Valentine's Day Surprises

We don't usually make a big deal out of Valentine's Day, but my dad sent a package for the kids and we let them open it this morning. They were excited to find the funky heart glasses, but Bama really fired up their creativity by helping them draw pictures around the stickers they received. Clara was just thrilled to put stickers on paper - it's one of her favorite activities, haha.

Val came by later that evening with gifts for the kids that Rob sent over from Kuwait, where he is currently deployed. I was touched that he would go to that trouble and the boys certainly loved the Army drawstring bags and matching Army t-shirts. Clara got a cute little teddy bear with a pink Army shirt and they all loved the bonus candy from Aunt Val. That's always sure to be a hit. ;)

Derek took on the role of MC and doled out parcels for his siblings to unwrap

The excitement was palpable!

I love Bryce's thrilled faces. He's so cute. :)

Rocking the heart-shaped glasses!

Clara is still waking up a little

Derek tried to sound out the card on his own. He's doing better with reading!

Bama helped Bryce draw background objects like trees, grass and flowers to show off his stickers

Derek loves to draw

After a while, Bryce really started to take off and fill his page with color

The finished masterpieces! Definitely going on the fridge!

Opening the presents from Rob and Val

Derek tried to sneak Clara's heart candy. Swiper, no swiping!

Modeling their new Army shirts while Clara holds her cute teddy bear. Thanks Rob and Val!!!

Graffiti-ing the Playhouse

Derek came into the house early this morning and demanded that Tammy and I come outside to see what he did to the playhouse. We went out a little nervously but found that he had transformed the playhouse into a cathedral of art... including gargoyles! We had watched a few episodes of the Disney TV show "Gargoyles" a few days ago and he thought it would be the perfect touch to add to his art project. He is a very talented artist. :)

 He even decorated the outside!

 Working hard!

 Filling his life with color

 The yellow-headed lady in the bottom-right corner is a gargoyle

Every good artist signs his work. :) Right underneath the blue and yellow-blob gargoyles.

Isaac's Basketball Game

Liz and Austin invited us out to watch Isaac's last basketball game tonight! He did such a good job! Colton carpooled with me and the kids. While we were driving down, Derek announced that he could speak Spanish and proceded to make a bunch of garbled sounds. It was pretty cute. Colton taught him how to say "Hello" in Spanish. Bryce said, "I talk Spanish, too!" Colton and I looked at each other and laughed. I told Bryce to go ahead and he responded with, "Spanish." Haha! We thought it was hilarious. :) Tammy, Mitchell, Jon, Jenna and their kids showed up with Liz's parents, brother Samuel and sister Bekah to cheer for Isaac. His team is the Celina Bobcats and we cheered loudly for number 20! His team lost the game, but they tried really hard and did a great job. :)

 Keeping his eye on the ball

 Isaac almost made this three point shot!

 Everybody spent time on the bench

 Team huddle!

 Trying to find someone on his team who was open

 "I'm open!"

 Standing at the ready

 Isaac caught the rebound...

... and dribbled down the court! Way to go!

Randoms from January

 01 Jan: Derek and Clara cuddled with me this morning while Bryce slept in

 14 Jan: Bryce is getting the hang of his scooter

 14 Jan: Derek loves zipping around on his scooter

 19 Jan: Bryce is dressed up warm!

 22 Jan: We tried to get Clara to sleep in a big girl bed, but no luck now

 23 Jan: Off to visit Nana

 26 Jan: Clara got into my makeup and gave herself a nice "black eye."

 29 Jan: Bryce and Clara were having fun playing in the playhouse

29 Jan: Love these two hams. :)

Library Time

We went to Story Time put on by the Prosper Library today! The kids loved the animal masks that went with the Old MacDonald Had a Farm interactive song. It was fun to recognize some of the ladies that used to be in our ward before the wards split last November. I miss them!

Who is this adorable kitty cat?!

 Oh, of course. Brycie Bryce!

We definitely love Story Time!

The Paleontologist and the Fashionista

Derek was so excited to start his excavation project today! He put on his safety glasses and got to work with his hammer, chisel and little brush. He's such a cute paleontologist! As he chipped away at the rock, Bryce and Clara came over to spectate. Derek let Bryce play with the toy stegosaurus in the rock chips and even let him have a turn with the chisel. Way to share, bud! Clara didn't care to play in the dirt... she found my Ray Ban sunglasses and insisted that I put them on her. She pranced around, drinking her milk and enjoying the sunglasses, until I started playing her new favorite song - "Backseat Driver" by Toby Mac. Little Princess busted out her favorite moves and even pulled some yoga into her floor expressions, haha! It was a great morning. :)

 He's so excited to start excavating!

 So focused on his task

 He's starting to uncover some of the "fossils"

 The cutest paleontologists I've ever seen! :D

 Little Miss Fashionista demanded my sunglasses as the perfect accent to her outfit

Warm-up dance moves - the sway

Breaking loose!

Andrew and Clara's Pinata

We didn't have time to break the pinata during the party, so we got together to break it today! According to Liz, Andrew kept asking and asking about when we were going to have the pinata, so he was thrilled to finally get a whack at it today, haha! See what I did there? ;) As usual, we started with the youngest and moved to the oldest... Katelyn was determined that it would end with her! She gave it a couple good hits and severed Spiderman at the waist. Uncle David picked up the top half and made it a puppet. Ew!

Jon helped Gracie give Spiderman a beating, haha!

Andrew waited a long time for this moment... and he didn't disappoint, haha!

Swing and a hit for Logan!

Derek forgot that Aunt Lizzie usually spins the older kids before they take a swing. Whoa!

Swing and a miss for Derek!

Spinning Isaac...

Spiderman was no match for Katelyn when she means business!

Chaos!

There's always at least one kid who cries... poor Andrew only had a couple pieces of candy

"Can I have candy, too, please?"

Golden coins are always a hit with these kids... particularly this one. ;)

Uncle David and his Spider-puppet, haha!