Thursday, January 31, 2013

Pie, Piano, and Playdates

We are on a routine now of visiting the food trucks once a month with Ben during his lunch hour.  This time Becca bought herself her very own mini chocolate cream pie to take home.  She was VERY pleased with her purchase (Jake, however, was the classic little brother, and was later found eating a bunch of her pie without her knowledge... she was SAD, so we tried to help her feel better by getting her a big churro at Costco the next day)


Becca with her churro :)



On Groundhogs Day we had sausage ("ground hog"), eggs, and pancakes for dinner.  Anytime we have breakfast for dinner, the kids are SO happy!


Emma started piano lessons at the beginning of the year!  She is doing really well with it - she's a fast learner, and she's excited to see the progress she's already made...
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Becca loves doing crafty projects.  She's been earning money from her Grandma Dangerfield for each book she reads.  She decided to buy an art kit that came with a little wooden box to paint...


We've been making lots of visits to the park lately...


And having lots of playdates with friends...



Our fun friends from medical school days came to visit while they were in town!  Ryan and Taya and their kids joined us for FHE and to visit.  All our kids are getting so big!  Time has gone by so quickly!


This picture will definitely be used for blackmail later on - haha - cute Jakie getting his hair cut while playing ninja turtles.  Jake hates getting his hair cut, so we TRY to make it more pleasant for him by letting him play video games while Ben cuts his hair - we put a sheet down on the floor of course.  :)


Random January Activities...

The end of January was full of outdoor activities.  I love to be outside during Arizona winters!  We've continued to make good use of our Desert Botanical Garden passes.  It's a very convenient place to meet up with Ben during a lunch hour, since its close to his work.  We packed a lunch and found a quiet corner of the  gardens to eat and chat....



Claire LOVES her daddy...


Claire also LOVES her siblings.  She enjoys the routine of picking up Becca from Kindergarten and Becca loves to be the big sister to her.  :)


After school on Fridays, Emma, Becca, and Jake have been participating in the fun run at the elementary school.  They've accumulated a lot of laps over the past weeks!



For Family Home Evening, the girls wanted to be in charge of making a dessert - I assisted, but they did most of the brownie making on their own.  They were delicious!  :)  This is a glimpse into the future I hope...


I feel like we've been eating a lot of sweets lately... so it's especially nice to see the children fending for their own snacks and settling on a bag of carrots  :)


I'm hoping we still have several more months of outdoor lunch weather.  Especially when there are friends over, it's nice to have them all eat outside... less sweeping  :)

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

MLK weekend

On Friday, Becca had her 100th day of Kindergarten.  She was supposed to bring in 100 of something.  So, she spent the night before counting out 100 cheerios... she counted out 10 groups of 10 and put them in a bunch of little bowls...


Becca's friend Carson came over to play on Friday - Jake was especially excited to have a boy in the house to play with... they LOVED setting up hot wheels tracks...


On Saturday, we met up with Ben after work and spent some time at the zoo...





Emma's such an attentive big sister.  She loves to watch and listen to Claire.  She was pointing excitedly at the little stream of water...


Emma signing water...





Kissy faces...





Ben was telling Emma to show her "guns"... Jake took that literally and when it was his turn for a picture, he made guns with his fingers... haha


All my kids love to look at maps...



On Sunday, we had all of Ben's family over for dinner and visiting.  I made way too much food... which means I don't need to make dinner for a few days!  On Monday, we met up at Enchanted Island amusement park - it was SO fun!  The kids were in heaven riding all the little rides...



Scout was tall enough to ride some of the rides that the other babies were too short still to get on... Claire was content sitting out though... she's happy as long as there are snacks to eat...



Becca's is showing pure joy right here... :)










I hopped off the train for a moment to take a picture, and Claire thought I was going to leave her on by herself... she had a little meltdown...


Peter getting animated telling a great story...





After the park, we had lunch at Potbelly.  It was delicious!



That evening we played games... I love these goofs...