Bluey

Anna and I were reviewing the name of each finger, pointer, middle, ring and pinky. After we were done she asked me "which figure is blue?" I didn't know what she was talking about and I told her we don't have any fingers that were blue. Then she said "I have a pinky and Brent has a pinky so which figure is bluey?" I thought that was so funny. I told her that pinky wasn't referring to the color. . .but she has now named her ring figure bluey.

Random Happenings

I got a new camera for Christmas so there are a lot of pictures to share! Here is a picture gallery of all the things we have been up to since Christmas. (The pictures are in no particular order)

We went to downtown Bellevue with our friends the Egberts to "Celebration Lane." Anna loved the music and dancing. . .Brent loves to do anything with his best friend, Mal!

These are the PJ's grandma Wahlquist gave the kids this year for Christmas, they LOVE wearing them!

Christmas Day this year was beautiful and sunny and you only needed a light jacket to go out, so we went to Brent's elementary school and played at the playground. Brent was so excited to show Anna everything at his school.

We didn't realize it at the time but there was a huge puddle of water at the end of the slide and Anna got totally wet, so that was the end of our playground fun for the day!

Anna gave Andrew and me these pillows for Christmas. Something she picked out herself. Both pillows were promptly taken over by Brent and Anna and they currently reside in Brent and Anna's room. The pink one in Anna's bed the blue in Brent's!

This is Christmas morning, right after we had opened up all the gifts.

Brent helped Anna get all dressed up. . .notice the one extremely pink cheek. Anna got some play lipstick. . .I guess Brent will never make a good makeup artist!;)

This picture is a little dark but it was so cute. Andrew was laying on the couch and Brent, Anna and Toby all decided to join him.

Brent came out of his room after playing with Anna one day and started dancing around like a ballerina for me in Anna's tutu. He thought he was sooo funny. . .and he really was! He has such a fun personality!

This is Toby's new favorite spot to sleep. . .Anna's bed.

This is Brent and Anna's favorite place to play with his lego's, in Brent's bed.

Brent and Anna love laying on Toby when watching TV. . .he is almost like a big pillow or stuff animal to them! I am glad they love him so much!

I was testing out my new camera and Brent and Anna were being cute subjects! They are such good friends.

Christmas Tree and Decorating

This was our first year getting a real Christmas tree. We decided to go to a local Christmas tree farm where you could cut down your own tree. Here is a picture of what kind of trees we had to choose from. . .

Here is the one we got. . .(the kids choose it)

The tree is shorter then me. . .if that is imaginable! It is kind of sad looking but I think that is what we liked about it. The kids liked it because it was their size!

Here is what it looked like all decorated. . .the kids did all of it, except the lights. . .

We also made our first gingerbread house. It was a kit so it should have been easier to do. . .however, I seem to feel a need to do everything the hard way. It's together now and the kids loved decorating it, so I guess it all worked out.

Thanksgiving

We went to Utah for Thanksgiving. I remembered to bring my camera for the trip but I forgot to take it out to take any pictures, until the last day when we did some "formal" pictures of the family and the grandkids. . .well here is a shot I got of all Brent and Anna's cousins on the Wahlquist side.



It was a really fun visit and the kids had a blast playing with so many cousins.

Halloween

This Halloween we went to a pumpkin patch and picked out pumpkins. On Halloween we carved those pumpkins. This was a first for my kids. They mostly wanted to watch me do everything. . .they were grossed out by the "pumpkin guts", they did want to carve it, but I wouldn't let them. . .though they did tell me how they wanted the faces to look.

Later in the day they got in their costums and we went over to a friends house to go trick or treating together. Anna was a witch with a kitty cat on the front, so according to Anna she was a Kitty Witch. Brent was Luke Skywalker. . .more specifically the "black Luke" from Return of the Jedi (that is Brent's favorite).

I love this picture of Brent because he is "being" Luke.

Here is Anna casting a spell. . .so cute!

My camera wasn't working so well with these next pictures, they are very grainy, but this was the group of friend we went out with. . .Adelaide was Cinderella, Haven was a Mermaid, Brent was Luke, Mal was a storm trooper (Brent and Mal are the best of friends), Cole was Yoda and Anna was a Kitty Witch. It was a ton of fun to go out all together. These kids get along so well and they are such good friends, it made Trick or Treating a blast!

Chore Chart

Maybe 6 months to a year ago my friend Cami posted on her blog a picture of some chore charts she had made. I was really impressed and inspired by that. . .at the time all we had was a piece of paper with the kids chores listed on it posted on the wall. Well I started thinking of all these things I could do and it started to become VERY complicated and ornate. . .so I told Andrew what I was thinking and this is what he came up with. . .

It was made with a magnet board, paint and stickers. Their chores are listed on the left and everyday they complete them they get to move a small round magnet down. Once they get all their magnets down they get to move their spaceship of butterfly to the next reward. I think it looks really cool and captures the personality and interests of our kids. They are super excited to do their chores now and it is almost like a game. I am glad I am married to a very creative man that can simplify my life!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a pumpkin patch today. It had a hay bale maze for the kids, farm anaimals, pumkins, and a farmers market. It was a lot of fun!