Walmart Shopper

He's much cuter than the People of Walmart pictures!

Of course, what you don't see is the shoes on the wrong feet :)

Months of the Year

Rudy's preschool version of the months of the year and days of the week:

First Grade Field Trip

Brady's class finally got to go on their "fall" field trip this week. (The original was cancelled due to rainy weather.) We went to a science museum; the kids had a great day and I loved watching Brady with his classmates.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Brady's school is celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday today and all the kids were encouraged to dress like a Dr. Seuss character. Brady and one of his class buddies decided to be Thing 1 and Thing 2, and how can I complain? It's a super-easy costume; James even put it together last night while I was at a meeting!

I figured a kid can't really start a day like today without some green eggs and ham...

I wish we had gone outside or somewhere with better lighting to take these pictures. It's too dark to see how blue and spiky his hair is!

Snow day crafts

We had another snow day here last week, which was perfect timing for some Valentine's Day crafts. We spent the morning playing at a friend's house (where Brady twisted his ankle) before getting started.

The boys created custom hats, gloves, and pillows to give as gifts:

Jacob even got in on the fun.

They did some sewing (yarn and big fat needles in knit hats). Pretty funny to see three little boys sitting on the floor sewing together!

so proud of themselves:

Snake stromboli

We have recently instituted a new chore chart here, mainly to try to give Rudy some focus in his daily routine (in hopes of reducing the epic battles we've engaged in with him lately...).

It's really not much of a hardship, as most of the activities are things that need to be done to function anyway, but the challenge for Rudy sometimes is that they have to be done without a fight to count. The "chores" are: get dressed and put away PJs, brush teeth, clear his breakfast dishes, pick-a-chore, homework/reading, clear his dinner dishes, brush teeth, put on his jammies and put clothes in the hamper, and say his prayers. The pick-a-chore can vary, but two days a week they have to make sure their rooms are clean. Generally, they've chosen to set and/or clear the table for this one. The bonus is that if they do extra chores, they get paid for them. Although, Brady is the only one who has taken us up on this offer.

So far, this is a bit more simple than our old chart since the kids just mark items off with a dry erase marker every day; for some reason, that process alone is very exciting to them. (I guess I love marking things off lists too!)

We had a really busy couple days this last week, so they were behind on the pick-a-chores. To catch up, one night they made dinner and set AND cleared the table! (Someday, when I don't have to help with each of those steps, this will be a REAL treat!) For dinner, the boys made a snake stromboli:

They were really proud of themselves and their hard work!

Overheard

I drove the kids to school a few weeks ago and this was the conversation in the back:

MK: We’ve been hunting snakes for ages!

JT: Not for ages. Ages are too long ago. Ages are when the dinosaurs lived.

MK: The cave men came alive after the dinosaurs, but I don’t know where they came from because they didn’t have a mom or a dad.

BG: They evolved

SK (same time as BG): They came from God.

BG: Well, everything came from God.

JT: Well, not everything.

BG: Like what?

JT: Donuts.

I love that my kid, child of a scientist, drops evolution into the conversation while still being able to attribute it all to God...

hairstyle

Rudy generally likes to do his own hair when he showers. Unfortunately, he tries to style it while the shampoo is still in and then gets very distraught when we have to wash out the product!

This time, he wanted to comb his hair himself after the shower and was getting really frustrated that he couldn't get it to look just right. He took me up on his offer to help and I combed it to the side. That wasn't good enough; he wanted it "like Brady's hair." After some confusion, I finally figured out that this apparently meant one little curl sticking down in front. Who knew?

Smarshmallow Making

We've been talking about making smarshmallows for months now, so we finally found time today to try it out. (Note that Rudy doesn't actually call them Smarshmallows anymore, but James and I still insist on doing so...)

It is surprisingly easy and the kids loved the chemistry experiment aspects of boiling the sugar and watching the mixture fluff up from a gooey liquid to the poofy product. Of course, that product might have been even fluffier had I read the instructions correctly and not added only a third of the recommended amount of gelatin...

Sticky faces after licking the beaters:

Boiling the sugar:

Mixing in the sugar: (Rudy thought it smelled bad, hence the funny face.)

Sugar mixture, boiling away:

Mixing in the gelatin and watching the mixture "poof up". That's the scientific term.

The almost final product:

Story Time

I love these two, especially when they love each other!

Mad Skills

Brady had his first basketball game of the season today. I think it's fairly obvious that he's been practicing a lot - he played really well! I love his facial expressions and enthusiasm!

Beach Movie

Ahh - it looks so relaxing. And seems like so long ago!

Snow day

More snow here last week! We love it - if it's going to be cold, it might as well snow!

Poor Charlie - stuck at home:

Trudging up that hill is exhausting!

Snow pup. She does have eyes, really.

Brady and Rudy built a snowman by themselves (first one!):