Indoor S'Mores

Tonight was alot of fun with the kids. Some days can be trying lately as they are learning their independence and how to push boundaries of listening. But tonight was very unexpected. I had been at work all day and Shannon left for a week-long business trip. Usually by the time I get home from work, the kids are tired and a little out of control. I got home early and my mom helped me give them baths before dinner. Then I made hamburgers, sweet potato fries, and raspberries for dinner. Clean plates all around, which is quite unusual for Sara lately. I had started a fire after their baths and they were both asking if we could make s'mores in the fireplace. It takes work for me sometimes to be spontaneous and fun. S'mores definitely sounded good to me! They were so excited!

Sara is the slowest s'more eater I have ever seen...between savoring the bites and trying to keep herself clean by wiping her mouth and fingers with a washcloth after every bite! I finally just held it for her so she could eat it and not get messy. Although she still had to wipe her mouth after every bite. She kept saying "these are my favorite!" Then there is Adam. He was done and licking crumbs off my plate before I had finished half of mine.

We ended the evening snuggling by the fire and reading books together. Teeth brushed, prayers said, kisses and hugs, and lights out to a great day. What a nice little gift!

Ninja in training

Since starting preschool, Adam has developed an interest in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A few of his classmates talk about them, wear their clothing, and bring them for show 'n share on any week possible!

Over the past week, Adam has become extremely passionate about them. He made a mask out of colored paper. That night he and Shannon researched what one of their swords looked like and made it out of very thick cardboard. That allowed him to really start practicing his ninja moves! We watched a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode together on the internet and started at the beginning with Season 1, Episode 1. I woke up the next morning with an idea of how to make him a turtle shell out of the same cardboard and attach it with a belt so he could get it on and off.

And so it all began...

He spends alot of his spare time, from the moment he wakes up, practicing his ninja moves. Starting at 4pm one day he began asking "When is Master Splinter coming home?" Master Splinter is the large rat who teaches the turtles and apparently he has deemed Shannon as the older, wiser Master Splinter. Now they have their own language in how they talk to each other.

I am going with the flow and encouraging his current passion, allowing him to be all boy, even if it means I giggle every now and then. It is certainly a time that his imagination is exploding, whether that is expressed thru the creative Legos he is building or the ninja storyline he is acting out.

Ha...ooh...umh...ahh...huh...ahh hah!

Family Christmas photos

I wish we looked for opportunities more often to take family photos. It seems like photos are usually focused on the kids. Because my dad died when I was 4, I am more sensitive to cherishing those photos that include Shannon and I with the kids.

The photos we took this Christmas were especially fun for me. Not only did they turn out great, we have to take a lot fewer photos now that the kids are almost 5! I remember times when they were babies that I took 50 photos just to get 1 or 2 great ones! In this photo shoot, I took 10 and all of them could be keepers.

My little valentines

Thankfully a week ago my mom reminded me that Valentine's Day was coming up and we should go shopping for cards that Adam and Sara would pass out to their classmates. It wasn't even on my radar and probably would have ended up being a very last minute thing.

Then it went from a friendly reminder to me thinking that the kids absolutely love doing crafts lately so let's just make something fun that they can help with! I searched the internet and they each chose their favorite. Then we shopped for supplies and spent the next 6 days working on them gradually as they were interested. I think they turned out great and the kids had a lot of fun!

Sara's was a butterfly which she cut out herself and then glued hearts on it. She also wrote the letters over what I traced because I was worried she wouldn't be able to fit the words in the small space. And she attached the Tootsie Pops.

Adam chose a superhero theme. He glued the Superman logo onto the felt cape, wrote the note on the back, and helped attach all the pieces together.

They were so excited to show me their bag of goodies when they got home from school. Sara didn't even get her coat off before she wanted to open every one, have me read them, and selected which candy she might like best.

They couldn't wait to open their card from Grandma Sue and Grandpa, knowing that they had chosen something special. Sara screamed when some money fell out! My mom came for a nice dinner and to give the kids a new shirt, a sticker book, and a small Lego set for Adam that included a cat to be rescued out of a tree!

