Lueker Munchkins

Jackson Begins His Preschool Career

2012-02-04T21:27:00.005-05:00

As I have mentioned previously, we are planning on homeschooling when Reagan begins Kindergarten this coming Fall. One semi challenge we have faced is how to keep Jackson busy, happy, and ideally included and learning while I'm working with the girls.

We are in the process of setting up a dedicated classroom space in our basement (I'll be doing some specific posts on that soon). In that space, we have activities specifically for Jackson. Additionally, by setting up our classroom in the basement Jackson has easy access to several toy areas including our Thomas Table (Jackson is an enormous Thomas fan), the kid's kitchen and our Little People Village. I have also learned that it makes more sense to do things like practicing violin with the girls while Jackson is taking his nap. This is an activity which takes my full attention. As a result, it is a time when he is likely to become frustrated because of my lack of ability to provide him any attention for a prolonged period of time. It's been a slow process (and one I expect to continue - and continue to change) but we're slowly figuring out what are the best times of day to accomplish what.

On Friday, I let Jackson sit at the table while Reagan was working on her Math and Writing schoolwork. He had a great time working on his Melissa and Doug Door Puzzle (it's not really a puzzle, I just don't know what to call it, every door has a different mechanism to open it and discover different animals in varying colors and numbers). He has played with this before but he was intensely more interested in it sitting at the table working like a big preschool boy. :)

I have fallen in love with a book that was recently recommended to me called "The Well-Trained Mind A guide to Classical Education at Home" by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. This book was suggested to me by some vetran homeschool mothers who are part of a book club Dorothy introduced me too. If you are considering homeschooling, I highly recommend this book as a resource. It is assisting me greatly in figuring out the framework I want to use for homeschooling. I will provide further details on this in an upcoming blog post, but for now I wanted to mention it because of an acitivity it suggested and I used with Jackson Friday morning.

The book recommended drawing counter clockwise circles with young children. Many many circles in whatever type of pictures you want including simply drawing circles. This is a beginning writing skill. Many letters include a counter clockwise circle but our natural inclination is to draw circles clockwise. This is especially interesting to me because just recently Reagan, who has been writing for sometime, began trying to write her letters in a clockwise direction (something I've discovered some of her friends have been doing as well). This has led to writing many letters backwards. As such, this activity seemed especially appropriate for us and is something all three kids can do and learn from. The aim is for counter clockwise circles to feel more natural and intuitive.

When Jackson grew tired of playing with his door puzzle, I gave him a pencil and paper and started working with him on his counter clockwise circles. As you can see from the pictures below he was ready to burst with pride! He sat there and giggled and giggled and smiled and smiled. It was beyond priceless! He absolutely loved sitting at the table with his big sisters and doing his own work. He has colored and done other activities while I've worked with the girls before but somehow he had a different association with this. He clearly thought he was part of the group and doing "real" schoolwork. He is so determined to be a big boy and do whatever the girls are doing I think we can officially declare his preschool career to have begun. :) What a big boy you are becoming Jackson! We are so proud of you sweet boy! :)I'm pretty much caught up on blog posts now (I can't remember the last time I was literally to the day caught up!) so I may be MIA for a few days while I work to put the finishing touches on our classroom. I have several blog posts I want to do regarding our classroom space as well as curriculm choices we have made. As we begin this homeschool journey, if you have any recommendations or suggestions for us we would appreciate and enjoy hearing them!

Beautiful February Weather

2012-02-04T00:24:00.006-05:00

We have been enjoying unseasonably warm and beautiful weather this week. Fresh air is good for the soul! :) These first three pictures were three of my favorite from the day. Here's my beautiful little tree climbing, tree hugger, daughter. :)Jackson was being as precious as he could be busily exploring the moss and anything he could locate to pick up and check out. I told Kennedy I had gotten a really cute picture of Reagan and Jackson and I needed one of her. She very matter of factly told me "You have lots of cute and sweet Elly Melly pictures. You don't need anymore. You have enough sweet Elly Melly pictures." lol :) I couldn't argue with the fact that I do have a few pictures of her but I can always use another one! Thankfully she decided to oblige me. Telling that reminds me of another story I forgot to share in my MLK weekend post. Kennedy was basically climbing over the back of a chair to get into it for supper. Grand-dad looked at her and said "Kennedy, if you ask me, you're doing that the hardest way possible." Without missing a beat Kennedy seriously replied "I didn't ask you" and proceeded to climb into the seat her own unique way. Grand-dad and I laughed until we couldn't laugh anymore. Grand-dad said it was so funny because it was about the last thing in the world he expected her to say. What a cute little comic we have on our hands! :)When Grammy wanted to purchase this trampoline for us I didn't think it was necessary. Especially since she had previously purchased a small indoor version for us. I figured it would be something the kids would be interested in for a period of time and then lose interest. I couldn't have been more wrong! We've had it nearly 2 years now and all three of them jump on it any opportunity they can. It is the first thing they head to anytime we go outside. Thank you Grammy and Grand-dad!Pippi Longstocking and her neighbor Tommy having a coffee party (Anika wasn't interested in having any coffee)Jackson enjoying the privelages of being a big boy and swinging on the glider I thought it was hilarious when the girls decided to swing in the baby swingswhile Jackson was determined to swing in the big kids swing. lol :) My children are firm believers in the grass always being greener on the other side of the fence. lol :)
Jackson decided he's a big enough boy to climb trees today too. I thought Tim would flip out that I let him do this and took pictures to boot but he calmly told me he's helped Jackson climb trees before. Tim clearly has a double standard for our children because he's a Nervous Nelly anytime either of the girls begin scaling a tree, even now! Jackson was so proud of himself! What a smile! :)Yep, another little tree hugger :)I'm not sure what he was doing here he just kept working his feet up until he was fairly perpendicular in position and somewhat stuck. lol :)Haydn decided to give Kennedy some good loving :)How sweet is this of Kennedy helping Jackson walk back to the house for lunch? Melts my heart! ;) Reagan was also being a big helper at this point and had run back to the swingset to pick up my coffee mug. The weather here has been gorgeous which makes it so easy and nice to play outside. I hate to sound ungrateful, but we do all so wish it would snow! We love snow and we desperately want some to play and sled in at least once this winter!!!

Groundhog Day 2012

2012-02-03T22:31:00.010-05:00

After learning about China after Chinese New Year we've been learning about hibernation in anticipation of Groundhog Day. We have also been discussing the concepts of migration and estivation (basically the same as hibernation but done by animals in climates such as the dessert because of a lack of water/food). I think Reagan has a pretty good understanding of the three concepts. I may have just confused Kennedy more than anything, however... I thought these concepts would make more sense if we acted them out. So we've migrated by flying down to the basement, we've been true hibernators (like groundhogs, hedgehogs, bats who are so heavily asleep they may appear to be dead), we've been the Antartic Cod one (if not the only) fish who hibernates during the coldest times of year. We've created different caves, burrows etc. over the past couple of weeks to accomodate our sleeping state(s). While both girls have had a lot of fun doing this, Kennedy's take away has apparently been as follows; if you ask her what hibernation means she consistently responds "You hide under a blanket and go to sleep! I'm a good hibernator!" We'll take another shot at it next year... lol :) One of our books specifically about Groundhog Day let us know that every year at precisely 7:25AM Punxsutawny Phil makes his prediction on Gobbler's Knob. The girls happily hopped out of their beds and into ours to wait for Phil's prediction. As you can see in the picture above Reagan was very excited about Phil's prediction of 6 more weeks of winter. She was surprisingly excited which I didn't quite understand. After hopping out of bed she immediately ran to the window and wanted to know where the snow was. That should have tipped me off to her excitement but I didn't get it until I heard her excitedly explaining to someone else later in the day that "Punxsutawny Phil predicted 6 more weeks of snow!!!" lol :) Poor thing! I sure agree that we need some snow around here! Thank you Phil for at least giving us a chance (even if it's not a full 6 weeks).The girl's and Daddy decided it would be nice to snuggle for a few minutes in bed before heading down for breakfast.Thursdays are a busy day for us as we have both violin lessons and then head over to St. Michael's church for our homeschool classes through the BHLC. Reagan is taking a Foods 101 class this semester in the morning. They will be trying different foods and learning where they come from/how far the food traveled etc. I think it's a really neat idea. When we got in the van Thursday afternoon Reagan announced "I love my 101 class! We had Pomegranate's today and they were much better than yours Mom!" I noticed her teacher getting into her car a couple down from ours so I conveyed the message to her and asked about her Pomegranates. She said she got them from Kroger. The same place I purchase mine. lol :) Her teacher pointed out it is much more fun and way cooler to try things out with all your friends. :)

Because Thursdays are pretty full as it is, we don't typically plan too many late afternoon activities. We do usually stop by Sonic for their Happy Hour special - it's a good and inexpensive incentive for two little girls too cooperate all day long. It's especially inexpensive because believe it or not Reagan and Kennedy generally select small or medium slushes. This is especially true of Reagan. I'm not sure what has brought this awareness on, but lately she has been very aware of not being wasteful and not wanting to take too much. Last Sunday she became very upset when we told the waitress to go ahead and giver her a refill on her Sweet Tea. She later explained to me that she knew she wasn't going to drink anymore and she was right, she didn't even though it was in a to go cup which we took home. She may drive me crazy sometimes but then there are other times when she really surprises me with her awareness and self restraint. I just can't imagine most kids, including myself, being able to judge or request wanting a smaller amount of ice cream or other treat because they know they won't be able to consume it all.

Anyhoo... since yesterday was Groundhog Day, I did have a small art project planned for making groundhogs out of hearts (you guessed it, another Pinterest idea). Jackson didn't make a groundhog himself but he did discover that wiggly eyes are a lot of fun to play with and place on paper. :) He was so careful and sweet to begin with. The girls eventually wanted to select eyes for their groundhogs, however, and that positively infuriated him. In his efforts to pull the bag away he discovered shaking and dumping out the bag of wiggly eyes was even more fun! What a little stinker! lol :)

The girls cut out their large hearts for the groundhog's face using one of my Creative Memory Scrapbook cutting mats. I was hoping I would have the right size hearts for the entire project but we ended up needing to create the smaller ones. Missy K was pretty determined to do all the cutting herself but in the end let me help a bit before getting too frustrated.Cutting a heart in half to make the groundhog's earsReagan did a great job of tracing the hearts her groundhog required. She did a pretty good job cutting them out as well although she became a little frustrated and requested my assistance.
Cutting whiskers for her groundhogReagan gluing the groundhog together. I decided to let her try and do this on her own and she did a good job putting it all together. The one thing that ended up being a little funny was that I told her she would need to use extra glue for the whiskers. Reagan apparently took me very literally. Suffice it to say Reagan's groundhog's whiskers will never ever fall off!!! Our finished groundhogs made from heartsMy silly girls with the most colorful groundhogs I've ever seen! No one can say we're not creative around here!!! :)Recently Jackson has begun cleaning up toys. He sometimes volunteers but he is extremely good at it if you specifically ask him to help and show him what you want him to do. Here he is cleaning up his wiggly eye mess. What a big boy! :)Earlier in the day at the BHLC, we made groundhogs who could pop up out of their "holes" to look for their shadows. I thought this idea was cute when I saw it on Pinterest, but all the kids absoutely loved this activity! I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for something cute like this to do. The template for the groundhog can be found at the following link: http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/crafts/detail.asp?fil=/crafts/animals/forest/images/groundhog-template.gif&cat=Spring&nam=Groundhog-Craft-Template Sorry for the wordiness of this blog but I think as I've explained before while I began this blog with the idea of keeping friends and family informed of the kids progress I've realized I'm the one who uses it the most. It's become my journal. I realized the other day that for that reason I should be taking the time to capture more of what the kids say here. Pictures are my favorite but I need to capture stories too. Having said that we had a super fun Groundhog Day and we hope you did too! :)

Kennedy kept mispronouncing Punxsutawny Phil's name all day. She would struggle with it and finally get something to the effect of Tunxsutawnypawny Phil out. It was so darned cute I wanted to catch it on tape. Wouldn't you know as soon as I asked her to say it she said it correctly! lol :) So I asked her to say it the other day. Then Reagan wanted in on the action too. I actually have several more takes of this trying to capture them both. Welcome to a portion of our personal repetitious version of Groundhog Day.

