Valentine's Day

The kids celebrated Valentine's this year with a fun party at school. They were so excited because this was their first time to make and exchange Valentine's with their friends...the last few years their party has fallen on a day they were not a school. I took off a few hours from work to help out with the party...I was totally impressed at how well behaved their class was. I expected a ton of chaos with all the extra "party" energy the kids had, but their teacher had a great handle on them. Each of the kids got a chance to pass out all of their Valentine's to each other...it was so sweet to watch. I have a great video of them singing Jesus Loves Me, if only I could figure out how to download videos! I had to sneak out right when they were starting to eat their desserts, so I'm not sure what happened after they consumed massive doses of sugar, but I'm assuming they were perfect little angels:)

Be sure to check out the recipe blog...I'll be trying to post some of the Valentine's treats I made!

Soccer

Hannah and Hunter started a co-ed indoor soccer program at the rec center last week and are loving it! I had no idea how entertaining it would be to watch a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds run around playing soccer....their first game was total chaos but so much fun. I decided to take Hannah out of dance for a little while, partly because I wanted her to try something new and partly because it was Hunter's turn to do something he wanted to do...and he really wanted to do soccer! They have practices every Friday and games on Saturday mornings. This past Saturday was their first game...they had a double header. To say the kids were exhausted after the games would be a major understatement. What made it very interesting, was that the second team they played they had to switch goals....this totally through the kids off and they were pretty much kicking the ball to the wrong side for the first half of the game. They won the first game and lost the second...the teams don't really keep score....but Kevin does:) Kevin has been able to help the coach a lot with the practices and the games so that has been really neat for the kids. Both the kids did great for their first game....Hunter really jumped in and wasn't afraid to get in there and kick the ball. Hannah (sweet, shy, girly Hannah) got out there and kind of froze up for a while...I don't think she expected there to be so many people in the bleachers. She also took a pretty good tumble and bruised her elbow at the beginning of the first game. She surprised me and hung in there though, and actually kept up with the kids following the ball for the next game. I'm not really sure soccer will be Hannnah's thing, but I'm glad she is at least trying it....and she loves her pink shin guards! We are very proud of both of the kids and can't wait for the next game!

We bought the kids a goal from Academy so they could practice at home...unfortunately we haven't been able to use it outside because it's been so rainy and wet, but the kids had a great time practicing their goalie stances and tough faces

before their first practice

right before the first game...notice Hannah yawning?

hunter hanging out with the boys on the sideline

huddling up with their coach, strategizing:)

my sweet boy

Christmas 2011

I'm still trying to catch up on blogging, so here's a few photos from the Christmas holidays. This year was pleasantly low key and relaxing....we went to my Dad's a few days before Christmas to see the family, then to my mom's for Christmas Eve, then our house Christmas morning and Dickey and Pam's for Christmas day. I know that doesn't sound relaxing, but it actually was! We scaled it down quite a bit for the kids this year which was nice....they still got more toys than they know what to do with though! The kids had a break from Pre-K for 2 weeks...I totally enjoyed having them home all the time. It made me realize how little time I have before they go to kindergarten...I am soooo not ready for it:(

Kevin surprised me with a new camera a few days before Christmas (I still haven't really figured out how to work it though), here are some pics in random order...unfortunately I had the camera on the wrong setting at my dad's house so all the pictures I took were a huge blur. Be sure to check out the recipe blog....trying to catch up on that tonight too!

Zoo Fun with Friends

I'm trying to catch up on my holiday blogging so I thought I would start with our fun zoo trip we took the day before Christmas Eve. Hannah and Hunter's friends Jackson and Jessica (also twins) and their mom Judy invited us for a fun day at the Houston zoo, and the kids all had a blast...so did the moms. Our favorite part of the day was watching the elephants...we walked up to see the one of the baby elephants playing with the big male elephant. The little one kept nudging the big one, I guess wanting it to play (or trying to make him mad) and the big male ended up rolling around on the ground and making a scene. It was pretty entertaining, especially when the zookeeper came to see and told us they haven't seen the big male down on the ground in a long time...he weighed something like 10, 000 tons!

Jackson, Hannah, Hunter, Jessica

crawling through the aquarium tube


elephants putting on a show

Christmas is really almost here?

Wow, I really can't believe that Christmas is less than a week away....this year has gone by way too fast! We've been busy with recital, school parties and plays, and office parties these last few weeks so I am looking forward to things settling down the next few weeks. I'm almost done shopping and the majority of the gifts are wrapped and ready. The kids have no school the next two weeks, so I'm looking forward to spending more time with them at home instead of shuttling them back and forth so much. I have been on a crazy baking streak the last few weeks (which you will see if I ever get around to catching up on my recipe blog), so our kitchen has been a wreck...but at least it's fun. We started doing Elf on the Shelf right after Thanksgiving. Hannah named the elf Johnny, and Johnny flies to the north pole every night. We've been pretty creative with his hiding places, but sometimes will forget to hide him before bed. Kevin told me last night he woke up at 4:30 because he remembered he forgot to hide the darn thing. I had hoped this little elf would help curb some bad behavior that has been cropping up, but it really hasn't. Hunter has actually reminded me a few times when I'm doing something wrong that "Johnny is watching you". Gotta love that. I have to say though, it has been quite fun and the kids love trying to find him each morning. Here's some pics of this month...in random order.

office Christmas party in the limo....the limo had a blowout on the way back...whew that was a long, but fun, night!

Happy Birthday Jesus cake I made for the kids Christmas party at school...will be posting the marshmallow fondant recipe soon



decorating the tree

Happy Birthday Jesus Christmas Play at school...Hannah was a birthday party child...Hunter was a shepherd and had a speaking part. His one line was "Wow, that's great news" (about the Savior being born)...and he rocked it! I was so proud of both of them.

Hunter got to carry a staff...which he thought was really cool

And believe it or not, they actually took Santa pictures this year. Last year we didn't even make it inside Santa's hut...they were kicking and screaming so we decided it wasn't worth it. This year they jumped right up on his lap and told him what they wanted. Wow, what a difference a year can make!

Katy and I took the kids to the Christmas parade in downtown Conroe this year....I love parades...so do the kids:)