Library Prizes

Our local library has fantastic programs for the youth. We just had the winter reading that had the theme of the wild west. Cowboys! Elliott was so excited-he is fascinated with cowboys! He tells everyone that his name is Wild Bill Elliott-a name that Cowboy Papa Earl gave him. Each of the reading programs and crafts had to do with cowboy or western stuff. The kids got to have a bingo sheet and for spaces they had to say "howdy" to the librarians, tell a cowboy joke to a librarian, find and hide toy snakes among the book shelves and other fun things. If they read so many books (which is never a problem in our house!) they can enter into a drawing for a prize of their choice. *In the 4 years we've been doing this, we have never been drawn for anything!

Well, it's a new day! Both Elliott and Roswell won a prize!
Elliott chose a long plush snake, and Roswell chose a battery-operated bubble maker. They were so excited!

I Love This Girl!

Avery makes fantastic faces lately. Here she is blowing her raspberries. She does it a lot and it's hilarious how she gets her hole face involved, including her tongue. I've tried several times to videotape it, but once she sees the camera she freezes and smiles. What a sweet girl! :)

Snowman

With the last snow storm, Donovan had a snow day from school and I had the chance to have fun with my older boys outside. We made snow angels, and a tiny snowman. The snow wasn't sticking so much, so he was a midget snowman. :)

Elliott with our dude.

We didn't want to give up our hats, so he has a leaf mohawk!

Floor Hockey Season Is Here!

When Donovan's school floor hockey program looked like it would be challenging with our schedules, we looked to our local community programs. It works out great! We like this so much better than last year! Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed it last year, it was just a hassle. This year we don't have to travel far, it's a smaller team so Dono gets more play time, it's cheaper, and the coach isn't yelling at the kids because they aren't behaving like professionals. I loved that it was based on fun. There wasn't even score taken! Loving it!

Dono in his jersey. They're the black team. They've given themselves the name "The Pirates".

Go Pirates!

Dono is the one in the white helmet. We kept it from last year- though they only require eye protection for the community- I like the protection better anyway.

I think we had a tie game, but I can't be certain, I lost track since no score was taken. We're looking forward to a fun season.

Sink Reflections

I'm always wanting to keep my home clean. It's not dirty, but with a family of 6 it's not easy to keep it orderly and there seems to be clutter in lots of spots. I've been working on cleaning up spots a little at a time and then just managing them while they're clean. It's been working, but can be better.
For my book club this month, we have been asked to read "Sink Reflections" by Marla Cilley. She has great ideas on how to have an easily managed and clean home that takes only a little amount of time, and how it promotes a happy home. In her book (and also on her website http://www.flylady.net/) she says to start with a clean sink. A really clean sink, one that you can see your reflection in, hence the title. I've been cleaning up parts of the house and decluttering, but I've neglected to start with the sink. I have been trying to keep the kitchen clean and dishes washed right away, so it's looked ok, but I finally cleaned the sink (bleach, ajax, windex, and all!)! I wanted to post a picture because I just love the look of it. I think she was right, when you have accomplished cleaning your sink and can see your reflection (I tried, but I don't think I can really see my reflection, I understand the concept though) you want everything else to look good too.


Dan even commented on how nice it was and that it would be a shame to get it dirty, so he's going to try to keep it clean too. On to the rest of the house!

Some Silliness

Elliott loves to be goofy. He was playing with Donovan's joke face and decided to use his own nose. We joked that he resembled Papa Earl with the glasses and dark mustache. At Elliott's last dr. appointment, they were concerned about his eyes. With Dan being the only member of both families with no eyesight problems, we're not surprised. We'll be going to an eye dr. soon to see if it's something that will need glasses, or just a pediatrician's mistake. He looks pretty cute with spectacles regardless. :)

Not a complimentary picture, but this is what happens when you have a confrontation with a horse. Let me rephrase, a miniature plastic horse in the hands of an energetic two year-old. That tiny cut hurt! I thought for sure it bruised my nose. But alas, merely a flesh wound! Too bad it wasn't in a less conspicuous spot!

