Welcome Gracyn!

On March 1 Gracyn Gayle made her way into the world!  We went down to meet her that night!  Matthew enjoyed holding her while Joshua really could have carried less (perhaps because Matthew hasn't really been around too many babies, while Joshua has).  I enjoyed cuddling with the little sweetie and checking out which of her features she gets from Shawn and which are from Erin.  So happy for this new little blessing added to Shawn, Erin, Owen and Aiden's family.



Little artist hard at work

Thanks to Pinterest I've found a few new "recipes" for creative activities to do with the boys, but Matthew especially since he is the one home all the time.  The first new recipe we tried was sawdust dough.  Since Cory has been working very slowly on finishing off the basement we actually had a container of sawdust that the boys had collected so we figured why not try the new sawdust dough recipe.  Matthew enjoyed measuring the ingredients and mixing, but beyond this had no desire to have anything to do with the sawdust dough.  Even Joshua said he wouldn't touch it.  Can't blame them a whole lot since it turned out very mushy and not very dough like at all.  So,this was the first and the last time we will attempt this concoction!  Next we did some sand painting.  I had done this previously when teaching preschool, but had since forgotten about this activity.  Matthew again liked measuring and mixing the ingredients, but surprisingly he absolutely loved painting with it too (rare for my little boy who doesn't like to get messy or artsy)!  More sand painting is in our future I believe.

Sifting the sawdust so we only get the finer sawdust in the dough..

Mixing up the sawdust dough.

Sanding painting.

Dripping glue all over paper in preparation for an art project a different day.

More sand painting for the child who generally doesn't like this sort of activity.

Priceless!

This came home from school a few weeks ago with Joshua after they celebrated their 101st day of 1st grade.  In case you can't read it.....

I would love to eat 101 spoonfuls of cookie dough.

I would not like to eat 101 peanuts.

My parents tell me 101 times to be nice to my brother.

I tell my parents 101 times to put my kitten in my bed.

When I am 101 years old I will be lazy.

Ha, so accurate it's funny!!

Celebrating Valentine's Day in 1st Grade

Joshua had his last class party of the year a few days before Valentine's Day.  This was the one and only party I had actually planned helping organize and run at the beginning of the year, but little did I know this would be the third party I helped with when I signed up way back then.  We kept it pretty low key, with a few simple games and some festive and yummy food.  The kids had a great time and that is what is was all about! 

Class picture

 Passing the tissue paper heart with straws.





Joshua works on his Valentine owl craft.

He can do it!

We are constantly reading to both boys, but Matthew in particular as Joshua can now read on his own.  Matthew enjoys books of most any kind.  We've read several board books about colors, shapes, numbers, but Matthew isn't forth-giving in letting us know is he is comprehending this info - generally when we ask him what something is he says, "you say it".  So, one morning he was just sitting in the chair in our bedroom and he is counting from 1 to 9!  I couldn't believe it so I asked him to do it several times just to be sure.  Funny thing is he also is understanding one to one correspondence up to 5 already too, which surprised me.  Little stinker!!  Check out the video of him counting that morning in late January.

Celebrating Sam's Birthday at Craigs Cruisers

Thanks to a bunch of gift cards among family that were won at a church "Downhill Derby Race" along with Toni and Paul's willingness to have Sam's birthday party at a venue we were able to celebrate Sam's birthday with family at Craigs Cruisers.  The cousins had a great time together and I am pretty sure Sam had an unforgettable birthday party!  We rode the go-carts and the kids played lots of games for those stupid silly prizes.  What a fun night together as family! 

 Most of the cousins wanted to ride the frog hopper ride.  Matthew was excited when he got on, but once it went up high and started to bounce he started to scream and cry.  We rescued him and let the other kids enjoy there ride void of the screaming and crying. 

 Shooting water at the target with daddy was way more fun for Matthew.

Lots of the cousins, along with Uncle Shawn and Uncle Paul tried out the bumper cars.  Joshua opted out of this activity though saving his activity ticket for the go carts.



Joshua and Gabrielle had a great time playing games together.

First snow day of 2012!

Joshua was thrilled to finally have enough snow to have a snow day on January 13.  We had to celebrate the snow day by playing in the snow of course!!  We spent quite a bit of time outside playing, having a snowball fight and building a snow fort.  With rosy cheeks we headed back inside for hot cocoa and lunch.  Thanks to Pinterest we tried to make our own snowflakes using pipe cleaners and borax dissolved in hot water.  The kids really enjoyed the project, but they snowflakes didn't turn out as cool as the ones shown on Pinterest.  Besides the throwing around of a little attitude from a certain 6 1/2 year old, who received consequences for his attitude,  we had a nice day relaxing and playing together.

Snowball fight!!

Hanging out in the snow fort we built together.

Chillin'

Making Borax snowflakes.

Starting the New Year off with a Little Bowling

Since Joshua had school off on Monday we decided it would be fun to go bowling as a family. Erin ended up having her meeting cancelled so their family joined us. The boys had a great time! Joshua used both the ramp and bowled by himself and enjoyed both. This was Matthew's first experience bowling and he mostly used the ramp, but at times enjoyed pushing the ball down the lane - oh and yes he did throw it at one point, oops! It was a fun, cheap way to entertain the family!

Matthew took delight in watching his ball S.L.O.W.L.Y roll down the lane after pushing it!



Joshua tossing his ball.

Matthew decided to toss the ball too, it created quite the noise. 

The matching cousins!

Gift Exchange with Cousins

Every year the cousins names go in a bowl and then the kids each get to pick a name and buy a gift for that cousin.  This is so much fun for them, especially as they are getting older they know their cousins' likes and can really put some thought into what would be a good gift.  Christmas night they did their exchange.  This year Joshua picked out a gift for the baby girl Hager which he was very excited about.  Matthew picked out Legos for Sam.  Joshua loves his Lego game from Nicholas and Matthew loves his Uno Moo game from Aiden.  Creating memories with their cousins is a special thing I am sure my kids will cherish when they look back.

Captured these boys at a rare quiet moment, love it!

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Day

We were fortunate enough to be able to gather with extended family over the course of the afternoon and evening Christmas Day.  We spent the afternoon at my Uncle Steve and Aunt Cher's house where we got to catch up with relatives we don't see enough.  It was a good time.  The boys were blessed with a few presents as well which they were tickled with.  (Excuse the delay of this post (blogger seems to have issues lately posting pictures) and and the poor picture quality - apparently my camera was on the wrong setting and I realized it too late.

Rachel and Joshua

My grandparents and Matthew.

Uncle Steve and Aunt Cher totally surprised Joshua with a die cast Nascar car signed by the driver!

Clifford and Clifford books for Matthew!

Matthew hugging Clifford.

Uncle Steve and Joshua checking out the Nascar.

A new Lego set for Joshua and Duplos for Matthew - Thank you Uncle Jim and Aunt Nancy!

Matthew shows off his Santa diaper :)

Shannon, Matthew, Joshua and Rachel.

Baby Pierson's first Christmas.

The boys made ornaments for some of the special people in their lives and Joshua snapped this picture of Aunt Cher just after she opened hers.

Matthew plays with his new Duplos with Uncle Phil.

We don't believe in Santa at our house, but when my Uncle Paul arrived Joshua said, "maybe Santa is real". 

Matthew, Pierson and Joshua with "Santa".