Mom's Tea

Last Thursday I was invited to Brayden's classroom for mom's tea.

We started out with a little play time

Brayden, Riley, Abigail and I all played with the wooden blocks and vehicles

Then it was time for Brayden to do a little singing and dancing around.

After that it was gift time. Brayden decorated his pen with a special purple color for me.

Before we arrived the kids were busy decorating valentine heart cookies

Then it was time to eat them:)

I have a horse in my basement!

Thanks to grandpa(and grandma too) Alexis can now play with a life size miniature horse. On Valentines Day grandpa won this special horse named"Mollie" at a benefit. The next day we were about to leave the house(That's why she is dressed in her coat and hat) when grandpa and grandma pulled up and brought her the surprise!

Here they are trying to get it to sit up

I think she was in shock, she didn't know what to say

Mollie now has a bridle and halter(thanks to Tami), Alexis is in heaven!

Valentine Treats

The day before Valentines Day, grandma came up to help us make some yummy treats.

Riley after putting his marshmallow on a stick.

Grandma helping Brayden dip his marshmallow

Alexis concentrating(this was the day she had off of school)

Lazy Days...

What's going on around here?

-Last week the temperature warmed up and the snow has melted, however now it is cold again.

-Brayden is sick, again.(We were doing so good!)

-I'm not doing so good on the weight loss these days. I wish this wasn't so hard for me!!

-It's Monday and I'm ready for the weekend already:) I am hosting a digital/scrapbook day on Saturday. Yeah, can't wait!

-Alexis didn't have school on Friday or Today. She is such an awesome helper:)

-My kitten loves me:) She is sleeping on my lap as I type this:)

-We joined Netflix a week or so ago and absolutely LOVE it! I have watched more movies in the last week or two then I have in the last year!(I'm not kidding either!).

-A few of my favorites are The sisterhood of the traveling pants 1 and 2, Juno, Ladder 49 and Fireproof.

-I have picked out my DSLR camera and can't wait to purchase it after our tax return comes:)

-We had our taxes done over the weekend:)

-Alexis told me the other day she wanted Daddy to be the president. Jason informed us that isn't possible.

-We bought 15 fish on Brayden's birthday and 7 of them have died. (must have been a bad batch)

-Just got a call from the Pediatrician she wants to see Brayden, I guess I'm done typing, off to the doctor:(

Illustrations by Alexis:

We received this book from Alexis' teacher at her conferences. She was very impressed by the way she illustrated it, as were we:) Her teacher says Alexis usually runs out of time to color because she tries to do a really good job every time.

Pics

Alexis lost her 4th tooth

Movie night with popcorn and malts

So Proud!!

Thursday Aunt Kelly picked up Brayden from preschool and brought him out for his birthday. They weren't able to make it to his party since they were visiting Lydie in Wisconsin. Brayden had a great time eating at Applebees(eating his food and Kelly's too:)) Have I mentioned my kids are great eaters! Then she brought him to Target to pick out his own presents. He came home with a big smile and a truck that has a trailer with a jet ski. He hasn't stopped talking about the jet ski:)


That night we were off to Alexis' kindergarten conferences. I can't tell you how proud we are of Alexis!! We knew that she was excelling in school. But to be told that she is at the "Top of her class" makes a mommy proud:) Her teacher couldn't say enough good things about her. We were also told she will be starting the accelerated reading program in the next couple weeks.


Friday I had the day off from daycare. Brayden had his 4 year check up. Again proud mommy:) We were filling out a questionnaire that had a list of things that Brayden could do and had to participate in. The doctor came in twice while we were doing the activities and kept saying he is so smart and it never takes this long. Because you are suppose to stop the activities after you answer NO to 3 questions. Well we ended up getting all the way through to the last question before answering NO to, can you child balance on one foot for 8 seconds:) Which he couldn't because he was too giggly and got bored with all the questions:) Brayden is still skinny in the 15% of weight but he has gotten taller in the 28%. Brayden is now up to date on his shots. Since he got 4 of them 8(! Ouch, he was not happy. But I treated him to a special smiley cookie from our local bakery and that cheered him up a bit. Then we were off to Cabelas for me to get my Christmas present. A fishing pole, for our trip to Canada this year:) Can't wait!!!! After that we picked up Alexis early from school and were off to the dentist. Both kids were great! They both sat quietly and let the hygienist clean and xray and polish their teeth! We ended a fun day with popcorn and homemade strawberry shakes while watching the movie Tarzan with the kids. While eating Alexis decided it was time to pull out her 4th tooth, which has been hanging by a thread(along with a few others). So I grabbed it and pulled it out. She was so excited when the tooth fairy left her some money:)


I will post some pictures maybe tomorrow of her tooth gone. I need to get them off my camera. (which I would like to toss in the garbage:)) Can't wait to get a new camera. I have it picked out just need to come up with the money:)


Yesterday we took a walk partway around the frozen lake with the kids. They enjoyed it when they weren't complaining about who had more of the sled! It was nice to get out in the sun. It was in the high 30's.

