March 2012

Every now and again one of the girls gets out in front without me knowing. It scares me to death. I ran out and found Michael giving her a ride on his scooter, so I ran back in and got the camera. He is an awesome big brother.  

Rachel was enjoying being outside so I took the two for a walk down the street. This was Rachel's first ride out on her bike. She got this for Christmas and has only ridden it in the house. She loved it. 

 A neighbor around the corner had beautiful flowers. I really think tulips are becoming my favorite flower. The colors are so vibrant. 

 In the early morning hours of the night I woke up to a big thump. I thought that was the saddest thing! I loved that tree. It was SO gorgeous. We finally got some good rain. The ground must of gotten really soft and this incredible oak tree fell over. Luckily between my sister-in-law's car, the neighbor's house and their mail box it went for the mail box. 

 Michael Turned 8!

This year was a friends birthday party. This was such a fun party. I had so much fun planning this party. All of Mike's friends came for spy training. 

They had different missions to accomplish that mysteriously appeared at the door.

 Target practice. They drew their own bad guys when they got here. 

They had to have good listening skill (telephone)

 They had to be physically agile as they went through the lasers. 

 They had to be fast. You don't want to be stuck holding the bomb when it goes off. Yes, there were explosives at this party. Did I warn parents that their child might not be coming home all in one piece?

 Field training. The Case of the Fingerprint. A scavenger hunt. 

 That night we did the family party. I would say it was worth it to do it all in one day. The next day I was very tired, but it was really nice to be done.

 If you can't tell, it's a magnifying glass cake.

 Pinewood Derby:

This year Michael got to participate in Pinewood Derby with Jacob. This also was Jacob's last year doing pinewood derby. 

Jacob's car is in lane 2 and Michael's is in lane 4. Crazy story about Michael's car. Day of the race. We were putting finishing touches on it. He wanted windows painted on his car. I set it outside and went and put the girls down for naps. I really didn't think that it was that long or that it was THAT hot. But I ruined his car! The paint was all bubbly. It was a giant mess trying to sand down warm paint. So instead of doing school that day we made a pinewood derby car. Michael designed and I cut. He helped me with the sanding. He also decided to paint it one solid color (good thing since we didn't have time). The Lego guy gave a fun touch. That car came together speedy fast. Steven was running the boys and their cars to the post office to weigh them right before it was time to go. 

On the way to the church we were giving the boys the pre-race pep talk on sportsmanship. I think we may have even said that it was very unlikely they would come close to placing. They were awesome and had a great attitudes. All the boys got excited for each other and had a good time. Our boy's cars surprisingly did really well, they placed 2nd and 3rd. It was nice to see that Jacob's sportsmanship was  still put to the test when there was a recording error which then bumped Jacob from first place down to second. He said that's okay, it's just fun to watch them race. (Ah! Yea! Victory!) Jacob was having a great time. He had his watch out timing the speed of his car.

Poor Snappy.

We repopulated out fish tank. Michael fell in love with the baby lobsters at the fish store. He got to know this little guy really fast as he was always glued to the tank. These are pictures Michael took. Once day Michael found Snappy belly up behind the rock at the back of the tank. This was very sad for him. He pulled up a chair to guard his dead friend from any of the fish eating him. I was working in kitchen and asked Michael to tell me all the favorite things he loved about Snappy. He had quite a list... he was good at digging, he liked hiding in the little holes in the rock... I looked over at Michael and he had these big tears rolling down his cheek. I gave him a hug and we made a long pole out of skewers and flipped him over to his tummy and then Michael wanted me to watch a video he took of Snappy. I sat and watched a 15 minute video of a lobster. After that Michael was all better. He really is a sweet boy.

Sarah wanted me to take pictures of her. She is such a kind, happy, helpful daughter. 

 Her FAVORITE dress. She wears it at least once a week. It is so ratty with nice large holes in the front and back.

February 2012

Steven took the day off work, so we headed to the zoo for a family outing, minus Jacob, who slaves away in public school. 

 This entertained the kids. 

 Michael has faithfully declared his favorite animal the Komodo Dragon.

 Sarah was eager to see the Zweebras.

 We have many pictures of this elephant form the last decade.

 New School Desk:

The desk at Potter Barn was exactly what I was looking for. I found building plans for the same desk on Anna White. The only difference was that I wanted a nice dark wood desk top. Steven did a great job and is almost done with building Jacob one too. 

 Valentine's Day:

Michael wanted a tank for his Valentine's box. I had no idea on how to construct one and left the project up to the boys. Jacob and Michael worked really well together and did a great job. Sarah did not get to help with her's as much as she would have liked. I got carried away. I did let her paint a squirrel. She favorite color right now is purple. Rachel got the doghouse. I was out of creative time. She loved carrying it around. 

I saw this idea last year on pinterest. It was a fun project to do with the kids. They got excited for Valentine's Day. 

This was a homeschool V-day party.

 I love how a bunch of the kids went inside to check out their loot. 

It was a great party. 

 Rachel Turned 2!

She was very excited to be eating breakfast in bed. Rachel loves fried eggs on toast and she is not a juice fan. Water is her preferred choice of beverage. 

Rachel "picked" Mexican casserole for her birthday dinner. She LOVES that meal. We've noticed that she tends to like spicy foods.  

 A new tradition in our home is the non birthday kids have to sit on the rug during gift opening time. It makes for a much more orderly, happy time for me:)

I found this idea on the internet and felt it was perfect. Rachel usually eats the ice cream and not the cake at birthday's. I also loved that everyone got to choose their favorite "scoop", vanilla/chocolate cupcakes with different flavors of frosting.

 Not the best family picture :)

 I can't remember if this really was in February, but it was in the Feb picture file. The boys were being goofy after school. Jacob had completed his fun run at school that day.