Snow Day in Louisiana

We went to LA for Christmas this year. Before we left, Zach asked Grandma if he could play in the snow. He was sad when he learned it didn't snow at Grandma's house, even at Christmas. Well GMA Mouse couldn't have Zakky be sad so she and Paw Paw moved heaven and earth to make his Christmas wish come true. Enter THE SNOW MACHINE!! They had snow delivered to their front yard for all the grandkids to play in. Fun was had by all.  So I wonder what Zach will ask for this year??

Joe DID NOT like the snow.  We only made him sit here long enough to take the picture.

Preschool 2011-2012

We had a wonderful year of preschool this year. I worked with several other moms and formed a preschool coop. We each took turns teaching our little ones and I really enjoyed it. Here are some pictures from some of the lessons I got to teach this year.  This first pic is Zach on the 1st day of school.  He looks very mischievious to me and that proved to be true throughout the year!  He's a sweetheart, but he certainly keeps things interesting!!

 Here is one of Zach's classmates.  We were learning about being unique (letter U) so I had them each make pancake faces with fruit, chocolate chips, yogurt and whipped cream.  We also made booklets about ourselves and learned how we are all different but that's what makes us special.

 Since I was suppose to teach the letter Y the same week as Max's class was having Western Week, I opted to have a Yeehaw Party.  We dressed like cowboys and cowgirls, roped cows, rode ponies, and yelled YEEHAW about a thousand times.  It was so much fun!

 For our community helpers unit, I got to do firefighters.  We made fire hats, rode fire trucks, and put out fires with our homemade 10 foot long firehose (toliet paper rolls and duct tape!).  So cute!!

Summer 2011 Visitors

                          We had lots of visitors this summer. Along with Anita and Britny at the beginning of summer, we had Nana, Grandma Mouse, Paw Paw, Kayla, Nick, Uncle Sam, and Uncle Bill. We love having friends and family who are willing to brave the Houston heat to spend time with us. We went to Galveston with Nick and Kayla and had a blast, then a few weeks later we took Sam and Bill to see an Astros game. It's hard not to have family close by so we get super excited when we can see them!

                                     

Max turns 5 (July 2011)

I know I posted several things last summer, but I did skip over a few important events. Max turned 5 in July and had a pirate theme party in our backyard with about 15 of his friends. It was crazy and fun and exhausting. Max was once again able to celebrate his birthday for several weeks. We were in Baton Rouge for July 4th so he celebrated with his cousins, then came home to his friends party, and then a week later Nana came and we had to do it all over again! I hope we can consolidate a little better this year, but I have my doubts :) Happy Belated 5th Birthday Max!

Ketchup

I have been MIA for several months now, but it has been brought to my attention that this blog needs some TLC too.  Sorry for neglecting my online audience, but in the words of a great country song, "I was too busy being in love."  Anyway, here is my attempt to catch up a little so that future generations will know our story.

Donut Day

Zachary is doing a rotating preschool with some other kids from our church. This means that every 5th week I get to teach his preschool class in my house. We did this last year, but this year its a little bigger of a group and its twice a week and more structured. For my first week I was suppose to focus on the letter D, so of course the first the Z thought of was DONUTS!! I decided to try my hand at making donuts from scratch with 5 preschoolers. It was messy but a lot of fun. Next time though, I may not try to be so ambitious...but then again...who knows!!

I love how serious the boys look and how "ready to take a picture" the girls are!!

The things we do

I can't believe we are almost through with October. Time is flying and I'm doing a terrible job keeping up with the blog. Oh well. I'll keep trying! Here is just a glimpse of what is keeping us so busy right now.

I am the room mother for Max's kindergarten class this year. I have no idea what I'm doing but I'm figuring it all out as I go. Here is my school spirit stamp to go on the back of my mini van. I guess I am now officially all I ever hoped to be!!

Max is keeping very busy with kindergarten these days. He is doing very well and really enjoying himself. He says writing is his favorite part of school, followed by PE, lunch, and riding the bus. I can't believe how much he is growing up. What is happening to my little boy?

Zach is having a blast being almost 3. He and Daddy got to spend some time together the other night and Zach decided it was a playdough night. This is what the two of them came up with. I was quite impressed. It even says Winnie the Pooh in playdough across the front! Zach told me that he told Daddy what to do and then made sure he did it right. Very nice!

Don't these two look so much alike?? Except for the eyes! Joe has been busy trying to find out how to get around. He's very good at scooting backwards now and usually ends up under the couch. We'll work on it some more!

Jeff has decided to focus on food storage lately so he finally cleaned out and organized the pantry to make space for all the boxes of food he has ordered. He took a picture to prove that he did in fact know how to clean and organize. I may use this picture as evidence later!!

So there you have it. Proof in pictures that we are here, we are well, and things are going great!