February 23, 2010

Cleaning Up

About an hour before some friends came over
for a game of Ticket to Ride on Saturday night,
Eric left with Kacin to buy some beverages.
Kyler man opted to stay behind and help me clean.
That crazy cleaner.
As I worked on putting my Cricut and papers away,
 he asked to wipe the kitchen table, put the toys away, and vacuum.
Of course, clean whatever you'd like to, dear child!
He proceeded to point out the books and shoes
that he insisted Eric and I needed to put away.
My goodness what messy parents he has.
I love that my son is so willing to help out and is so good at it.
He notices when something is out of place.
I hope someday he'll rub off on other members of the family.
As part of our morning routinue, the boys check their House Help charts.
They understand this job is their responsibility
 before they head off to school.
They rotate through 4 lists of jobs. One job each day (minus Sunday).
Much of the time, the job requires me to be alongside them,
guiding and spraying the cleaning stuff
(this is how you scrub the bathtub, sweep the floor),
and sometimes they do a beautiful job on their own
(emptying the dishwasher, folding the laundrey).
My mom thinks I'm really good at getting out of cleaning the bathrooms.
I think I'm just smart (to mostly get out of cleaning the bathrooms).
And my boys are learning hard work and the joy of a clean home
(and how fun it is to clean mirrors with your mom).
Besides, why in the world would I tell the child "
No, you can not scrub the toilets!" when he asks?!

February 20, 2010

Lost a Tooth

Goodbye baby tooth!
Kacin has been wiggling it, and Eric has been pulling at it, for days.
It finally came out last night!

 

February 16, 2010

Whidbey Island

A morning on the Island:
We enjoyed the ferry ride, lunch, glassblowing, and a walk along the beach.

Butterflies and Gigantic Table

A grumpy family took a trip to the science museum
 and saw butterflies and a gigantic table and chairs.
And who can be grumpy after that?


February 15, 2010

Valentine's Day

A day of pink, hearts, glitter, and love!
And Surprise cookies.
(could it be a twix, snickers, butterfinger, thin mint, rolo, or pb cup in the center of that soft cookie?)
Yum, yum.

I prepared a plate of cookies for each member of the family, a few friends and neighbors, and the classes Eric and I taught at church today.

After a wonderful morning at church, we spent the afternoon decorating and cooking for the evening celebration.

When everything was ready, our "dates" picked us up at our doors.
Cindy and Kacin
Grandma Barb and Kyler
Me and E
Chelsea, Petra, and Rilla

And sweet Cindy gave me flowers and curls in my hair.

The hors d'oeuvres were served
(heart shaped cheese on crackers, olives, cashews, candy hearts).

We played Valentine's Bingo.

Then dinner was served.

Immediately following dinner, we headed to the ballroom.
 This was the time that Kyler and Kacin had been practicing for all week.
 Seriously.
 Earlier in the day, I heard Kyler say
"Let's practice for tonight. You be the girl."
And they grabbed hands, Kyler placed his hand on Kacin's waist,
and they did a little dance through the kitchen.
However, I guess dancing with his brother
didn't quite prepare him for the real thing.
After dancing with his grandma, me, dad, even Cindy,
we told him to dance with Petra.
He hesitated, but took her hand.
It lasted about 3 seconds.
He jumped back and shouted "I don't like this at all!"
He sat down and said "That was horrible!
Boys dancing with girls?! And girls dancing with boys?!
I don't like that at all!"
Just keep dancing with your momma, Kyler.

We spun, twirled, stomped, two-stepped, and break-danced.
This was more of Kyler's thing.
Yeah, and everyone was dancing.
 I wasn't the only one up there.
It's just not documented on my camera.
Disappointing.

It was Strawberry Julius for dessert.

And we crashed.
Happy Valentine's Day!

February 11, 2010

In Preparation of Feb. 14th . . .

Our week has been filled with much preparation and anticipation for February 14th!

We boycotted store-bought valentine's cards this year and worked hard on making our own heartful (which maybe isn't considered a "real" word, but I find it more fitting in this instance) creations to share with our friends, and, of course, daddy (who will be the recipient of about 7 cards just from one little boy. . .

We celebrated at our schools . . .

We made heart sugar cookies with our fun neighbors . . .

Shelley (the fun neighbor) and I got this great idea to make Valentine's Bingo cards while the kids played. If you're ever thinking of making your own set, here's my advice: Plan on it taking longer than you'd think and use stickers instead of drawing, cutting, pasting.
Better yet, just borrow mine. 
My model here was pretty excited to hold up the card . . . 

Only 2 days left until Valentine's Day!
 Still on the To-Do List:
1. Grocery shop for our elegant Valentine's dinner
2. Learn how to be "gentleman" and "ladies" for our elegant Valentine's dinner
3. Practice our dancing skills for after the elegant Valentine's dinner
4. Make candy bar cookies (yum!)