Sleepin Over

AP had been trying to coordinate a sleepover with her friend for months, so we finally found a time that worked for everyone and both kiddos got to have friends over :) They played sooo well together. My kiddos sure have been blessed with good friends.

For dinner Friday everyone made their own pizza.

After dinner, these two became Mr. Know-It-All and Mr. Gadget.
These 2 were fancy ladies and had a dance party. They were teaching me and Hubs the moves to the Cupid Shuffle :)

Everyone was up bright and early the next morning!
Who can sleep late when there are babies that need to be taken care of?
I loved that they were all touching toes while eating breakfast :)Fun times indeed. AP is already trying to coordinate her next sleepover!

100 Year Old AP

Last Friday the kiddos' school celebrated the 100th day of school. Sadly, C's grade must be too grown up to celebrate :( Last year, C made a shirt with 100 things on it.

This year AP's class dressed up as if they were 100 years old. AP had been looking forward to the day for weeks! We put powder in her hair to make it look gray.

And borrowed glasses from a friendMy favorite part was the baggy nude panty hose with her sandals!

The Sport that We Are Figuring Out As We Go!

So, C started karate the first week in January. He decided to take a break from baseball as he has played every fall and every spring since he was 5. He has been interested in karate for a while now. But, I must say that he has been twice a week now for 3 weeks and we still can't figure out exactly what we are supposed to be doing! I know C feels the same way. All of the commands that they yell out are in Japanese and their method of learning is that you just jump in, watch, and hope you figure it out. So far, C still says that he really likes it, but I know it is confusing for him! There was also confusion about which class he belongs in, I think we finally figured that one out after trying 3 different classes.

Last week he "earned" his white belt. I use the term "earn" loosely because the criteria for receiving your white belt was : 1) Obey your parents the first time they ask you to do something for an entire day 2) Clean your entire room, including under your bed 3) Try a new vegetable. #1 took us a few tries :) And #3 was actually more challenging that we thought it would be because C loves vegetables and has pretty much tried and liked every vegetable that he has ever been offered. Somehow he had never tried turnip greens, probably because I don't like them and so have never cooked them. He tried them at Cracker Barrel and LOVED them. So much so that he asked if he could drink the turnip green juice out of the bowl! Yuk! He said it tasted like "steak and asparagus".

Here is C waiting for the belt ceremony. (All of these pics are with my phone because I wasn't sure if you were allowed to take pictures. There seems to be all sorts of secret rules in this sport and I'm constantly afraid I'm going to break one that I don't know about!)

He is getting his new belt tied.

He is super proud of his belt, but you will never see him wearing it outside of the dojo (that's the word for gym). That's another one of those secret rules I didn't know about! Never wear the belt outside the dojo. It's a sign of humility.


Last Wednesday was family night. Thankfully, Daddy got home from a business trip about 30 minutes before it was time for karate, so he got to go be the participating parent! I think he got a workout!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

One night this week, AP reappeared after being quiet for a few minutes (which is never a good thing!) and was dressed up in my clothes. She has on my sweater, necklace, shoes, purse, and bra (she even stuffed it!). Yes, she keeps us entertained :)

I sure do love that precious girl.

A Playdate for the Pups

Last week we had a few really great weather for January days. We seized the opportunity and ventured to the dog park for the first time. Our good friends got a Schichon puppy for Christmas (that's the same breed as our Sammi), so we met up with our friends for a puppy playdate!

At first the dogs weren't so sure.

Then Sammi really got into it! He ran and ran and ran with big dogs. He was fastest, too!Biscuit is still too little to get in on the big dog play time.

But he can rock an agility ramp!Of course, our cute kiddos were there, too :) The kids begged to go back again the next day so we went again!

2011 Review in Pictures

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

NovemberDecember

If you made it through all those pictures, then you can see that we had a wonderfully blessed 2011!!