And So It Begins...

2012-02-02T22:42:00.002-05:00

Let it be known that in the month of January in the year 2012, Tim's quest for world domination officially began. The training of his two top of generals began with their first game of Risk one cold Saturday afternoon. While Kennedy shows signs of mercy, it is clear Reagan is as ruthless and determined as her father to rule the world.This game has been on going for a couple of weeks now and in all seriousness Reagan has proven to be quite good. In all liklihood it appears she will succeed in her first attempt at taking over the world via the game of Risk (besides actually understanding the game better than we anticipated, she is apparently incredibly lucky in her rolling of the die). Kennedy has mostly lost interest at this point, but will still hop up to roll her die and make official decisions on what countries she wishes to defend. This is a great game for both logic and geography among other things. I think it's fantastic that Tim has been taking the time to play this with the girls. Of course I know he's really just waiting for the day he has prepared them sufficeintly to play Axis and Allies. :) The funniest commentary I've heard has been over Missy K's determination to defend Madagascar. Tim convinced her it wasn't strategically important and she should place her troops elsewhere. The next time I checked on the game Reagan had decided to capture Madagascar as a way to help out with her invasion of Austrailia. Madagascar has traded hands a couple of times now (currently back in the hands of Kennedy) and has shared a surprisingly level of attention. It appears that the secret to world domination might be Madagascar...

Clean Up Crew

2012-02-02T21:46:00.003-05:00

Last week on the way home from working out (brilliant, I know) we decided we needed an ice cream treat. :) We decided on 3 large blizzards for the 5 of us to share. Jackson completely melted down when I gave him a bowl instead of one of the large cups (at that point everyone only had a bowl and he actually received the first one). Anyhoo... after Jackson settled down enough to force himself to consume some ice cream we all enjoyed having our fill. All of us except for one chocolate loving little girl that is. She lined up the cups as well as a couple of bowls and went to work as my clean up crew of 1. I thought she was too cute sitting there seriously working away at polising of all the ice cream. Go Kennedy!Making sure she's got it all. :)Love you Missy K! :)

Chinese New Year 2012

2012-02-01T20:00:00.010-05:00

The week before the Chinese New Year we read about and discussed China. We also did several activities before and on Monday, January 23, to celebrate the beginning of the Year of the Dragon. While Jackson was taking a nap one afternoon we made Chinese lanterns. I was really impressed with how well the girls cut their lanterns.I gave them glitter glue and stickers to decorate and Reagan did a fabulous job!She was so meticulous with these tiny circle stickers creating patterns (and one smiley face)This is one of those times when I thought this will be a great activity and so much fun. Or not... If I thought anything would be frustrating, I would have guessed it would be cutting the lanterns. Instead Kennedy went beserk (at least 3 times) over the glitter glue. She wanted to write long complicated messages but didn't want my assistance. Even if she had let me help, I couldn't have written what she wanted to write with glue... I'm always puzzled when we have meltdowns over things like this. I made no requirements and they didn't have to use it all (either the glitter glue or write any type of message). I thought they would have a great time being creative and doing anything they wanted with glitter glue and stickers. We finally came to an agreement on a shorter message to the effect of "Happy New Year! You are nice! I love you!" (I know the message doesn't even make any sense, bless her little heart!) and she did agree to let me help her write it. Dear Lord, please help my exceedingly intense children find a way to relax and have fun! :)Once we were finished decorating we glued the lanterns together and added string to hang them up as decorationsOur finished products hanging from the light above our kitchen tableWe had a fresh bowl of oranges on our kitchen table to "Welcome a sweet New Year!"All three kids decided to dig right into the oranges and have them for breakfast. A couple of other traditions we followed were when the girls woke up in the morning they had red envelopes with $1 bills in them under their pillows so we will have a prosperous New Year as well as a sweet one! :) As you'll notice, we wore red which is a color that brings Good Luck - and we can use all of that we can get!We also tried to do a dragon craft activity since it is the year of the dragon. I had seen some cute ideas on how to do it with handprints. I knew the girls wouldn't be able to cut out enough handprints on their own so I thought we would try painting instead.Missy K punched out a bunch of circles for her dragon's taleHere are our finished dragon's. Upon seeing Kennedy's, Reagan promptly informed us it looked nothing like a dragon. I kind of have to agree. lol :) Kennedy was such a sport for this project though! We kept trying to add to our poor dragon to help it become a dragon... In the meantime Reagan determined she could do a better job making a dragon on her own and so she did. :)This has nothing to do with any Chinese traditions, but we decided to make red and yellow playdough to celebrate the holiday. We also decided to use a Kool-aid recipe I've been wanting to check out. The texture was great and the red is by far the best red I've ever made. It's truly red vs pink (sorry I didn't manage to get a picture of the final finished products). We have green/lime and purple/grape to make sometime soon too. I'll make sure I get a picture of the great colors this recipe produces then.Again, this is not a particular Chinese tradition but we thought it would be fun to make some red Kool-aid to drink with lunch. Surely it's even better luck to have red both in and outside of you?!?!?For lunch we fixed noodles so we may have long lives. :) I also pulled out some chopsticks Tim and I got while we were in China for the girls to use. They've used chopsticks before but it's pretty random. They wouldn't let me show them how so we had some interesting attempts to begin with. :) This first attempt didn't quite work out...Or maybe it works after all?Getting a bit closer to using them properly If all else fails, use a hand to help shovel the noodles in lol :)Reagan enjoyed trying to figure out the process as well Reagan discovered you can use the chopsticks a bit like a shovel if you put your face close enough to the plate. We seriously need some chopstick lessons around here! lol :) Since Jackson is still trying to master a fork we let him stick with that for the dayWhen you come to think of it forks are pretty useless eating tools as well. It makes much more sense to dig in with both hands!We made a Chinese dinner of which I can't remember the names of anything at the moment. It's not really that important since I didn't make anything from scratch except for the Fried Rice. My friend Kalina Kwok taught me how to make that when we lived in DC. It's so good and I'm glad I learned how from a pro! We did have long noodles for supper as well and saved them for last, per tradition, so we may have long lives. Since we ate noodles twice that day maybe we'll have super long lives!?!? :) I also purchased Fortune Cookies to enjoy for dessert.Missy K decided she needed to eat 3 Fortune Cookies. Her first one said something to the effect of her financial worries being over and prosperity being on her way. The second one said something regarding new financial opportunites being on the horizon. The third one said something about a loved one coming to visit soon. After some thought we concluded this might mean Grammy and Kennedy are supposed to go and play the lottery together.We had a wonderful time learning about China and celebrating such a fun holiday! May the Year of the Dragon bring you all much happiness and prosperity! :)

Jubilee Partnership Celebration

2012-01-31T22:52:00.011-05:00

Aunt Dorothy and another realtor from her church, Paul Campbell, formed the Jubilee Team at Rector-Hayden Realtors effective the first of this year. As such, they had a celebration at one of their client's farms the third weekend in January. They had a bonfire, food, hayrides, music and many people who had a wonderful time! Thank you for including us in such a fun event and good luck with your new partnership! We are wishing you the very best! Here is the beautiful lady of the hour, Aunt Dorothy, with her awesome and husband (and one of my favorite cousins), Uncle Dan.Part of the crowd gathered around the bonfire (the only drawback to the day was it was a bit cold but that didn't stop anyone from having a great time!)Roasting hotdogsMissy K decided she wanted to roast a hot dog tooYum!Moving right along to the marshmellows...and the chocolate...Jackson decided he needed to eat a roasted marshmellow too, my roasted marshmellow to be exact...There was lots of Hot Chocolate which all the kids enjoyed - love that smile! :)Beautiful Miss HeidiTwo nearly 5 year olds (I can't believe it!!! Where has the time gone???)Missy K decided she wanted a picture with the big girls tooAll the kids enjoyed playing on the hay wagon; before and after the rides. Jackson and Holden were no exception. How cute are they smiling at each other??? Love it! :)Love this smile too! :)I think these pictures look so much like cousin Riley! Can you say ADORABLE??? :)Aunt Dorothy and Heidi posing for me :)Holden all snuggled up with Mom to stay warm - so sweet!Missy K decided she needed to be in this picture too. lol :)These guys were great and absolutely perfect for this event!I had a hard time getting a picture of all 5 kids together, especially since Heidi wouldn't come out from under the blanket. lol :) Sometimes you take whatever you can get, whatever that is... lol :)Miss Heidi peeking out for a quick picture especially for me. :)There was another wagon that was taller than the one used for the hayride and clear of anything so the kids could run back and forth and peek through the end. They had a great time playing together on this and I think I captured some of the cutest pictures of the day here. I know I'm biased, but I really do think 5 of the cutest kids on the planet live here in Lexington. ;)Holden and Reagan playing a game of Peek-A-Boo (I think - having fun with some game in anycase)One tuckered out baby boy!Thank you so much for including us on this fantastic afternoon! We know you all will do amazing things together in this new partnership! Congratulations and Good Luck!

Martin Luther King Weekend 2012

2012-01-31T01:04:00.004-05:00

The girls love sleeping with Grammy whenever she visits. I always feel sorry for Grand-dad because he's left to wander the house in search of a bed because the girls frequently change their minds on what bed it is they're sleeping in. I feel especially bad when he ends up on the couch but he is such a sport for being so flexible! In the meantime, Grammy is a pretty good sport for being willing to sleep with my two wild and crazy girls. Jackson has become increasingly determined to do whatever the girls are doing so when they settled down for bed and to watch a movie he marched right in the bedroom and wanted to get on the bed as well. He was pleased as punch with himself for being up on the bed. I wish I could have caught his incredibly smug look on film. Thank you Grammy for attempting to sleep with my three crazy iddo kiddos (although Jackson did go to his crib at least)! :) When Missy K woke up Saturday morning she came downstairs, curled up in the entryway and did her best to go back to sleep. Grand-dad found her and called me to come and snap a picture. By the time I arrived she had popped up. I asked her to "pose" for me so I could get my picture, hence the smile on her face. In all seriousness, however, last week on the way home from gymnastics she fell asleep in the van and when I asked her to come in she barely made it in the door before lying down on the floor and falling fast asleep. No pillow, no blanket nothing but the hardwood floor in the same position as this picture. What a nut! lol :) The girls helped Grand-dad make our favorite breakfast meal when we're with them, Blueberry Muffins! :)Meanwhile Jackson was busy playing slots with Grammy. lol :) Then Jackson decided he had to go outside, immediately, without shoes or jacket. I decided I didn't want to listen to him scream inside and he'd probaly decide he wanted to be inside or at least outside with boots on if I let him take a couple of steps in the snow and make his own (well informed) decision.Poor baby! I was right though, he decided he didn't want to be on our deck barefoot that morning. :) On a truly sad note, this is the most snow we've had all winter! We can't wait for a good dump where we can sled and build a snowman! Actually, Reagan has been asking about a snowfort. I've been trying to explain to her that we are unlikely to receive enough snow for a long enough period of time to accomplish building a snowfort. I guess we need to be planning a Wisconsin winter visit before too long. :)After Jackson came back in he helped the girls lick the Blueberry Muffin bowl clean.The girls have been enjoying building with Legos more and more. Grammy brought some new Legos which are specifically geared towards girls for both Reagan and Kennedy. I was surprised how well Kennedy followed the directions with my assistance. She sometimes has a little difficulty getting the small pieces on but she was very patient and did a great job building the little bunny house, car and cart this kit came with.Grand-dad and I found this picture of the piece popping out of Kennedy's hand amusing. You can't plan these pictures! lol :)Reagan truly amazed me by tackling the directions on her own. This is the first time I remember her doing that and she did a fantastic job. She asked for assistance a couple of times but she primarily managed it by herself. Way to go Reagan!

