Good thing sleds are so cheap

Last Saturday was the warmest day of the past week.  It was also the day after a fair amount of snow had fallen.  Time to drag the sleds out of the garage for their yearly trip to the park.  I drove the boys club of Marcus, Cale, Ewan, Liam and their neighbor friend.  

The park has a great hill that goes down into the golf course area.  Clearly, we were not the only ones taking advantage of the weather.

Marcus was good about letting Liam ride with him.  Then I convinced Liam to take a trip down by himself....no more hitching a ride after that!

Liam had a blast and I constantly caught him eating snow!

This boy....he would be the one covered in snow.

The best way to get a picture of a group of boys-wait until they are tired.

5 boys + 3 sleds = sledding fun!

This is it: our big project for 2015

Demo has started for our home improvement project of the year: replacing our old, builder's grade carpet with hardwood laminate flooring. The hardest part, choosing the color of the floors, took a long time. We settled on a color called Jordan Maple Oak. Its got some more variation in the boards than regular oak. Its already helped make the front room look bigger and lighter. Andy is off work this week with the goal to refloor the downstairs. We would also like to do the stairs and upstairs hallway, but the big work will be the first floor. Hoping to get lots done. Next room area to do is the kitchen and eating area. Should be a faster demo since this area had vinyl flooring down. I've added a picture so all can see the color of the floors.

Kinley, 20 months

We got to see our favorite pediatrician on Tuesday for a check-up for Kinley.  Hugs all around between the doctor, Kella and me, except for Kinley.  But, she was quite pleasant to our doctor for almost all the visit.  And, no shots, which was icing on the cake.  Kinley weighs 29 pounds (70th%) and is around 31.5 inches tall (75th%).  Compared to Kella at this age, she is a pound heavier and a quarter inch taller.  Right about the same, I would say.  

Kinley likes playing with the princesses.  She likes to play with the ones that Kella likes the best.

Her hair is getting long.  I fear the day I have to have Kinley's hair cut.  Right now we mostly pull her hair back with bows. 

She loves apples and bananas.  Kinley also likes to climb onto chairs and stools.  Yippee.

Kinley's little personality has become much friendlier and happier.  She is usually smiley and loves to give us "Kinley hugs".  So sweet.  But, when she is angry, whoa, look out.  

My lame attempt at basketball photos

Well, basketball season is a few weeks from being done.  I am pretty excited to not run children to practices every night of the week.  I have hardly taken any pictures of the kids this season.  To bring my camera to the games is the last thing on my mind.  But,  I still have a bit of time, so we'll see if I get motivated to take some pictures.  But, I did get pictures of the plaques that Grandpa Jerry got for sponsoring some of the basketball teams this year.  I think Liam, Ewan and Cale's teams were all supposed to be sponsored by him, but Cale's team ended up with different colored jerseys and Grandpa ended up with a plaque with children he didn't know.  

Here is Liam's team-Butler. That one coach is pretty cool.  This is the most passive group of kindergarten players I have ever seen.  We haven't won a game.  And, we probably won't win any.  But, the kids have improved their skills and that is exciting to see. 

Here is Ewan's team.  They play some good ball.  Ewan has really improved this year and a couple weeks ago scored the basket that won the game for his team.  Very cool.

This weekend promises 5 games: 2 for Ewan, 2 for Liam and 1 for Cale.  

Marcus's contest pictures or And in this post, I may have successfully upload photos from my phone

Here we go. Pictures of Marcus from his solo contest.  He played at 8:55 in the morning which was early (for me) to get organized and go there, but a great time because we had basketball games all day (of course) that we had to get back for.  Grammy Linda got to come hear Marcus play, as well.  These photos are backwards and the post before this has the video link to most of the song that Marcus played.  He was pretty excited to get a gold medal.  And, excited to be done with contest.

showing off the gold

after performing, with the gold medal notice

getting ready to play

Marcus trombone solo

Marcus had his solo/ensemble contest last weekend.  He played the Surprise Symphony and did a pretty good job for his first contest.  He got a gold medal for his effort and was so excited.

princess stuff

I like to say that I had to wait for my girls because the Lord wanted to teach me self-control.

Or, maybe, he just wanted me to be gainfully employed so I could afford the ladies and their accessories.  

At Target the other day, Kella wanted "sparkly hair ties" and some "girl clothes".  Some new hairbands, a bejeweled hairbrush and a couple shirts were in order.

We have also had some new family members join Anna and Elsa in their dollhouse.

(That's 7 princesses in the doll house.  Good thing Lanny got the girls a three story one.  This picture is missing Cinderella and Merida, who joined us this week.)

I have become an enable-er in the princess clothing department.  "Of course we can get another princess dress.  We don't have a Tiana dress yet."

This is all Kella wears.  I hope Kinley likes princesses just as much or her clothing choices for this size clothes will be slim.

Yes, having princesses can be a little expensive.  But I love it.

weekly post of random-end of January

Here we are again.  Tuesday morning.  Watching Odd Squad with the boys before they get ready for school.  The one time a day when I can use my computer without fear of anyone, any kid asking if they can use it instead.  

Time for another random update post. Complete with random pictures.  From the end of January.

Kella, modeling Liam's Harry Potter glasses.  Also, she is wearing her very favorite princess dress-from Frozen.

Kinley.  I thought I could get a great picture of her to send out to everyone.  You know, she has a very short window of being agreeable sometimes.  Probably shouldn't have tried taking this while a movie was playing.

We had a lot of sickies this week.  The girls started it, and the boys ended it.  Marcus was feeling ick on Friday evening, and Ponyo wanted to make sure he was okay.

Random shot of most of my snowmen.  I was planning on putting them away at the end of January, but then it snowed, so I thought I would leave them out for a little while longer. 

Cale made it through basketball Saturday before he started feeling yuck.

The littles watched some Frozen.  On my computer, of course.

Ewan was ick, also.  This yuckiness only lasted about 24 hours, so by Sunday it had cleared up and moved on from our house.

Played some games this weekend.  Got some Munchkin and Pathfinder in.

And, finished another project.  Got the kids' hands traced and cut our for this progressive Christmas ornament.  Every year, you complete a cutout off your kiddo's hand and add it to a ring with their other hands.  You can see how much they've grown over the year.  My goal for January was to get the kids' hands finished from last Christmas.  I'll have to buy something to attach their hands to later.  Just a fun, personalized ornament for the tree for each kid.  

Goals for February:  register the kids for soccer, hang some more pictures and artwork on the walls, schedule eye doctor and regular doctor visits for the grown folk here, work on spring break plans, continue to scrapbook and start formulating garden plans.