February Miscellaneous Pics

Thanks Aunt Tiffany and Uncle Jason for the Valentine's Day Clay!

The kids had a two days off in a row, and it was a life saver.  They made clay pots (like Ava's flower vase here) and

Statues also.

Basketball player and a basketball hoop

It kept them busy for close to three hours one morning!

Dawson made a "purse."  Kinda looks like a necklace to me buddy.

This is four.  Camo face paint.  Polo shirt on backwards because "I like it like this."

Dawson got a "tooth timer" from school.  It's an hourglass, and they are supposed to turn it over and brush for two minutes.  He loves it, and here he is sound asleep clutching it.

Miss Avaroo with an Elsa balloon

Just look at this face.  I took it the morning after Ava's Cheer camp performance.  He had gone to bed late and woke up at the same time.  I love this adorable little grump face!!

Here is Mike and Carter shoveling a few weeks back.  We are supposed to be dumped on again tomorrow so today we made sure to get out a little bit.  We just finished reading Paddington by Michael Bond and instead of having a family book dinner we went to see the movie in the theater.  Even though it really didn't follow the book's plot at all, the kids enjoyed it.  There is one particular scene that was a little harrowing, Paddington was trying to climb out of a chimney with a fire at the bottom.  Ava was clinging to Mike and Doc was in my lap scared as well.  They may want to be big kids, but they are still my sweet little guys!  I love spending time with my family! 

Frozen Cheer Camp

Tonight we went to a basketball game to watch Ava perform with the cheerleaders at half time.  It was a Frozen themed cheer camp, so they did a couple of cheers and danced to Let it Go.

It was funny, when I went to drop her off I expected her to be a little clingy, which is her normal in new situations.  But she started talking to a cheerleader and told me to leave!

Brrr!!! It's Cold in Here!

There must be an Elsa in the atmosphere

She was telling a little joke to her friend.

Dancing!

Ava it was so adorable to watch you tonight performing your cheers and chatting with your friends.  Daddy and I really enjoyed it!  We love you!

Heard around the House (with pictures from Jackson Basketball game)

Carter had climbed up onto the counter to get a bowl out of a cupboard.  Dawson saw this and was impressed and asked "Carter, how do you do that?"

He responded "talent and raw strength."

Dawson clearly inherited Meme's ability to smile naturally for the camera (sarcasm font.)

Dawson and I were talking before bed and he told me this story:

When I walk into your room at night I see a tall man, a really big man.  His face is like the sun and his legs look like snowflakes.  

Well, looks like I won't be sleeping tonight, ha ha!  What a crazy imagination! 

Great Wolf Lodge

Happy Birthday Grandma and Bo!!

This weekend we went up to the Great Wolf Lodge.  The kids had a ball and there is so much to do there.

One of the fun things that the kids love to do is Magic Quest.  It is a treasure hunt that goes through all four levels of the hotel.  The kids each got a wand and they enjoyed walking around the hotel looking for the clues and waving their magic wands at all the Magic Quest artifacts.

We cast a spell on you!

Ava's favorite things to do at the waterpark:  following around Andrew so she could love and hug on him, doing the large raft slides and making Mommy run up and down the steps to do the red and yellow slides over and over and over again.

Carter's favorite things to do at the water park:  he liked to ride the raft slides but only with a buddy, he liked floating in the pool with the snake and tree branch to climb on and the lazy river too.

Dawson's favorite things to do at the water park:  he liked the play structure with nets and buckets to dump, he enjoyed the toddler area with a smaller tree slide and also the raft ride with a toddler.

Cousins!!!

Thank you so much everyone for such a fun weekend.  We had a ball spending time with you!

Girls Gala - Masquerade Ball

On Friday Ava went to her very first Daddy/Daughter dance.  It's called the Girls Gala and its put on by the PTG at school.  This years theme was Masquerade ball, and Ava had fun adding sparkles and feathers to her mask.

It worked out well, Ava had the day off school because of the really cold temperatures.  I had a blast with her in the afternoon, painting nails, rolling her hair, putting on makeup and special body lotion and spray.

She got dressed right before Daddy came home from work.

Daddy brought her some roses for the special occasion.

Mike said she had a ball at the dance with her school friends.  They were dancing and running and screaming all over the gym.  Some of the memorable dances were the YMCA and a conga line.  

I have to say, this dance made me a little teary!!  It was a very sweet and fun experience for her and something we will look forward to every year!

Heard Around the House and Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday:  Carter in April 2012, just a little older than Dawson is now.

On Monday there was no school and Carter was having the typical "I'm Bored, there's nothing to do" meltdown.  I suggested games, crafts, basement play, legos but leaving the house or inviting friends over just wasn't in the cards.  The house was a mess and I needed to get caught up on laundry.  After about thirty minutes of whining I finally decided that he was going to clean the kid's bathroom.  Here was our conversation:

Carter:  I don't mind doing anything else, but I hate cleaning the toliet.  I'm never going to clean a toliet.

Me:  Well, one day you are going to go to college and I won't be there to clean up after you.  So it's important for you to learn how to keep it clean.

Carter:  Wait.  When I go to college I'm not going to live here.  

Me:  Well, you can but many kids move away too.

Carter:  So I'll be allowed to decide every day if I can buy or pack my lunch.

Me:  yup

Carter:  And I can buy whatever I want to pack in my lunch

Me:  yup

Carter:  YAY!!!!!!!  celebration

I was just laughing so hard.  His idea of freedom is packing junk food in his lunch and buying lunch from the cafeteria every day.  What a silly goose!!

God Bless Abbie!

On Sunday we spent the day with our Shadle cousins Abbie and Andrew to celebrate Abbie's baptism.

