Friday, February 15, 2013

My Valentines

I was room mother for Isaac's preschool class for Valentine's Day.  Those 19 boys and 3 girls were SO well behaved--seriously amazing.  It was so much fun watching them interact with each other.  Mrs. Bieker is a fantastic teacher who deserves a medal everyday!  It was a fun hour with the kids. 
 
Mrs. Bieker is the teacher on the left.  Her halo, angel wings, and crown of jewels may not show up in the picture but I assure you that they are there! 
She is F A N T A S T I C ! 





I even got to sneak into Chloe's classroom to watch a game of theirs as well!
 
And our house was filled with homemade Valentine's.
Isaac's roses 

Isaac's drawing

Chloe's 3-part card



Chloe's 'creation' from school.  This girl always comes up with the funniest things!
The tabs on the actual heart are to lift flaps to find missing letters. 

Amelia and Caroline's hands saying I Love You in sign language!
So adorable!

And Miss Stella with candy hearts written on them.
I love this girl!
*I may or may not have already eaten the three hearts in the lower left corner. 
They fell off...what else should I have done?*
 
The very best gift of all was Royce NOT having to go to KC on Valentine's morning!
Woohoo!  We were one happy family when we found that out. 
 
_____________________________________________________
 
Feb 15th, 10pm
And on the second day--the sugar crash finally happened.
 

Angry Bird Birthday Boy~ Isaac is FIVE!

 
Isaac decided on an Angry Bird themed party at the bowling alley this year for his birthday.  Since is actual birthday fell on Ash Wednesday we decided to have the party the night before.  He has never had a destination party and it was a lot of fun this year.  He invited four friends from afternoon pre-school and Jacob from his previous daycare.  The boys had a great time! 

Since Isaac doesn't really like cake we decided to make his display out of Nutty Bars and Rice Krispie Treats.  It turned out pretty well and the boys loved destroying it. 

Chase, Blaise, Lane, Jacob, Eli, and Isaac

 
 
 The boys wanted to take a picture for their teacher, Mrs. Bieker.
She loved it!

 
Make a wish! 

On Isaac's actual birthday morning he had to tear down the streamers on his door!
 
 
Since Isaac's birthday meal needed to be meatless for Ash Wednesday he picked the following menu:
 
PB & J
Mac & Cheese
Apples
Peaches
Salad
 
The apples and peaches came after this picture and I enjoyed my grapes.
 
Happy Birthday, Buddy! 
You are an amazing little boy who is very thoughtful and loving.  You give amazing hugs, say nice bedtime prayers, and are a creature of habit.  We love being your parents and watching the wheels turn with you, both literally and figuratively.  Your teacher says you are fantastic in school and we are very proud of the big boy you have become.
 
We love you to the moon and back!


Thursday, February 7, 2013

B I G Girl Beds!


Let the fun begin!
 

Chloe tucking Caroline into bed.

Amelia......Waaaayyy at the top!

Caroline snuggled right into bed. 


Amelia took several attempts at escaping but after realizing this was for real she decided she'd better just go to sleep.  They go from looking so big in their cribs to looking so tiny again in big beds. 

Fun Times

My college friend Schyler Thomas came through town and joined us for supper.  He and I worked together my sophomore year at K-State at Hale Library.  Schyler was a freshman walk-on basketball player and we had SO much fun working together.  Always a laugh, and most likely food as well.  Schyler is someone I will always enjoy getting caught up with. 
 
He was so good playing with the kids.  Isaac had his K-State basketball outfit on HOURS before Schyler's arrival.  So a game of hoops was first on the list after we finished eating. 

 
Amelia and Caroline serenaded us from Chloe's stage.   
 
 
February 2, 2013
Royce turns 3 3 ! ! ! 
 
 
Potty training.
Yes, we are potty training the girls.  They started having interest between 16 and 17 months which was much earlier than I had planned.  We took it for what we could and saved a few diapers a week. 
But now Caroline especially wants to wear big-girl panties at home and she does fantastic at letting us know when she needs to go.  Amelia is a little further behind but that's okay.  She will go when I take her and lets us know every now and again. 
 
Here is Caroline changing her baby's diaper.  It was cute how she had everything she needed! 

 
This was Amelia a couple months ago.  So cute :)
 
Potty rocker! 
 

Friday, February 1, 2013

January in Colorado

We headed out to Colorado the first weekend in January for a little "Christmas break" trip.
It was a lot of fun visiting my dad and we are really enjoying their home north of Denver.  It is nice to see some new scenery after a while and they have a great set-up for the kids. 
 
We visited the Denver Aquarium.  Wow--they have a lot of cool stuff there!

Amelia & Caroline rode in a stroller we rented and really all it did was give them a good opportunity to have each other in arm's reach to pull hair, bite fingers, take shoes & socks off. 

Chloe loved the mermaids!
It was pretty neat seeing them swim with all the animals. 


Chloe got her face painted!
It was so pretty with pink, yellow, black, and SPARKLES!
She said her black eyebrows made her look "bossy".

Sunday we drove to Estes Park.  Only about 40 minutes from dad and what a nice drive. 
We ate lunch at the historic Stanley Hotel.  Although it is known for "The Shining" we know it a little better as the hotel and bar from Dumb and Dumber.  It was fun seeing the bar and the staircase they raced up towards the end.  Funny stuff!  A really neat building though. 

From Estes Park we drove a little further to Rocky Mountain National Park to go sledding.
So much fun!  We had all of our gear and we were ready to go. 
 
There was no abundance of snow but it was just fine for the age of our kids. 
 








Caroline and Granddad!
They were buddies for the day. 

 And last we hit the ice-skating rink in Estes Park on our way back down the mountain.




 
Super fun family trip!