Kitt is One Year Old!

For Kitts birthday we went to the Zoo.  She LOVES animals.  Whenever an animals moves she squeals with excitement.  Then Grandma Vicki let her pick out something from the Zoo store.  She wanted a rain-stick (okay so I might have pointed her in that direction).  Grandma also made her a penguin cake in which she consumed that evening.  Today (Sunday her actual Birthday) we sang to her using a bluebird made of blueberries and carrots.  After all, who needs cake two days in a row?  

Christmas Morning

 

This is the first year the kids had any sort of expectation for Christmas.  Pepper wanted a million things so I was afraid she might be disappointed.  But she was not. It was a fabulous day!

Christmas Eve Tradition

As a child, I spent each Christmas Eve at my grandparents.  We read the Christmas Story and sang Hymns about our Saviors birth.  The kids were fairly good, I thought.  Tabor did tease us a bit (pictured above).  Then we all get new Pajamas. We always finish the evening by eating fondue.

cousins in town

 While the Curtis cousins were in town we all took turns with the stomach flu.  Because of this we spent most of our time in grandmas house playing games and so forth....

 Pepper made this play-dough sculpture of Grandpa Darrell.  It kinda looks like him :)

 Pepper bossed Korver around all week.  Korver was a really good sport and usually obeyed her commands.  They had a good time.

 Kitt and Grandma

 They hot tub was a daily ritual.  Good investment Grandma!

 These two were dance-aholics. Whenever music was playing, they were moving and grooving.

 We took care of chickens (for our other grandparents) while they were out of town.  It was nice to get in a daily walk.

Tabor continues to be my best worker.  He loves to cook, farm & garden.

art

Pepper continues to do art each and everyday.  She stays in the lines incredibly well and is now coloring things realistic colors.  Lately she has started drawing.  Spiders are her specialty.  But I took a picture of this drawing because I thought it was so cute... it is Robert and I holding hands. Next time she could make us a bit skinnier, but all in all I thought it was pretty good for a three year old.

the perfect tree

The kids picked out a tree that was about Kitt's size.  We had to talk them into getting a larger one.  I think they were happy about the decision in the end. They really enjoyed decorating it, and I constantly find them staring at it.  And it smells oh so good.

in "tents"

lately, all of our life happenings occur in a "tent".  The kids want to have snacks, read books, play games, do homework and put their stuffed animals in bed all undercover.  To much time under there makes me claustrophobic.  Oh to be small again...

she walks

Okay, so she only walks sometimes.  If she wants to get somewhere fast she will drop down and crawl.  But still, my baby can walk.

rocks

We went to the river to find the perfect "prayer rocks" to paint.  The kids and grandpa threw the "not perfect" rocks we found back into the river.  Pretty soon the kids were finding large rocks on purpose just so grandpa would say "that one is to big" and then he would toss it in the river making a big splash.  The kids loved it.

Peter Paying Taxes

Putting two paper plates together made a great mouth to hold a coin in.  We used these for the story in which Peter caught a fish with a coin inside, which he used to pay taxes.

Using the painters tape once again, made their fish turn out fabulous.

high five magazine

High Five (highlights for 3-5 year old kids) Magazine is awesome.  Grandma Lori got this for the kids as a Christmas gift.  And it is a gift that keeps and giving all year round.  The kids enjoy the stories, doing the "find whats wrong" pictures, trying out the recipes and doing the craft ideas. 

I loved this painting idea!  Both of my kids are fabulous at painting the whole sheet of paper. We put painters tape on top it (later peeling it off) and it gave their paintings some pizazz.