Abbie with her wonderful Mom and Dad

I was honored to be asked to be her Godmother.  Her Grandfather (Tiffany's Dad) is her Godfather.

God Bless sweet little Abbie, We love you!

I had to add in the pictures Mike took of the youngest two.  I love this church, the stained glass work is absolutely beautiful.

Look at us now!

Ava had a birthday party this weekend at the Ice Skating Arena, so we decided to take the boys at the same time for a family outing.  They still enjoyed ice skating and have improved so much from the last time to this time.

Carter was zipping around the rink.  Last time he mainly held onto the edge, but not this time!

Ava felt a little hesitant and initially held onto the edge.  By the end she was skating by herself.

Doc also improved a lot.  Instead of holding onto our hand he was zipping around the rink, so cute to watch.

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Dinner

On Friday we celebrated finishing Mrs. Piggle Wiggle with our family book club dinner.  Due to time constrains we just celebrated with dinner and discussion and skipped the crafts.  There were very little meals discussed in the book Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, so I was drawing a blank about our menu.  But then unrelated, Dawson out of the blue asked me if he could eat pizza with gummy bears on top.  In the spirit of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle we decided to make Dawson's childhood dreams come true and serve pizza.... with candy toppings. 

Mike and I were pretty disgusted with the entire proceedings.  But the kids had grins on their faces from ear to ear.

Seriously this happened.  My, how the mighty have fallen.

Here are the questions we discussed that night, mainly for me to remember:

• Mrs. Piggle Wiggle allowed children free reign in her house.  What would you like to do the most if you visited?
• What do you think your worst habit is, and how would Mrs. Piggle Wiggle solve it?
• What was your favorite Mrs. Piggle Wiggle cure from the book?

It was a fun discussion, my favorite was coming up with a cure for dance eating!!  Who knows if it would work but I'd love to find out!

We Love you to Pieces!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

We

Love

You!

Don't forget one silly one!!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

We have had a busy couple of weekends.  After traveling to Pittsburgh to visit family the following weekend we went to Cincinnati to visit friends.  It is crazy how these back to back traveling weekends take a lot of time to pack and unpack plus plan den meetings and Valentine Day Parties.  

We've been spending a lot of time walking Shadow around despite the chilly temps and slushy roads.  I've challenged Mike to come up with a harness to attach Shadow to the stroller so she can pull it and I will steer.  Like a little dog sled!!  And can I just say seven years from this stroller and still going strong!

Despite a scary head injury (cuts on the head bleed A LOT) which turned out fine, we had a great time visiting friends.  The kids did a lot of playing with friends and had a very sweet reunion with Shadow when it was over.

Shadow the Graduate!!

Good job Shadow, graduating from basic dog training.  Very Cute!!

I hate for this blog to turn into the Dawson show, but he just gives me a lot more material because I'm with him more often.  Ava and Carter have been attending school and plowing through homework every night.  It just seems so excessive, often we are spending an hour plus to get it all done (that is the time I spend between the two of them, so it's really only about 30 minutes each).  Ava has been in seventh heaven with new hand me down clothes, and she is starting to take a bigger interest in her hair do every morning.  Carter is still suffering from the nightly grouchies that we saw in kindergarten.  It's not every day, but he just needs some time to decompress in the evenings away from the other two.   

And the bedroom shenanigans continue!!  Carter is back in the blue room, leaving Ava on the top bunk.  Ava is too scared to sleep on the top bunk because she feels alone.  She can't see anyone up there, so now she is sleeping on the floor on a camp mat.  Everyone is sleeping happily so mission accomplished! 

Dawson and Big Foot

One of Dawson's newest obsessions is Big Foot.   It started from a neighbor boy whose Grandfather has told him all about Big Foot.  But Dawson loves to discuss Big Foot with whomever will listen!  He has told me some stories: Big Foot lives in the tunnels under the earth and sometimes in the woods behind our house.   

Some of our most recent Big Foot art.  Don't know if you caught this, but Big Foot is a boy.

Dawson also made this Big Foot Valentine for his teachers.  It says:  I love you more than Big Foot.  This was all his idea!!  This track was huge, we had to tape together two pieces of brown construction paper to make it.

My snuggly buddies

Well, once it warms up we have big plans for Big Foot hunting this spring.  

Tracey and the terrible, horrible no good very bad morning..... plus other tidbits

We all have rough mornings from time to time and I just had to laugh recently at the string of events that all happened before 8:30 am:

Ava was up for two hours in the middle of the night just playing. 

She was in tears for awhile because Shadow shredded her homework

Dawson found a way to lock the four of us into the laundry room (luckily the back door was open from letting Shadow out)

Then I realized I had forgotten the night before to switch the winter coats from the washer to the dryer, so they were soaking wet.

Thankfully I had enough time to put them in the dryer.  We missed the bus, but I dropped them off at school.

My soldier kids

Carter is just growing up so fast.  Recently he declared that he no longer wanted to share a room with his brother and sister.  So one afternoon Dawson and I took apart the twin bed and moved a dresser.  Ava is now sleeping on the top bunk.  I was a little nervous about this because she is such a wild sleeper.  It's not uncommon for us to find her half on and half off the bed.  But so far so good.  I knew that the kids wouldn't all want to sleep together forever, so I guess we'll see how long the Ava/Dawson room lasts!

Ava saw her Daddy dressing for the Super Bowl and couldn't pass up the hello kitty pajamas/steeler's shirt combo.  I think it looks mighty cute on her.  It's hard to believe that three years ago we had just moved into this house two days prior and we had no furniture!  We even had to go buy a small TV to watch the game.

I snuggled with this little guy during the halftime show.  HILARIOUS!!!  The weirdness of Katie Perry's lion entrance/ dancing sharks combined with his running commentary was priceless.