I took a bunch of pictures of Heidi today and these were my favorites! Sarah got her to do the big smiles in the last few pictures where she's looking off to the side!

 

Ugly Sweatshirt Day

Today was ugly sweatshirt day at school.  Just before bed last night the girls were informing me that they needed an ugly sweatshirt to wear today or at least a Christmas sweatshirt.  We didn't have either one, and I wasn't really sure if they each had a sweatshirt at all.  But I dug around in their drawers and closet and finally found a sweatshirt for everyone.  But they weren't "ugly."  They were plain blue, camo, and pink.  Luckily I have a lot of lace, ribbon, and extra material laying around the house, so I was able to decorate their sweatshirts and make them oh so BEAUTIFUL!!  I didn't know how to make Samuel's ugly, so I put Rudolph on it.  He was pleased.  I sewed each of the sweatshirts in a way that won't make it too hard to take the lace/ribbons/rudolph off.  However, Samuel said he wanted to keep Rudolph on it.  I had fun.  It was a late night, but it was fun to see the kids appreciate it this morning. 

 

Heidi Sue update

Heidi was 11lbs 2 weeks ago and is getting chubbier!!  It's fun to see her face get a little more round and rolls start to appear on her legs and arms.  She is smiling more and starting to coo.  It is so fun to see her early in the mornings because she smiles and coos better then.  My friend let me borrow her swing and Heidi really likes it.  It took her 4 days to decide it was a good thing, but we make good use of it.  Heidi is still sleeping 7-8 hours most night with an occasional 6 or 9 hour in there.  She has her first cold and it's sad to hear her cough like the rest of us.  She is definitely one of my easiest babies!  Calista is probably my best helper with Heidi.  She's not afraid to hold her and walk her when Heidi is hungry and "patiently" waiting for me to finish whatever I'm doing.

 

Trace and Erica, these are actually two outfits that Tiffanie gave me from you guys!  Thank you!  Sorry the pictures aren't very good.  The top picture came with purple pants, and the bottom picture is overalls.

 

It finally came!

It was only a week late, but it finally came!!  Samuel came home from school Wednesday and asked if I wanted him to ride his bike down to the post office and see if the package had arrived.  I told him I had just come from the post office.  He asked if it was there.  I looked at him with disappointment on my face and said, "Yes."  He was excited.  The only bummer was that I made him wait until Aaron got home before he could open it!  He was a good sport, and as soon as Aaron walked through the door he grabbed it.  We had company over so we went into his room for him to open it.  He wasn't quite sure what it was, but Aaron figured out how to run it and Samuel has loved it ever since.  He just wishes he had another set so even more people could play!

 

Samuel's 10

My baby boy is 10 years old!!  We love to tease Samuel that since he is my only boy, that makes him my baby boy too!!  He is such a neat person and I am so thankful to have him in our family.  He is so thoughtful of everyone, especially his sisters.  He will even paint their fingernails and toenails, try to fix their hair, and give them piggyback rides if they are too tired to walk.  When I was pregnant, he would push the stroller up the big hill by our house without being asked.  True, he loves to be a big brother and have "fun" with his sisters at times, but he is very caring and sets a great example for all of us. 

 

Samuel is loving to read right now.  He's gone through all the Magic Treehouse books, most of the boxcar children books, and is now loving Hank the Cowdog.  For school they have to earn Accelerated Reading points, where they read a book and take a test on it to see how well they comprehended the material read.  Last trimester, he had a goal of 12 points and ended up getting over 50!  Somewhere in there he found a love of reading.

 

Samuel is also learning to type right now.  We found a fun game to play online which helps him practice his typing.  It is called keyboard ninjas.  The fun thing is that you can practice just the home row, bottom row, top row, all letters, or the number pad.  We've started Jacque and Calista on it too.  They have so much fun and are quickly improving.

 

Samuel loved his presents, and can't wait for the one to come in the mail.  It was supposed to be here before his birthday, but somehow got lost in the mail.  It was in Washington at the end of November, but then decided to go all the way to New Jersey for his birthday.  It looks like it finally made it back to Washington yesterday, so hopefully he'll get it soon.  He doesn't know what it is, but is waiting very patiently.  We told him it was a book, "101 ways to paint your toenails!"  For some reason he's not buying that.

 

 Samuel is starting to experiment more with drawing and I thought this would be a fun book.

 Jacque made this for Activity Days the week before and decided to give it to Samuel for his bday.

 Samuel has always wanted a costume, but I never had a pattern that would fit him until a few weeks ago.  I'm not sure what he is, but he loves it anyway!!

 This is his candy monster cake!

Halloween 2012



Red Ribbon Week = Wacky day

For Red Ribbon Week our elementary school lets the kids dress up!  Today was Wacky Day = hair, socks, clothes.  We don't have much in the way of wacky socks and clothes, but we had lots of fun with our hair.  Ellen even wanted to join in!