Snow Day

 We went to bed knowing that the kids had a two hour delay and woke up with a "NO SCHOOL" day.  The kids were excited.  They wanted to go build a snowmen first thing, but I got them to wait until about 10am, so it could warm up a little.  The snowman idea didn't work, because the snow would not pack, but the sledding was great.  Especially with Dallin pulling!

 Brea enjoyed making snow angles.  To my surprise she stayed out the longest.  She is usually the one crying because she is cold.  She had a great time.

Random Cuteness

 All three kids happened to be wearing white shirts to school one day, so perfect photo opportunity, Right.  Then Alyssa jumped in with her bright orange shirt, but it still turned out cute, I love these four kiddos.

Alyssa often puts on these little tiny spectacles that are for Jackies American Girl Doll.  It is so funny to see, I tried to capture it, but it didn't quite do it justice.

 Jackie dancing around in the kitchen.  I remember doing this a lot as a child.  She is a beautiful girl and a beautiful dancer, I enjoy watching her.

 Alyssa styling in Dallins hat, it was too cute!

 Our happy two year old

 And our grumpy two year old, we see both emotions daily.  They are both Cute!

 I enjoy braiding my girls hair and am glad I am able to.  I tried a reverse braid for the first time on Alyssa, and it worked.  The part it not straight at all, but the braid actually stayed in all through churc. That is huge for Alyssa, she likes to pull her ponytails out. Usually by the end of church it is a curly, wild mess.

 Cute, Cute!

 Brea is on the verge of  not allowing Mom to do her hair.  She thinks she is old enough to do it herself.  But I still insist that on Sundays, Mom get s to do it.  This Sunday she wanted a crown around her head, just like a princess.

She is a princess!

Jackie is past the 'Mom do my hair' stage.  I try to persuade her, but she knows she can do it herself.  She can do some creative things with her hair.  This Sunday, she did braids and then pinned them to the side of her head.  It looked good, it actually is nice that she can do her own hair.  I am glad I still have little ones that allow me to do their hair.  I am sure it won't last long.

 Dallin and Alyssa are my early risers.  I try to get up early to study my scriptures in the morning. I only make it about 1/2 hour by myself (if I am lucky).  Alyssa always joins me, and sometimes Dallin.  It is nice when Dallin wakes up with her because he is so sweet and helpful to her.  This morning he set up the bowling pins for her, and was patiently showing her how to bowl at 6:30am.  It was an "awe" moment as a Mother.

 My pirates.  They played for over an hour as pirates.  It is a wonderufl time in our home when the kids are playing "nicely" together and this was one of them.

Alyssa played and sang to me one afternoon.  The song was a mix between "I am a child of God" and made up words.  Each syllabul  was long and drawn out, very hilarious, but I kept my composure and told her what a great job she did.

Goodbye to Zeus

 Monday we said goodbye to Zeus.  Dallin had the hardest time with it, but he agreed that it was for the best.  An opportunity arose for Zeus to go to a home where he would have a lot more room to run around and another lab to socialize with.  We felt that we just were not providing a good home for him. With it getting cold, it was hard to get out and exercise him, and he really needs that.  We will miss him, and we are glad for the memories we have.

Fun with Friends

The kids had a day off and were able to have some friends over.  They haven't had much time to play during the school year, and everyone was excited.  They all played really good, it is nice to have kids the same age, even Alyssa had a little girl to play with.

Brea and Reyna call themselves BFF.  They are the type of BFF's that are happy and giddy one minute and mad at each other the next.  But in the end it is all hugs and smiles.

Alyssa enjoyed having a little one to hang out with.  Myrin stayed good a full since everyone thought it was so much fun to feed her.

Dallin and Noelani are just hilarious.  They now think they are going to marry each other, opposed to Jackie and Ikaih whom are now just friends.  Noelani is a good friend, she even did karate with Dallin.

Jackie and the twins.  They pretty much stayed in Jackies room and played games, although they did venture outside a bit.

One-on-One

We started up One-on-One again at the beginning of the year.  I am so glad, it is a wonderful time we get to spend with each individual child.  We decided to do it on Sunday morning, since our church is in the afternoon this year.  It has worked out great.  It helps, that it is on Sunday, to keep our rule of no spending.  That rule makes the hour a lot more personal and provides better quality time.  This week Dad. and Dallin spent an hour in Dallins room making this building our of trios.  It is so much funner to build with Dad. It has been two weeks since his one-on-one and Dallin still hasn't taken that building apart, it sits nicely on his dresser.  We have had bike rides, forts, games, and lots of make believe with our one-on-ones.

The Flour Game

 Dad was in charge of the activity after Family Home Evening.  He got out a plate of flour and explained the game.  The object was to cut away at the flour with a knife.  The catch - there was a penny on top of the flour and if you made it fall you had to pick it up with your teeth (no hands).  Alyssa is demonstrating how to get the penny in your teeth (without any flour!).

 Dad starts us off with cutting, he did it perfectly.

 Around we went, and then poor Brea cut away and the penny fell, she was able to get it out, but not without a bit of a flour face.

 Jackie got it with just her nose and chin covered, and still a great big smile on her face.

 We had to play the game again on a snow day, Brea diggin for the penny.

 Dallin got it out, but he got a mouthful of flour as well, which he did not enjoy.  It was a fun game with lots of laughs.

Volcano

 Dallin decided one night to make a volcano.  It wasn't a school project, it was a Dallin project.  He made it around a water bottle with help from his sisters.

 The baking soday goes in and then the vinegar and.....

Eruption!  I caught this picture at the perfect moment, their faces are great!

Snowflakes

We had a family home evening by Jackie, about how each person is unique and special.  Then we each made our own Snowflake to give to another person in the family.  It was neat to see everyones individual design and to share our art with each other.  We decorated our banister with them, and enjoyed our snowflakes inside since we had little snow outside.

Coconut

Dallin read about coconuts and coconut trees in his reading book and was really interested in them.  He told us all about the shell, and what was inside.  He really wanted to try one.  I thought it would be neat to get him one to try, but was doubtful I would find one in Colorado. But to my amazement, they had some at the grocery store, and they were even on sale, Score!  So I surprised him one day, and bought one. He was so excited.  Now, we just had to figure out how to open it.  Dallin said the easiest way was to throw it on the floor, which he tried. Soon milk was dripping all over the floor, but the coconut was not open.  So with help from Dad, we got it cracked open and had ourselves a taste.  The flesh was pretty good, but everyone was a bit dissappointed with the milk.  I tried to explain that the coconut we are used to is coated with sugar, but this is the real stuff. (Although I am sure it would be a lot better if it was fresh off the tree).  It was a nice surprise and a fun new taste.  Dallin took the coconut to school the next day and offered his reading group all a taste.  Seeing the real thing after reading about it was a great educational boost.