder went off on my phone to "HIDE WISEMEN"...game over for now. Here are a few examples...
