Dr. Suess's Apprentice

I have a four year old that is obsessed with glue guns, being like her older siblings, and being goofy.

 Chloe has been hard at work on her diorama for the past couple of days.  Alysee was making one about rattlesnakes for a school project and Chloe decided that she needed to make one for preschool.  She found the box at church and then came home and started cutting, hot gluing, and crafting away.  Her original creation was a bit simpler and had a drawing of Dr. Suess's grave...you know since he died.  When Alysee got home from school she started assisting Chloe and waalaa...

...the "Cat in the Hat Next to Dr. Suess's Grave" was crafted.  This morning Chloe added Thing One and Thing Two.  She has only burned herself with the hot glue gun like three times.  By the time she is five years old she should be a pro!  On the back of the diorama she taped a paper plate that one side has a happy face and one side as a sad face.  Her plan is to ask her fellow preschool mates if they think Dr. Suess is sad he died or if he is happy.  Where does she come up with these things?

Birch and I were talking about the hurried pace that is often felt in our house..."hurry and buckle-up so we're not late,"  "hurry and get your shoes on," "hurry and brush your teeth," "hurry and get in bed," etc...This girl helps us slow down every once in a while and reminds us what is really important...F.A.M.I.L.Y!

I am often put in my place by this young lady. Yesterday Chloe and I were running some errands and she asked if I would take her home so she could get some of her own money and then she wanted me to take her to The Dollar Store.

I told her, "No, that wasn't in the plan for the day."

Chloe replied, "You'd be the BEST MOM EVER if you took me."

"I already am," I replied.

Chloe responded with much gusto, "No, Jane's mom [Aunt Julia] is the BEST MOM EVER."

Good thing I think Aunt Julia is pretty awesome too!

The Princesses and their Prince

The high school put on their annual fundraiser Daddy Daughter Dance.  This night had been looked forward to for months.

 Lucky for our ladies, Chelsy Wilson came again this year and worked her magic on Alysee and Chloe's hair.

 I made corsages and hair accessories for each of the princesses and the prince.

 This year the dance was a Masquerade Ball; the girls had so much fun decorating their masks.

 Alysee polled many of her cousins for ideas on how she should do her hair.  She was delighted with how it turned out.

 

 Chloe's hair turned out amazing too!

This girl was SO excited and loved getting a new dress for the ball. Chloe got some make-up for Christmas but was banned from using it not long after because she felt that she needed to put it on EVERY time we left the house.  Birch and I decided that wasn't a good habit to get into when you are four years old so the make-up and been tucked away for special occasional ONLY.  And boy was this a special occasion!!!

Alysee loved spending the time with her daddy and having a reason to get all dressed up and fancy.

This year was extra special because Abbey Cox joined the Ditto Princesses for a night out.  The girls chose to dine at Dairy Queen.

The Dance was a blast and the girls all loved the games, prizes, ice cream, and dancing until their legs were going to fall off.  The three lovely ladies were in Girl Heaven!

And a not very good copy of the professional picture taken that lovely night...

ZOOM!!!

This year's Pinewood Derby was an extra big deal at our house.  The reason being that an open division was added so Alex, Coop, and Chloe all made cars to compete in the competition.

 Nate's car is on the right -- it was a really sweet car and had some intense races.
 
 Nate is all about keeping his emotions at bay.  He can be hard to read unless you know him well.

Opps...a little emotion crept out.

Nate came home with second place.  It was actually a totally intense end of the competition with being tied for first place and then having two tie breaking runs. 

Nate also received his wolf badge and one gold arrow point and FIVE silver arrow points.  Nate's pinning the mother's pin on my scout necklace in this picture.

Coop on the other hand is very easy to read.  Coop had ate, slept, and worked MANY hours on his car.  He has watched so many other races that it meant a lot to him to be able to compete.  Alex helped Coop hand carve and do the final touches to Coop's car. 

Coop's car is the sweet orange speedster.

Alex had a great time putting his car together too -- it was fun to have him be able to be totally independent in putting his car together by himself.

Chloe was an awesome cheerleader -- and let me tell you we had HOURS to cheer-lead.  The derby started at 7 pm and we didn't get home until 11 pm.  Chloe's car was kind of a quick last minute thing but she had a great time putting it together!

 

An Arm and a Leg

Skiing is the only sport where you spend an arm and a leg to break an arm and a leg.  ~Author Unknown

Luckily for us we found out about a great deal so this year's skiing adventure only cost us a finger and toe.  We bought tickets to the Warren Miller ski movie for $17/piece and then got a free ski lift ticket in return for each movie ticket bought. And to top it off we were able to borrow all our ski gear from kind friends.

