Filling Our Time

Christmas Break = Lots of free time. We have had lots of time to play creatively. And in the process, we've made lots of messes. ;)

Pirates/Princesses experience Santa on Christmas morning. (They "fell asleep" in the tent and woke up to surprises from Santa. They kept yelling "Santa came to our house!")

They also made a "water machine." And I'm sure it did a really good job at doing whatever it was supposed to do.

And we went ice skating! Not sure why I thought that was a good idea. ;) Lainey had a blast thanks to this fancy contraption for beginners (an "11" on a scale of 1-10). Walker gave the experience a "2" but I kinda expected that. He was mostly a good sport about it, though. He just didn't like that his sister wore a bigger skate size than him (um, okay…) and he wasn't a fan of the actual skating rink. So maybe we'll take him back there when he's about 10 or so. ;)

And a short video of crazy Lainey doing a cartwheel in her ice skates!

Christmas 2013

I hope that everyone had a blessed and joyous holiday! We certainly did! :) 

"I need some more." (Queso and chips, that is.)

Kate, Brooke, Lainey

Taco faces. And yes, this boy needs a haircut in a BAD way but since that is still such a painful experience for all involved, I avoid doing it. I just am never in the mood to face that particular challenge!

Look what Santa brought! A Hot Wheels Carcade! 

And an American Girl Locker Set and Gymnastics Set.

Santa gave this "hair glitter" to Lainey in her stocking. Hindsight's 20/20. Worst gift ever. Santa, I hope you learned your lesson. That stuff gets everywhere.

Both kids really enjoyed Christmas this year. Especially Lainey. She loved seeing our Elf every day, she loved opening the doors on both Advent calendars, she loved setting up her own nativity scene, she loved the Christmas books…she was into all of it. She loved all things Christmas. Being five years old is a wonderful, magical thing. :) 

Saige!

Tuck working on Walker's train..it blows real smoke! And it sorta smells like burning rubber. So we don't let it blow its "real smoke" too often.

Lainey is always on top of a piece of furniture. Always.

The cousins at Bud and Yiyia's on Christmas morning (after celebrating with Emmy and Tuck at our house). 

Silly picture. :)

AND, this will be the gift that keeps on giving throughout the year. It's an awesome microphone set. Lainey keeps on singing and playing her guitar and making up songs and let me assure you, the songs are all meaningful and beautiful. She sang one yesterday to me about how wonderful God is, and one was about how Walker got "three or four turns" while Lainey only got "two or three turns." I'm glad to know that she's using her singing to express her feelings. ;)

*****

I think this might have been our best Christmas yet.

Merry Christmas, Friends!

Christmas Fun

On Friday, Lainey's school had their annual "Snow Ball." SO cute! Complete with a DJ and photo props and fake tattoos. In lieu of having parties in their classrooms, each grade gathers in the cafeteria for the Snow Ball. It is a fabulous idea. No mess, no fuss, all fun! And they get to be silly!

a shot of the kids dancing

Lainey as an elf

Chloe (friend and classmate) and Lainey

Someone didn't think it was all that fun. It was "too loud." So he literally did this the whole time. The WHOLE time. 35 minutes, friends. 35 minutes. Of this. :) 

*****

On Sunday, we gathered in Fort Worth to spend the evening with my cousins, their spouses, their kids, my parents, and my aunt and uncle. Thanks to Aunt Nancy and Uncle Dan for hosting a fabulous meal. I love that we were able to be together for a few hours! 

Lucie Goose was done. So Kate (her mom, my cousin) held her, Lainey was happy, Walker was pouty, and Tom was disinterested. To be fair, Kate is pregnant with baby Eva so technically, five second cousins were in the picture. :)

Lucie, Kate & Eva (in the belly), Lainey, Walker and his green car, Tom and Green Monkey

Walker-isms

"Oh no, Mommy. Look. There's trouble." I should say so. The garbage truck is overturned and the Duplo blocks are mingling with the food that spilled out of the shopping carts. Not a good scenario at all. (He always creates these disastrous scenes and then announces "there's trouble.") 

Walker wanted to make a Christmas tree this morning so we did. His Christmas tree had to have "one star" and only one star, and it had to be "lellow" (yellow) not "golden" (meaning silver…he's having a hard time distinguishing between gold and silver). Anyway, bottom line: His tree had two requirements. Lots and lots of "beautiful" Christmas lights and one lello star at the top. No more stars. Just the one.

And this is his name!! The "W" looks like an "M" and the "A" is upside down, but I think I can see the other letters pretty well! :) Good work, Buddy! :)

*****

Walker also has strong opinions about what things taste/smell like. For example, orange gumdrops taste like "orange pineapple" and green gumdrops taste like "green milk with spicy lemons in it." When he smells candles, he tells me what those "taste" like, too. :)

The TRAINS!

Another year, another trip to NorthPark Mall to see the trains. :) Walker was in Heaven! Emmy went with us so that made the experience even more fun!

Typical…being silly, not focusing, acting goofy while I'm trying to take a picture. He has totally adopted this "I-don't-know-what-to-do-so-I'm-gonna-act-all-crazy-and-weird" behavior whenever he encounters adults or feels that the spotlight is on him. It's like a coping mechanism or something.  

Walker's also developed a burping habit. He burps whenever he has something to drink…especially milk. And it's funny..he feels the need to burp and then, after each little burp, says, "Eh-sue me! Eh-sue me! Eh-sue me!" He'll say "Eh-sue me" (meaning "excuse me") after each burp until he's done. At least he's using his manners. :)

An awkward smile.

Sooooo happy.

Crafty Time

Anyone else's house look like this after craft time? This is ALL LAINEY. She's a bit of a tornado. While I was documenting this, she was setting up "stations" outside for Walker. One of the stations required the child to "stand on a chair and scrape the bark of a tree with a little shovel."

She constantly moves from one thing to the next. I imagine that is how her brain functions. As I've said, she rarely watches TV anymore. She just moves. All. The. Time.

******

Funny story about Lainey: Last night, in the bathtub, I wanted Lainey to stand up so I could do a final rinse and let the bath water drain out of the tub. The bath was really full, so the tub made a funny gurgling sound when it was draining. So, because the gurgling sounded like bongo drums (think African music), Lainey decided to make up a little dance to the "music." Ha! It was funny to observe!

Walker's Christmas Sing-Along

We are SO proud of Walker for participating in his Christmas Sing-Along! He did great!

walking in to church

See? He's into it! :)

I love Kasen's face right here (he's the one looking off to the side).

Walker's face.

"The daddies in the house go snore, snore, snore. Snore, snore, snore. Snore, snore, snore. The daddies in the house go snore, snore, snore. All day long." (Hehe)

Cute Kasen. And Walker rubbing his eyes.

This was my grumpy partner while I was running errands. He was sad and whiney and his tummy was hurting and it was just "takin' too long" to get there. His tummy even said something to that effect (according to Walker). But in reality, we hadn't been driving for very long. ;)

Cute Reagan dog. :)