Really glad to be done with all parties for the school year. The Kindergarten party went really well and since I was to do a craft with the 2nd graders I figured I'd do the same Kindergarten craft but have the older kids cut out their own pieces and assemble... this lollipop flowerpot..

Note to self... 2nd graders when mixed with candy and excitedness can not follow directions or cut out hearts by themselves... so there was a frantic crazed look in my eyes that prompted other mom's to help me cut out 375 hearts within 10 minutes. All in all the kids had a fun time... mine sure did... this was the dining room table just after Ainsley got home...

While I was into baking mode last week Walker wanted a cheese sandwich for lunch so I had him make it... he was more than thrilled to do it all by himself...

Friday night we settled into the family room with pizza and curled up all together to watch the opening ceremony of the winter Olympics... fun times...

Saturday we had a video chat with Grandma Hi..

Before heading out to Trogden's to celebrate Christmas... yeah you heard me right Christmas... it was the first time both of our schedules worked out to have the kiddos open their presents. Us parents did some Wii action... literally thought my arm was going to fall off!!

Lastly on Sunday... Valentine's day we started the day at church where Father Adrian called up all the couples to renew their wedding vows... was fun to remember back and share a special moment. Afterwards we headed to the movie theater to watch this..Such a cute show a perfect choice for Valentine's day. Had to change the picture to black and white because with a flash on the chairs in the movie theater looked nasty... no wonder why they only dim the lights to get you in and out of the theater.

Later in the day Walker worked on his new Lego 3in1 set... he did all three lego projects by himself (plane, boat and helicopter). Love to see him so excited and so into following directions.

Room Parent... the most thankless job. That being said I'll be a little MIA this week... I'm up to my eyeballs in hearts, for the upcoming Valentine Party this Friday.

The past few days we've been busy... there was hat day at school...

We've been shoveling lots of snow...

Ainsley had her first research report due, she choose to do it on Starfish...

Little bug's been getting into trouble at school... his teacher had to talk to me about it!! Hard to stay upset with him when he gives you this after school... a picture of he and Mommy.

Lastly the living room has now been turned into the Webkinz classroom...

Today's picture of the day...

Today's picture of the day... bucket and couch.

That little blue foot got a stay home from school day when his crying, sobbing and general fit throwing about going to school (he has a cold... like me) turned into throwing up. I guess we all need a break from life, to curl up on the couch with a cozy blanket and have someone sit beside you. He took a nap later in the day and woke up with a, "I think I'll go to school tomorrow." Here's to better days tomorrow.

I've already mentioned that Walker is fascinated by the solar system well yesterday was the day to head to the library... 2nd floor to be exact where all the nonfiction books are located. It was like Christmas Day... he was pulling out books left and right... and getting more excited with each one. All in all we checked out 13 solar system/planet books... some to read... some to just look at pictures... mostly to just enjoy!

As soon as we got home he curled up with the blanket and started oohing and aahhing..

He's also into drawing and writing the names of the planets which is pretty darn cool to see as well...

Hmm... this is what we saw last night while taking the kiddos upstairs to bed... notice anything odd??

So yes broken baluster... Walker finally admitted he had done it earlier in the day when he went upstairs to ask Ainsley a question.

I'm sure it went down like this... the baluster is right in line with Ainsley's door and while he's yelling to her to get her attention he's hanging on these which he's been told... oh I'd say at least a THOUSAND times NOT to hang on them because a... they are old... b..they've already been through trauma I'm sure with the last owners boys and c... because it's NOT safe.

So to say the least we were upset... about the baluster no not really that can be fixed... but the fact that he didn't tell anyone about it!! Geesh.  So I'm thinking another project and a trip to Lowes is in the future.

How can you not smile at these 2 pictures taken right after each other...

Ainsley wanted me to take her picture with the new necklace she had just made... and little bug always the jokester was quick to jump in.

One of the goals this year was to 1. have the kiddos help out around the house especially at dinner time and 2. to adequately learn to set a table the "correct" way. We had been so bad in the past with just getting out the utensil we thought we use the most... soup for dinner it was a spoon... you get the point. The kiddos have had this down for awhile but the other day Walker decided to spice things up... we now need to have our silverware rolled up in napkins like at restaurants...

and name cards were also required at our last dinner...

Love how my name got squeezed in there...

Ainsley didn't get all her seat work done the other day at school... I'm thinking her artsy page on synonyms had something to do with it...