This boy

This boy:
Turned 7 yesterday
Loves smoothies and Lasagna
Doesn't like chocolate
Is obsessed with Star Wars and Legos
Prays every night that he can be a good big brother
Made me a mom
Has a very tender heart
Wants to be good
Is learning to read
Is great at math
Loves to slide around on his knees so he is always getting holes in his pants
Looks like his daddy
Loves school
Has an incredible imagination
Has his mother's heart

Winter Reprieve

Last week we escaped the snow and headed down to sunny AZ to send some time with Grandpa and Grandma O. Uncle Jared and one of his roommates were there with us too for part of the time. We had a wonderful time and tried to be outside as much as possible.

We had a tea party with Grandma. We drank a whole pitcher full of Raspberry Lemonade. It doesn't seem like you are drinking that much when you drink out of a tiny cup.


We were there for Grandma's birthday! Ella loves to cook and bake (Martha Stewart is her hero). Grandma let her help in the kitchen everyday. She loved making cupcakes for Grandma's birthday.

Here is Little Miss Martha wearing Grandma's teapot apron.


The yummy blueberry coffee cake made with the help of our little chef.


In addition to our culinary activities we went on several walks around the neighborhood. By calling them exploring adventures we were able to coax Gordon and Ella to join us (and get them out of the house so Jace could get his nap.) Ella even made up an exploring song which we sang over and over.

We made a few trips to the park, including having a picnic lunch one day. The kids were so excited about the pigeons and seagulls hanging around that it was hard to get them to eat. Throwing rocks in the lake was another favorite activity. We had to pull Jace away kicking and screaming.



Other highlights of the week:
- a pedicure for me and grandma
- swimming in the hot tub with Uncle Jared
- Jace playing with cars and having Grandpa and Grandma help him look for a particular car.
- a girls outing to the movies (Ella's 1st time going with us)
- Star Wars
- making cards
- riding in the bumper cars

Jace loves hats

It is funny to observe how your children influence each other. Ella spends as much time if not more playing Star Wars and Transformers as she does playing with dolls and doing other girl things. Playing dress up is the exception. She does that everyday no matter what else she is playing and it seems that has rubbed off on Jace. He is especially into trying on hats. I can't really say wearing hats because he never leaves them on for very long, but he loves to put them on and take them off over and over again. He also loves Ella's play high heels. I think that is because the plastic makes so much noise on our wood floors.

Ice

I had to take some pictures of the ice coming off of our roof. We always have ice, but I don't remember it getting so big and so close to the ground, usually it breaks off sooner.


Isn't nature beautiful?




And this is my picture of the sky. I just went into town to pick Ella up from preschool and there was so much smog and yuckiness in the air. I am so grateful to live in a place where the sky looks like this instead.

Days 24-25

Ok, this is it. I'm done boring you with my little book. It was hard for me to finish the book after Christmas was over, but I am glad that I did. I think that we will enjoy looking back and remembering the little details of Christmas 2008 and what made it unique. Thanks for looking!


Back of page 23


Pics of Christmas Eve, it was lovely.






Christmas Day! It finally came and it was wonderful.

Days 21-23

This is their favorite part about helping me bake.


Treats for the neighbors


Delivering the treats



Hitting the road for Arizona

Days 19-20

back of day 18


We had our own little Christmas party one night. We ate fun treats, watched Christmas movies, read Christmas books and even played some Christmas games. The kids loved it. It was just a laid-back Friday night but the kids loved it so much I think we might make it a tradition. A little party just for us.


Jace telling me what to do.


I made little treat bags full of M&M's for my sunday school class. This is the message I attached. I got this idea from Stacy Jullian's Blog.