Nature Center-Winter Trip

Jason again volunteered to go with Alexis' class to the nature center.


On Wednesday morning it was freezing cold!! I believe it was around 0 degrees. The kids were all bundled up in their snow pants and warm clothing. It was just the parents who were a bit chilled.

This guy had seeds from something in his hand(not sure what?)

I guess he told the kids they could eat some of the snow from a certain area? I don't know if you can trust an animal hasn't gone in that area? But Alexis found the biggest piece she could and started chomping away on it:)

Here the kids are walking around on the turtle pond. Funny that only a few short months ago there were turtles swimming around in the water here!

Alexis found a great area to make a snow angel.

At the end the kids all were able to go into and through a snow fort.

Alexis has been begging one of us to eat lunch with her. I mentioned that to Jason and he decided with Alexis' help of begging, to eat lunch with her. So after they got back from the nature center Jason went to gym with them and then were off to lunch. Taco's were the pick of the day. I'm sure Alexis was beaming with a smile from ear to ear.

Braydens Birthday Day:)

Monday was Braydens actual Birthday. When Alexis got home from school we had Brayden open up his presents from us. We gave him another Leapster game. He has so many different emotions, I love to capture him on camera:) He was excited to open his gifts. He wanted to play with them right then, but we were on a schedule, we were meeting our friends in the cities for supper.

We have heard so many good things about this restaurant, we wanted to try it for his birthday. I wasn't sure if the kids would eat this Korean food, I have made Bulgogi before but we haven't ventured to deep into Korean food.

Both kids were really interested in the chop sticks. Alexis really wanted to learn how to use them. Brayden stabbed some of his food with them.

Man Du, Alexis loved these! Brayden ate a few of them.

What he really liked was the noodles out of my Bulgogi bowl. I'm not sure what they are called but he loved them! He wanted hot sauce on them. See the red container on the table that is hot sauce. It was very spicy. He couldn't get enough. Jason is laughing at him, because of the sauce.

I didn't get any good pictures of Alexis eating but she really surprised me. She loved the Man Du and the potatoes with soy sauce and a few of the other things. They also ate some of our friends Bulgogi pancakes. Alexis is eager to go back, she liked it so much:) She even tried the Kimchi which is spicy cabbage. She didn't like it but at least she tried:)

Family Picture:)

Brayden's Birthday party

Sunday we celebrated Brayden's 4th birthday. This picture was from Friday, Riley couldn't wait for Bryaden to open his gift, so he brought it with him to daycare. Brayden opened it right away and I think he very much approved with a thumbs up:)

Brayden wanted a John Deere tractor on his cake this year:)

Our friends Colin and Hayden were hanging on to their daddy's legs:)

Brayden before opening his gifts

One of his favorites(this is the only thing he asked for) A Leapster Cars game from Uncle Chris and Aunt Jill. He really hasn't stopped playing it all day.

A really cool motorcycle from his friends Owen and David

Time to eat cake

Andrea and Hayden

Aunt Jill and Alexis

Brayden eating his cake and Ice Cream

Grandma and Grandpa with Brayden

Heat Wave!!

Yesterday was such a nice day! I didn't watch the weather but I know when I was in the car it said it was 40 degrees!!!! WooHoo!!!!

We took advantage of the heat wave and went to Tami and Ryans farm. Alexis was super excited when Tami asked her to ride the horse. You should have seen that grin on her face:)

Tami led Tree(the horse)around the yard because the snow was too deep in the round pen.

Brayden decided he was big enough this year he wanted to try it too. Jason helped keep him steady. Just in case.

Riley woke up from his nap and was happy to see his friends outside.

He got up on Tree too. Jason helped hold him steady behind Alexis

Here Alexis was helping Tami lead Tree back to the pasture

Later in the evening. Alexis snuggled up with Emma(, Tarzan, Tigger, Munchkin, and Sassy too)in the house.

And the boys enjoyed watching the fish in the salt water tank

Then they decided it was time to do some construction