Our weekend

Our Thursday started out kind of like this.

 Noah was doing his normal stuff.

 We went to gymnastics and the library and Katelyn fell asleep reading her new library books.  

And that evening durning dinner we got a call that my brother was taking my sister in law to the hospital because she was in a bunch of pain.  (Gall stones and the poor thing ended up having to have her gallbladder removed.)

 So I went out to their house to spend the night there with my nephew because he had just gone to sleep and Michael stayed at our house with Katelyn and Noah.  Katelyn insisted on helping Michael with the dishes.  She's so sweet and helpful!

 On Friday morning I brought Charlie back over to our house and he's spent the weekend with us.  Fun cousin party!  Katelyn was so excited that Charlie was here and she really wanted to help take care of him.  She sat right down and read him a book.  :)

 Charlie loves to bounce and Katelyn built a dam with the stool and toys.  Not sure why.

 There has been lots of fun bath time.  Noah likes to try and stand up in the tub.  That kid is a little rascal!

 The boys were playing this morning.

 Michael and Charlie were getting some computer work done.  

 We've really liked having Charlie with us.  He's been super sweet and the kids have all played great together.

 Charlie was having a good time.

We think that Niki will get to go home tomorrow and Grammy got here today to help with the baby and stuff around the house while Niki is recuperating.  I know little Charlie will be so happy to see his mama!

Just playing and learning

I love watching these two kids learn new things...and everyday, they learn something new.  So fun!

 Katelyn loves to cook.  (Hmm, wonder where she gets that from.)  I got a couple of cookbooks from the library last week and I sat down to flip through one of them.  One minute later, Katelyn had grabbed the other one and was sitting right next to me.  The next morning she went back through the same cookbook and put a little bookmark on each recipe that she wanted us to make.  She has quite the list going.

 Michael and I like lots of different foods and we make sure the kids try lots of different things.  Katelyn has been pretty adventurous lately with her eating and has decided that she likes hummus, nori (seaweed) with rice in it, linguini and clam sauce and salads.  She pretty much eats whatever we eat.  Noah's likes lots of different things also.  He's recently decided that he likes avocado, hummus, veggie burgers, and nori.  He'll pretty much eat any veggie with some pasta or rice mixed in.  He loves chicken and cheese.

 Katelyn is an AWESOME student.  She loves to learn and we have been doing just that.  She made "Gallon Man" because we were learning about how many cups are in a pint, pints in a quart, and quarts in a gallon.

 Katelyn said that she was the angel of the Lord.  She stood up on the chair and sang us "O Little Town of Bethlehem."  :)

 Katelyn likes to create things with her Magnetix.

 This is the diamond necklace she made.  She came up with it all on her own.  She cracks me up.

 Little mister "Into Everything".

But look at this face.  So sweet.

 Katelyn said that Noah could be in her band.  He was playing the tambourine and she was playing the recorder.  Then they decided that they would both play the recorder.

 I'm glad I saved a pile of Katelyn's toys.  I pulled this out of the closet today and Noah has been very excited.  He likes to put things into something and take them out so he's liked mailing the letters.  I found his sippy cup in the drawer with the pans yesterday.

 Just a boy and his snacks.

Here's some of the work Katelyn has done.  Gallon man, consonant blends and a couple of works of art imitating artists Ghiberti and Angelico.  

Homeschooling has been really great for our family.  We've loved being able to learn about all kinds  of things.  Katelyn learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday and she watched part of the presidential inauguration.  She watched a live broadcast of KY middle school students asking questions of astronaut Tom Marshburn who is on the international space station.   We've been learning about Africa, types of rock and the highest mountain on each continent. This morning we were reading a cool book on the first climbers to make it to the top of Mt. Everest.  She liked reading about the abominable snowman.  Ask her to make a yeti sound for you.  :) She's doing great in math and has gotten proficient in basic addition.  She just learned less than and greater than.  I'm excited for where this new year will take her academically.  I can't wait for the weather to get nicer.  We have much exploring to do...outside!

The Month in Review

Well, with Christmas and New Year behind us, I'll give you a recap on the month.

Grammy and Papa were here for Christmas and New Year and we had lots of fun with them.  

Michael's company had a Christmas party for the kids again this year.  Katelyn had been asking for months if they were going to have it again.  She wanted to see Santa.  Noah loved Santa.  He just sat right up there with the jolly guy.  :)

Michael's nieces came to visit for an evening and Katelyn was in heaven. I love these girls.  They really are awesome.  I'm thankful Katelyn has older cousins to look up to who are such quality people.

Katelyn knew Stefanie was coming and she came downstairs in this outfit.  She got herself all dressed up and fancy.  So cute.

Instead of a gingerbread house we made a christmas tree with an ice cream cone, frosting and candy.  Katelyn loved this project and ate it as soon as I took this picture.  

We took the kids to Southern Lights with Grammy and Papa.  An annual tradition.  It was Noah's first time.  He loved all the lights.

And here's Grammy with the kids.

The monkeys on Christmas eve.

Noah did pretty good opening a few presents.  He really just wanted to eat the bows though.

Noah's first Christmas!  What a great year it has been!!!

Katelyn left Santa her list with some milk and cookies.  We sprinkled reindeer food on the front lawn so they could find us.  :)

The kids love their daddy!

We took the kids to the Louisville Science Center for a Science and Play exhibit they had going on. It was awesome!  

We were there for three hours and only got through half of the museum so we upgraded to an annual membership so we could visit a few more times during the year.  We had so much fun.  Katelyn's favorite subject is science and she was totally in her element.  And we got to go to a great Cuban place for lunch while we were in Louisville!

Would you just look at this face!

Katelyn likes to fly around the house in her butterfly wings....

...and dress her brother up. 

Katelyn got a science set for Christmas and she loves it.  Here she is hard a work.

Grammy and Papa with their three grandkids.  I wish they liked these children.  ;)

These two are always together.  It's really sweet.

Noah just wants to be doing what Katelyn is doing.  He tries so hard to get to her stuff.  

Katelyn got this dress from Grammy and Papa for Christmas and couldn't wait to wear it to church.  She looks so grown up.  STOP GROWING UP SO FAST!!!

Handsome!  And again...STOP GROWING UP SO FAST!!!!

Noah's 11 months old!

Well, another month has flown by.  This has been a big month for Noah.  He's gone from sitting in one place to crawling, standing and GETTING INTO EVERYTHING!!!

 This is why I don't blog anymore.  Any time I try to get anything done, this is what is going on behind me.

 He has a zillion toys but the recycling bucket and the kitchen cabinets are his favorites. I can't get him to keep his socks on for anything.  He took them off and stuck them in a kitchen drawer the other day.  :)

 He's so proud of himself.

 He is such a stinker.  He is a bundle of mischief.   But then he gives you this look.  I'm in so much trouble.  How can you get mad at this face??

He was just getting into the lower shelf but yesterday he figured out that he could stand up and pull more stuff off the shelves.  Good grief. 

This has been an exhausting month but it's been really fun too.  I don't remember Katelyn getting into everything like Noah is.  He's fast too!  Noah is my 2013 exercise plan!!