Sunday, February 22, 2015

Our Family in 2015: Week of 2/16-2/22

My creative kiddos decided to try and build their own pond in the front yard.

I mean, it looked awesome, but I was pretty sure the woman who owns our home didn't want a pond.



So after playing in it a bit, they went ahead and put the yard back together.

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We went grocery shopping.  And the good bakery people at Smith's must just feel for moms, because they always leave a box of treats out for a sample.

It gets us through shopping.


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While the big kids were in school, we went out for a burger on Mike's day off, to a place Mike has been dying to go to ever since his Aviation Inn days: Farmer Boys.

Mike liked it, I thought it was okay.


And Josh and Sam are always happy if French fries are around.

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Adam had a great basketball game.



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Grace's class performed the Chinese dragon dance for the Chinese New Year.  It was darling!



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Adam got to play a "bonus" basketball game, against another charter school.  He scored 8 points and did great!


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The kids were doing such an amazing job at our new chore system, that I bought a coconut cake at Sam's Club that we've always wanted to try for a fun surprise.


Adam told me that he had no idea I was even capable of buying a decadent store-bought dessert.

Four days later that huge cake was finally gone.

I think we will go with bowling for our next spontaneous reward.  ;)

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Our Family in 2015: Week of 2/9-2/15

Our week started at the dentist.

Adam got two brand spankin' new teeth!

They are partial crowns, and the dentist promises they will hold up well!


Grace got her oral wart removed.  She insisted on going right back to school (to show off her injury, of course).  She enjoyed her prescribed diet of soft, cold foods: yogurt, pudding, and ice cream


***

We continued Grace's science project by making a "control batch" of our normal chocolate chip cookies.


And even though we were pretty tired of cookies, I went ahead and went crazy and baked/decorated a bunch for Valentine's class parties.
 

And for just one second I was "that mom."

You know, the awesome one who makes the homemade sugar cookies with homemade frosting and the perfect amount of sprinkles.

***

Josh, Adam and Grace wrote out their Valentine's.  Josh made Ninja Turtle ones, Adam did Fun Dip, and Grace made homemade Valentine's of an adorable cat with a Kit-Kat attached.


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We went to Sunset Park as a family (at night-again!).  We need to hit this awesome park during the day sometime.




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Adam and Grace both received "Owl of the Month" in "Creativity."



For two kids who disagree 99% of the time, it cracked me up they both got the Owl award for the same virtue.

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All of the kids enjoyed their Valentine's parties sooo much!  Adam was a little disappointed that the middle school parties aren't as fun, but they all had a great time!

Josh made this adorable Valentine box at pre-school.

As long as there are parties in kindergarten, I think he may be okay going.


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On Valentine's Day we had our traditional dinner together.

They each got a small box of chocolates, a Valentine book, and a "love" Mad Libs book to share.


I tried the candles again, hoping to have a fancy dinner.

But my little pyromaniac boys may need to mature a bit first before we try that again.

;)

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Our Family in 2015: Week of 2/2-2/8

This week we began Grace's science project by baking batch after batch of cookies.

We were trying to determine how to make them stay "puffy" and not go flat.


By the end, we were all pretty sick of cookies.

Except for this guy.


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Sam discovered the fun that is stealing siblings' food.

Luckily, he's too cute that they can't be too mad at him.






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Adam got to go on a fun field trip to the toy store.

I guess the owner has been featured on Pawn Stars (?), and he has a lot of cool antique toys that he showed them.



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Adam had another basketball game this week.


He did great!


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On Friday, Ethan, Cameo, and Kaylee came up to visit!


Unfortunately, the stomach bug came to visit us, too.


We missed out on a father/daughter dance, a dinner, and visiting with Ethan and family... and stayed in bed sick instead.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Our Family in 2015: Week of 1/26-2/1

This week, Adam had basketball practices and a basketball game.


He is #25.


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I got to take my first classic baby "falling asleep in the high chair" picture of Sam.


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Sam discovered the wonders of the sandbox...


... as well as bubble baths when you are all done playing to remove all of the sand.