Birch, Tyler and Alex enjoyed a day skiing a few weeks ago.  Both boys have been a couple of times in the past and just LOVE the sport.

 

 It was a COLD day but it didn't slow them down from having fun.

Next trip up was Birch, Nate, Coop, and Alysee.  You can imagine the rage from Chloe that she was not included on this excursion.  The two of us ended up having a great day together (visiting friends, going out to the frozen yogurt shop, library, and preschool).  This was Coop and Alysee's first time skiing and Nate's second time.

 Coop LOVED the magic carpet and spent the day on it.  Although not pictured, one of Birch's co-workers and good friend, went up with him for the day and helped coach the kids.  Coop was quite vocal about telling Birch that he liked "Eric a lot better than him."  Without Eric the day wouldn't have gone as smooth and the kids certainly wouldn't have had as much help or fun.

 About half way through the day Nate and Alysee were ready for the lift.

 Alysee and Nate really had a GREAT day!

 

 Coop was at peace on the magic carpet and practicing his "pizza" all day.

 Though a little unsure looking, Coop had a great day and would love to take another "mental health day" and skip school for another day on the mountains.

Wish you were there.... Click here: http://youtu.be/dDtFILv9TMk

Yeah Baby!!!

This kid did not get his ball moves from his mommy.  I have a feeling he could be his father's child, though.

 This year Alex had Tyler's name for Christmas and for his gift of service he is keeping track of all of Tyler's stats.  There is never a dull moment at Tyler's games.  This kid ROCKS it!!

 

Tyler counts down the days until practices and games!!  So fun having friends on the same team too!

I was gonna...

share how these two little fish have changed our lives this past month.  (One goldfish is Nate's that he is caring for it to earn his cub scout wolf elective pet patch.)

I was gonna tell you that Chloe earned the other fish after five nights of staying in bed...it was like a dream; she truly showed us that evenings can be bliss.

I was gonna tell you that Chloe now goes to bed without a fuss...no crying, no coming out of her room, no fights with her sister.

I was gonna tell you that she has been working on an additional fish, needing an additional ten days of staying in bed quietly and that it has now been over twenty days and she still can't seem to get it.

I was gonna tell you how clever mommy thought she was with forming a new habit for Chloe...5 days reward; 10 days reward; 20 days reward...a new habit has blossomed and we enter bliss.

I was gonna tell you that Chloe looks like an angel after she finally does fall asleep...but by then mommy and daddy think she looks more like the devil.

I was gonna tell you that mommy has threatened to flush the fishy down the toilet with all the poopies if Chloe does not stay in bed and go to sleep but mommy feels a little bad saying that so she keeps it at..."the fishy will have to go live at a new home if you come out again."

I was gonna tell you how four boys go to sleep every night in the same room normally without a hiccup; upstairs the battle goes on with sleep charts, whinning, sending zu zu pets down the hallway with notes to parents, spankings, time outs outside, massages, songs, lavender oil being rubbed on the feet to relax...obviously we created the monster.

I was gonna tell you how a .25 cent fish changed our lives...but I can't...and it makes me so sad when we thought we had finally found the perfect cure.

So darn cute during the day...

Winter Break Fun!!!

The kids had the first week of January off from school so we filled each day with sleeping in, fun outings, friends, and movies.  One day we took the kids bowling -- a big thanks to Uncle Luke who treated the family to this adventure for Christmas.  Another day we went to the Dollar Store and everyone picked out a treat and then we watched "The Rescuers."  New Year's Eve we went to Olive Garden for the first time as a whole family...again a treat from a friend who we had just done a photoshoot for.  

Our last activity we called "Eat What You Want Day."  We used to do this occasionally as a family growing up and my kids love it just as much as I did.  We give everyone $2.00 and then head to the grocery store to buy whatever you want with your money for dinner.  Some of the kids combined their money.  Dinner was a real treat of...Teriyaki Pork Chops and Rice-a-roni (Birch and Sara), Little Smokies and a Cliff Bar (Alex and Nate), Cookie Crisp (Coop), Pizza Rolls (Tyler), Blueberry Eggos (Alysee), Gogurts (Chloe), and a free coupon for the 7-up.  Is it scary to know that we had just about the all that food at one setting?

It was a terrific break and no one was ready to go back to waking up before the sun is up!