As I'm sure anyone who has a child (or has been a child) knows there is something about taking the cushions off furniture and using them to build. There are many days I wonder why we even try to put cushions on any piece of furniture in our house! I love these pictures Grand-dad caught of Reagan "building" a hideout with what we refer to as the "Missy K chair" and our kitchen chair pads. Yep, I'm so sneaky but I am in here!Grand-dad said Reagan reminded him of Alice in Wonderland while playing under this chair. I hadn't ever thought about it but I totally agree with him, especially in this picture. I love my little Alice! :) Thank you for such a fun weekend Grammy and Grand-dad! :)

UK Excite Night

2012-01-31T00:36:00.003-05:00

We attended the University of Kentucky's Excite Night for their opening women's gymnastics meet the first weekend in January. It was a fun family night out watching gymnastics, which is becoming increasingly important in our household with my Little Foal and Extended Star Filly. :)Jackson was probably the most impressed. He loved the music but he also clapped for the gymnasts. He was adorable!While Reagan enjoyed the gymnastics, the Cotton Candy was the highlight of her evening. As a matter of fact, when we were leaving Reagan told me what a wonderful time she had and asked if we could go again sometime. As I was saying yes and thinking how nice it is when an activity your doing for your kids turns out the way you hoped with everyone having fun, Reagan added "because I really loved the Cotton Candy!" Well, I'm glad she enjoyed something from the evening. lol :)Kennedy was the least interested in the activities but she was all about the Cotton Candy!The girls were being so good Tim took them in search of our first purchase of the Cotton Candy. They gobbled it down and soon someone selling Cotton Candy came by us so we bought another one. It was another blue though and Reagan had seen and wanted pink. Since he didn't have any pink he went to get some specifically for Reagan and so we purchased 3 Cotton Candies... No wonder Reagan thought Cotton Candy was the highlight of the evening! lol :)

I wish I had been able to somehow capture Jackson's reaction to the Cotton Candy. He really had no interest in it what so ever. Everytime we tried giving it to him he acted confused and like he thought it was something he shouldn't be putting in his mouth. He didn't get it at all. I don't know why it was so confusing for him, especially with the girls rate of consumption, but he did not go for it. Maybe he wasn't interested because he was too engrossed in the gymnastics! lol :) I sure love my three goofy kiddos! lol :)

Cracking Eggs

2012-01-30T19:44:00.005-05:00

The first Saturday in January I decided to use the last of the Buttermilk we had from the holidays on some Blueberry Pancakes. This was my second time making Buttermilk Pancakes (the first being earlier in the week on regular pancakes) and I can't believe the difference in the fluffiness. They are so good! :) Anyhoo... my usual cooking companion immediately jumped right in to help me mix the pancake batter. Kennedy has been cooking with me so much lately that she has become quite adept at cracking eggs. As such, I did my best to try and capture a picture of this developmental milestone. :)Reagan decided she wanted to help as well and so she measured and added the milk.While the girls were scrambling the eggs Jackson decided he wanted to be part of the action and was doing his best to pull one or the other (or both?) of his sisters off the step stool they use for cooking. lol :) These girls make awesome scrambled eggs and pancakes and I love all the assistance (most of the time... ;)!

Starting 2012 Off Right! :)

2012-01-29T22:47:00.005-05:00

As tradition calls for, Grammy made her delicious Long Johns for New Year's morning. :) Heidi spent the night and the girls had fun adding their own decorative sprinkles Grammy frosted them. :)Jackson took eating his Long Johns (and especially the frosting) very seriously lol :)After selecting the perfect one, Missy K couldn't even wait to sit down before enjoying the first delicious bite. :) She doesn't have any clothes on because she was already dressed in princess attire so she had to remove it before she could eat breakfast. Grammy refrosted Kennedy and Jackson's Long John's I don't know how many times. I'm pretty sure they managed to eat more frosting than actual Long Johns.A sweet Missy K getting loving from Grammy and Grand-dadThree sweet princesses playing Head Banz (a game from Aunt Arla - I'm not sure I would recommend this game, it looks fun but it's surprisingly difficult for adults and children alike)

After fixing a fabulous breakfast Grammy also made Lutefisk, a traditional Swedish fish dish, later in the day. It was awesome! We always had it for Carlson family Christmas gatherings growing up but I don't think Mom's ever made it. Since the kids and I haven't gone to Wisconsin for Christmas the last couple of years it has been several years since I've enjoyed this meal. Grammy did a wonderful job and I appreciated her efforts tremendously! I can't believe neither Grand-dad or I managed any pictures of the process or finished product. :( Tim wasn't sold on it (I think it might be something you have to grow up with) and neither were Reagan or Jackson, but there may still be hope/time for them. Kennedy on the other hand couldn't get enough! I believe she had 3 helpings! Thank you Aunt Arla for purchasing the Lutefisk and thank you Grammy for making it! I can't wait to have it again next year! :) We had a very enjoyable start to 2012 and we hope you all got your New Year off to such a pleasurable beginning!

Happy New Year's!!!

2012-01-29T22:15:00.006-05:00

After our European New Year's Eve party we came back home to celebrate with Grammy, Grand-dad (who stopped to visit on their way back from Wisconsin) and Uncle Dan, Aunt Dorothy, Heidi and Holden. We had a great time celebrating the evening with them and Jackson loved trying on our New Year's hats. Has anyone ever seen a cuter New Year's baby?Maybe another hat? We have a decent size Thomas track, but Jackson spends probably 90% of his time rolling the trains down the mine shaft (which you can barely see on the left) and through this tunnel. Jackson and Holden enjoying the Thomas track together I know this isn't the best picture ever but it at least documents all 5 kids. I also have to say I was in the basement by myself so I'm impressed that I was able to get them all in the same general area for any type of picture! lol :) I love that Holden is completely disinterested and unbothered by my efforts and Jackson is doing his best to push the girls out of his space. We're going to have to work on these boys... The girls were much more obliging and ready for pictures
Missy K decided she wanted to be in the "big girls" picture too :)Mr. Holden busy in our Little People VillageAunt Dorothy and Jackson checking out the Christmas tree.We didn't have an opportunity to exchange Christmas gifts during the month of December so we decided to celebrate on New Year's Eve instead. Jackson received an amazing crane from Uncle Dan and Aunt Dorothy! It is so cool and I know he will enjoy and play with it for many years to come. Thank you for all the gifts!Jackson checking out his new crane after Uncle Dan assembled everything - pretty cool! :)Happy Belated New Year's Everyone! :) We hope you all are busy having a wonderful 2012! If you're ever in our area, please let us know as we always love to host our family and friends! :) May you all have the best year ever!

European New Year's Eve Party

2012-01-29T21:21:00.010-05:00

One of our friends from the BHLC invited us to a European New Year's Eve party this year. I've never heard of this before, but for anyone with small children, this is sheer brilliance in my opinion! Or anyone who doesn't want to stay up until midnight in general. Instead of celebrating New Year's at midnight New York time, you celebrate it London time, which is 6:00 PM Eastern. The kids are in great moods, no one is struggling to stay awake it's just so much fun! I do love staying up until midnight though so I don't know if I could really give up that celebration entirely, but I thought this party idea was a fantastic one!

Kennedy and Reagan all decked out and ready to celebrate New Year's Eve with their hostess, Maura.Would any true New Year's party be complete with out noise makers? My children would all vote a resounding "No!" Noise makers are a serious must to any good party (although glaringly and obviously missing from the intimate gathering at our house later in the evening... I admit it, I'm no fun at all! I'm so glad that Ms. Rikki is so cool!)Missy K getting creative :)Our little ladies man opted to spend his time playing with a half a dozen girls in the playhouse instead of the boys. :)All the kids lined up by the stairs for a balloon drop. This was especially cool because there was candy in the balloons. What a fun idea!Reagan very excited to have received a balloon (she didn't manage to catch one on her own so Ms. Rikki convinced one of the older kids to share it with her - she was so happy!). Missy K didn't care if she got a balloon as long as she had candy and Ms. Rikki made sure everyone had plenty of that. :)Happy New Yea'rs (in London, England anyway)! After our countdown we sang Auld Lang Syne while one of the guests provided piano accompianment.Then we moved outside to enjoy some New Year's Festivities on this gorgeous night!My multi tasking, chocolate loving, daughter at her finest. lol :) Missy K loves her chocolate and clearly she wasn't going to put her chocolate down even for a sparkler. Why did God give us two hands, if it wasn't to put them both to good use on occassions such as these, right? As you can probably tell, while the girls love to have S'mores, they enjoy the deconstructed version. Eating one ingredient at a time is apparently the best way to enjoy them. Here is the hands and mouths full of marshmellow stage. :)Reagan and one of her best friends, Liam, from the BHLCJackson loved watching the fireworksJanette and Liam enjoying the fireworks together (they hosted the awesome "Leaf Raking Party" we went to last fall)After the fireworks were over they launched a large lantern. It was so cool. Such a neat way to end such a fun evening!Thank you so much for inviting us to our first European New Year's Eve celebration! We hope to celebrate more with you in the future! :)

Miscellaneous December Pictures

2012-01-29T18:35:00.011-05:00

Here are some random pictures that didn't really seem to require a post of their own but which I still wished to include in our December posts. This first picture is an art project Grammy and I managed to accomplish with the kids one weekend in December using the kid's feet, hands and thumbprints (for the red noses). I must say this type of project is remarkably easier with another adult on hand! lol :) It also helped that Jackson has apparently decided it's fun to have paint on his hands and wants to do what the big girls are doing vs acting like we're skinning him alive. I love handprint projects in general and I especially loved this one because it captured all three kids and both hands and feet. This project came about as a mix of inspiration from one of the teachers in Grammy's school and something I saw on Pinterest. Thanks so much for all the assistance Grammy! :)The girls love to climb this tree. It is such a good tree to climb with so many branches for them to easily step to and from. Meanwhile, Jackson hasn't quite mastered trees yet so he's pretty content to stick to the swingset. Especially now that he has figured out he can swing on the glider and the big girls swing (vs the baby one which straps him in).The first weekend in December the girls had their last group violin class of the semester. It was a special Christmas group class where all the kids were able to play Christmas carol solos. It was more informal than a recital but a lot of fun especially with everyone playing together. I apparently didn't take many pictures and instead mostly video. Unfortunately I didn't do a good job with the video so I don't think it's worth including here. Rest assurred Reagan was in attendance as well! :)The girls have become quite the little bakers. They are ready to be of assistance anytime I can find something for them to do, especially Kennedy. After we came back from Tennessee we spent a day baking up a storm of Christmas treats to enjoy with everyone. We made Great Grammy's (Lueker) Chocolate and Lemon Cake cookies. Then upon the recommendations of Ms. Debbie, we did a twist on the Cake cookies and made Butter Pecan with chopped Pecans. These turned out very well and we'll be doing some more experimenting in the future. Thanks so much for the suggestion! We also made Aunt Joan's spiced pecans. Super yummy!!! I have eaten hers before but never made my own. They were so good and we'll be doing this again as well! We also made Pecan Log Rolls which I love! I always remember Aunt Pat making these for us in Wisconsin and they were such a treat! They're tricky (mostly incredibly messy) to make so it's one thing that truly was a treat to have because there wasn't ever enough to go around. So so so so so good! This was the one thing I don't think I had the girls help me with just because it's already a disaster waiting to happen. This year I discovered, upon Grammy's suggestion, the caramel wraps for making caramel apples makes this process considerably easier! Last but not least, we baked a favorite around here which is the Peanut Butter Cup cookies. The girls are able to probably help the most with these since it's pretty easy to roll up peanut butter dough, easy to unwrap the candy and easy to press the candy into the dough when they come out of the oven (although the last step does require care...). Besides this, we also made Swedish Meatballs and Sausage balls. It was a busy cooking day! Additionally, Grammy brought her awesome sugar cookies, turtles, mint surprise cookies, chocolate fudge, and peanut butter fudge from Tennessee. Rest assurred we did not starve here over Christmas and we were certainly not lacking by way of sweets! Thank you to my little bakers, Reagan and Missy K! As they'll happily tell you after they're done cooking they add their love to the ingredients and that's why it's so good!

