SNOW DAY!!

Snow Days bring back so many memories! I love watching my kids' excitement the night before they might have a snow day. They always hope that they'll call off school the night before and they can stay up late. Thankfully, they don't usually call it off until the day of school. Well, today is our second snow day in a row. Some of the excitement has begun the wear off. The kids are a little tired of being around each other so much and stuck in the house. The most used phrase at our house right now is "I'm bored". Hee hee.

Hannah and I had the chance to take Blake out for his first experience sledding. It didn't last very long, but it was fun (for us). Blake could barely walk in all his snow gear! He didn't especially like sledding down the hill, but he really enjoyed it when we ran back up the hill with him. We ended up taking him down the hill 5 times and then he was done for the day. I'm sure he'll love it next year. It am a little sad that Kyle is old enough to walk to the big hills with his group of friends to go sledding...without me! That means I don't get pics of him since I can't take Blake out all day!! Sometimes it's tough to let them grow up!

                             Blake & Mommy

Blake & Hannah sledding

Kids say the darndest things!

Hannah has always mixed-up the cutest words ever since she was little. Just today she even called her rear-end a "booty-ius maximus". lol! She was trying to convince me that that is what the gym teacher called it, not a gluteus maximus! Here are a few of my other favorites from when Hannah was a toddler:

She called "church" a "turch". Not sure why, but the way she said it sounded like she was saying church with a southern accent. It actually took me a while to figure out she was saying "turch".

Instead of saying it was "foggy" out, Hannah would say it was "froggy out". It was just one of those things that was so cute, I didn't correct her. She knows now, of course!

Merry Christmas 2009!

Fall 2009

Hannah swinging Blake

Hannah swinging her baby brother in the baby swing. They love each other SO much. It just makes me heart happy.

Fathers Day 2009

Weekend Mornings with Blake

We love our weekend mornings! All the kids join us in bed!

Look! Blake likes to put his feet in his mouth!

Hey!! Hannah can do it, too!

Woah Momma! I can get my foot up there, but had second thoughts about wanting to put my toes in my mouth! Yuck!

2009 Talent Show - Hannah

Hannah is a girl with many talents!! She was in the Talent Show last year AND this year! This year she danced with her BFF, Emily, to the song "Play My Music". Here's the video:

Hannah's 3rd Grade Economics Carnival

Hannah had her 3rd Grade Economics Carnival at school. Their class learned about cost opportunity, scarcity, goods & services, supply & demand, etc. and then they had to come up with a booth for the carnival. Hannah's group decided to do facepainting. They did everything themselves (except buy the supplies). They also decided to give all their "clients" a prize in addition to the facepainting. It was really cute because when they got the 10 minute warning, they slashed their fee from 3 tickets to 2 tickets. All the kids had lots of fun. I even had MY facepainted!!

Open for Business!!

Mothers Day 2009

After Blake's Dedication service, we came back to our house for a Mother's Day lunch. Dad made delicious pulled pork, Mom made a yummy vegetable salad, and Gail made some tasty potatoes. I made a pound cake/pudding/cool whip truffle that was, of course, low-fat (yeah, right!) We all had a great time!

Busy Week

Just to give you an idea of how busy we are this month, here's what we have going on just this week (while Matt is out of town).....

Monday (today) - Hannah has Talent Show Practice after school, Kyle has a baseball game at 6
Tuesday- Kyle has his 5th grade Field Day & BBQ (all day), Hannah has gymnastics after school
Wednesday - Kyle gets his braces on in the morning, Kyle has Talent Show practice after school, Hannah has gymnastics after school
Thursday - Hannah has her 3rd grade Economics carnival all morning, PTO Meeting after school, Parents Night at Kyle's new Middle School
Friday - Teacher Appreciation Day activities at school

So, while my life is much easier since I am a stay-at-home mom...I seem to still be very busy!! Blake gets the luxury of being dragged to all of these activities, too. Although I don't think he minds because everyone always loves to see him & hold him. He will be one social boy!

Microwaveable SMORES!

Hannah wanted to make smores in the microwave. It was fun, delicious, and messy!!

Video of Kyle, Hannah, and Blake - Feb 2009

Here's a funny & cute video that I took when Blake was a newborn. You can tell that Kyle & Hannah just adore their new baby brother!

