A Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey Birthday

Our Little Bit turned 8 this year. She wanted her theme to be Doctor Who. It is a British show that we watch on Netflix.  We went again to the gym for her party. Some days I feel like the kids could live there. They run and jump and flip everywhere. We had snacks and cake. There's an episode of Doctor Who when the Doctor eats fish sticks and custard. So we made vanilla pudding and had sugar wafers for the fish sticks. Some of the kids didn't know what all the snacks were about, but they enjoyed eating all the food!

Marshmallow Adipose 

(From an episode of Doctor Who)

The birthday cake says Happy Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey Birthday

and cupcakes with little bow ties.  

The birthday girl

She has brought so much joy into our lives. She is smart, kind, funny, and stylish. We are truly blessed by God that she is in our family. 

You Are My Sunshine

This year for Christmas we decided to make my grandparents' Christmas presents. Pinterest has so many fun ideas. Where else can you find ideas for craft projects, ways to lose weight, and the best looking recipes all on one page? I found an idea to make a sun using the kids hands. They actually really like to paint. I think I need to buy more just so they can paint more often.

First they painted the whole canvas blue.

Then they added clouds. (I didn't get a pic of that step.) Next we painted their palms orange and their fingers yellow for the sun.

The last thing we did was paint on the words at the bottom. My oldest did that part.

I think they turned out fantastic! My grandparents loved them, too. Did you make any of your gifts this Christmas?

Christmas Pictures 2012

For a few years now we have been doing pictures of the kids for my in-laws. This year it was just really hard to get all of the grandkids together at the same time. So we had shirts made with each grandchild's age and did individual pictures to go in a big frame. We did them outside on a chilly day with temps somewhere in the 30s. Brrr.

We had them wait in the car until it was their turn. Can you tell she is cold?

I almost have two teenagers...tear.

My Little Bit is not very little anymore.

It was a cold day, but the kids were great. Not many complaints. They usually are really great with all of our ideas, even if they seem crazy. :) It was really too cold to play outside. So, we took quick pictures and left. The pictures turned out great!

We also had some fun!

We had a great Christmas. We had some amazing family time. I just haven't had the time or energy to blog. Hopefully, I will get back on track soon.

12

Today is the day that my "baby" boy is 12. 12?! How can it be? I still can't believe it. He is such a sweet boy. He is very kind. He is extremely funny and silly. God truly blessed us with him. We got together with family last night to celebrate his birthday. He wanted breakfast for supper. So, we had waffles and cereal. Then, because we hadn't had enough sugar, we had cake!

It was the birthday boy's idea to get a cookie cake and make it look like pizza. It turned out really cool. The sauce is red icing. The cheese is grated white chocolate. The pepperonis are flattened red gum drops. The sausage is crumbled up Reese's peanut butter cups.

My mother-in-law also made some Rice Krispy treats dipped in white chocolate. She colored the chocolate yellow to make them look like Pikachu. They turned out awesome!

Happy birthday to my boy! We love you!

Jordyn Wieber Gymnastic Clinic

Katelyn has been loving gymnastics. Sometimes she doesn't want to go to practice. I think she prefers one on one time with her coach. They had a clinic at the gym with Jordyn Wieber, the Olympic Gold Medalist. :) Here is Jordyn talking with my boss.

They split the kids up into several different groups. They rotated between different events. I explained to my gymnast that they couldn't all be with Jordyn at the same time because they would have to wait a long time. She understood that. Here she is working on the beam with a very serious face. Love her!

They learned a little dance to the hand jive. It was super cute!

Handstand competition was one of Little Bit's favorite parts.

 It is hard to believe that this girl is only 17.

 My hubby and I were able to go together. It was so much fun watching all of the girls with Jordyn. I don't think she had her medal. Hmmm....wonder where she keeps it...

Fall Break

We have had a great fall break. A full week this year. We are at the end of our break. We were able to go to my mom's for a few days. We had SO much fun. I was able to see several people in my family, a good friend, and get some pumpkin pie. My grandma knows what I like. :) I was so busy having fun and visiting that I took zero pictures. Ugh! 

On our way home from my mom's, we stopped by my sister-in-law's new place. The kids were very excited to see each other. I did snap some pictures with my phone during our visit. 

Kids Playing

Snuggling with Doodle

More Snuggles

My Doodlebug with Little Doodle

We were able to stay for a couple of hours and then headed the rest of the way home. We have been just hanging out at home, going to work, and of coarse band practice. Two more competitions  left in this season. And then begins the winter guard season... We are busy, but trying to enjoy every minute. 

First Competition of 2012

The marching band had their first competition on Saturday. Their show is called "Alice." I think it is  a great show. The color guard is Alice. Their uniforms are super cute and look really good on the field. I will have to get a better picture of the full uniform. I got this pic off of Facebook.

They performed very well. I thought they were the best! They placed second in their class and received best visual. I think their show was so great. And it was only the first competition so they are going to keep getting better. It really is amazing to see what these kids can do. I am so proud of all of them, especially this one. :)

Zoo

We had a fun outing to the zoo the other day. It was a last minute decision. Heard the weather was going to be nice and wanted to be outside.

Baby Giraffe 

Adorable!

Smiles!

Love the elephants

"Sleeping"

We love the zoo. We all love the animals. And the kids love to climb on everything there. They have a buffalo, a rhino, and an elephant.

This is an old picture, but a perfect example.

There are a couple of playgrounds the kids like to play on, too. We received passes for Christmas to the zoo and science center. They make it so nice because you can go for as long as you want. If we go for just a short time or if it begins to rain it isn't a big deal. Love, love, love the zoo!

Library Fun

We went to the library the other day because Junie B. Jones was there. She is a character in a line of books. They had Junie there with her bus and her bus driver.

She had her big pink trunk of junk with her and had a little show and tell of all the things in it.

After that we went outside and saw Junie's bus. They had popsicles and a craft and bubbles. 

They also had balloon animals. The girls got rabbits and my boy got a freeze ray.

We had a fun time. I really do love the library. It is truly one of my favorite places. :)

"Dancing" Raisins

I did an experiment with the kids the other day. I found it online. It was called dancing raisins. The site I found it one gave simple directions. It said to find a tall glass and fill it 1/4 with water. 

Then add 4 tablespoons of vinegar.

Add 3 teaspoons of baking soda.

Then add 5 raisins and watch them dance!

Actually they collect little bubbles and rise to the surface. When they get to the surface the bubbles pop and they sink again. It also worked better on small raisins. The big ones stayed on the bottom.

It was a lot of fun to try. We had the most fun adding more and more vinegar and baking soda. I am hoping to try several experiments that I have seen on different blogs and Pinterest. Anyone have any fun experiments I can add to my list?

Jeff Fest 2012

It was time for our downtown little festival over the weekend. They have booths set up with different local businesses. They have food, music, face painting, games.  Here is my nephew climbing up a big bouncy slide.

And sliding down!

There was lots of shade in the park. It also wasn't too hot. My oldest was in charge of taking pictures. She did a pretty good job. She is taking a photography class next year in high school.

Crazy kid

Cute kid

 Another two cuties

Some more of our crew

I wonder where my son gets his ideas to make crazy pictures...

They also had the pony rides again, too.

And around this point my camera died. I didn't charge my batteries long enough. And I also found a lot of other pictures on my camera when I got home. We were early to Jeff Fest so we went into a local store. There are several pictures like these. I think my little photographers got a little photo happy.

Ok, so I took this one. :)

We had a good time. Next year I'll remember to charge my batteries longer so we can take all the fun, and crazy, pictures we want!