Presents from Grandma and Grandpa

2012-01-29T18:35:00.010-05:00

I must say our kids are very fortunate, very loved children! Spreading out the Christmas cheer a bit more we had a Christmas morning of presents from Grandma and Grandpa Lueker. We sure wish they could have been here to enjoy the kids opening gifts but the kids loved their presents none the less! Here they are ready for another round of opening presents! :)

Besides the incredible gift of the incline mat which we received the beginning of December the kids enjoyed opening multiple other gifts.Jackson loved all his new tractor toys. These have been a great addition to our tractor sets and a wonderful form of amusement and play in our classroom for Jackson while the girls do schoolwork.The girls received some additional toys for their Loving House family set. They received the intial Dollhouse from Grandma and Grandpa several years ago for Christmas and it is one of the most loved and played with toys in our house. This year they received the cabin (which came with one little girl), canoe and horse toys. We have coincidentally been reading Pippi Longstockings so upon opening and assembling these gifts the girls determined this house was Villa Villekulla and immediately placed "Pippi's" horse on the front porch where he naturally belongs. :) We had to go in search of a suitable dog to play the part of Mr. Nilsson, the monkey, and of course another little girl and boy for Tommy and Annika. The girls also enjoyed their new RV for their family
Thank you for all the wonderful gifts! We appreciate them all and can't wait to see you again! Merry Christmas! :)

Christmas 2012

2012-01-29T00:22:00.011-05:00

Coming down the stairs to see if Santa decided to visit our house Christmas morning. As a side note, like last year, the girls surprised me by sleeping in until nearly 9:00! Whose kids do this? Especially 2 years in a row! lol :)Our Christmas tree - Santa was good to us this year! :)Jackson zeroed in on the blocks. He charged straight past everything and knocked down the block tower as fast as he could! :)
With all those toys under the tree one of the first things the girls saw/opened were some stickers in their stockings. They became completely absorbed by them for at least 10-15 minutes. I know I've said they enjoy every present they receive but this surprised even me. It definitely cracked us all up. It's so much fun to watch them open everything when they are so appreciative of literally everything! :)
Meanwhile Grammy and Jackson decided to open a present. I guess Kack told Hermie and/or Santa how much Jackson loved Chaz's WWE truck because he brought Jackson one of his own. :)Reagan hugging her gift from HermieThe kids each had one of these beautiful but enormous suckers in their stocking. Daddy wasn't sure if he approved but Kennedy and Jackson sure did! :)Kennedy checking out a bracelet we gave Grammy for Christmas.Reagan's big present this year was an American Girl Doll HorseJackson has played and played with this toy. He loves to stack these cubes and their heads numbered 1-5. This has been a great addition to our classroom for something for Jackson to play with while the girls are busy with school.Missy K decided she wanted to try on Jackson's black Knight attire. We thought he could use a couple of play costumes so as he becomes interested in dressing up he has a couple more options than the girl's current collection of Disney Princesses and Faires. lol :)The girls each received a couple of magic tricks in their stockings. Tim and the girls had a good time learning magic and demonstrating it. The girls caught onto the tricks pretty quickly. The hardest part was getting them to understand why they should explain the "magic" to everyone else.It must be Christmas if you get Coke in your sippy cup! And some dip to boot! Jackson's favorite type of food is dip. It doesn't matter what type of dip as long as it's dip. I was surprised he even enjoyed the crab dip I had made. I'm glad he was happy with his food options on Christmas! :)I know it's a bit late, but we wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas! We hope it found you surrounded by family and friends enjoying the presence of our savior and King! May you all be blessed by Him this coming year!

Christmas Eve Activities

2012-01-28T23:25:00.013-05:00

After we came home from church we climbed into pjs and had some fun before bed. We began by making and spreading reindeer food for Santa's reindeer to nibble on while he was leaving gifts for us. Here's Missy K excited and ready to use plenty of glitter to help those reindeer fly! :)The girls mixed glitter and oats while Jackson looked on and served as Quality Manager/Inspector with a magnifying glass

Mixed up reindeer food ready to spread!Jackson decided he wanted in on the action too It must have been the month for sweet sister pictures because here are two more of the girls that just melt my heart! :)As I mentioned before, we've decided it works best to divide the gifts so the girls feel free to play and enjoy their new toys so on Christmas night we open our family gifts.The girls were ready to play Cooties as soon as they opened the box :)Baking cookies for Santa (we cheated a little and purchased premade dough - sometimes it makes sense to cheat a bit :)Reagan and Kennedy were very sad to see Hermie go. Kennedy was so distraught I actually tried to catch a video and I couldn't take a picture. Poor girl! We assurred them he would be back next year, or maybe sooner, to check in since Santa cares how you're behaving year round. :) Hermie left them a note (and a present) after enjoying some of the Christmas cookies the girls baked for Santa. He also mentioned taking a cookie to Kack, Chaz and Anna's elf, as well as some of his other friends. What a thoughtful elf! ;)

Christmas Eve Family Pictures

2012-01-28T23:04:00.003-05:00

Before church Christmas Eve, we took time to take a couple family pictures and I thought we got pretty lucky with several good shots! We promised the kids we would do one silly picture if they cooperated through our serious ones. Grammy probably won't approve of me sharing this, but here it is...

Christmas Eve Morning

2012-01-28T22:02:00.010-05:00

The kids are so much fun to open presents with. They love each and every gift and take their time to enjoy all of them. The only issue with that is we have discovered it can literally take days to open gifts. As such we discovered last year it serves us well to plan the time for the kids to enjoy their gifts and so we begin with gifts from Grammy and Grand-dad Christmas Eve morning instead of opening everything Christmas morning. It's so nice and gives the kids the time they desire to play with everything. Thank you to Grammy and Grand-dad for all the wonderful gifts!Hermie and Elden decided to spend their last day with us on the Christmas treeJackson heading downstairs and ready to open presentsI can't believe this impromptu picture all three of my sweet kiddos volunteered for on the stairs before opening gifts no less! :)Aunt Arla had Great Grandma Carlson read some Christmas books for the kids. I love these recordings and will treasure them forever. Thank you so much!
Reagan and Kennedy were pretty excited about new large coloring books with brand new paints and brushes.True to form the girls were ready to begin painting right away
Reagan giving Grammy a big hug for all the wonderful presents :) Missy K was so sweet snggled up reading books with Grammy throughout the morning Jackson loves Grammy time too! :)Jackson has become a big Thomas the Tank Engine fan. He really likes trucks and tractors too but Thomas is definitely the favorite!
Jackson with his new Percy and ThomasWe played with Magna Tiles for the first time while we were visiting Rory and Riley in California last summer. The girls loved them and I knew this would make a great gift for Christmas. These have been great and work perfectly with the light table Grammy and Grand-dad gave us earlier in December too. Daddy, very proud of his Magna Tile stack... lol :)Only the beginning of many happy hours of Magna Tile playJackson helping Daddy read his gift from Grammy and Grand-dad which was a free night of baby-sitting plus gift cards to Red Lobster. Thank you so much!!! :)We tried a new sausage ball recipe that included cream cheese over the holidays. It was so yummy and the kids loved them! It was a perfect thing to have on hand to eat while opening gifts. Uncle Andrew and Aunt Jennifer sent the girls a tea set which the three kids took no time in beginning to enjoy.All three kids decided the sausage balls tasted even better using the new tea set Jackson has a sausage ball in this teapot that he is attempting to drink out. lol :)I don't remember why Reagan was so excited but this is definitely vintage/classic Reagan, if you will. Little Miss Intensity at her best!I think these pictures of Jackson enjoying the new play food are super sweet and cute Jackson and Daddy enjoying a good laugh togetherMy favorite little Chirstmas gift! :)
Thank you again Grammy and Grand-dad we love all the gifts and especially all the time you spend with us! :)

Homemade Pizza

2012-01-27T23:30:00.005-05:00

To kick off our holiday weekend we decided to make some homemade pizzas. I'm not sure how or when the girls got it in their heads that they wanted to make a pizza from scratch but they have been asking about it for a while. They were very excited about this cooking project and couldn't wait to bake our pizzas. Maybe they'll open their own pizzeria someday! :)Reading the directionsMixing the herbs for the Mediterranean PizzaRolling out the dough for the special cheese pizza the girls had been dying to makeSpreading the sauce togetherLots and lots of cheese for their cheese pizza Our Chicago style deep dish (that term hardly seems to do this pizza justice, as the crust was so thick I thought it looked a bit more like a casserole than a pizza) pizza cooling while the cheese pizza finishes upThe finished Mediterranean pizzaI'm not always the biggest fan of homemade pizzas. So while I was doing this to be a sport for the girls since they so desperately wanted to make their own cheese pizza, I have to say both the recipes for the Mediterranean and Chicago style were really good. One of the things I also really liked about these pizzas was that they called for using frozen bread dough for the pizza crust. That turned out really well and was extremely easy. There's no doubt I'll be using that little trick for any future homemade pizza creations. I'm not sure which was my favorite, but we'll be making these again! Especially since the girls continue to ask me about making another pizza. Also because just looking at these pictures is making me hungry for them again! :)

Gingerbread Train

2012-01-27T22:25:00.011-05:00

During some last minute holiday shopping I noticed a Gingerbread Train on sale and thought the girls might enjoy it. I've been thinking about doing something like this with them for the last couple of years and I've just never gotten around to it. Since this was a super easy kit at a fantastic price I decided there was no time like the present to give it a whirl. We began by having the girls help squeeze out the frosting but the initial construction of the train took quite a bit of assistance from both Mommy and Grammy.Reagan was a little excited as the train began to take shape This frosting got everywhere! You can barely see it here but it was on my nose as well as all over our hands and even clothes. This was messy messy stuff!Finishing up the construction stage and ready to move on to the decoration stageWorking hard on decorating Quite proud of the final product - I love this sisters picture!As soon as it was completed the girls couldn't wait to dig in and eat they're Gingerbread Train and Marshmellow Snowmen which I had picked up as extra decorations/train passengersI love it when I capture a face that truly represents one of the kids personalities. This is such a typical excited Elly Melly face. It's a bit goofy but it's all Missy K! :) Discussing the deconstruction of their masterpiece Yum!What was left after the demolition crew declared they were finishedI'm not sure how I would rate this project. The girls had a great time so that was good. It was inexpensive so that was good. It had easy to follow decorations with the bottom sheet which helped to hold it together. It was extremely messy and it also didn't really want to stick together. My guess is we'll do this again in the future but I think I'll probably do a little more research into what we need to do to make it a bit easier. That or we need to have Aunt Jen around since I understand from one of her other niece and nephews blogs that she's quite the Gingerbread House pro.

Letter From Santa

2012-01-26T22:02:00.002-05:00

The girls were extremely excited to receive a letter from the North Pole (a major advantage of having an Aunt and Uncle who live so close to the North Pole - North Pole, Alaska hat is) directly from Santa. Beyond cool!!! :)

I wish I had had a video camera going when the girls received this letter and opened it. Reagan's intial reaction to receiving the letter was jubilation. She was dancing around the room beyond excited. All of a sudden she froze, her hand holding the letter dropped to her side like a rock and her face turned white as a ghost. She looked at with me and with complete and utter seriousness asked "What if this is a letter about me being naughty?" It was hilarious. lol :) Even after reading the letter, in which it said everyone in our house was currently on the good list (heaven only knows how - bless her heart, Reagan had reason to be afraid she was on the naughty list with all her recent tantrums...) Reagan looked at me and asked if it said anything about her being naughty. She was delighted to learn she was still safe. Bless her heart I do love her intensity but it certainly makes her life more difficult most especially for herself. Poor girl!

