Cake Face

Happy birthday KK!
Hope you enjoyed your cake as much as we did...at least as much as Eric did!

Stuck on Birthdays

It may be hard to tell...but Ballerina is stuck.

Stuck in the back of a chair... and her Daddy had to come to the rescue!

Being stuck is not fun until Mrs. Amy celebrates her birthday and gets this......and decides to share!
Then the group was all smiles!
Happy Birthday Amy! (I know it is a little late...but late is better than never!)

Kicking Butt

Because it is sort of funny...That every picture I seem to have of these two Involves wrestling! And, the GIRL is winning! Ha!

So, as this little girl looks on...She has high hopes that she too will be able to kick boys butts too!

A Walk in the Park

I am foolish.

I am naive.

I thought that these January weekends would be low key. I assumed that the weekends in January would be lazy. I had predicted that January would be the month I would catch up on all those things I never got around to doing during the wildness of the holidays. I figured without soccer games, basketball practice, and crazy school stuff that we would slow down.

Oh, but how wrong I have been...

I do not know why I thought these things! When will I learn? Life is never what you predict!

It is not that our January has been bad...but it has not been a walk in the park either. Things have been hoppin' at work, grad school is back in full swing, and while the kids schedules have not included the normal things, they have been super busy!

Yet, we had to stop for a while...to enjoy time with friends...to take a walk in the park...So, we tried to beat the cold and literally headed to the park for the afternoon!

It was good for the kids to playAnd wrestle a little...

He!

Of course they played with sticks.

Chased each other on the basketball court...

And hung out with Daddy!

I did have one freak out moment in the midst of our relaxation...For a BRIEF moment I feared that I had broken the flash on my camera! Never fear, however...I took it to the bathroom for a few photographs just to make sure things were still in order. And, as you can see, all is well with my camera and my flash (well, besides the fact that I really want a new one, but that is an entirely different story!)Nonetheless, it was a delightful walk in the park...and one that we will NOT wait long to do again!

Puzzled

I am somewhat puzzled...as to why anyone would think......that putting together a superhero puzzle......on top of a toilet......would be a good idea!

Nonetheless, this is what I discovered yesterday morning. Humm...

Drawing Conclusions

After reflecting on my experience at the dentist with Ballerina today, I have come to the conclusion that she, in fact, does not like it.

You see, the hour that I spent there today might be one of the worst I have had in a very long time. Why? Because Ballerina was just hot her normal self...

She screamed...

She bit the dentist...

She screamed...

She kicked the assistant...

She screamed...

She thrashed...

She screamed...

She ran down the hallway...

She screamed...

She threw herself on the ground...

She screamed...

She hid behind the chair...

She screamed...

She cried...

She screamed...

She wailed...

She screamed...

But, as I bucked her in the car after this horrid event, she laughed and asked, "Mommy, when are we going to go to the dentist?"

Are you kidding me?

I used to teach middle schoolers to draw conclusions based on facts they are presented; however, I just cannot figure this one out.

Did I forget?

I believe my family and I forgot to wish you all happy new year!

We rang in 2010 at the lake.

The kids seemed to think that it was a good idea to swim in the icy weather...I thought that it was weird that they wanted to freeze themselves.See the steam on the top of the water?They thought it was funny to dare each other to walk through the icy H2O...Of course, only G accepted the dare.G...He is SUCH a mess!Well, perhaps not as much a mess as Ballerina...What is up with that WILD hair?It is funny to make K-Dan get in the pool too! But, it is REALLY funny to splash K-Dan repeatedly after you con him into getting in the water!
Oh, Ballerina...I would like to point out that the torture of K-Dan is perhaps the favorite pastime when we are at the lake...The boys got in on the torture this time!Ballerina gave up and clearly ate some ranch dressing...And then attempted to make her cousin pose with her. However, Avery was not interested!So, Ballerina settled to pose with Mommy!

I am so sad that I forgot to wish all a happy new year...I guess late is better than never!

Unusually Strange

This past weekend we went to dinner with some awesome friends. Granted, this should happen more, but it is not all that strange.

However, what IS unusually strange...That Ballerina's new best friend is a middle school boy! The little girl that will not socialize with anyone, always wants to be a grump to those outside the family, does not even try to be nice in a crowd wanted to talk his ear off!

I know, it is ususually strange.

Ants on a Log

Who knewthat Ballerina...really liked ants on a log?

Houston, we have lift off!

So, I LOVED what we decided to with our gift giving this Christmas...We have always struggled with how many gifts to buy each child. There are always gifts from Santa, but how much to get each of the kids varied from year to year. And, I will not lie, I struggled...I would buy something for one kid that cost a certain amount, but something the other one wanted cost less, so then I would try to match...but then I fretted because they did not have the same number of gifts under the tree. So, then I began to buy things they did not really want/need, etc. It really became such drama to me!

I was telling - well, complaining to - a friend of mine about this "issue" when she said, "I do not even go there...Each of my children receive 3 gifts from my husband and me. We figured a long time ago that if it was good enough for baby Jesus it was good enough for my children!"

I giggled at her comment. However, later that night I told Eric about it, and after some real consideration we decided that this was an awesome idea.

This Christmas each of our children received 3 gifts -- 3 personalized gifts...3 gifts each of them wanted...3 gifts each of them asked specifically for...3 gifts that Eric and I found joy in buying...3 gifts that served as a perfect reminder of the 3 gifts presented to Him on that holiest of eves...

And, one of the gifts Cannon asked for was a rocket.

He did not give many specifica about the kind of rocket he wanted...just htat he wanted a rocket...

So, a rocket we bought!

And, a rocket that Cannon and Daddy built together...
Perhaps Daddy did more building, but they did it together!Then there was the first attempt at a launch...
This did not go to well. Nope. Nothing happened!They were a little disappointed, but not deterred!And before I could take a picture...We had liftoff!