Best Big Sister Ever

Hannah loves her baby brother so much and you can see it in these pictures. She wants to hold him constantly. She is such a great helper. I am so proud of her and know she will someday be a wonderful mom.

Proud of Hannah

Hannah had a great week this past week!

She got 1st Place in the Science Fair AND moved up to the next level in gymnastics! She worked very hard for both & we're really proud of her dedication!

Hannah's Song--and my multi-tasking tendencies

So, I tend to do many things at once...which I call "multi-tasking" and, yes, I am a busy-body. Not only do I work from 9-3 (only for one & 1/2 more months~tee-hee), but I am also the PTO Secretary at our school, I head up our church's Kidz Ministry Worship Leaders (schedules, songs, interviewing, training--the whole bit), I am the one that does the grocery shopping, schedules the doctors appointments, pays the bills, organizes the class parties & chaperones the class field trips, goes through the hundreds of papers sent home from school every week, etc--I could go on for a while. Well, the bad thing about multi-tasking is that you are not providing your full attention to one thing, but rather to many things. I think I may be multi-tasking too much these days...

My DD, Hannah, has taken up songwriting these last few weeks and I came across one of the songs she is currently working on. It was so non-chalant. Hannah hadn't even finished it or told me she wanted to show me what she had so far or anything. It all happened when I was tucking her in bed and saw the notebook by her nightstand. I asked her what it was, she said it was the song she was working on, I asked her if I could read it, and here is what I read:

"Every day, I want to see your face right in front of me
But I never get to see it because
You're always doing stuff like filling out papers, talking, and all that business stuff
Just quit
You have enough money
You have enough stuff
You have enough papers
So why don't you quit"

So, that was it! I started tearing up immediately. I asked her if she felt like I was too busy all the time and not spending enough time with her. She said that I spent enough time with her, but she was just writing down her feelings. I think she was trying not to hurt my feelings because she is just sweet & kind like that. WOW, if this wasn't a wake-up call, then I don't know what is.

This is just another reason I am SO GLAD to be staying home soon. I will be able to fill out all my papers, talk, and do all that business stuff during the day now & have more FOCUSED time for my family at night!!! I just want to thank God for this wake-up call and blessing us with the ability to do something about it. Yes, we will have to make sacrifices, but God will provide and it will be SO worth it!!!

A Couple Family Photos

Here's a couple photos of our families:My dad, me, my sis, Hannah, my mom, Kyle,and Matt

at the kids' school for Kyle's 5th Grade Musical 2008

Matt, me, Matt's grandma, Matt's mom, and Matt's brother

at our house for Thanksgiving 2008

Halloween

Hannah (a Pop Star) and Kyle (soccer player)

Hannah & her friend Jordyn (pirate)

Kyle and his friends Luke (a gangster) and Jake (Neo from The Matrix)

Hannah and Brett (Spiderman)

Report Cards are in

November is here!!! Halloween and October have come and gone so quickly!! October is over, which also means the end of the first quarter of school for the kids. We had Parent-Teacher Conferences on Wednesday night. The kids are doing excellent in their studies and both made the Principal's Honor Roll with all A's and one B+. Matt & I are both so very proud of them. They are doing well not only academically, but socially as well.

Kyle's teacher reported that he makes good decisions, is a great listener, and is a leader. She even said that Kyle will make the right choice, even when everyone else is not. He does not care what they think and that he has a great moral compass, knowing what is right & wrong. [whew!]. Let's hope he carries that same compass through middle school & high school! His teacher also said that whenever he does miss points on tests or homework, it's because he rushes through it. [We've heard THAT every year, from every teacher]. He is always the first one finished with his tests, etc., so she is encouraging him to double-check his work.

Hannah's teacher reported that she is very talkative & helpful [we've gotten that report from every teacher, every quarter, every year too]. Her teacher also said that she needs to be more careful not to be a tattletale [uh-oh] and that she is a bit OVER-confident. Maybe so confident that when her teacher tries to help her with something she got wrong in class, she does not even think she did it wrong the first time [oops].

So, they're doing great in school & love it. They still have some things to work on, though. Personally, I do not think Hannah being talkative is a problem, but just her personality. I always got in trouble for talking when I was younger, too, and I turned out okay. I think! Kyle has always rushed through things. It's just his competitive nature. I guess I would rather he be smart enough to know it & get it wrong because he rushed than to take his time & get it wrong because he doesn't understand it.

Pumpkin Patch - Thies Farms