The Nutcracker

2012-01-26T16:14:00.004-05:00

One of the primary reasons we went to Tennessee in December was because Grammy and Grand-dad purchased tickets to take us to see the Nutcracker in Nashville at TPAC (Tennessee Performing Arts Center). Since we didn't think Jackson would enjoy it so much, we traded Anna for Jackson that afternoon and had a wonderful time with all three girls. Grammy gave each of the girls a small nutcracker to take with them and they were so sweet playing with them. Thank you Grammy and Grand-Dad for such a treat!Ready for the performance to begin :)The Tennessee State Museum is in the same building as TPAC and the girls spotted a log cabin and covered wagon they wanted to checkout so we stopped in after the performance. We had a good time checking out several exhibits before the museum closed.I called the girls over to look at this butter churn and asked if they knew what it was. Anna totally cracked me up when she matter of factly explained "It's a plunger!"Thank you again for taking all of us, Grammy and Grand-dad! It was a very special experience!

Stiriz Visits

2012-01-26T15:57:00.006-05:00

We were able to get together with Anna and Chaz (Kelly and Charlie too) several times while we were in Tennessee. As always the kids had a fanastic time! It amazes me everytime we get together how well Anna and Reagan play together. There is hardly ever, if ever, a cross word spoken between them. Missy K is getting big enough to join in on all their fun and Chaz is awesome with Jackson. These guys just play so well together - I love it! :)

Chaz turned 8 while we were in Tennessee so we went to help him celebrate his special day. Happy Birthday Chaz!!! :)Everyone loves Charlie!!! Jackson adores Charlie and always wants to play with him. I was trying to get a picture of just Charlie and Jackson but one by one each of the older kids ran over and said they wanted a picture with Charlie too. So sweet! It must be nice to be so loved and adored! :)BFF's - love, love, love this picture! :)The best picture we managed of our crazy crew :)Reagan insisted on having her picture taken with Maddie too. Poor Reagan would absolutely love to have a dog and we are just not dog people. Don't get me wrong, I love dogs, I just don't ever intend to be a dog owner. I can barely keep up with my kids and cats! lol :)Present time!Jackson enjoying his new dump truck. This boy loves trucks, tractors and trains!Jackson also apparently loves the WWE. Chaz got this toy for his birthday and Jackson went nuts over it. He played and played with it every time we went over. Thank you Chaz for being such a sport and setting it up repeatedly for Jackson to knock over. :)Everyone playing harmoniously with playdough togetherThank you guys for having us over so many times! We had a great time and can't wait to see you when you come to visit for Spring Break in March! :)

Bass Visit

2012-01-26T15:48:00.003-05:00

We met one of my oldest and best friends growing up, Emily Bass, and her kids at Jumpville one morning and then went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and a little more playtime. We have been trying to work out a visit for the longest time now. For one reason or another we always seem to miss each other. Even this time her daughter, Sarah, who is Reagan's age, got sick the morning we got together so we still didn't get to see everyone. We have got to do better in the future Ms. Emily!!! lol :) Reagan had a wonderful time playing with Luke and I'm just sorry Sarah wasn't there to join in the fun!Missy K busy climbing the rock wallMolly and Jackson enjoyed climbing in and out of the ball pitThanks for coming to see us! Let's make sure we don't let another 3 1/2 years go by before we see each other again! :)

Sliger Visits

2012-01-26T14:50:00.006-05:00

While we were in Tennessee we were able to visit the Sliger's. They actually let our crazy crew come over twice! Thank you so much!!! :) Aunt Marta introduced Jackson to puzzles while we were there. We have puzzles like this at home but I hadn't really thought to pull them out for Jackson. Since playing with them with Aunt Marta he has been loving them! It's one of the things he plays with the most while I'm working with the girls on schoolwork. Thanks for the great idea and reminder of these puzzles Aunt Marta!Missy K, Haley and Matt playing with puppets - love this picture!Reagan and Haley putting cupcakes together from a new busy bag (the idea came from Pinterest). I'll have to do a post soon on busy bags. They are easy/inexpensive items you put in a ziplock bag that are quick and easy to grab and take along to entertain your kids. In this case I cut up different pieces of colored felt which the girls create cupcakes. They have loved the busy bags I have made so far and I have a couple more I need to do. Such a great quite and calm activity to keep little fingers and minds busy! The Sligers, as always, were way too generous with their gifts. They gave the kids a number of block sets which are wonderful and we have had a fantastic time playing with. Here Reagan just opened up the box of liquid water colors. I am so excited about these! I have seen some amazing projects on Pinterest and other Homeschool blogs using liquid water colors and I just need to get my act together to use them. Thank you so much for these incredible gifts!!!Kennedy and Haley checking each other out through a magnifying glass. :)Jackson decided Matt was his favorite person in the house. It totally cracked me up because while Matt was awesome with Jackson, as a teenage guy, I'm guessing he was the least interested person in having Jackson bestow all his affection upon him. Thank you Matt for being such a sport!Our second visit was to come over and see Luci. She is such a doll and talker too! This is one super smart little girl!!!Luci and Jackson playing with the kitchen we gave to Luci for Christmas and her first birthday.Missy K showing off her incredible new tutu that Gigi made for her for Christmas. Beautiful!!!As always the girls love the chairs that spin. I believe they spun faster than ever before this time and Missy K actually managed to get sick. I can't believe how much she vomitted. :( I had thought we would spend a little less time spinning in the future but here is Matt spinning the girls again on our second visit...Thank you for having us over and thank you for all the wonderful gifts! You all are too good to us and we appreciate all you do for us!

December Tennessee Visit

2012-01-25T23:10:00.007-05:00

After our fall activities wrapped up in December we headed to Tennessee to have the kids pictures taken, see the Nutcracker in Nashville and of course spend time with family and friends. Thanks to everyone who helped us have a great time!

Anna came for a slumber party Friday night while Chaz celebrated his 8th birthday with friends. We had fun making some seasonal peppermint playdough. We used peppermint to make the red smell wonderful and glitter to make the white sparkly. Here are my three little cooks ready to make some cool playdough! Teamwork The finished products :)Missy K admiring one of her creations Anna busy rolling out playdough to cut more cookiesReagan working on creating a peppermint candy caneOne of our finished productsMissy K hard at work with Grammy making peppermint playdough cookiesWhile the girls were busy making and playing with playdough Jackson discovered how much fun hotrollers are to stack. He was obsessed with this activity for the longest time!Jackson also enjoyed some calm reading timeor maybe not... lol :)So many fun things to do at Grammy and Grand-dad's house! :)We love our Missy Reagan but as most of you know who have spent time with us she is a bit intense. This includes both incredible sweetness as well as tantrums. We go through periods where we seem to have found a system that works and then we inevitably backslide. We've been having more difficulity the last couple of months so while we were at Grammy's house we decided to make some mind jars (an idea I found on Pinterest). They are a mix of colored water, glitter glue and glitter. The idea is that you shake the jar and watch the swirling glitter, which is a symbol of your swirling/frustrated thoughts, settle to the bottom of the jar while you calm down. It is supposed to be a calming activity and also serve as a cooling off period without being a "time out" as it takes about 5 minutes for all the glitter to settle. We've had mixed results with our mind jars. I like the idea but they aren't always handy and/or Reagan doesn't always want to use it. We'll keep searching and in the meantime if any of you have ideas on how to help little ones learn to control their tempers we would love to hear your thoughts and ideas!!!Missy K is pretty good at controlling her temper but she wanted to make a cool green mindjar since Reagan was making a purple one. :)I thought this picture of Jackson playing Grammy's piano was so sweet! :)As you can see from the applause he is giving himself, Jackson is quite modest regarding his performance skills. Thank you Grammy and Grand-dad for the super fun time! :)

Incline Mat Christmas Gift

2012-01-25T21:41:00.005-05:00

Grandma and Grandpa gave the kids an incline mat for Christmas. It is awesome! The kids all love it! The girls use it for practicing and Jackson loves to run or slide down it and at the bottom he pops up just like them with his hands over his head and shouts "Ah-ah!" (for Ta-Da). I haven't been able to capture that on tape yet but I really need and want too. In the meantime I wanted to share these pictures of the girls. Thanks so much Grandma and Grandpa for this incredible gift! :) Here's Missy K practicing her bridges.Missy K is pretty flexibleThe incline mat is very helpful and great for working on handstands too! :)In December Reagan did her first bridge kickover (or walkover) all by herself. Since I didn't have my camera at the gym she used her new incline mat to demonstrate for me when we got home. :)

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the incline mat! The girls are loving it and it's so useful for so many different things we need to practice! :)

Light Table and More

2012-01-24T23:19:00.008-05:00

Grammy and Grand-dad came to visit us the second weekend in December. We had a wonderful time with them as always. Everyone especially enjoyed the incredible light table gift they brought. This is such a wonderful learning tool. I can't wait to use it in all sorts of homeschool projects and activities for years to come! The first weekend we just had fun exploring some of the manipulatives Grammy and Grand-dad also gave us for the light table. Thank you for such an incredible gift!While the girls played with the new light table Jackson played with the new toy Grammy brought to me which was an Oreck vacuum sweeper/steamer mop. I don't know it's technical name, but it is awesome! It would work well for anyone but it's especially great for someone with three little kids and has a floor that should be mopped after every meal. This thing works wonders! My sweet little Clara with her new green Nutcracker from Grammy. Kennedy loved her new Nutcracker and insisted on sleeping with him for several nights. When Grammy asked Grand-dad to take this picture Kennedy was more snuggled up with her beloved Nutcracker but she moved before we got to take the super sweet picture. I still like this one though and think she looks so precious! It's funny to me that the girls love their Nutcrackers so much but they truly do. So sweet!Jackson throughly enjoys being naughty and eating cookies for breakfast when Grammy comes to visit...Since traveling from Wisconsin with Uncle Andrew and Grand-dad in August Tim has been hooked on Soduko games. Here Reagan is enjoying helping him figure out a few numbers here. Tim is so good about involving the kids in things like this (as long as we don't touch his puzzles... lol).On Saturday we went down to Berea to pick up the Dulcimers Grand-dad was having repaired for TTU. It was a really neat shop surrounded by many other interesting little stores. There was a great toy store as well as a candy/ice cream shop Grand-dad thought we should stop by. The girl's thought ice cream was a fabulous idea and throughly enjoyed their treat! :)Kennedy with her "tiny" ice cream cone Thank you for a fun weekend and all you do for us!

Hermie - Our Elf on the Shelf

2012-01-24T22:17:00.005-05:00

For the second year we were visited by one of Santa's elves during the month of December. Our elf is named Hermie. He did a great job of checking in on the girls throughout the month as well as playing a couple of fun tricks on us. Here are Tim and the girls reading the "Elf On The Shelf" book before locating Hermie in their bedroom the first night he arrived.Hermie started off in the girl's room where he could keep a good eye on whether they went to bed nicely or not. ;)Like all of Santa's elves, Hermie hid all over the house after flying back from the North Pole each night. One morning we woke up to discover he was in our refrigerator and had colored one of our gallons of milk green! lol :)Another morning we woke up to Hermie with our Rudolph book, red paint and this note. This happenned one weekend when Grammy and Grand-Dad were visiting in December. The girls were sleeping with Grammy and noticed each other's noses before they even saw the note. I need to have Grammy clarify but I think Reagan woke up first and exclaimed "Kennedy your nose is red!" to which Kennedy defiantly replied "No it's not!!!" Then she saw Reagan and exclaimed "Reagan, your nose is red!!!" General excitement then ensued as they ran around the house waking up everyone to discover who had had their noses painted by Hermie. He also left the girls new paints that evening. It was awesome! lol :) My 3 favorite little rudolphs We have gotten surprisingly little snow this year. It's been a source of great dissapointment around here. Hermie, and Elden (Grammy and Grand-Dad's elf who came to visit our house when they came for Christmas) must have been missing the snow at the North Pole too because one morning just before Christmas we woke up to find they had made snow angels out of sugar and left us a book about snow and hibernation as well.

