Bus Rider!

I was going to be late picking up the kids one day, so I asked my friend if the kids could come to her house after school.  Just in case I wasn't there in time.  They were so excited to ride the bus.  They have been car riders this year.  I made it just in time for the bus to arrive and take some pictures.   They had fun on the bus.  No bullies on this one I guess!  :-)

Jaedyn looses tooth #6

(This is a catch up post from early January)

The tooth fairy is going broke at our house, she has been here already twice this week.   Jaedyn is very excited to have lost both her front teeth!  We think she looks cute!

A Workshop at Lowes

We've been to many Home Depot Workshops, and only a few Lowes workshops.  I think we've decided the Lowes workshops are definitely more challenging.   The kids loved it just the same, and hopefully didn't notice the parents frustration!

Tanners Crib Bedding

Since we have found out we are having a girl, we decided to sell Tanners crib bedding.  I really do love that set.  They make it in a girl version, but it is just not as cute.

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/bab/2853355760.html

{We're having a GIRL!!!}

We are so excited around here for a new baby.  Even better that the kids got what they were praying for - a girl baby!  We went to "Baby's First Images" to see what we were having.  We all like to know what we are having just as soon as we are able to!  So at 16 weeks ( or 15 weeks 4 days, hehe) we went in.  We had waited on telling almost everyone our news until we found out what we were having, including the kids.  They have been begging for a girl baby for awhile now.   The kids are so excited, and really want to help in picking out her name.  Landons top suggestion is "Landa"..  Don't know if that will happen, but I do know that her middle name will be "Carlton" after my Mom.  That was her maiden name given to her at birth (before adoption). 

And the awaited pictures......

{A/R & Challenges}

If you ever wonder what I am doing after school with my kids, this is it.  It consumes a lot of my life.

First A/R - which stand for Accelerated Reader Program.  Every night we read a book or two at least 3 times to the kids.  The next day they take their A/R Folder back to school and are given a comprehension test on the book.  The test usually is 5 questions (some are 10 questions- hate those books).  They have to score a 60% or better to pass the test.  Based on their percentages they receive points, usually up to 0.5 points for the book levels they are reading.  They have a rewards schedule that they earn prizes based on how many points they receive.  

Second is Challenges.  This is a Kindergarten program, Jaedyn did her's last year.  Landon and I work hard at passing challenges.  He can test on one challenge per day.  Some challenges are easy for him, some are hard.  They deal with letter sounds, 3 dimensional shape names. counting to 100 by 1's, 2's, 5's & 10's.  Some challenges are very easy for Landon, some we really have to work on. 

Of course this is in addition to their regular homework.  Which granted isn't too bad.  We usually knock out our homework in one night and spend the rest of the week focusing on A/R & Challenges.

Here are the cuties with their folders!

{The tooth fairy is going broke at our house!}

Jaedyn has slowly been losing teeth.  This one makes #5.  The sad part is, it is the first one that really makes her look older.  It was a top tooth, and I'm really sad.  She looks so much older now.  She on the other hand is way excited! 

 [Tanner wants to be like the big kids so bad]

{Christmas Gift}

This year, I got many kitchen appliances as gifts.  One of them Adam bought for me is a griddle.  We love to make pancakes on the griddle.  So that is just what I did.  It was nice to have a Lake House favorite at home!

[of course, my favorite way to eat them... With peanut butter and bananas!]

{Nail Polish}

For Christmas Jaedyn got some new nail polish, and some nail "stickers".  We had a lot of fun decorating her nails.  Even Tanner got a blue flower on one of his nails.

[Before]

[After]

{My Pinterest Project}

I have been looking at decorating ideas on Pinterest.  One idea that caught my eye was a built in coat rack.  It wasn't very hard, and I love how it turned out.  Perfect for the kid's backpacks.

[Pinterest photo]

I don't know why I didn't think to get a before picture - but just imagine it....   a bare wall.  (Actually it had a picture of the Atlanta Temple on it, but you get what I mean)

{Landon loses his first tooth (x's 2)}

Landon has had a loose tooth for months now.  He asks me everyday, sometimes a few times a day, to wiggle his tooth.  Finally it was loose enough to try and pull.  He was a brave boy, and let me pull it.  When it came out, I noticed the one next to it was barely hanging on.  So, we pulled the other one too.  He is so excited to lose his first tooth (x's 2).  The tooth fairy came, and brought Landon $2.00.   She also left him a note telling him how brave he was for losing 2 teeth!

We took lots of pictures, my favorites are of a toothless Landon and where Tanner insists on having gauze in his mouth too!

{New Year's Eve}

We headed up to the Lake for New Year's Eve weekend.   We bought a bunch of fireworks, and a few little things for the kids.  We had a blast.  The kids loved playing with the "morning glory (sparklers).   Adam played a joke on the kids, it was really funny.  We bought a pack of fireworks that just make noise, really loud noise..... in a 200 pack.   We went outside to look at the "moon" and Adam set them off.  Oh my goodness, it was so funny!!  The kids about died, and we died laughing.  They laughed afterwards.  They were seriously loud!  Then Adam went down to the lake side and let off the big fireworks.  I tried to get a few on camera, but was busy watching the show myself.  The kids loved seeing all the fireworks, and kept yelling - good job Daddy!  The kids went to bed at 9:00 and the parents at 10:30.  A perfect night!

{Hi-Five Ma!}

Today I have been pretty productive around the house.  I have finished up a few lingering projects & organized a few things.  Feels good to be productive.  One thing I needed to do was finish painting Tanners crib/toddler bed.  I needed to get all the way to the floor on the legs and a few of the corners needed attention.  While I was at it, I took off the bed rail so we can test tonight if Tanny-manny falls out of his bed tonight.  He was so excited that he came up to me and said - "Hi-Five Ma" with his hand up in the air.  The Cutest!