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!

Beautiful Sunrise!!

Goodness, I love the sunrise!

The little silo is a cute silhouette

Papa's Tree by the growing light of morn

Playing with Dolls

Clara was pushing some of her princess dolls around in her toy stroller today.... and Bryce decided he wanted in on the action, too. He managed to talk Clara into letting him play with Sleeping Beauty and Princess Sofia while she pushed Baby Belle around in the stroller. As Bryce was playing with the "Mommy" and "Baby" (as he called them), I asked him what mommies do. He scrunched his face up and thought for a minute before replying, "Ummm.... make pancakes?" Hahahaha, ok. I haven't made pancakes in a while, but I guess I should. I asked him what else mommies do and he promptly responded, "Make pancakes." Little stinker. :)

 Clara sure loves her Baby Belle

 Bryce and the Sofia "Baby" and Sleeping Beauty "Mommy" dolls :)

 Playing with dolls is fun!

 BIIIIIG HUG!

 They danced in the kitchen... while the Mommy made pancakes, I guess

 Me and my Brycie Bryce

Cheese!!

Bryce Loves Blocks

 Bryce loves to see things blow up or crash. Naturally, he was thrilled when I told him he could let his T. Rex destroy the block towers we were building. I tried to get him to build his own towers to demolish, but he can't quite build them tall enough for a satisfactory CRASH just yet, so I helped him out. He loved it!

 Posing with the tower

Here we go!

CRASH!!

Silly String Party

What do you do when Dollar Tree has a sale on silly string? Have a Silly String Party! Derek, Bryce and Preston were the only ones interested in the silly string, but Clara and Sierra were happy to watch the silliness unfold. Aunt Sereen and I even got in on the action! The boys took a few tries to figure out how to aim the silly string (see the first picture) but they were just thrilled to see it shooting out of the can. Clara and Sierra were bored pretty quickly so they started sliding down the plastic slide. It was fun spending time outside as the air began to lose its oppressive heat!

Derek and Preston are still trying to figure out how to aim the silly string

Close-range shot

Preston turned the tables!

Preston had an Old Western style of shooting (think quick cocking action with the pistols)

The Pretty Princesses!

Bryce was thrilled when he figured out how to shoot the string - he was ready to get in on the action!

Getting every last drop!

Sweet Clara!

Sweet Sierra loved to carry around that squirter stick

  Even spent silly string can be fun to use to decorate your sister. :)

Aunt Sereen got Derek!