Hot Chocolate and Settlers

Over Thanksgiving weekend we tried to get the kids out to play a couple of times but it was pretty cold.  And of course, every time they go out in the cold they want Hot Chocolate - Michael's and Becca's with marshmallows in it and Jon's on the side.  Since we have had Aunt Katherine with us for the weekend we were also playing a lot of games.  So what could be better than having both hot chocolate and a game of Settlers on a cold day?!

Mine Craft

As an early Christmas present we bought the kids a second Mine Craft account so two people can play together in the same world.  So over the weekend, this is what I find:



Tim and Michael are playing in a world together.  Jon is on the iPad playing mine craft and taking breaks to watch Michael.  Becca is cheering on her dad!

What's in a name?

The picture is a couple weeks old, but Becca now knows how to write her name and boy is she proud.  In fact I've found the name written on papers, walls, and tables all around the house.



She is also starting to find the letters for her name in other places.  "That's in my name!"  Now we need to work on the name for the letters.  :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We got a wonderful surprise for Thanksgiving!  Because of the bad weather predicted in the east Aunt Katherine headed west to our house instead.  We were so glad to have her here today!

Michael and Jon requested that we use our "fancy glasses" and that we make the candy turkeys again, so it seems that those are our traditions right now.  :)  Afterwards when I asked what was the favorite food, Michael said he liked the rolls and Jon and Becca declared the green beans their favorite.  haha!

The meal turned out fabulous.  The turkey stayed moist and I made Tim's favorite home made stuffing.  We also did a fun napkin holder craft with the kids this morning that turned out cute.



Hope you all have a fabulous day!!

Scrapbooking Update

With my work and the new school year settling into a routine, I've found myself with a few hours over the last few weeks to relax with some scrapbooking.  Check it out.

This is Becca at her tumbling class which just ended.  She LOVED it.  While I'm going to take the winter off so I can cut down on one of the things I need to shuttle my kids around too, I think we will definitely sign her up again in the spring.



This past summer my sister-in-law Emily took some 10 year wedding anniversary photos for us.  :)



And I finished up some pages so I could print the kids a book for 2007.  (We've had 2008-2012 printed and they've been begging for a while for the earlier ones.)

This was Michael at church in the Christmas pageant.  The toddlers were the sheep with their teachers as the shepherds.



And here was us visiting Grand Rapids in the summer.  Grandparents are always so happy to see my kiddo!



And this was from our visit to Vermont that summer.  You can see Michael developed his tennis stroke early.  My favorite shot on this page is the one in the middle on the right.  After trying to hit the ball over the net like the big people, Michael finally decided it would be easier to just throw it over and he could just barely reach it - he was so proud of himself!

Photo Time

Jon and Becca love having their pictures taken.  Today they wanted me take all sorts of pictures and then they'd rush around to see themselves behind the camera in the review.

When we were at the second hand store, Becca picked out all the pairs of jeans that had fun stitching and designs on them.  Here she is showing off a pair.




Jon rolled up some paper and starting making all kinds of music.













Aren't they just adorable?

Animals

When Jon and Becca get to playing together it usually quickly involves a bunch of animals and dolls.  Last Friday was such a day.  We had just had one of the busiest weeks and on Friday we had absolutely nothing on the schedule.  So while I got some stuff done around the house and got caught up on some reading I wanted to do, Jon and Becca went off into pretend mode.

After a while I went around the house to see what was up.  This puppy is Chocolate.  He slept on the kitchen floor today.  He use to be one of my favorite stuffed animals as a kid (hence the name).  I love that he brings joy to my kids too.



During their games the front hallway always fill up with the friends.  When I ask, they can never tell me exactly what they were doing, but the hallway seems to be a favorite hang out place for the animals and dolls.  Based on what I hear, there is a lot of Mommy, Daddy, and Baby playing here.





And then upstairs it was lunch time.