Sleep tight

One of my most favorite things about my kids is that they BOTH go to sleep at 6:00 on the nose. And they drop fast and hard. None of this rolling around, singing songs to themselves, hollering for Mommy business. Sound sleep. And they sleep on and on until 7:00 in the morning (unless Patrick is scheduled- and yes i have to schedule that these days- to wake up with them, then they get up at 6:30...hehehe).

I LOVE THESE SLEEPING KIDDIES!!!

Chocolate chip cookie Sunday...

...that's what I call any Sunday when Patrick has to head into work after church. Afton and I mixed, rolled and baked cookies while we talked about Heavenly Father's "recipe" for us.

We also love to take strolls around our neighborhood on Sundays. Thankfully we have had a little relief from the crazy cold for a couple days and have been stocking up on outside time all weekend.



It was a really fun and quick Sunday afternoon/evening. And chocolate chip cookies for dinner is my favorite way to start a new week.

Indoor fun

Are your kids itching for some serious physical play time like mine are? Today I set up a few obstacle courses for the kids. Afton and Abel were instantly happier. Who knew skipping down the hallway, jumping off a stool and doing jumping jacks would be the highlight of the day. I'm already scheming on tomorrow's course...

Making the most of the cold

As I work up acceptance of real winter (Richmond gave me a nice two year break from real winter), I'm digging up new ways to have fun with the snowy cold. Last week Afton and I did a winter segment for preschool. It was fun to talk about bigger concepts like condensation, and how igloos work.

Afton loved the snowman craft, made by licking and sticking marshmallows.

Coloring the snow was also a bit hit.

(spelling her name)

As a side note, Afton is doing really well with math. I always felt math was a bit beyond my grasp, and I don't want Afton to have the same experience so I am constantly finding fun ways to involve math in our learning and in our everyday activities.

Check this out...

Abel is so much fun these days (there was a screaming stint in December that made Abel not as much fun, but he's back). Lately, he says "check this out" when he wants one of us to look at him. This was he new move last week...

Yesterday at church, Abel got really excited when the first speaker was done. He jumped up and said "Let's go nurfery (spelling intended)!!" I told him there was still one more talk and he let out a big "Awwwww" in disappointment. I asked him if her wanted to take a nap for a bit and he said "Okay." In went the binky, down went his head and 90 minutes of naptime began.

Abe loves having his picture taken and loves to stage photo shoots as well. This is a shot of him in the bath with his glasses on.

signs of a good day

Yesterday was not my day. Actually, my day was pretty good up until 4:00 and then the winds of change blew in. My yeast failed to rise the bread dough. I spent 20 minutes chopping fresh veggies for my potato soup, only to discover I was missing 2 main ingredients for the soup- butter and milk, neither of which has a good substitute (because powdered milk is only acceptable in baked items in my little opinion). So dinner was out the door.

Then I got the energy to repaint a wall that needed a more durable finish. I painted it, touched up part of the dining room and started painting the last wall in my kitchen. When I was down to less than one foot left to paint, I peeked over at the touch up spot and realized the color wasn't drying to match the original. I ran to the closet where my paint cans are stashed and sure enough, I guessed the wrong color when I bought the newer finish. Crap, crap, crap.

I knew today was going to be glorious when I found these for 12.00 at Target. Nothing can ruin my day when my feet are happily wrapped in these pretty things! I love 'em so much that I don't mind if you go and buy yourself a pair. You deserve a happy day too!

flashback

Last January...

Patrick invented this "sled"

Afton loved playing in the snow just as much as this January

Abel was just learning to walk

Two years ago...

Afton put together this awesome outfit

And I was running out of outfits

Three years ago...

Afton liked tights

And four years ago...

Afton was just learning to stand up

And our toy collection all fit into one photo

Daddy Time

Patrick's partner is out of town, which means his schedule is much lighter than usual. After a 2 week Christmas break and all this down time, we are almost used to having Daddy home! Afton and Abel especially love taking turns playing Guitar Hero with Daddy, or playing alongside him like Afton does in the photo below.

Afton Update

My social butterfly, Afton, fianlly joined up with the Joy School co-op in our ward. I am feeling really comfortable with our unpredictable lifestyle these days, and Afton was craving a lot more friend time. She loves going to her "friends preschool" and especially loves the paper "gunny bag" monster who comes out to eat up the toys that the kids didn't pick up.

I haven't released her from the Mommy taught preschool though. I want to keep her learning at home focused on spelling, reading and writing (all of which she is doing well at...in fact at church today she spelled words to keep herself busy). I have to bribe her to read most of the time still, she get one sticker for a short book and 2 for a long book. When one row is filled up she gets to pick a treat or trinket from a special basket I have and when the whole chart is filled, she gets to choose a new book.

Here is a poem we wrote last week for "all about me" week.

And a bracelet Afton made spelling her name.

Little Movies

new hair cuts

Afton and Abel have been in need of hair cuts for a couple months. As soon as Afton mentioned wanting to cut her hair short, I loaded the kids up and drove to the salon before she could change her mind. I'm so glad she has short hair again (and so is she, she loves to spin and have her hair spin around her face) no tangles from food, easy to do and much less time spent rinsing in the tub. I loved Abe's longish baby hair, but also love his bog boy hair too. He still gets the same amount of food stuck in it though!

look who is finally sitting still AND smiling for photos! Abe is donning his Child of God hat from nursery.

and he wanted to take a picture of his smoothie

Afton's being silly for her hair cut shot.

and Abel wanted his picture taken again...silly this time too

what we did for christmas

I'm finally feeling like blogging again. Here is a little look back at our Christmas:

The stars of our first nativity

Afton showing off her cabbage patch kid

Abel loving his new fire truck

A nice picture with cousins before demo of the gingerbread house began

Abel getting in on the gingerbread action too.