King of the Wild Frontier

Here is our own version of Davy Crockett! Cade has a report on him tomorrow. Unfortunately, we were made aware of it about 4pm this afternoon. Thank goodness Warren got home from work early so he could help Cade do the project. They worked on it for 4 hours! I was in charge of the wardrobe. We made the hat out of a knitted cap my grandmother made (we just added a coon tail), and the vest is a grocery bag. Crossing our fingers it will be a fantastic presentation!

Puzzle Job Chart

The kids had chores written on the back of their puzzle pieces. When they finished the jobs and put the puzzle together they got to read the clue and claim their prize!

fighting pirates

Playing "Dishwasher Dangers"

 Watch out pirate- they're coming! We are all getting really excited to see the finished illustrations for "Dishwasher Dangers." They should be finished in 2 weeks! YAY!!

Playing with Hallie and Jake

Hallie LOVES playing with Jake. Especially when it involves cars or balls. He has been such a sweet brother to her lately. Can you tell this girl adores having her picture taken?

Choir Concert

Cassidy did a great job in her choir concert this week. She's been singing in the District Honor Choir- we are so proud of her for developing her talent!

in to EVERYTHING!

She's a busy gal from sun up to sundown. She's at work. Exploring every cupboard and bookshelf. And you have to admit, she has great bed head!

hair do post

Been awhile since I posted a hair do- here is one from this week. It made for a beautiful wavy do the next day.

Job hunting...Again

Warren's company announced today they are going under. They will be paying him until they get bought by someone. Could be 1 week, could be 8. After 8 they will just close their doors. He's going back to work tomorrow to try to get as much commission as he can. If there is anyone out there who knows of a job in sales- we would LOVE the contact!! Thanks!

Pigtails!!

She finally has enough hair to do 2 pigtails! YAY! I can't get enough of this sweet smiling face!!!

Yet another trip to the ER

 This is the most expensive coloring page I've ever bought. Luke and Jake had been horsing around before bed and Jake hurt his hand. He cried himself to sleep saying it hurt. Then woke up in the middle of the night continuing to cry. We were afraid it was broken. So, I hopped into the van and drove him to the ER. Luckily there was no wait (amazing, huh?!). The doc talks to Jake, inspects him, then asks him if he likes Batman or Scooby Doo. He gets Jake a Batman coloring page, hands him a crayon in the hurt hand and Jake starts coloring like a mad man. The words of the doc, "this is better than an x-ray". Yep. We got duped by a 3 year old. But we are very grateful nothing was broken. :) I have to say though- visiting 3 different ER's in 3 weeks- I'm done!

Trying so hard to be big!

Can you tell Hallie is always watching the big kids do laundry around here? She is so into it. Putting the clothes in and out of the basket, stretching them around and repeating. She can't wait to be doing the laundry, too. :)

Evidence- Uncle Glenn was here

We had a great time with Uncle Glenn this week. When I was a little girl he used to come to our town on business all the time and he would stay with us. At the time, my parents had decided we were vegetarian- so I thought we were starving. :) But Uncle Glenn would come into town and treat us to pizza and root beer. Very exciting. We'd go to Giants games and enjoy Pier 39,  and the other fun of San Francisco.
He came to visit us in TX this week and continued on the tradition. This time he treated MY kids to pizza and root beer. It was great to catch up and spend an evening with him. Love ya, Uncle Glenn!

Candyland job chart

This week we did Candyland jobs. Each area of the house had a different color. When they landed on a color they had to do a job in that color section. And of course we had treats when they reached the candy castle. :)

Our darling's first ponytail!!

Surgery Success

Warren's surgery was a success. They got the disc fragments clean out of the nerve and his legs have feeling again and MUCH less pain- even the day of the surgery he could already tell a different. He had a little bit of trouble coming out of anesthesia. The nurse came to bring me to him and said the first try to wake him up he started acting like a wild man. Curious as to what "acting like a wild man" meant, I asked for more details. She said he got off the operating table and started running around- yes he was still in just his hospital gown. She said she saw more than him that she wanted to. He was arguing with her that he was leaving.  She was concerned he was going to re-injure himself and had the anesthesiologist stick him with something to knock him back out. The second time he woke up, he was quite the opposite, quite snugly with her. It eased my mind that she was a grandmother, and that he was heavily sedated. :)

He's improving more every day. We're hopeful he can go back to work in a week.

Baby entertainers

 I love these boys creative ideas of keeping Hallie busy and out of trouble. This week it was sticking her in a basket and wheeling her around the house. :)

Musical chairs chores

We stuck the kids chores for the day on the bottom of our chairs, had Warren turn on the music, and went in circles till they landed on the job they needed to do. They loved it. :)

Silly models

I'm so excited about my illustrator. He is drawing the characters in our book, using my kids faces! So he needed some action shots and different facial expressions. I'm pretty sure none of these were really as serious as he was looking for- but it was the best I could get out of these two! So funny. We're hoping to be published this spring!! Look for Dishwasher Dangers at a store near you!! :)

New Years Job Chart

The kids loved this one. They each chose a section of the house. Each section had a set of balloons with chores in them. They had to pop a balloon to find out what they were going to do. Then they had to DO it before they could pop another one. (They'd already finished and popped several before I remembered to take a picture.) It was fun and they cleaned so well, it was a great start to a New Year!

Watch out! Here comes TROUBLE!

 Here was the 2nd attempt at the Christmas dress. It's a crack up watching her crawl in it.

 Sooo happy to be healthy and getting around again. We've never been so relieved to see her in such mischief.

Time to baby proof.

Happy New Year!!

We celebrated with fondue (cheese and chocolate), a layed up dad, and an early bedtime! :)