The girls were so sad Christmas Eve when Hermie had to fly back home for the last time. We've decided Hermie may need to make an appearance or two throughout the year to monitor behavoir in our house. You've never seen kids so excited to clean up the basement as the morning Hermie decided to hide down there to see if all the toys were picked up. Thank you for your visit Hermie. We can't wait to see you again in December, or before if you should decide to make a surprise sneak visit! :)

Christmas Card Pictures

2012-01-24T01:38:00.005-05:00

These didn't all make the cut, obviously, but they were the best of the hundreds that Mom and Dad helped us take to use for our card. It's always an experience! We still talk about whether or not we might have a 4th child. Anytime we take pictures I think we are all (Tim, Mom and I) in agreement we should not have any more children. lol :) Sorry to those of you who didn't receive Christmas cards or received them late. I started out well and then somehow got really disorganized this year. I promise to do better next year! We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and 2012 has started on a very happy note! :)Reagan (4 1/2 years old)Kennedy (3 years old)Jackson (14 1/2 months old)

Decorating for Christmas

2012-01-22T23:53:00.005-05:00

I typically decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. Because we watch the Polar Express in the basement on Thanksgiving evening this year we decided to go ahead and put up the kids tree in the basement Wednesday evening to enjoy during the movie. It is a very bright and colorful tree with a semi-candy theme. Missy K got right into the spirit and loved decorating the tree. "Princess" Reagan was busy watching a movie while everyone else was working. She insisted Grammy come and watch with her. :)I made sourdough sticky buns for breakfast the morning after Thanksgiving for us to eat while we were busy decorating. Jackson throughly enjoyed his. I don't think he could stuff enough in or fast enough. lol :)Sweet Missy K really wanted to help and worked very hard wherever/whenever we let her. Bless her heart she broke multiple ornaments but nothing irreplacable. Grand-Dad caught some precious pictures of her working on the big Christmas tree in our living room.Here's a picture of Kennedy taking a "picking" break. I don't know why, but she is always picking at her fingers. She'll even tell us she's "pickin' pickin' pickin" or that she's being a "picky picker" and then giggles and giggles. When I first saw this picture I couldn't figure out what she was doing, then I wasn't going to include it and then I decided I would because of that super cute smile and because in years to come it will remind me of my silly picky picker, Missy K."Jackson and Daddy working hard on decorating lol :)Reagan wasn't too interested in decorating the house in general this year but both girls enjoyed decorating the tree in their bedroom which sported only green and purple ornaments, their favorite colors. It was an interesting looking tree... :) It has purple lights and it was hardly ever turned on because they said it was too much light. I love my little goof balls! :)Grand-Dad took this great picture of Mom and me as we were finishing up the big Christmas tree which has a variety of glass ornaments. I really do like my big tree!

Thank you to Grammy and Grand-Dad for all their hard work in getting the house decorated! We would not have half the decorations if it weren't for them! Thank you so so so so soooooooo much! :)

Southern Lights 2011

2012-01-22T23:02:00.011-05:00

One of my favorite Christmas traditions since moving to Kentucky is going to Southern Lights at the Kentucky Horse Park. It is so much fun and I love the group Santa pictures, even if we haven't ended up with a great one yet.,, I know it's only a matter of time! Thank you so much to Uncle Dan, Aunt Dorothy, Heidi, Holden, Grammy and Grand-Dad for joining in the fun. It wouldn't be the same without you! Holden and Uncle Dan were looking at model trains but this picture turned out so well of four of our little elves that I had to lead off with it. After driving through the park and seeing the lights our first official stop is to see Santa (before the line becomes too long - we made that mistake our first year but have been much smarter ever since and get there when it's opening!)Our picture with Santa. It's a great of Reagan, right? lol :) Hugs for Santa Proof that we at least attempted a group shot of Santa with all 5 kids. I was talking to someone else about this the week afterwards and I think from now on we should take a group shot with all the adults as well. Why not, right? Especially if it makes all the kids happy! :)Heidi and Holden's picture turned out a bit better than ours.Cute CousinsHow adorable is this picture I caught of Heidi and Reagan sharing secrets? I absolutely love this precious cousins picture!!!After seeing Santa we headed over to the petting zoo which was again awesome this year! I can't believe all the animals they have! Here Reagan and Heidi are feeding goats and a baby camel.The camel has the carrot Kennedy just gave him - taking good animal/kid pictures is next to impossible!Jackson loved feeding all the animals and did a great job at it with Daddy's assistance!These Wallaby's are definitely some of the coolest animals you can see/feed/pet. Jackson stood here for the longest time watching them and reaching his little hands through to try and touch them. Jackson's patience paid off and this little wallaby was eventually extremely obliging!Have I mentioned that my son is one ornery little critter? This is the look he ususally reserves for sweet little old ladies who try to talk to him but apparently he decided to share it with this sweet wallaby as well...I guess he decided he was alright after all :)Back to feeding animals! :)After feeding camels it was time to ride on them! :) For the third year Reagan took a camel ride and this year everyone, even Jackson, was big enough to join in the fun. The girls were even able to ride it by themselves! Daddy and his sweet Elly Melly :)The only thing we really had to wait for was the train ride but it was such a gorgeous night the kids had a good time playing with each other even then.On the way out the girls decided they needed to pose in front of the large Christmas tree - what cute little divas we have! :)Grammy and Grand-Dad with Reagan, Jackson and Kennedy I love this tradition and can't wait to do it with you all again next year!

Thanksgiving 2011

2012-01-21T22:14:00.009-05:00

I'm officially less than 2 months behind after making this post... lol :) I'm going to do my best to make at least one post per day until I'm at least close to caught up! In the meantime, please enjoy these belatedly posted Thanksgiving pictures. This first one is one of my favorite pictures ever of the girls. It's out of order in terms of how the post should flow but I just love it so much I had to start with it. These sweet sisters are such good friends! :)The girls got straight to work in the kitchen Thanksgiving morning helping Grammy make some wonderful dinner rolls.Missy K worked hard at helping with Grammy's dinner rolls tooBoth girls worked especially hard at stealing dough too but I especially loved this picture I caught of Missy K... It's nothing short of a miracle we had any dinner rolls to eat for Thanksgiving!Grand-Dad caught a picture of me checking on our Turduckin - looking yummy! :)Grand-Dad sharpening and checking out his knifeA family picture posing with our traditional Thanksgiving TurduckinTime to get serious about carving that Turduckin!Our Thanksgiving Feast!Time for dessert! I cheated with a store bought pecan pie but made my favorite Paula Dean Pear and Apple pie as well as tried a new Paula Dean recipe for the pumpkin pie. I'm telling you what Ms. Paula Dean knows her pies! :)Jackson passed me right up and wanted Aunt Dorothy to hold him instead. Godmother's are pretty special! :)I can't remember the game Grand-Dad and Jackson were playing here but Jackson was loving every minute of his time outside with Grand-Dad! :) Missy K playing so nicely with the little boys :)Cute Cousins :)Here are my favorite individual pictures of some of my favorite LaBar cousins! Love you guys! We'll start with this super cute picture of Mr. Holden (25 months old)

Jackson (14 1/2 months)Reagan (4 1/2 years old)Heidi (4 1/2 years old) Kennedy (3 years old)The girls did a great job of making a Brie Wheel for us to enjoy as part of our evening snacks All three girls, and especially Missy K, enjoyed some dough after putting the Brie Wheel in the oven to bake Grammy and her three "iddo kiddos" :)

As is our tradition, we finished up our Thanksgiving day by watching Polar Express while enjoying Grand-Dad's special Hot Cocoa. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are so blessed to have such a wonderful family to spend it with!

Dry Ice Experiments

2012-01-21T01:36:00.006-05:00

It is our tradition to order a Turduckin for Thanksgiving dinner. This year when it arrived it occurred to me we should have some fun with the dry ice it used for packing our Turduckin. Thanks to the internet we were able to quickly locate several easy experiments the girls could handle. The first was a comparison of "dry" ice to our regular or "wet" ice. We discovered that dry ice skips the liquid stage which is why it is called dry ice. While regular ice leaves a water puddle behind our dry ice plate was completely dry after the ice melted/evaporated. I was busy taking videos to begin with so if you're interested you can view the video of the girls seeing how the dry ice reacts to both metal and water. After a while the girls added dish soap to increase the bubbles. We had seen that we should be able to create a huge bubble using dish soap. We actually accidentally created large bubbles on our own with the smaller bowls we were doing our initial experments with but weren't ever able to create the really big one when we were specifically trying. Go figure... Reagan was wetting the edge of the bowl with water and soap. I think we were supposed to be able to create a film before adding the dry ice but like I said before it didn't really work. It did create lots of great bubbles though! :)Playing in dry ice bubbles - I have to say these bubbles don't create nearly the mess of regular bubbles I guess because they are essentially evaporating. Who knew there was a mess free bubble play solution???When Jackson woke up from his nap the girls shared some dry ice bubbles with him. I love it when we're able to involve Jackson in our experiments or projects too!Please forgive all my unscientific commentary during this videos...

Testing how the dry ice reacts to metal

Placing the dry ice in water

Placing dry ice in water with dish soap

Jackson checking out the bubbles. I was taking pictures vs videos when he intially woke up so I missed his best reactions. While this video doesn't quite capture his level of interest he does love being a big kid and doing whatever his big sisters are involved with.

This video is a bit out of order, but I realized I hadn't included the video clip of one of the larger bubbles we spontaneously created and did want to post it as well for my own future referance.

This was such a great science experiment for the girls. It was especially neat to be able to incorporate such a spur of the moment activity into our day. This is definitely one of the best parts of Homeschooling i.e. having the ability to take advantage of opporuntities as they present themselves. Sometimes the best learning occurs during unplanned times!

I also thought this was a great opportunity to expose the girls to something that's not entirely safe. We do this frequently with cooking too. We try to be extremely careful and discuss all the dangers but I think it's important for children to be aware of their boundaries, what is and isn't safe, and how things which can be dangerous can be properly handled to our advantage. Again, another advantage of homeschooling is recognizing that there is a learning opportunity in pretty much every activity you do throughout the day. Sometimes I'm better at taking advantage of these learning opportunities than others. I wish all our days turned out this well! :)

Milk and Dish Soap Experiment

2012-01-20T23:15:00.005-05:00

This was such a cool experiment! It was actually our second time doing it as we had done it earlier in the week at the BHLC. Even though I had planned the project I didn't take my camera for some reason... I guess part of it was I didn't realize how neat it would be. Anyhoo... we changed up the variables a bit and did it again at home so I could get it on film.

Basically you pour milk on a plate and add some drops of food coloring. Then you use toothpicks (I've also read that q-tips work) to drip dish soap into the milk and watch what happens. It is literally a color explosion! When we did it the first time we had the kids try water, milk and half and half to see if there was a difference in how they color dispersed and discussed what and why there was a difference. Basically milk is made of water and fat molcules and the dish soap attaches to these molcules which forces them a part. It is literally a boiling effect of sorts. That's a super duper elementary explanation but I'm sure you get the picture and at this stage in the game we're just encouraging an interest in science as well as instilling that girls are every bit as good at experimenting as boys! :)

An Impromptu Experiment...

