Counting collaboration

Sam and Jackson love to count. Today they incorporated their A-B pattern into their counting. Sam's numbers in purple, Jackson's in green. This is so cute!

Christmas cookies

My friend Mary wanted to come over and make Christmas cookies with us. I was a little shocked that she'd want to be a part of that kind of madness, but also delighted. Everyone helped roll out the cookies and we used or new Christmas cookie cutters. Of course, Jeff made a couple of odd ones. We colored our frosting. Sam wanted to make "Brown!", as he said. He's really into things that are brown now; he calls them chocolate. Jackson didn't want to make just standard red or blue, but wanted to mix his colors to make secondary colors- what an artist. Chloe really liked to eat everything.

Christmas tree

Our Christmas tree! We picked out the best one/ the closest one to the end of the row. It was really cold that night and the following night it snowed. We took mostly video of decorating the tree, so no photos here. This year, the boys were better at spreading out the ornaments to cover more of the tree. It's always fun to look at the ornaments and remember which ornament they picked out at which age. This year, Jackson chose a set of sports balls- like football, basketball, tennis, etc and Sam got a box of glass candy canes. I think he was a little disappointed to find out that they were glass. Chloe was asleep in the car when we went in to buy this year's ornaments, so I chose these paper robots for her, Jeff and me. Do you see the large gloves on Chloe's hand? Those are Sam and Jackson's spider man gloves. She became obsessed with gloves and refused to wear her mittens. The boys didn't care, so she wore their gloves.

snow in Seattle

It's snowing in our front yard. This is Hudson's first snow fall this year and we're babysitting him. He was quite delighted.

No more pacifiers!

It was definitely time! Chloe needed to part with her "fiers", as she called them. As she got older and was still using these, she became more obsessed with them. She'd take it out and then all of a sudden, she'd need her fier again. She was like a chain smoker. We went cold turkey. I told her that we needed to give her fiers away to little babies who needed them more. So we gathered them up. You can see that Sammy was happy to help with this. We put them into a bag and then we brought them to Chloe's school. When we got to the baby room in her school, Chloe wanted to take the fiers out of the bag and give them to the teacher. I think the baby room teacher was a little grossed out when I put these used fiers in an empty cubby. When Chloe wasn't looking, I quickly shoved them all down my shirt and we left. whew! Now that Chloe is off her fiers and clean, she's a lot more pleasant and independent.

Trick or Treat

I can't believe that this is the first year we took the kids trick or treating. I guess we'd always gone to a party in years past. We went to a second hand store and let them select their costumes. Jackson is spiderman, Sam is a race car driver and Chloe is a rock star. Chloe didn't actually care what her costume was. Although, she was interested in this furry ladybug costume, but her head was too big and we couldn't get it on her and then she cried. I bought some fun hairspray color and of course, everyone wanted in on that. We trick or treated at one of the schools where Jeff works. All the teachers stand outside their classrooms and the kids can just go up and down the halls collecting candy. It's really quite efficient. We explained the idea of trick or treating to the boys, so they caught on fast. Chloe didn't know quite what to think, especially with all the big kids in their scary costumes. It took only about 2 trick or treats, before she caught on- she definitely knows what candy is! The bottom photo was taken in Jeff's art room- where they could sort and eat their candy with no distractions.

Kari

Homework time

Homework in Kindergarten- who knew? I had to create separate homework stations for the boys. We just used our living room end tables; they're the perfect size and height for doing homework. They originally started out working at our dining table, together. But it was so competetive. They would look at each other's papers all the time and whoever was slightly behind, would get so upseat. And they'd be critical of each other's work, "No Jackson, you're coloring to scribbly scrabbly!" I can't believe how much they love their homework (I know, someday I'm going to be reading this and laugh at that statement) They get their week's homework on Monday and they both finish is on Monday night. Then they do their little fun workbooks that I buy, all the rest of the week.

Carving pumpkins

We always buy Halloween pumpkins. I told the kids to take them out to the deck and I'd be out soon to cut them open. Well, they couldn't wait for me, so someone came inside and got butter knives for all of them. They were really determined to cut these open! Of course, I ended up cutting them open and cutting my hand too.

Grandma's House in October

Traci, Michelle and I had to fly home in October for Grandma Walker's funeral. Chloe came with me and Hudson came with Traci. So it was a pretty easy time, as you can imagine, with just one child. The first 3 photos are at mom & Bob's house; the bottom is at a hotel in Minneapolis. Chloe is very excited about controlling the remote control.

Chloe's clean hands

Hiking with Derek

The Fair

Here we are at the state fair. We go because Jeff gets free tickets, as a school teacher. This is definitely not my bag; it's crowded and overpriced and far away and the food not so good too. But boy, do the kids love the rides. Sam and Jackson went on their first roller coaster. I was worried that they would be scared, but they loved it! Chloe drove a car with a girl who we didn't know.

Sleeping in a sea of toys

Do I need to expain this??? They have toy bins below their book shelves in their room. I try to keep a minimum amount of toys in them. But somehow, the quantity keeps creeping up and my energy level to remove them keeps going down. Hence the massive collection. Jackson always falls asleep with his mountain next to him. Sam has his pile too, but right before he's going to fall asleep, he puts them all into the bin.

Bugs Bugs Bugs

Sam and Jackson love to go out in the yard and look for bugs. They find countless potato bugs- the ones that curl up in your palm. But when someone finds a caterpillar, they are the total envy of the others. This day, both boys had found a caterpillar. They love them so much; they're like the little daddy to this caterpillar. Sam tried to let his caterpillar have fun, so he'd take it to the tree and hang it upside down, like he'd seen the cocoons in books. I told him that maybe the caterpillar was thirsty, so Sam was trying to pour water into its mouth. Jeff made the little caterpillar houses for the boys that are in these photos. He used some modelling clay to make a hump then stuck little tree branches in for the caterpillar's tree.

Everyone at School

This is September. So Chloe's class moved to a new classroom and the boys started kindergarten! Chloe's photo is right outside her classroom; they've created a small container garden right outside and they grow some decorative things and some herbs, which they cook with too. You can see the little girl with the water can; her name is Flora. Chloe is the one in front with the pink sweatshirt and dark blue star skirt. She has her Vanessa doll. The boys are in front of their school; it's called Van Asselt Elementary, in Southeast Seattle.

First day of Kindergarten

This photo was actually taken on the 2nd day of kindergarten, but the first day on the school bus. The first day, I took them and there was a meeting for the parents. So you can see they're very excited, especially Sam. They get on the bus in the morning at their before school daycare. So this day, I waited with them so I could see them get on the bus. We went outside to wait with one of the men who works at their before school daycare; he is in his late 20's probably. Of course, I cried as they were getting situated in their seats. You can see the look on Jackson's face. He was smiling, until he saw me cry- at least I think that's what happened. The daycare worker said, "oh, man, I knew you were going to cry!"