Sports and rockets…

"Letters are awesome."
-Isla

We always love it when we look at the camera and find out the kids were taking pictures with it.  Amongst the pictures of air vents, the TV, and several doors, we found these pictures of Isla having fun with Mommy’s hat.

Speaking of Isla, she got in a mode this week of wanting to help pick things up around the house.  We aren’t sure why.  Our best guess is that she is trying to balance the level of destruction she’s caused, but if that’s the case she has a lot more work to do.

Ashlyn has progressed from her small one room house to a multi-story home.  It’s still a work in progress, but she’s spending a lot of time populating the rooms with all manner of miniature items.  Grandma came over to drop something off this week and was able to give Ashlyn some artistic direction, which was much appreciated.

We have started up a few winter sports.  For Ashlyn, it’s back to gymnastics and this time Isla is joining her.  On the first day of class Isla went right off with the teacher without an ounce of nervousness.  She did well enough that they are placing her in the Intermediate class.  I think she learned a lot from her big sister.  James has opted for karate.  We went to one trial class and he insisted that we sign him up right away.  Now we have to keep him from practicing on his sisters.

We also got to spend this weekend building the Saturn V Lego set.  James was a great helper and was excited to show off the finished product to everyone in the house.  If only we could find a place to put it.

A lizard and a tiny house…

"One man is equivalent to all Creation. One man is a World in miniature."
-Albert Pike

There is no buildup or story for these next pictures, it’s just some of the random things that occur around the house on a daily basis.

Ashlyn has recently become interested in creating small versions of everyday objects.  For the past week she has been working on a small room which includes a bed, dresser, lamp, a Rubik’s cube, poster, computer, backpack, pillow, blanket, and a bookshelf complete with books on various subjects including math and science.  We were impressed with the amount of things she put into the room and the detail she put into them.

For some reason, kids get excited about helping when it means getting messy.  Or wet.  Or preferably both.  It started raining heavily when Mommy got home from Costco and the kids had too much fun helping unload the car while getting rained on.  I’m ordering a sprinkler and a long hose from Amazon so we can get the kids to do laundry.

We have a lizard that lives outside in the backyard.  Nala likes to bring it inside.  We’re not sure why she does this, or why the lizard doesn’t go into another backyard that doesn’t have a cat, but it gives the kids something to do on a rainy day.

A bed and a birthday…

"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."
-Benjamin Franklin

James was overdue for a new bed.  He liked the one he had but it was an old bed we used in the guest room at the previous house and we wanted to get him something more “James”.  After a lot of searching, he finally found a bed he liked that wasn’t a fort larger than his room.  He helped put it together and was excited to discover he fit into the crawl space under the bed.  He has his very own “James Cave” now.

It was also Daddy’s birthday this week.  The kids made a banner, which was new, and we had fun eating dinner and then chowing down on homemade cakes in the shape of hearts.  There’s just something special about a kid-created birthday.

And that’s really it for this week, we did a little traveling so missed out on some pictures of the kids having fun with Nina and Papa.  Since it’s a short post this week, please enjoy this picture of Cinnamon eating a pistachio.

A birthday party and self incrimination…

"Some people call Friday Friday because you're supposed to have fries on Friday."
-James

We had so much fun over the break at Chuck E. Cheese that we were excited at the opportunity to go back for a friend’s birthday party.  We seem to be establishing a tradition of a kid hitting the jackpot on each visit, and this time it was Isla.  The proudest moment of the evening was when Ashlyn wanted to give her tickets to the birthday girl since she was younger and would have more fun with the little toys you get.  Ashlyn is growing up.

The children are not allowed to jump on the furniture.  They know they are not allowed on the furniture.  Knowing did not stop them from doing it however.  When looking through the pictures from this week we found 50 pictures like the ones below.  If they are trying to do things they are not supposed to do, they need to consider not taking photographic evidence of the crime.

Cold and rain are enough to keep most people inside.  Kids don’t seem to feel wind, cold, or rain so out they went to jump around and get soaked.  When they came back in they tried to argue that this meant they didn’t need to take baths and showers.  They lost that argument.

Happy New Year!

The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written."
-Melody Beattie

We were hoping to travel over the holiday break but unfortunately it didn’t work out.  That meant we had to find more things to do in town.  When asked, the kids had only one place they wanted to go.  James once again hit the jackpot and the game spit out enough tickets to get some Fantastic Prizes™.   At least it was entertaining for everyone.

Ashlyn was able to go to a friend’s birthday party held at a local horse riding place.  She was nervous about riding horses when she left but came back wanting a black horse like the one she rode.  She’s been into horses in a big way ever since, but she’ll have to settle for owning a hamster for now.

A cold front hit this week with temperatures dropping below 20 degrees.  That didn’t stop James and Ashlyn from running outside in their pajamas to jump on the trampoline.  Apparently they thought the ice flying in the air was worth the freezing toes.  Eventually we put them in warmer clothes and let them play without the risk of frost bite.  When they were done they came inside for some hot cocoa as a reward.

New Year’s Eve finally arrived.  We wanted a way to celebrate with the kids even though they are still too young to stay up until midnight. We let them stay up a little later so we could live stream the countdown from Rio de Janeiro and toast the new year with sparkling cider.  I can’t think of many better ways to usher in the new year than being surrounded by this crazy bunch of kids.

Happy New Year, 2018 promises to be an interesting year!