2012-01-20T23:03:00.007-05:00

Somtime last Fall Reagan began struggling a little more with tantrums again. One day I was trying to explain to Reagan the saying about catching more flies with honey than vinegar. That made me think about letting the girls taste the two and see which they liked better and whether they could draw their own conclusions regarding this saying. Tim thought I was being mean. It's not like I made them drink a lot. I also wasn't doing it as a punishment just a lets try and figure out what this means and why bees might like honey, i.e. nice behavoir, better than the vinegar, bad behavior. As a side note, we used sugar water because we didn't have honey in the house. I think the tape is hilarious and totally worth it n if the girls didn't get it... lol :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aWyQDgdQi8&feature=youtu.be

Kennedy's Birthday Cupcakes

2012-01-20T22:29:00.001-05:00

We made cupcakes (in green wrappers of course) in honor of Missy K's birthday to share with the kids in our BHLC classes. While Kennedy and Reagan did a wonderful job decorating them Reagan unfortunately began vomiting on our way so no one was able to enjoy our special birthday cupcakes! :( Hopefully we'll have better luck next year! :)

Kennedy's Birthday Weekend

2012-01-20T21:56:00.005-05:00

Wow! It's been a while since I've been on here! I don't know where the last two months have gone but between holidays, kids activities and life in general it certainly has slipped away from me! I've been very productive on the scrapbook front and finally have a dedicated as well as organized (be still my heart!) space set up after living in this house for 2 1/2 years. My camera has also been on the fritz but between Mom's and Dad's cameras I think I've still captured the most important moments. I've also been very busy trying to get an official classroom set up. A couple of my homeschool friends have really inspired me to set up a dedicated space and heaven only knows we have a large enough house to be able to do so. It's still a work in process, but I imagine it will be complete and ready for pictures by the time I get through posting all the pictures of the last two months. So, with no further adieu here are some random cute pictures from Kennedy's birthday weekend which, alas was the middle of November.

Anna, Chaz, Kennedy and Reagan playing slot games with Grammy on Facebook. This totally cracks me up and even Jackson has started wanting to play with Grammy. Yes, I have three little gamblers in the making. At least it's not for real money! lol :)Grammy and Kennedy being "naughty" with the squeeze cheese Grammy brought especially for Missy K Princess Kennedy throughly enjoying her special Long John's that Grammy made for breakfast to help celebrate her birthday weekend Missy K dissappeared for the longest time on Saturday morning and when I went to locate her I found her snuggled up with Grand-Dad watching Seasame Street videos and such on the computer. So sweet!I guess Mr. Jackson decided Missy K had the right idea! :)I absolutely love this picture of Chaz reading to Jackson!Missy K getting kisses from Aunt Julie while Uncle Chuck and Kennedy look at her very special birthday book from them that they made for her. Uncle Chuck let Missy K help him drive the car around the circle before they left! What an awesome uncle!!! :)Bagging Reagan along with some leaves? Yep, that's the type of help my little helpers love to provide! lol :)I began creating our classroom space the beginning of November. One item I purchased was an inexpensive black light. There is all sorts of cool stuff you can do with a black light! The kids loved painting, playing with paint and creating with pipe cleaners, wiggle eyes and pom poms through out the weekend. So much fun!Kennedy's birthday weekend also brought a love connection between our next door neighbor, Meagan and Chaz. Have you ever seen such an adorable couple?!?!?!?

Thank you to everyone who traveled and attended Kennedy's birthday celebrations! It wouldn't have been the same without you and we throughly enjoyed all of your company! Thank you again!

Cooper's House Update

2011-12-06T00:13:00.001-05:00

Our HOA met with Tiff and George tonight and here is the update:

The meeting is over. No decision yet. The facts are these (1) the board upheld their decision that the house was in violation of Andover Forests bylaws. (2) They have suspended the fines and no fines will be imposed on us until a final decision is reached.(3) We have to submit supplemental materials (Therapist letters,... doctors letters, medical records) that in fact Cooper needs his house. They want to know why Cooper can't climb a tree house or use a swing. Essentially we have to prove that he is disabled and has CP. When all of the paperwork is submitted (we have three weeks) the board will meet again and decide what to do. This will most likely take place in January. I really appreciate everyones support. I do have a simple request. It's Christmas. Cooper gets to keep his house through the holidays. It's the time of year to love thy neighbor. Although there may not be a permanent resolution to this problem as of yet, I would appreciate everyone to focus their energy towards positive thoughts for Cooper and not waste their time and energy on negative emails/phone calls to the HOA. We may not agree but it's the season of love and forgiveness. For Cooper's sake, let's take the high road. I really appreciate each and everyone of you. We wouldn't even have had a chance if it hadn't been for you. I'll keep you updated. But until then, THANK YOU and enjoy your holiday season! Love, Tiff and Coop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I haven't known Tiff very long but I can safely say she is one of the nicest people I know. I am going to try to endeavor during this holiday season to follow her example. This story isn't over and I'll keep you posted in the New Year. I think our HOA believes they can convince our neighborhood and community to forget about this story if they can put some time between now and their final decision. I pray that in that time they are able to see reason and change their minds. If not, they are seriously mistaken about our neighborhood forgetting about this. We do and will continue to support Cooper's House! So here's to a Very Merry Christmas to you all and especially Cooper and the Veloudis family! :)

Cooper's House

2011-12-02T17:27:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine made me aware of a situation yesterday. There is a family in my neighborhood who has a 3 year old son with Cerebral Palsy. For physical therapy purposes they had a playhouse built for him last spring. They have since been informed by our Homeowner's Association board that they must remove the house. They are currently facing $50 per day fines as well as a lien on their home.

I do not know this family personally. I have exchanged e-mails with them to let them know of our support and in an effort to find out what is going on. I have also communicated with our board in support of this family and finding a solution.

If you follow the links below you will see that this is a beautiful playhouse. I have difficulty understanding why this is different than any number of much larger swingsets that reside in our neighborhood, including my own yard. Especially because it is used for physical therapy purposes and because this child cannot play on a traditional swingset due to his disability.

I am embarrassed to say this situation in occurring in my neighborhood but I want to bring light to it and encourage anyone who reads this blog to sign the Twitter petition and/or like the Cooper's House Facebook page.

As a neighbor I fully support this family in their effort to keep Cooper's house. Please help share this story so our HOA is forced to reconsider their position! Thank you for your support!

Anna
:)

The letter on Facebook that was originally posted for the neighbor's benefit:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=212060388869238&id=205275262881084

Please sign the Twitter Petition in support of Cooper's House:
http://twitition.com/txu33

Our local NBC station picked up the story last night and you can watch their coverage here:
http://www.lex18.com/news/playhouse-for-boy-with-cerebral-palsy-causing-controversy-in-lexington-neighborhood/#.TtgP318eqWk.facebook

Oreo the Pony

2011-12-01T15:45:00.009-05:00

While we had multiple forms of entertainment for Missy K's 3rd birthday, the most excitement by far was Oreo, the pony. This was so much fun! We will definititely have to do it again! I only wish I had thought to have a Cowgirl party for Reagan when she was younger! :) Here's my big girl on her first of many rides on Oreo during her birthday party.One happy 3 year old birthday girl!My sweet cowgirls! :)As soon as Reagan got on the horse she began waving her hat and calling "Yee-haw!" Oreo trying to snack on Missy K's hatWhen Kennedy wasn't riding Oreo she was leading him for everyone elseReaganHeidiAnna MeaganMacyMissy KUncle Chuck did his best to convince Jackson to try a ride on Oreo but while Jackson was happy to pet Oreo there was no way he was getting on!!! Not even to ride with his big sister. After all the kids had taken turns individually they decided to take some turns together as well. Here are Heidi and Missy K together.Heidi and ReaganMissy K rode and rode and rode and everytime she had the sweetest smile on her face!Holden agreed with Jackson's assessment of Oreo - no need to ride looking was just fine. :) What a smile and happy b-day girl!Kennedy and LaurenKennedy and Uncle BarryUncle Barry, Kennedy, Lauren and MichaelI just couldn't decide between all these sweet faces! We could not have given Kennedy any better gift that this pony at her party she throughly enjoyed and loved this experience!Missy K was so worn out that she literally fell asleep on her last ride of the pony - how precious is this?After Kennedy got off the horse Grammy snuggled her right up and Missy K took a nap while everyone else ate supper. Sweet baby girl! Oreo's arrival

Kennedy riding Oreo

Leading Oreo

Thank you again for everyone who came and made Missy K's birthday celebrations so much fun!

Missy K's 3rd Birthday Party

2011-11-30T21:08:00.012-05:00

We decided to have Kennedy's 3rd birthday party earlier in November this year in order to accomodate family and friends visiting (her actual birthday was the day before Thanksgiving). We also had a horse theme, complete with a pony, and we thought we might have a better chance of good weather at the beginning vs the end of November. The weather was beautiful and we had an awesome weekend. Thank you for everyone who came and shared it with us! Here's the birthday girl with her green (her very favorite color) horse cake and one of her presents. The two birthday girls. :) Kennedy missed being Kelly's birthday buddy by just a few daysMost of the adults at the party enjoying the corral while the kids played on the trampoline, leaf pile and swingset. From left to right: Grand-Dad & Kennedy, Dorothy, Dan, Grammy & Jackson, Chuck, Julie, Kelly Charlie, Tim, Barry and Lauren.Missy K with the decorations in front of the house, the sign says "Welcome to Kennedy's Happy Hoedown"Our entryway decorationsMissy K's O-K Corral Aunt Arla gave us 3 horses so we could create a Pony Corral for Missy K's party Reagan started waving her hat in the air shouting "Yee-haw!" - Ride 'm cowgirl!Anna with Ferdinand the Bull (Aunt Arla gave this to us as well for the party - love it!)A rousing horse/bull race :)This was Jackson's favorite horse because not only does it make sound it's mouth moves up and downBesides Kennedy's "Feeding Trough" we also had a "Waterin' Hole"Instead of a large cake we had a smaller one for Missy K along with cupcakes, candy apples, caramel apples, smores and ice cream. Plenty of dessert to go around! :)Grammy with her baby boyGrammy and Grand-Dad enjoying the hoedown!Farmer Jackson - what a face! lol :)Grammy with her birthday cowgirlAunt Julie and Uncle Chuck being silly with Missy K on the floor lol :)Aunt Julie and Missy ReaganCowgirl ReaganMommy and Reagan ready to party! :)Jackson was Uncle Chuck's little buddy all weekend long!Missy K climbing a tree with LaurenWe made a leaf pile (or mountain) for the kids to jump in through out the afternoon The kids also loved jumping on the trampoline, backrow from left to right: Michael, Chaz and Megan; front row left to right: Reagan, Macy, Heidi and AnnaThey spent a lot more time looking like this than the picture above - things were a bit wild...Love that hair Holden!Nothing like tackling your big sister! :)Best buddies playing with tractors and trucks Roasting hotdogs and brats for supperReagan, doing her best to eat a candy apple - because we'd never made them before Kelly and I thought they would be better with additional candy coatings especially since we had extra. They may have tasted good, but they were so impossibly hard you couldn't bite into them to find out!A super cute LaBar cowboy and girl! Yee-haw! :)Time for some birthday cake!Thank you to everyone for all the presents for Missy K. Here she is with her new American Girl Doll, Kaya, from Grammy and Grand-Dad, her American Girl Doll horse from us, and her beautiful new princess dress from the Hamlin's. Thank you again everyone! The clean-up crew :) Grand-Dad was trying to clean-up and Jackson was seriously determined to help!The girls rolling UP the stairs for bedThank you to everyone who made Missy K's birthday party so special! We had an awesome day and weekend! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T01:51:00.003-05:00

I am so thankful for so many things this year but more than anything else I am so thankful this Thanksgiving for my 3 happy, healthy and beautiful children!

I took these pictures of the kids playing in the leaves near the beginning of November and thought they would be an appropriate Fall theme for sending Happy Thanksgiving wishes to all of you! I hope their bright faces put a smile on your face as they do mine! :)

Jackson - 14 months oldKennedy - not quite 3 years oldReagan - 4 1/2 years old Thank you for all your love and support and may you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving and holiday season!

