First Snow of The Year

Yesterday the kids were very excited to wake up and see snow! They were outside playing by 9am! They played outside for probably an hour and then we went and took Jake some lunch at the new house. He has been working like crazy the last couple weeks to get things done. Carson and Marcus were very excited that by our new house there is a pretty big sledding hill. They probably played out there for 2 hours! Shalise stayed inside with me and colored while I showed the painters which colors to put on which walls. It was a fun day! Too bad the snow is already melted, the kids can't wait to go out and play in it again!

Marcus and Shalise Birthday Party

Yesterday we had a birthday party for Marcus and Shalise. I decided to combine their parties because we will be moving soon and they have a lot of the same friends. Also Shalise's birthday is on Christmas and pretty much anytime in December is just hard to do a party. It was a costume party, so the kids could wear costumes. And it was a "Barbie and Batman" themed party. I had my two awesome babysitters come help me because we had about 25 kids come! We had 3 different crafts for them to do and I split the kids up into 3 groups. One craft was to make a paper bag puppet, another was to make a mask and the other one was for the girls to make a crown and the boys to make a shield. After they finished we put all their stuff including a little party favor bag into their puppet bag to take home. We then did cake and opened presents. It wasn't near as crazy as I expected, having the 2 girls here to help me made a huge difference. I think the kids had a good time, Marcus and Shalise keep telling me that it was a fun party so I guess as long as they had fun, then it was a success right? :)

Kids Reading and Coloring

Carson is learning to read and I don't know who is more excited about it, me, him or the kids! They come running now with books for Carson to read them!

This was the other morning about a half hour before school. And yes the kids were dressed, fed and all ready to go that early. Thank you daylight savings...

Sleeping Kids

I love watching the kids sleep, they are so peaceful and so funny. The other night I thought it was cute that Shalise let all her little dolls sleep on her pillow and not her. :) Then Carson had fallen asleep on our bed and was not there when we went to move him, he had decided inside the basket was more comfortable...

Just Dance 2 on the Wii

The kids love playing Just Dance 2 on the Wii, so the other night we played for a while. It is a lot of fun and definitely a good workout! :)

Halloween 2011

We had a busy Halloween day! Carson went to school and had a costume parade, so the kids and I went and watched. I video taped part of it to get some good ideas for next year! People are always way more creative than us! Carson got out early from school so we went to my parent's house to help with donuts. My mom makes donuts every year and the kids thought they were really good! We then got home and got ready to go trick-or-treating. We were so happy to have good weather, it was awesome! Jake put Halloween lights and spider webs and everything on the Ranger, it looked pretty cool and unfortunately we didn't even take a picture... So we all went out as a family on the Ranger to trick-or-treat and had a lot of jealous parents pass us by! The kids got a ton of candy and were exhausted when we got home. It was great Halloween 2011!

Carving Pumpkins

Saturday we spent the morning carving pumpkins. The kids did not really enjoy getting their hands dirty but they had fun anyway. Shalise wanted hers to be a Blues Clues Dog, Marcus wanted a bat and Carson wanted a skull. I think they turned out great! After pumpkins we headed to a local park where they were doing a big trunk-or-treat. The kids got their faces painted and then we hightailed it out of there because it was so crowded, it was not very fun! But Marcus and Shalise especially will do anything for free candy!

Classic Skating

After my work's Trunk-or-Treat party, we headed to Classic Skating. Carson's school had a free skate night and the kids were really excited to go. We've been a few times, but I feel like this was the first time the kids could really go out on their own and they had so much fun. I remember the last time we went I pushed Shalise in a stroller the whole time cuz she was too small to do anything. This time Marcus and Shalise rode their scooters and did a great job! Carson got roller blades this time, it's his first time using them and of course he took to it fast! He was racing around the rink by the end of the night! And he has now informed us that he is going to ask Santa for roller blades for Christmas. :) We ended up staying for more than 3 hours that night because the kids were having so much fun. Needless to say they all crashed in the car and were dead asleep within minutes! We look forward to doing this again as a family for sure!