Classroom Rules

Emily set up a classroom at the dining room table this afternoon. She informed me she was tutoring Alaina and getting her ready for kindergarten. There was much practicing of handwriting and letters and numbers. When I came back into the room after doing something in another part of the house I spotted something posted on the sliding glass door. When I asked Emily about it she said they were her classroom rules!

Marker Mania

My children love to color - especially with markers. I make sure that any marker in our house has the word "washable" on it. The girls tend to use the markers to color pictures in coloring books or on their new easel. It seems Rylan has markers confused with lip gloss. He takes the lid off a marker and wipes it across his face.

Guest Shower

You may or may not know that Ryan and I enjoy doing home improvement projects. Usually that consists of Ryan doing all the work and me checking in to ask him if he is sure he knows what he is doing. Actually I do enjoy helping out but I often get called away to handle kids' disputes, diaper changes or whatever else it may be. Our latest project was installing a shower in the downstairs powder room. This will become our guest shower since it is next door to the office that also serves as a guest bedroom. Isn't it pretty?

Cleaning and Cooking

It's cleaning day! Rylan loves to clean! As soon as I get my "Shark" carpet sweeper out he is very insistent that he be the one to use it. He pushes it all over the room until the battery runs out and I have to plug it in again. He also loves the mini Dirt Devil that Ms. Jayne got the girls years ago. Maybe he will be my neat freak. Somehow I have a feeling that as he gets older he won't be as interested in vacuums or any kind of cleaning for that matter. This picture shows what covers my counter when it is time to cook. Not every meal do I experience this kind of invasion - usually just when they are starving or I am cooking something they are really looking forward to such as brownies, cake, cookies or anything with sugar in it. Its always a challenge to work around legs hanging over drawers and cabinets I need to open or listening to claims of who gets to lick the beater or bowl or spatula. Sometimes I get a little exasperated with them, but I wouldn't trade them for the world. Happy cooking and cleaning to all of you!

Kitty Love

We've been promising the kids for some time now that we could get a kitten. Our last two attempts at having a dog just didn't work out for us. Last weekend we went to the humane society and came back with 3 kitties! We adopted two 10 week old kittens and their mommy. They are all very sweet and are almost getting used to all the ruckus that goes on at our house. They have figured out that when the four kids are all at home they need to hide under the bed. So we welcome Mama Rose, Sweet Sweet Petunia, and Crazy Daisy to the family. In the above pic, Alaina is holding Petunia while Emily cuddles Daisy. Below you will see Alaina tutoring Petunia. The first couple of days she wanted to be holding a kitty no matter what she was doing! I haven't had a kitty since I was in college so its been fun for me as well. It does add a few more chores to my day because I don't let them climb on the furniture and so I am trying to train them to respect that little rule. So my days right now consist of cleaning up after kids and kitties and getting after kids and kitties. Its good for me, but it makes me tired. I think I'll turn in for the night since all the kids and kitties are sleeping!

I'm SO Excited!

This is such a cool shot of Rylan I just had to share. Ryan throws the ball up the stairs to Emily, Alaina, and Lila and they try to catch it. Rylan sits at the bottom with his daddy and claps and cheers for them. As you can see from the picture, he gets VERY excited.

Happy New Year!

Just wanted to share some pics of our time in Idaho and all our Christmas fun. We had a great time and saw lots of snow on the roads, but we arrived there and then back home safely. Emily and Alaina had a lot of fun spending time with their cousins - especially Ashtin who is closest in age to them. Lila had a ball with Evin, their youngest cousin. Grandpa Far Away dressed up as Santa on Christmas Eve and here are some pictures of the kids with him. Rylan, as you can see, wasn't too impressed with the white bearded man. Now we are back home, all the Christmas stuff is put away and we are ready to start the new year. We are praying God will use us greatly for His glory this year in Cathlamet!