Catching Up

As you can see I'm catching up on my posts. I considered skipping them all together but realized I really want them in my "online diary". I hope to one day print out my blog and have it for a keepsake. If anyone has done this I'd love to hear from you and all the hows, whens & whys.

Every year we decorate our Christmas tree together. It's something the kids look forward too. They each have their own special ornaments they have been given throughout the years. It's fun to unwrap the memories along with the ornaments.

Here is Bugs helping me warm up my camera.

His grin never fails to make me smile.

We spread out some toys to occupy Princess.

But once she saw Mommy unpacking the ornaments on the couch she wanted in on it.

Doesn't she have that innocent, "Who me?" look?

Caught in the act.

Boo shows off one of the ornaments Grandpa M. made her. Beautiful!

My job is to pass out the ornaments. Dave's is to help the children. The children's is to hang the ornaments & not to rush Mommy. =)

We hung the stockings too. Dave's is not pictured here as he put it in a different storage place last year. He did find it the next day thank goodness. These stockings were all hand knit by my Nana. I absolutely love them. She made them special for each one of us.

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

Last month I celebrated my birthday. I absolutely LOVE celebrating with my little family. They make every birthday so special. And no, I'm not telling you how old I am. =)

Here I am with all my little chicks.

My best friend, Megan made this gorgeous bracelet for me.

The girls chipped in together & bought me this beautiful box.

The funny thing is I picked it out at a yard sale this fall & convinced them to buy it for my birthday. Then they hid it away & I completely forgot about it. Because of this I was truly surprised when I unwrapped it. Lol!

I got these from my in-laws. I LOVE them! The baskets have magnets on them and stick nicely to the frig. The notepad, post-its & pens make it a perfect station for reminders & grocery lists. Thank you, Moms & Pops!

Me pretending to be surprised when I "unwrapped" my present.

Mommy & Princess

She had a ball playing in the wrapping paper.

My new music machine.

Now if I could only figure out how to get it to work.

Dave made me a birthday cake from scratch. It was delicious!

Happy Birthday, to Me!

A kiss from my Honey.

Awaiting cake

Selecting the perfect piece.

He loves birthdays!

This came from my Mom.

She bought me these too. They are now one of my favorites!
Thank you, Mom!

Promises

The other day we had a terrible storm. The thunder shook the house, lightening scared us all & the rain poured down. Nearby there was hail, damaging winds and even tornado warnings. After it was finished Sweet Pea looked outside and saw this beautiful rainbow. I'm glad she got pics of it! Isn't it gorgeous?

Cozy Nests

The boys needed to get outside and run off some energy so I asked Sweet Pea to take them out. It wasn't the nicest of days & was cold but at least it wasn't raining. She hesitantly took them out for me. Later she came in all bubbly with talk of what they had done. She raked up a bunch of the pine needles and made a nest for each of them. I guess they had a blast playing in their nests. Bugsy was a dinosaur & Elvis a Droid (He is totally into Star Wars right now.) I am pleased that they all had such a great time. And amused too that Sweet Pea went out grumbling about having to take them outside & then ended up having a blast. Hee, hee!

The Elvis Droid sleeps in his nest.

I love that he can't stop smiling.

Cozy little dinosaur.

Happy Dancing!

I am ECSTATIC! My laptop is BACK! Dave went into Best Buy tonight to shop for either a battery or a new laptop. We weren't sure if the battery would solve the problem so that was a risk taker. It could make it an easy fix or end up being a complete waste of money. While trying to decide a guy from the 'Geek Squad' offered to do a quick diagnosis. He was able to get it to power up AND saw that nothing came up as being wrong. He thinks maybe something got scrambled up and the computer wasn't recognizing the signal to turn on. I don't completely understand it as Dave & I tried over and over to get the thing to work and it was dead as a doornail. BUT I am super happy! And to boot he didn't charge Dave a penny. WAH-WHOOO! Thank you, God for answering prayer!

Bummin

I'm bumm'in. My laptop went down. I was using it fine Saturday night & then on Sunday it wouldn't even turn on. Wah. I feel like I've lost a dear friend. Yes, I'll say it. I love my laptop. We do have a computer downstairs but it is not fully functioning. Half the time it either shuts down on you when you're working or it won't come on at all. It won't let me download pics either. I am sad. I don't know when we will be able to get my laptop fixed or to buy a new one. We were hoping when tax money came but now I don't know. We'll see if we can work something out. In the meantime my blogging has come to a standstill. I will keep you updated. In the meantime I'm going to have a little pity party for myself.

Sweet Treat

Bug-a-Boo received this treat from his Sunday school teachers. It was a sweet Christmas present. I had him put it away for a bit and we found it the other day. I couldn't resist taking some pics of him with it before it disappeared.

What a silly billy!

Winter Picnic

Our grill has been out of propane for a couple of months. I have longed for the taste of a good piece of grilled meat. This week there was money in the budget to get the tank re-filled. I was very happy when Dave said he was going down to Lowe's today! We planned a picnic dinner to celebrate!

Boo Bear mixed up the lemonade.

Daddy had a grilling buddy tonight. Bugs was very proud of himself. It was adorable to watch him.

Some tastes of summer ~ Cucumbers & tomatoes

You have to have baked beans!

Sweet Pea fed Princess to help out.

Look what I grilled!

Celebrating our winter picnic!

We had hamburgers, hot dogs, pasta salad & chips too. YUM!

Digging in!

Some may think it's silly to celebrate getting gas for the grill. But hey we are a silly family! LOL! Truly it's fun to celebrate the little moments as well as the big. If you haven't tried it lately go ahead. I bet you'll have a blast!

This Week

We've been trying to get back into the groove of school this week. It has been a little tough as Princess & I both came down with colds and we had extra appointments & activities too. But we did accomplish some bookwork & hands on learning.



It's tough keeping Bugs entertained especially with this freezing cold weather. These finger puppets were a fun project.

He was quite happy with his handiwork.

It was a proud day for Elvis when he finished his Beyond the Code book!

His reading comprehension has really progressed.

Busy working on his next assignment. I love that he can do his work anywhere. I know he'd be terribly unhappy sitting at a desk all day.

Princess at play

The boys were super excited to receive letters from their friend W. this week!

We ended the week with a field trip to the Discovery Museum. Sweet Pea took pics of that on her camera. Hope to post them soon!

Muscles & Bones

Last weekend Daddy did a science project with the kids. They had their pick and decided on 'Muscles & Bones'.

Gathering the supplies

Drawing an example of what an x-ray looks like.

Cutting for lesson on joints

The different examples of joints. ie: ball & socket

Rolling up newspaper for ball & socket experiment

Looking on as Daddy explains how joints work.

Diagram of different muscles & bones.

Sweet Pea took these pictures as I was getting a much needed break. =0)

She & Boo Bear said they learned a lot.

Scrumptious

Why does a sandwich always taste better when someone else makes it?

Boo made this for me. Doesn't it look delicious?