It has been a constant frenzy of making hearts and saying Happy Valentine's Day for the last week! Adam made me a heart and drew a picture of a house on it with a tree about a week ago. He has regifted it to me every day since!

The kids were open to taking some Valentine's photos. They wanted to choose their pose. They also chose their clothes for the day. Sara was all about hearts!

After a few kissing photos, Sara wanted to move on and said "Adam, do one smiling now!"

While the kids do argue like brother and sister, most of the time over totally insignificant things, it is neat to see the bond that they have and how much they really do love each other and watch out for each other.

Sometimes it's fun to reminisce down memory lane...

Our family Christmas

After how our Christmas last year went, I really just wanted a quiet time at home this year--just us as a family and no pressure to load the car and rush to a family gathering. That's not to say I haven't enjoyed other years. But this year especially I was feeling the emotions returning of memories from being in Boston for Sara's surgery and I wanted the comfort of home. It was so nice to wake up and have a slow morning in our jammies!

Part of me felt like we didn't get the kids enough presents. They are fortunate to be blessed with alot and I didn't want to buy things just to have a bigger pile. I was more intentional about getting things that really struck my eye and they were just fine with it.

They each got some new books and a baseball glove and ball.

They also each got a pair of shoes. It seems like Adam is always wanted to help Shannon with something out in the garage but he had outgrown his work boots. Sara finally had a huge growth spurt with her feet and grew 2 sizes. The cute dress boots she really liked were too small so I ordered a replacement. It seems like she is choosing to wear a dress nearly every day!

Once they were done opening, we told them there were more gifts but they had to find them. They looked all over the room and completely forgot about their stockings!

Pipe cleaners, glitter glue, glue sticks, ribbons for Sara's hair, chocolate pez for Adam, princess/cars cookie cutters, and really cool pencil bags that unzipped to look like they had teeth. The kids thought those were pretty cool!

Merry Christmas 2013!

Christmas with Grandma Marilynn

The day before Christmas my mom came over to celebrate with the kids. They were excited to finally be able to open some presents under our own tree!

They helped Grandma open her things, including the craft that we did for this year--reindeer footprints!

It was fun to watch them open presents and I think they were very happy with their assortment of gifts.

I know the robe seems huge but you should have seen their old ones! They had turned into 3/4 sleeve shirt robes. At least we can roll the sleeves up on these and they will close around their bellies for the next few years!

Oh wait, that was one of my presents!

After we opened presents, we all enjoyed the Christmas Production at church. This year was especially fun because it was the first time the kids got to sit in "Big Church" and take it all in!

Iowa Christmas

We celebrated Christmas in Iowa the weekend before Christmas this year. It worked out well that both us and Shannon's sister Adonna, along with her family, could all be there. After our morning ultrasound and urology doctor visit, we hopped in the car to head west. Friday evening was quiet. We opened present Saturday morning after breakfast.

Here is the tree with all the gifts waiting to be distributed.

After the presents were passed out, we were having a hard time seeing Sara!

Sometimes they did a great job being patient and letting one person open at a time. Sometimes it felt like a free for all!

Adam got some cool Legos. Then Sara opened her cool Legos and Adam couldn't resist checking it out.

A salon chair with accessories to do her dolls' hair, a Lightning Macqueen racetrack, Legos, clothes, a talking cat, and tons of awesome craft supplies which are now being used daily...all in all a pretty good Christmas they would say.

Grandma and Grandpa Mollenhauer with their grandkids--Megan, Sara, Adam, and Matt.

After Christmas lunch, we went out sledding...or cardboarding! There was a layer of ice on top of the grass.

Megan thought it would be a great idea to build a fort out of the ice chunks on top of the snow. I think my landscaping company needs to hire her to do flagstone!

After sledding we headed inside to work on gingerbread men before Adonna had to head home and beat the 9" of snow we were supposed to get.

Adam and Sara really enjoyed the time spent with their cousins. The next morning we woke up to much more snow. Not what they had predicted but still fun to watch Grandpa plow with the Bobcat out the window and then go out and have some fun playing.

It was nice to have a relaxing time in Iowa without the pressure of having to go back to work or drive to the next get together.