Our "Yes Man"

2011-11-24T01:26:00.002-05:00

Since I've been posting videos of the girls I decided it was about time to post one of Jackson too. Jackson's harder to catch doing any of his tricks since he's not quite as likely to perform on que as the girls are for me. One of the cutest things he's been doing for the last month is using his eyebrows to nod yes. It is so cute and funny when he really gets going. Here Tim and I are trying to get him going and while we never really truly get him on a roll you can get an idea of it. We ask him questions like "Are you silly? Are you cute?" and he grins and nods including those eyebrows. Adorable! :)

Jackson loves Grammy! Here she has him giggling up a storm by tickling him and holding him upside down when they visited the first weekend in November. lol :)

There are a couple of things I would love to catch Jackson doing on tape and haven't been fortunate enough thus far. One is while the girls sing the notes to their violin pieces and do the hand signs he holds up his hand and moves it to the beat. It is so cute!!! Another thing he has started doing in the last month is try to play the game "Rock, Paper, Scissors" with the girls. I don't think he quite gets the idea and he always does a cross between a rock and a scissor (it looks like a rock with one finger out) we (including Jackson) all think he is hilarious doing his best to keep up and participate in his sister's games. This past week he has also started doing "Eeny, meany, miny, mo (splg?) Catch a tiger by the toe etc... He obviously can't speak it but the girls say it while pointing to everyone including Jackson. When they've finished we tell him it's his turn and he points to everyone and then laughs and laughs. It is way too cute! I sure love this sweet baby boy! :)

Violin Recital Fall 2011

2011-11-24T00:02:00.005-05:00

Both girls take violin lessons. Reagan began in June of 2010 and Kennedy began this Fall. They are both doing well and we absolutely love their studio teacher, Bethany Watts. She is beyond wonderful! The first weekend in November Kennedy was able to participate in her first violin recital and we were so proud of her for playing "Pop Goes the Weasal!"Reagan, in her 3rd violin recital, playing "Allegro" with GrammyOur three fabulous musicians! Grammy and Grand-Dad drove up on Sunday just so they could hear the girl's recital and also so Grammy could accompany them both on piano. We know what an effort that was and we certainly appreciate that effort and the trip. Thank you so much Grammy and Grand-Dad!!! Reagan and Kennedy with their wonderful teacher, Bethany WattsAunt Arla with my sweet girls before the recital. Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott actually chose this weekend to visit because they wanted to attend the recital. Thank you so much for your support and driving all the way from Wisconsin to hear the girls play! It means so much to us!Silly Missy K doing I don't know what before the recital... :)I can't believe how Miss Reagan is growing up!Poor Grand-Dad was not feeling well but he still made it to the recital. Thank you so much for coming!My sweet girls - I'm so proud of you and love you so much!Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott are Reagan's Godparents so we definitely needed a picture of them with just Reagan. Thank you again for coming to this recital! :)Aunt Dorothy and Heidi came to the girl's recital too and were so sweet to bring both the girl's their own bouquet of flowers. Thank you so much for coming and for the flowers! Reagan playing "Allegro" with Grammy accompanying her on piano

Kennedy began taking violin lessons this Fall. Here she is "popping" the E string in "Pop Goes the Weasal" as Grammy accompanies her on piano and her teacher, Bethany Watts, plays the rest of the piece on violin.

Thank you for everyone who came to support the girls and made our day more special! Congratulations to both girls on a job well done!

Leaf Jumping Party

2011-11-23T13:46:00.007-05:00

On Saturday afternoon Aunt Arla and I took the kids to a leaf jumping party some friends of ours had invited us too. As much as I love Fall and jumping in leaves I can't believe it has never occurred to me to have a leaf jumping party!?!?! I'm glad we have friends who were smart enough to come up with the idea! :) It was a gorgeous day and we had such a great time at their farm!Let the leaf fun commence! :)Liam is one of Reagan's good friends from BHLC and it was his family who was throwing the leaf jumping party.hayride and a fantastic playset/area, almost like a mini playground.They also launched several rockets. These were a lot of fun to watch as well as chase and recover in the field.Jackson enjoying a sweet snuggle with Aunt Arla after eating some snacks and a cupcake. :)Now that we've been to our first leaf jumping party, we can't wait to attend more in the future! :)

Christmas in November

2011-11-23T08:19:00.007-05:00

Since we won't see Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott again before Christmas we decided to celebrate Christmas with them Saturday morning. I pulled out a small tree and Aunt Arla did the rest. Here's Missy K checking out all the beautiful packages.Even though it was small Jackson was fascinated by the tree and kept pointing at it.Missy K exclaiming "WOW!!!" as she opened her big gift from Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott. After her loud exclamation we asked what it was and she exclaimed "I don't know!!!" lol :)Here was my view of the "WOW!!!" (the last picture was from Aunt Arla's camera)Here she is trying to see what it is. She just kept going in circles. Still excited about it even though she can't see all her new Disney princesses.At least Missy K could inspect her new dolls! Uncle Scott volunteered to help Missy K get all of the princesses out of their box.Daddy received a Packer cheese tie among other goodies for Christmas. :)The girls and I all three received cheeseheads - yay! :) Reagan especially loved the hat and wore it for the rest of the morning. :)With a bit of encouragement Jackson eventually began to open gifts too. He loved this little tractor set with farmer and animals. When you set them in the tractor or wagons they make the appropriate noise.Aunt Arla kept trying to get Jackson interested in his other gifts but everytime she trie to get him to open something new he just set his new animals down on top of the gift. It was so funny! lol :)Once we finally helped/convince him to open the rest of his gifts he was pretty excited about his large tractor and wagon too.Jackson had a blast playing in the garbage bag with all the wrapping paper with Aunt Arla Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott gave Reagan a new American Girl Doll for Christmas. Reagan insisted the bow on the hat should be in the front. Everytime we saw it we discreetly turned it around and everytime Reagan sees it (even now 3 weeks later) she turns it right back around to the way she thinks it should be. lol :)I love this picture Aunt Arla took of Jackson and me - I love this sweet baby boy! :)After being a sweet baby boy for a while Jackson decided it was time for another donut. He walked into the kitchen and stood pointing to the counter where he knew the donuts were.When we didn't respond he got a little upset. I'm telling you this boy has a temper!!! Don't worry though, once he had a donut in hand all was right with the world again. lol :)After we were officially finished with our Christmas celebrations we moved on to Missy K's birthday. What can I say? It was a busy morning here! We didn't have birthday cake so we had birthday pizza instead. :)Missy K loved all her birthday presents and this horse (which neighs and moves it's mouth) is a favorite of everyone's at present. :)Including Daddy who was very silly with Missy K's new horseBusy baking our favorite Apple/Pear Pie for our leaf jumping party later in the day

Thank you for the amazing Christmas and Birthday celebration Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott!

Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott's Nov Visit

2011-11-23T07:50:00.005-05:00

Uncle Scott and Aunt Arla came to visit us from Wisconsin the first weekend in November. They left Wisconsin Thursday afternoon so got to our house in the wee hours of Friday morning when all the kids were fast asleep. There were to extremely excited little girls to see them when they woke up Friday morning!Missy K has a special "happy dance" reserved exclusively for Uncle Scott anytime she sees him and she got right to it as soon as he came into view!Reagan joined in the "happy dancing" and "big hugs" too! :)Meanwhile Jackson got down to business with some of Uncle Phil's super yummy cheese whips that Aunt Arla had ordered and brought to us.I'm not sure why Reagan was flopped on the floor or why Jackson decided to lie down on top of her but I sure thought it was cute! :)Uncle Scott and Aunt Arla with our sweet girlsAunt Arla with her girls - when I bought these outfits for the girl I was specifically thinking of Aunt Arla so I'm glad she approved of the outfits.An attempt at getting a picture of just the kids after being unsuccessful with a group shot with Uncle Scott and Aunt Arla - Jackson wasn't in the mood to sit still - big surprise there... lol :)Jackson thought his Packer helmet was pretty interestingHe kept insisting on putting it on his head backwards. We obviously have a little bit to learn about football... My little Leopard Print Packer Princesses lol :)Aunt Arla and I took the girls out in the morning but came home to put Jackson down for a nap. We were going to run back out to do a couple of things but Reagan decided she wanted to stay home with Uncle Scott. When we got back this was the view we were met with - Reagan watching cartoons, Jackson eating froot loops which Uncle Scott was handing him one at a time and Uncle Scott working. It was too cute and too funny!Some of our neighbors were taking down their Halloween display so we asked if we could have their hay bales to help get ready for Missy K's Cowgirl 3rd birthday party the following weekend. Reagan and Kennedy worked hard at trying to pull the bales but it was pretty heavy. We actually ended up bringing the van down and loading up most of the haybales.This is one determined little girl...Time for a break - we'll let Aunt Arla do the work...Jackson and I providid a bit of assistance tooFriday evening Uncle Dan, Aunt Dorothy, Heidi and Holden came over to join us for hot dogs and brats over our fire pit. I love doing this sort of mini cook out on nice spring and fall evenings! Thanks so much for such a fun Friday! :)

Gymnastics Fall 2011

2011-11-21T19:35:00.004-05:00

The girls began taking gymnastics this Fall and love it! I can't say enough about Legacy Gymnastics and its coaches. They are awesome! Reagan began the Fall as a "Big Foal" but has been promoted to a Star Filly which is an invitation only class for 5 and above. Here is Reagan with her coach Ms. Cindrella on the beam. BridgesHandstandShowing off her bicep - she is buff! Everyone tells us how strong Reagan is and Ms Cindyrella told me during her first class that she has the body of a gymnast. Watch out Olympics here we come! lol :)Missy K is quite strong too and does an excellent job with her splits. She has been in a "Little Foals" class this Fall (due to a class cancelation which resulted in a timing issue for us). This class is technically a little advanced for her but she has done a great job keeping up and her teacher couldn't believe she was only 2 when she discovered it about a month ago. Missy K's BridgeHandstand with a little bit of help from Miss Courtney This is a video of Reagan doing a pullover. She can almost do it by herself with no assistance. I'm amazed everytime I see these little guys getting so close to pulling themselves over and/or actually doing it.

I messed this video up by not starting it when I thought I had. I still caught Reagan at the top of the rope. She absolutely loves to climb the rope and so far I haven't seen any other little guys who come anywhere close to climbing it as high or as fast as Reagan. Today Reagan was up and down a higher rope than this one and on her second lap around the gym before I even had time to get upstairs to watch her. She is one strong little girl!

Here are a couple of videos of Missy K doing pullovers and hanging from the uneven bars. She is really strong too, I can't believe how long she can hang from the uneven bars. I love how excited she is in these videos. She can't wait for them to tell her she can move to the "Big Foals" class!

http://www.legacy-gymnastics.com/

Ballet Fall 2011

2011-11-21T16:04:00.004-05:00

We are typically not allowed to come in and watch the girl's ballet classes (except through the window in the door) because parents tend to be a distraction. Once a semester, however, the invite us to come in and observe the class. It was a little tough with Mr. Jackson in tow but I was able to take a couple cute pictures of Missy K (this is her first semester of ballet) and Reagan. Here are the girls with their teacher Ms. Jeanna.My happy little ballerina Both girls have good splits but Missy K's gymnastics coach has commented on hers in particular.Reagan is the one on the end with her leg up in the air (furthest to the left of the picture). Kenned is two in looking at the floor... lol :)A couple of videos from the girl's classes too. In this first video Reagan is the second one away from her teacher.

Reagan is closest to the camera in this video and Kennedy is directly across from where I'm taping.

We have loved having the girls at the Lexington Ballet. Everyone there is so sweet and we especially love Miss Jeanna! Unfortunately I think we're going to have to give up ballet in the spring because our schedules have been a bit full this Fall. The girls are really taking off in gymnastics so I think we've decided we're going to focus on that activity vs splitting our time between the two. We've sure loved being involved with the Lexington Ballet, however, and we'll definitely continue to support them!