The Great Wall of Color

Our kids have entered a whole new phase of coloring. The kids color something every single day, and usually several times a day. This all started when we got ourselves a new printer and a great online deal with unlimited amount of ink. Having that limit null'd meant not having to worry about saving ink. Therefore, I let the kids go crazy with whatever coloring page they wanted from online.

Their favorite thing to do once they had finished a page was to hang it up. I let them put it up wherever they wanted. It made the house look messy but it didn't bother me. I wanted them to see their good work and enjoy the progress they made with each new picture.

Isaac has even started drawing on his own. He showed me this picture and said that the red guy was Dad and the green one was him. He said he was saving Dad from falling while holding on to a stick.

This is the area the kids chose to hang their pictures. They would even bring home their coloring pages from church and hang them up.

Here are some of my favorite pictures. Look how they started staying within the lines! I did tell them they had to do their very best work in order to hang them up. I think once they saw how good their pictures looked when they colored in the lines that they wanted to keep doing it.

This little ghost is Andrew's. He worked hard for 15 minutes on it. Isn't it adorable?

Here was Andrew also trying to draw people for the very first time. Oh these make me smile!

Fun Indoors

Here are some things the kids liked to do around the house when it got to cold to go outside. Andrew loved to wear his Raphael mask while swinging his swords at anyone or anything that got within 10 feet of him. Yep, Andrew has to be hitting, kicking, swinging, and yelling while he is in character. It's just what you do as Raphael. 

Isaac is getting strong enough to give piggy back rides to Emeri. He was sweet to do so with the instant demands he got from Emeri. Plus, I think it was a cute way for them to play together. 

We have started something new in our house to help me keep sane, have time to teach each child in the kitchen, and get some help during meal times. Each one of our kids has a day of the week where they are mommy's helper. Being mom's helper means they set the table, help me cook, and then help me clean up afterwards. In doing so they get to choose where they sit at the table, they choose who gets to say the prayer before each meal, and then get a special treat once the dishwasher is loaded. This helps me have some good one on one time with them, and also gives them a chance to learn and have fun in the kitchen.

Oakley loves her little car we borrowed from Grandma Heath's house. I think the boys love it more though. They took turns pushing her down the hallway and spinning the car out the last minute before it could collide into the front door. Scared me to death but when I saw how much Oakley loved it I held back my tongue.

The other picture is of our kids playing a marble game where they earn different amount of points for each circle it landed in. The boys played it for at least a half an hour. Their favorite part was writing down the amount of points they earned. Without understanding the value of their points, they would freak out once their numbers reached the bottom of the page. HAHA

This little diva looked like she was innocently looking at our fish. I thought it was pretty cute too until I noticed the huge pile of fish food in the tank!! Oh yeah, she dumped almost the entire container of beta fish food into his bowl! The label says to only give the fish a pinch of food every few hours or else it will over feed and die. AWE! Emeri! Oh and look at her face, she wasn't surprised at all. What a little faker. I quickly changed the bowl of water and all was good. It needed a change really bad anyways. Skittles can thank Emeri I guess.

Emeri loves listening to the "Elsa song" on my phone. She will only have the real song from the movie, not the Demi Lavato one that plays during the credits. Whenever the sound track reaches that song she says, "no mommy, not the bad Elsa song, the good Elsa one." HAHA Funny girl. When she has her "good Elsa song" on she roams the house, enters her own little world, dances so adorably, and sings to her hearts content.

Emeri is working on learning her colors. I have these cute laminated colored monkeys that I bought the boys when they were little to help them learn their colors. Emeri loves them to death. She asks me if she can play with her "color monkeys" and spreads them all over the floor. When I have a free moment I tell her to find things around the house that match the monkeys. These are some of the things she has found. She is so smart. She even has the brown couch pillow for the brown monkey. What a silly smart sweet heart. 

Here is a picture of Oakley that Isaac took all by himself. He loved doing it and of course preceded to take a gazillion random pictures around the house. This one wasn't too bad though.

Feeding Oakley

Having a baby in the house as been a blast, especially during meal times. The older children LOVE to feed Oakley. They love to make her laugh and see how messy she can get. I never thought the day would come when my babies would feed my other babies. It is crazy how time flys. Stop time, stop.

Some times Oakley gets fed a little too fast and I find her like this in her crib. HAHA Yummy avocado and green beans! The room stunk horribly but Oakley didn't mind!

I love it when the kids make Oakley laugh while feeding her. Food is spit all over the place from Oakley's bursts of giggles, but it's well worth the clean up. Giggles made from a sibling are the best.

Messy faces and smiles are the best, especially when it comes from silly Isaac.

Emeri is probably Oakley's favorite person to see across from her when she is in the high chair. Once Oakley sees Emeri coming she will kick her feet and get an anticipated smile on her face. She just knows big sis is going to do something funny.

        A picture of Oakley during the giggles.                The source of silliness from the opposite angle.

Little Elm Beach

I have to start off by saying, who can go to the beach in January? We can and we did! This is one nice perk about Texas; the weather is warm enough to go play outside year round. I am not saying the kids went swimming but they did get wet and dirty while enjoying some warm (not hot) sunshine.

It was so nice! Austin and I were soaking up the warm sun while the kids played in the sand. 

The boys wanted me to take pictures of the star and sun they made with their shovels. Not bad, eh?

I love this picture of Emeri. I love how she's wearing her adorable skirt while playing in the sand. The picture represents her I think. She is a beauty that loves to get dirty and play hard. Plus, look how little she is. she is enjoying herself and has no cares. I love the innocence this picture captured too.

The boys started acting like lions and getting into the water. Austin tested the temperature out and quickly back tracked. The sissy man wouldn't even walk in the shallow area after that. lol

Andrew built this and called it a temple. He then took the astronaut out of his pocket, put it on top of his temple, and then told me he had angel Moroni on his temple. Sweet Andrew, I loved that.

I took this shadow picture because Isaac noticed that our two shadows looked like camels. This happened while we were loaded with our stuff walking back to the car. He kept telling me he could see camels but I had tuned him out trying to get Emeri to follow us. When I finally was able to focus in on what he was saying I laughed and had to take a picture. The picture on the right is what Isaac was actually holding to make his camel possible. He is a very observant boy.

Andrew's Rocket Launcher

For a few days in the beginning of January, the weather was warm enough to finally pull out Andrew's rocket launcher he got for his birthday. The boys loved seeing how high they could get it to go. Sometimes they would get the rocket so high it would land over the neighbors' fences or on our roof. Thank goodness Daddy was there to save the day, and look, he dressed just for the strenuous occasion. HAHAHA

The boys learned quickly that the rocket would fly higher when they jump on it with two feet instead of just stomping on it. I liked how they held the rocket for each other to make sure it went straight up.

During the rocket show Oakley enjoyed her first ride on our outside swing. She quite enjoyed herself. I loved how the natural light brought out her baby blues! Such a pretty smile sweetie.

Isaac got in trouble for a bit and had to take a time out. I told him he had to hold Oakley while his brother kept playing with the rocket. She didn't notice his sour attitude, look at those smiles! Happy as a clam!