A Little Taste of Winter

On the morning of Feb 13th, we woke up to snow on the ground. I was secretly hoping that school would be cancelled so we could spend the day playing with the snow. We have had an unusual winter here with temps above average and only one other snowfall which was less than an inch.

 School wasn't cancelled but as soon as I picked the kids up we headed over to the hills to sled.

 I love this shot of Austin with his legs in the air.

 Even Kayla looks like she is having a fun time.

 Austin was enjoying every minute of it.

 Kayla's not looking too happy about this anymore.

 One more time down the hill.

So glad we got to pull out the sleds. It might of been our only chance at sledding this year :(

And we had a great time.....at least Austin did.

January Door of Fame

Here is the kids' fabulous artwork for January.

Austin's dalmation with 101 dots.....they did this on the 101 day of school. Austin said that everytime the teacher blew a whistle they would draw a dot. Wish I could have seen that one in person.

Picture of Austin and his Snowman

Kayla's coloring has improved.

Instead of scribbling she is starting to color objects.

I love all the smiley faces on this picture. And the one above it is different things from Mario Galaxy....fire power (red flower) and ice power (blue flower).

This is the purple coin level on Mario Galaxy...one of Austin's FAVORITES!

And this is Austin's drawing of the purple coin level. I think he did a pretty good job.

This is an enemy boss on Mario Galaxy.

And this is Austin's interpretation. I love it!!!

100 Days of School

Austin has now spent 100 days in Pre-K. I am amazed with how much he has learned in those 100 days.....mostly being able to recognize and write all his letters and numbers. I have seen lots of improvement in his coloring, drawing, and cutting. I enjoy listening to him sing songs like "Days of the Week" or "The Rules of the Classroom". I laughed when I heard him say the catchy phrase "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit" that he learned from school around Christmas time. And I love watching him interact with the other kids at school. Austin has really learned a lot. Funny moment to note: When I take Austin to school, I park the car in the neighborhood and then we walk the couple blocks to the school and take him inside to his classroom. It is a enjoyable walk when the weather is nice. Well, one day I asked Austin if he would ever want for me to do the drop off instead. He responded with "No....maybe when I'm 30." Luckily that day came sooner when he decided out of the blue that he wanted to do the drop off which we did and now we do that most mornings which is nice, especially whne it is raining and super cold outside.

To celebrate those 100 days of school, Austin was asked to fill a platic bottle with 100 of something. We chose to fill it up with 100 pom poms. Austin counted out 10 piles and 10 and then we filled the bottle up. 

Austin was super excited about going to school on the 100th day. When I picked him up that afternoon he was wearing a celebration hat, had a big smile on his face, and said "that was the best day in the whole wide world!!"

Guess who's in Primary?

We are!!

Kayla is a Sunbeam and is doing very well adjusting to that. Austin is a CTR 5 and enjoys having his sister in primary with him. I am also in primary again this year....but this time as the chorister!! I was a little nervous about this calling at first but after only doing it a few weeks, I am loving it!! It gives me a chance to be creative and have fun with the kids. It can be a little challenging (especially getting the senior primary boys to look like they are having a good time) but I am always up for a good challenge. I really do love the primary songs and how they teach the simple truths of the gospel. I am excited to spend this year singing and teaching those songs to the primary children!!  

Incredible Pizza

Since Austin didn't have school last monday, Craig took the day off work and we went to Incredible Pizza in Tulsa.

 The kids had a fun time playing games.

 Kayla loved knocking down the ducks.

 Austin brought his school friend Braxton along.

 Austin, Braxton, and Craig went and did the laser tag and they LOVED it.

 

 This was Kayla's favorite...she loved riding in the bus.

We had a great time.

Cousin Sleepover

Even though they looked so cute & cozy, we did move them to seperate beds. 

Crazy Oklahoma Weather

So far this winter has been very strange, even for Oklahoma. For most of this month our high temps have been in the 50-60's. We have even had a couple days with temps reaching into the 70's. We have tried to take full advantage of this and get outside.

Here is one of the days when we went to one of the neighborhood parks. The kids were so excited when they found lots of little pellets beads left behind from other kids' toy guns. My kids call these beads "beetles" (not sure how they came up with that one). They love finding and collecting them, especially when they find new colors.   

Even though the weather has been fairly mild, we have had a few really cold days this month and got our first snowfall. It was only a small amount but the kids couldn't wait to go out and play with it. As much as I am actually enjoying this mild weather we are having (our 10 day planner shows temps still in the 50-60s), I still hope we get a couple good snow storms because I do want to do some sledding!!

Happy 30th Birthday!!

For Craig's birthday, I suprised him with the news that he was going to go and pick out his very first grill. We cooked hamburgers and hot-dogs that night for dinner and they were super yummy!  

Happy birthday Craig!! You are a SUPER husband and a SUPER dad and I am SUPER lucky to have someone as SUPER as you to spend my life with. I LOVE YOU!

December Door of Fame

Here is our artwork for December. Kayla contributed the Santa with a cotton-ball beard, the candy cane, and the small reindeer made from puzzle pieces. Some of Austin's artwork included tanks (of course), the train put together by following the teachers directions, the gingerbread man which says that Austin ate 6 of them, and lots of christmas trees.

My favorite artwork that Austin brings home is the free drawings that he does. It is fun to see him use his imagination to figure out how to draw things.

 Here is Rudolph pulling the sleigh with snowflakes in the sky.

 And Rudolph flying in the sky over the rooftops of houses below.

 Here you will see clouds, sun, rocks, and cactus.

And more rocks, sun, and cactus, and just in case you weren't sure about the large animal in the middle....it's a horse :)

Potty Training: Take 3

Take 3.....because that is how many times it took to
get Kayla potty trained!!

 Last March I thought we would make an attempt and see how Kayla would do. She would sit on the potty chair and do nothing and then mintues later she would go in her underwear. After 2 days with no success in the potty chair I put the diapers back on.

 Then last October I thought we would try again. We sat on the potty several times that morning with no luck. Then around lunch time Kayla told me that she needed to go potty but as I started to move to help her she said "No mom, stay here! I do it myself."  So I stayed in the kitchen while she went into the bathroom, sat on her potty chair, and went. It was her first success!! That makes me laugh because it shows Kayla's independent personality. From there we continued for several days but Kayla decided that she no longer wanted to potty-train. Long story short.....her strong willed personality won out.

Even though we put the potty-training on hold I was suprised to find out that when Kayla went to Mothers-Day-Out, she used the potty chair there and kept her diaper dry all day. Yet at home she still refused to use the potty. This continued for several weeks until one day she wanted to put diapers on her stuffed animals/care bears/Bowser. I convinced her to put underwear on them and soon she had 10 carebears in underwear and was taking turns teaching them to all use the potty. I told Kayla that "maybe she could use the potty chair too" and didn't push the idea any further. But sure enough, she used the potty and that began potty training attempt #3 which has been successful!! We still have accidents sometimes but Kayla is now wearing underwear and is a big girl!! (Wheww!!)