January!

We were watching an America's Funniest Video's, and they had a series where people would hold up a blanket and then hide before the blanket drops to see how they're dogs would react. The kids wanted to try it. Lizzy wouldn't follow the kids when they tried, so I gave it a try...

After a few times of her running to come find me, she now just runs up and lays on the blanket before I can disappear. 

We went over to Scenty's light tunnel for a nice walk and a few fun pictures!

Lucas (every single night) comes down -- sometime between 11pm and 6am, and sleeps on the couch. I have no idea what wakes him up, but he says he comes down because he's scared of the dark. His room has THREE nightlights and a street light outside his window. Not dark. I think he does it just because he knows I don't want him to... That is a very "Lucas" thing to do.

 Feeling cooped up, we decided since it was a little warmer (low 40's) we'd try and brave the park. It was nice to be out, but after about 20-30 minutes, my hands do this...Raynaud's getting worse as I get older. My circulation gets cut off to parts of my fingers and they go numb/hurt until I can get them warmed up with warm water! 

 We kinda love this dog. She may not appreciate getting woken up...

 One of our favorite shows was America's Got Talent -The Champions. The kids LOVE Tape Face, but he didn't make it into the finals. When he got sent home, Emma got a little teary-eyed, and Lucas broke down in tears. I had to hold back my laughter at how attached they were to this character. Poor kids! Tape Face was great though, and will be missed.

Jan 2019

New Year!

Another new year come, and still the same goofy family with the same goofy hats! 

December 31, 2018

The Festivities

We ran over to Cabela's to see Santa. Santa seemed in a rush, didn't talk much, and took all the kids at once -- kind of a disappointing Santa for kids that are excited to be there -- but at least we've got everyone smiling! 

 And when Cabella-ing, checking out all the animals is a must. The kids enjoyed finding all the little and big creatures and pointing them out to each other. 

 Christmas cookies! Along with the Christmas usuals, the kids threw in some dinosaurs, rhinos, seals, penguins, and such. Everyone's included in our Christmas -- well done kids. 

 I tried out Brad's grandma's apple pie recipe. I'm definitely not a master in the crust department, but it turned out really yummy, and it's the first pie that Brad has eaten more than once piece of! In fact, he ate all but the three pieces I ate! It was delicious, and I will be making it again. 

Christmas morning was filled with the joy of opening presents, playing the new board games we received, new toys, cinnamon rolls, legos, and relaxing. 

 

Christmas is one of the few days that Lizzy full-on barks. New toys,

especially ones that make noise and climb on walls, really get her going!

After five days of working on it, I finished the three layer puzzle Brad got me!

December 2018

December

This dog is like a jealous baby needing to be the closest thing to Mom. Luke had my lap, so she climbed over him to my chest. I'm feeling very loved... and squished.

Loving the first snow of the season! We made a snowman who Jacob name Leona, snowball fights around our snow wall/fort, and a well-earned hot cocoa to finish it off!

Lucas has been doing a little class once a week with crafts, songs, and a bit of learning. At this point, he just puts up with the crafts so he can go play, but he was actually concentrating on this one! You can tell because his tongue is sticking out :). 

  We took the kids ice skating for their first time! It was a rough start with three new skaters and only two adults, but they got up each time they fell and continued trying hard. It ended up being a lot of fun, and I'm so proud of these kids for not giving up! Except Luke... He took one go-around with me, and we couldn't get him close to the ice after that 😂. We'll give him another year or two! The older two can't wait to go try it again.

 The school decided to do no homework the week before Christmas, so we were able to do some more family activities. We tried out cinnamon salt-dough Christmas ornaments. They turned out really fun, and each of the kids gave some to their teachers for Christmas. 

Another fun LAB-rary day! They were working with positives/negatives to make a circuit path to turn on these little lights that he stuck in the play dough type stuff. 

Then they had Lucas hold a sensor and they hooked  other sensors into different fruits, connected it to the computer, and then when you touched the fruit it would make sounds. Super cool. 

Emma's winter band concert. These kids have only been doing band since the fall, and it's pretty impressive how far they've come in such a short time. Still not the most pleasant thing to listen to, but definitely improving! Emma started out hating band and the flute, but she now enjoys it and plays pretty well!

 When Brad decides he wants to run into a store really quick to check out their meat selection, we take selfies to pass the time... 

Not much snow this season, but we got another slight dusting so Jake made a mini-snowman.

 And Emma made some micro snowmen.

 And Luke was just happy to be outside with any snow at all.

Thanksgiving 2018

Angela, who doesn't like cats and dogs, but snuggled right up to the little piglet. She even rocked it while she was holding it! I had a good laugh.... Usually the ham ends up on your plate at Thanksgiving... guess we'll give this one a while to fatten up. 

 We had a wonderful meal with wonderful company at Curt's house. We all left with full bellies and left-overs, which were delicious. So many things to be thankful for!

November 22, 2018

November's Nutshell

Luke's learning about mixing primary colors to create the color wheel at the library.

 They had a fun experiment with milk, food coloring, and dish soap that Lucas still has us re-create at home on a weekly basis. He loves watching the colors shoot and swirl around. 

We went to an assembly where Emma was awarded another Character Counts -- a big deal in the Compass school. Great job Emma! Always proud to be your parents and hear what a good student and friend you are at school! 

She was extra excited that Brad was able to make this one!

 It's supposed to be a surprise for the student to get the award, and the kids started paying attention to my clothing... On any regular Friday morning, I'm dressed and ready to go to volleyball, and so when I would wear regular clothes with hair and make-up done, they'd be guessing they won. I tried to fool them this time by dressing in my volleyball clothes with hair pony-tailed. They're getting too smart and observant...

The kids favorite chore -- raking leaves! 

 We took Aaron and Christopher with us to the Aquarium while they were waiting for Angela to get off work. Luke's getting a little braver with the sting-ray and was able to pet quite a few.

 Jake trying to high-five one as it flapped the edge -- he kept trying to follow the "big one" around. 

 And Emma, the animal lover, just soaking it all in. 

Lucas and Christopher petting a shark!

And as soon as we came back from Thanksgiving -- we set up our Christmas tree and made a count-down chain. I've got three very excited kids for Christmas! 

November 2018