This isn't silliness, just a cute little girl!

Oh Deer!

We love how our home is situated. We have 1/2 acre of yard, and then beyond our fence, our neighors have a stretch of 2 acres that are nicely wooded. Because of the openness of it (ours is the only fence), we get to see much wildlife. A few weeks ago, we had these two deer out back. (You can see the one, and the second is faintly beyond it.) I joke with my parents because they get jealous that we see deer so often. Dan claims that they are more a pest here because there are so many. During hunting season you can shoot up to 5 deer on one ticket. And you have to watch out for them year-round when driving.

In fact, there's a family of 5 that keep running in front of my car when I'm on my way to teach seminary at 6 in the morning. Gratefully, I've been alert and haven't run any down. I believe I caught the same deer family in our backyard. I think they joined ranks with others because now there are 8.

They are so beautiful! When they ran off, I noticed that the last deer was limping pretty badly. I guess someone hit it afterall. I hope they can survive.

Valentine Sweeties

Here's some of my sweets from Valentine's Day:

Miss Avery

Donovan decorating his heart cookie. (You probably can't tell, but he DUMPED the sprinkles on! I'm surprised he went to sleep so fast!)

Elliott liked to taste his creation while he was creating. :)

Roswell wanted Daddy to make his cookie. I think he was happy with the outcome.

Avery sat there with love in her eyes for Daddy.

So he took a picture with two sweethearts.

Hope everyone's love day was special. We had a nice time spending time with our little family (though not so little anymore!)

Mr. Smarty Pants

Donovan is one smart cookie! He's usually at the top of his class. Now he has some awards to prove it. :) Donovan got this award for top grades on his 2nd term report card. For some reason his teacher is one that doesn't seem to give the highest mastery grade at the beginning of the grade, even though it's clear he's mastered something and earned it. I can understand that she still wants to encourage improvement and doesn't want them to slack off, but come on. Maybe I'm just one of those parents that want to see their kid get top grades for what they've earned. (I guess I'm a little bitter.) I'm still very proud of Dono and his great grades!


Then Donovan got an award at his grade's award assembly for the NWEA testing. He got a bull's eye award for testing high in his math assessments.

Other 1st grade "Bull's Eye" winners with Dono in the top middle. For some reason even with my indoor setting the pictures came out really dark.

Donovan hit his "target" goal.

Great job baby!

1st Grade Field Trip - Grossology

Donovan belongs to an all boys 1st grade class. He loves it! We are loving it too. There's only a few drawbacks, but those would happen in any class, so why not? Dan got to go on this field trip with the boys to Impressions 5 Science Museum (It was too long of a time for Avery to be without mommy. :( So I needed to stay home.). The science theme this time was grossology. Perfect for boys!

Donovan climbing the human skin with zits, boils, moles, etc.

They got to make their own slime. (They also got to make rock crystals but Dan forgot to take a picture.)

They had a class on magnets.

Heavy magnets - very cool!

Donovan loves this magnet dumping truck. He and his very energetic schoolmate played with this several times.

Is there a future as a doctor?? Operation kid-sized!

A hall of mirrors.

And what would a trip to the science center be without having some fun at the water table?

Donovan had fun, and so did Dan!

Winter's a Blowin!

This winter "HAD" been pretty mild. Then we got a blizzard! We had been warned all over the radio, news, friends, even from family in AZ. Then she blew. Not horrible, but a lot for a short amount of time. I think adding to the few inches that we had previously, we got a combined 15 or more inches.

The kids' outdoor picnic table submerged in the snow.

The good news is that Dan got my garage-sale-find snow blower working! At least we won't get stuck in our driveway! (I'm glad it wasn't a waste of $20!)
Donovan got 2 snow days from school, so guess what we did? We stayed inside!!! Snow sure is pretty and fun to play in, but boy is it cold! We were hoping the plows would get to our neighboring streets by Friday so that Dono could go to school for his field trip. He got his wish!
Yay for snow and yay for warm homes. :)