Sunday, February 7, 2010

Sat Feb 6 - Lia's #2 Birthday with Family

On Saturday we had a busy, busy day with our family. While I was at my baptism class in the morning, the water meter in front of our house broke and we had quite a leak flooding down the street. Luckily, Chris knew what to do and who to call. We lost a lot of water pressure in the house which prompted him to investigate... He estimated we lost about 2000 gallons! Someone was able to come out quickly to fix it and also adjusted our bill.... Thank goodness I have such a handy husband!


Aunt Stacey brought the coolest cake mold and had big plans for us to make a giant cupcake for Lia's Birthday. Here are the kids making the cake. They LOVE to help in the kitchen. I must give Stacey credit.... She managed three very eager children beautifully through the whole process. Each child even got to break their very own egg. We were all very excited about the cake!


It was cold... but beautiful outside. David wanted to show off his big wheel and ability to ride with no hands to his grandparents. Lia wanted to ride on the scooter... with help from her Aunt of course.


While the kiddos were outside, Emily was busy decorating our party room. She helped put out the tablecloth, tie balloons to the chairs, and make place settings so we would all know where to sit. Then she decorated the chairs with ribbons, made party signs, and a special crown for Lia and her little stuffed doggy to wear. She went all out for her sister. It was sweet.


The kids were treated to happy meals... you can see them stuffing there faces here. They were very happy.


Lia was definetly Grandpa's girl at the party. She kept going to him to be held and really enjoyed his "catch the spider" games.


The adults were treated to shrimp cocktail (thank you Mom and Dad!) and a comfort meal of pot roast, carrots, and mashed potatoes. We enjoyed opening the gifts... that's always fun! Lia got some books, cutie cute slippers, a college fund donation and the sweetest baby penguin. Oh yes, and Emily even wrapped up some of her own girly girl clips and a headband for Lia to open...

The cake took longer to bake than we expected... The final time was 1 hour and 15 minutes to bake! Since it took so long, we didn't have time to frost and decorate it... so we had ice cream for dessert. We made it special with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and sprinkles. We even lit a candle and sung happy birthday. It was a very fun day!

Fri Feb 5 - Happy 10 Year Anniversary

We celebrated our ten year anniversary on Friday! We had a special night out at the Hubbel and Hudson Cafe and enjoyed a fabulous meal. Thank you so much to Stacey for watching the kids so we could enjoy an evening out alone! The kids got to have pizza, and watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs with their favorite aunt, so everyone was happy.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Our Valentine's Day boxes

I think I am finally up to date on this blog! David and Lia made their boxes this morning and Emily made hers when she got home from school. They came out so cute!

Drawing Lesson, Saturday Jan 30

Emily and I did another lesson from Drawing With Children by Mona Brooks. This time it was birds! We sent our drawing to Nana... Her bird Kiki was the inspiration for the colors we chose.

Here is Emily's masterpiece:

And mine:

Emily's 1st Grade Half Time Show, Tue Jan 26

The Kindergartners and 1st graders got to perform at the middle school basketball game. You can see her and her friend Rebecca above... they are very excited!


The Kindergartners went first and did a parachute show. The octopus went flying really high above us... it was a hit!

And the first graders danced for us... Emily is in the back row (in the white t-shirt) with all the moves!

David's School

David continues to be my star pupil... He does what I ask of him (for the most part) and always has a lot to say! We use Singapore Math and have enjoyed the lessons together. Singapore math does a really good job encouraging your child to tell you what he is doing and why. David really likes the "Look and Talk" lessons. Further, as his reading improves, he is able to read the instructions to himself. He is learning to use a ruler to draw straight lines above. It is tricky to hold the ruler steady!

We did a little origami in one of the lessons... he loved his little boat!


A little work sample.

Jan 18th - Martin Luther King Day

Emily had MLK day off from school. In his honor, we read all about Martin Luther King in William Bennett's, Children's Book of America. The concept of equality is higher level thinking but I think Emily understood quite a bit for her age.


To enjoy her day off, we went on a nature hike at Rob Fleming. Emily found out that she really enjoys taking pictures! So, I guess I get to be in more of them! We had a nice walk in the woods..
David found lots of sticks and enjoyed fighting bears... see video for more detail, directed and produced by our own Emily. Yes, it was silly.