Best Friends

I had just finished changing Asia's diaper so she was laying on the floor.  Miles came and laid down next to her and said, "This my best friend."

rolls

I made rolls from scratch for the first time on Monday.  I used this Texas Roadhouse Rolls recipe.  They looked and tasted so good.  So proud of myself!!

This is what happens...

This is what happens right before dinner when your 2-year-old has to skip his nap for 11:00 church.  Makes for a long night.

Bumbo

We put Asia in the Bumbo for the first time on Saturday. She liked it but is still getting used to it.  I love this thing.  I don't have to hold her so I can get things done, but she can see around so she's happy.  Genius!!!

 She's just so darn cute!!!

Hairstylist Sara

Sara started to like playing with hair and practicing her braids and twists.  She did my hair tonight.  She made it up herself using some things she's seen me do and putting them together.  She did pretty well!

cute baby

I love pulling out the outfits we've had since Sara.  This was one of my favorites and it still is.  I can't get enough of her.

dipping chocolate

This is one of my favorite views.  Ben in the kitchen cooking - especially when he's dipping cinnamon bears in chocolate.  Sara has started to love helping in the kitchen.  I'm trying to give her more responsibilities.  But that is hard for me.

Spelling Bee

Last Thursday, January 12, Sara and Evan were both in a Spelling Bee.  They were sooooo nervous that morning.

Sara is in 4th grade and she was going up against 4th through 8th graders.  She didn't want to be in it.  She was always saying, "I can't do it, Mom.  I'm going against 8th graders."  We kept reminding her that no matter what grade they were in everyone got the same words to study.  She had just as much chance as everyone else and that it didn't matter if she won as long as she tried her best (you know, the normal parent pep talk).  Anyway, she went, participated, and WON!  She did awesome.  There were 24 kids total.  She just went up there and spelled all her words with confidence.  Here's the list of the words she got:

blissful, twinkly, lightning, altogether, animation, hydrogen, pristine, intercept, duress, intrigue, harmonious, syringe, Camelot, thoroughbred, referendum, romaine, panickiness, luxurious, systematic, and her winning word - choreographer.

Way to go Sara!

In between Spelling bees we hung out at home with cousin Logan and watched Tangled.

Evan's was later that afternoon.  This was his very first spelling bee he competed in.  He was up the night before with an upset stomach because he was so nervous.  We gave him the same speeches we gave Sara.  Just do your best and that's all that matters.  It's good to learn how to spell the words.  His was 1st through 3rd grade.  There were a total of 15 students and he got 3rd place!  He, too, just went up and spelled those words with confidence.  He worked really hard to learn the words.  We only studied the first four columns.  He wanted to do more but I didn't think they would get as far as they did so we didn't go farther.  My bad. They did get to the fifth column.  He said to me, "Mom, I told you we should have studied the other column."  He was right but he did so great.  He got every single word we studied right.  I was sooo proud of him.

Here's the list of his words:

drill, blimp, gleeful, shears, title, mumps, helmet, reflect, turkey, compact, blissful, wingspan, shuffle, and his last word he misspelled was mustard (m-u-s-d-a-r-d).

He was disappointed a little bit was he was excited he still got a gift card to Barnes and Noble.  We went that night and let him and Sara find some books to use their gift cards.

Be careful

Be careful about teasing your little brother.  This just might be the result....

a good clock in the eye with a big wooden car

4-months-old

Our little angel is already four months old!!!  She's growing up right before our eyes.  It's funny how I can never remember how life was before a baby joins it.  I think back on before she was born and I really can't remember much or how it felt.  She immediately became a very important part of our family and we wouldn't have it any other way.  

She's a joy!!!  She hardly ever cries, and when she does it's not loud, not long, and she is easily consoled.  You can get a smile from her just by looking at her.  We are all completely in love with her.

Happy New Year

We spent our New Year's Eve at home with our little family.  We were going to invite another family over but we had a few sick kids so we spared others the fun of sick kids.  

We started with party hats and pizza for dinner....

 chasing these punching balloons.....

 silly string (total bomb)....

 and a pinata!!!

It fell off after a few hard hits so they just started digging in.

 Asia had fun with the blow things (can't remember what they were called).  We had to keep our celebration on the quiet side so we got non-noise-making toys to use while we found a countdown clock on line and counted down to the new year at 9:00pm.

 Fun fort with our couches

 And then the traditional New Year balloon filled with money and fortune cookie off of Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas tree the next day.