Valentines Day Fun

We went over Buzz and Josie's house and had a great time relaxing, eating and playing games.

How is the chicken?

How cute are they?! Lacey wants to marry Henry because "he is four just like me!"

All the kids!

Wyatt's Birthday

Wyatt wanted a LEGO party for his 9th birthday. It was a lot of fun to create!

How old are you Wyatt?

Lacey Bugs

Henry

Hunter

Steven

Birthday Boy

Ryan

Edward

Jake

Wyatt built this house as the centerpiece decoration. Notice the dog house in the backyard.

The kids played a few games. They played Lego Drop (stand on a chair and see how many Lego's you can drop into a cup in one minute), Lego Chopsticks (see how many Lego's you can transfer from one bowl to another using only chopsticks in one minute), and Lego Build (Wyatt picked the theme "something that moves" and the boys had to build something in that theme). The boys had a great time.

Raking Leaves

The kids had fun raking the leaves with Daddy... Although I don't know how productive it was!

You guys are great helpers!

Finding The Perfect Christmas Tree

We hunt every year for the perfect Christmas tree. On the way up to the mountains, I took some pictures out of the truck window. It was a beautiful drizzly, snowy day. These pictures are in full color and have not been changed to black and white.

Beautiful!

Are you having fun in the snow Sydney?!
I take that as a yes!
Yes, Daddy found us the perfect Christmas tree!

Basketball

Brother was on a YMCA backetball team this fall. He really enjoyed playing and they were very fun and entertaining to watch!

Happy Halloween!

What a cute Doctor and Fireman!

Ahhhh...The perfect pumpkins found their calling at last!

Picking Out Pumpkins

Picking out a pumpkin is like a science. It takes talent, practice and sweat to pick out the perfect one... At least this is what Daddy is telling Bugs.

Brother has the sweat part down!

It was a successful day at the pumpkin patch.

Walk-A-Thon

The PTA had a walk-a-thon yesterday at brother's school for their fundraiser. Bugs and I went after school to hang out while brother was walking. (If I was smart, I would have brought my tennis shoes and walked with him...that would have required pre-planning). It was a beautiful day. They had cones in the grass for a make shift track for the younger kids, so I am not sure how long the laps were. Brother had a great time walking with various friends as they came and went. Bugs walked a few laps with him also. He stopped for some rest and snacks, but then he wanted to walk some more. Finally, after a few hours when they were closing up, I made him stop so that we could go home. The tally was 52 laps! Oh my goodness! If the track was 1/6th of a mile (like Grandma thinks) then my poor little boy walked over 8 miles! I am starting to think that I am a bad mom letting walk that much, but he wanted to and was having fun. The alternative would have been to go home and hang out with his sister and do homework, so maybe he is smarter than we think... Oh well, I guess it would be nice to be 6 again and have all of that energy.

I was going to pledge him $1 per lap...I might have to hit up the Grandma's and Papa's...

Swimming Lessons

We had private swimming lessons again this year at Grandma's pool. Brother did very well. He is getting so comfortable in the water and was working on the overhand stroke, breast stroke, and back stroke. He was also doing very well diving underwater to retrieve various treasures. It was difficult at first to get to the bottom because his little scrawny body just wanted to float! He finally figured out how to force himself down there.

Bugs had a break through this year. The first half of the year she protested (loudly...just ask the neighbors...) that she didn't want to go in the water and she screamed through most of her lesson (while clinging very tightly to me). Then, after seeing some other kids having fun swimming in Grandma's pool, she decided to try it. She LOVED it! After that lessons were a breeze. Actually, she started to get a little too confident and had no fear in the water, which made mommy a little nervous. What is worse, a child who is afraid of the water and will not go near it or a child who has no fear and will just jump in? Hmmm, that is one to ponder... Our instructor did great and actually taught her to respect the water (put a little fear back in her so that she can recognize her limitations).

Bugs waiting her turn

Brother doing the hand over hand stroke across the pool
Bugs swimming to Grandma while Grandma is showing her how to use her arms (working on hand over hand by 'reaching' for Grandma)Bugs jumping from the steps
Swimming to Grandma
Yea, she made it!
"wanna jump again", says Bugs