Science Fair

Kaylie and Rylie got to participate in the 3rd grade science fair this year.  It was hard for them to decide what they wanted to do for their projects.  They checked books out from the school library and we looked through them but nothing really caught their eye.  We got on the internet and looked around for a while to find something they would be interested in.  Rylie really wanted to do something with dry ice but everything that involved dry ice that she was interested in was way above our level.  (Complicated science projects really aren't my thing.)  We finally decided on "floating water" and "swimming raisins"  It was fun yet simple and something they really liked learning about. 

Our Kitchen Remodel

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So we've been in our house for just over 6 years.  I've hated the ugly linoleum since we moved in but Rich told me that he wouldn't replace something that was perfectly fine.  Well it was ok when we first moved in but my peeve with linoleum is that you get dirt in the grooves and it is next to impossible to get it out without some great dedication and I just wasn't willing to do that.  Over the years with having little kids the flooring got nicked up from stools being dragged across the floor, things getting dropped and gouging the floor.  I've told him for years that I wanted either tile or hardwood.  Well....he came home from work a couple of weeks ago and told me  he'd made a visit to Home Depot and priced tile.  He knew the tile I liked and said it would be almost $5 a square foot but he priced out pergo that was on sale and said it would be .85 cents a square foot.  Of course I would prefer anything over the linoleum that I had.  I figured I'd better take him up on his offer while it was still fresh on the table.  We loaded the kids in the van and off we went to home depot.  Needless to say our project cost us twice what we planned.  We figured that as long as we were doing the flooring we might as well paint the kitchen.  So wala...here are photos of our kitchen.  It was fun to involve the kids.  Wyatt had to drag out his little tool belt and tools to help his daddy until he realized dads tools were cooler.  I've yet to take a final picture though.  I'm still waiting for Rich to add the final touches but thought I'd get something up for you to see.

Rich's 25 Birthday-Yeah Right!!

Ok.  So I know I have been terrible at keeping up on our blog lately.  I've been putting so many extra hours at work lately that when I'm not working I want to be as far away from my computer as possible.  But...I hate to get so far behind that I can't remember what happened and the cute little things the kids do and say. Sooooo...January 25 was Rich's 35 birthday, and to explain the title...I took Rich to Texas Roadhouse for his birthday dinner.  We secretly told our waitress that we were there celebrating his birthday so when they came to sing to him she asked him how old he was.  He told her 25 and she actually believed him.  Uh huh....add 10 years.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera and the only picture I have of him that night is on my phone and it didn't turn out very good.  But we did celebrate with the kiddos as well and I do have pics of that.  

 Rylie writing on the window

 Wyatt taking a turn writing on the window

While I was at the grocery store I found these really cool markers that write on glass.  The window looked waay cool and I think it made Rich happy to come home and see the window.

We got him some gators-if you're an avid outdoorsman like Rich you'll know what these are.  Some good socks to wear when he goes hiking and a gift card to Sportsmans Warehouse.  The best part of his birthday was just spending time together as a family.  Happy 25th Birthday!! 

December in Review

Wow!!  I did not realize that I was so far behind in blogging my pictures till I just downloaded them off of my card and realized that I had taken pictures I had forgotten about.  So...here it goes.

Here's a couple of pictures of Wyatt...Let me tell you a funny story.  I was going through a box of clothes that Mindy had given me.  Wyatt came across these Spiderman pants and totally fell in love with them.  He wore them for 3 days straight.  (For 24 hours at a time.  Lucky for us we had no where to go in those 3 days)  Now this is coming from a kid that was in a stage that hated to wear pants.  You would always find Wyatt pantless.  He wore these pants to bed over his pajamas, would get up in the morning, I would bathe him and he would put them back on.  By the end of the third day I had to hide them from him just so I could wash them.  What a kid!!

Last Spring McKenzie started taking piano lessons.  She loves them and is doing so well and learning so fast.  Her piano teacher tells me she is a natural. These are photos of her Christmas Recital.  She had to do a duet with another boy.  They both did very well.  Too bad I don't know how to download video from my camera I would post that as well.  

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Christmas this year was so much fun, and the best thing about it was being together as a family and enjoying each others company.  We spent our annual Christmas Eve at with Grandma and Grandpa Godfrey and all the aunts, uncles and cousins.  A delicious meal was enjoyed by all.  Our tradition was changed a little this year.  We usually put on a play of the birth of Jesus.  But...this year after our Thanksgiving dinner grandma challenged the kids with a new tradition. Grandma read a story about giving service to others.  Each family was given a bucket of warm fuzzies and a challenge.  We were challenged to do kind acts of "secret" service and each time we did a service a warm fuzzy was then deposited into our bucket.  I think we filled the bucked 2 1/2 times.  It was great.  It made the kids more aware of things that needed to be done and they just got done. This is something that my kids really enjoyed doing, and a tradition that I will carry on from now on.  On Christmas eve grandma then gave the kids a "reward" for doing kind acts of service.  We were given a monthly thought in a Family Home Evening binder that she created so that each month we could focus on different acts of kindness.  What a way to carry on the Christmas spirit.

Christmas morning was filled with lots of presents and fun.  I was sad to realize that I did not take one single picture of the gifts that Santa brought.  McKenzie got a karaoke machine, Kaylie and Rylie got bikes and Wyatt got a Buzz doll from the movie Toy Story.  They got lots of clothes, new Sunday dresses, games and all kinds of fun things.  We spent a good portion of the morning putting together toys and inserting batteries in toys.  Played a few games on the Wii and cleaned up wrapping paper, bows and boxes.  We then headed back to Grandma and Grandpa Godfreys.  The kids opened more presents...the girls got smelly perfumes, lotions and body sprays and a few games.  Wyatt got his Woody to go along with Buzz.  Then we headed over to Grandpa Connellys for lunch and yet more presents.  The girls got snow suits and tubes and Wyatt got a big nerf gun which he loves.  We spent more time visiting with family and was home by around 3.  Plenty of time to play with toys and wind down from the excitement of the day.  All in all is was a pretty great day!  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

We are so blessed to have an awesome sledding hill not more than a block and half from our house.  Rich just throws tubes and kids in the back of the truck and off they go.  They were determined that they were going sledding the other day even though we were experiencing frigid below freezing temperatures.  I was determined that I wasn't going out in the freezing cold but just could not pass up an opportunity to take pictures of my cute family.  Luckily they didn't want to stay out too long.  Of course they had to make a stop at the playground.  What cute kids I have.

Ok.  I promise this is it.  Sunday afternoon after church the kids and Rich was in the backyard for quite a long time.  When I finally looked out the window to see what they were doing this is what I found...an igloo.  Rich had a couple of candles inside lit for Wyatt to stay warm, didn't work though he kept blowing them out.  It was a great activity for the kids and Rich to spend time together though, and I have a feeling that as cold as it has been lately they'll be able to enjoy this for a while.