So I finally got around to doing our filing (for the first time in a few months, eek!) and I came across the kids' report cards from the Second Quarter and realized that I never shared them with y'all! And guess what?
They ALL made the Principal's List this time! Woohoo! And somebody didn't like "taking a break" from his games, so he worked his little tail off last quarter and brought those grades up. :o)
They ALL made the Principal's List this time! Woohoo! And somebody didn't like "taking a break" from his games, so he worked his little tail off last quarter and brought those grades up. :o)
Matthew's GPA: 99.0
Evelyn's GPA: 98.6
Joshua's GPA: 97.2
Joshua's previous GPA was a 93.4. Dude, he went up 7 points in Math and 14 points in Science! :oO
Now, that's what I'm talking about! :o) We know he can do it, but now he knows that if he doesn't do it, he doesn't get to play, so yeah, really proud of all those crazy midgets. :oD
The kids were out of school for MLK Day, so we just hung out at the house. The big kids ran around in the beautiful weather all day, and eventually we released Emily too.
Haha, those girls were so happy to play together.
Matthew with his beyblade-playin' crew.
I bet she went down that slide 50 times. Lol!
Hi Evelyn!
Joshua got in on the beyblade-playin'.
Wow Matthew. Be careful!
Later, I was handing out the kids' "paychecks" (instead of allowance we give them paychecks for doing different chores or "jobs" around the house) and Emily was standing in line too! But we don't actually have her on the "payroll" just yet, so I asked her what she wanted and she said, "Emmy money too!" Haha, so I told her to help me pick up all her toys and I would give her some money too, and she did!
So I gave her some change and she ran over to deposit it in her kitty-cat bank. Guess we're starting her early! ;o)
And later, she modeled her new hat for us.
:oP
And then we curled up on the couch to watch some TV before bedtime. :o)
Tuesday:
Back to school for those big midgets!
Emily's okay with us leaving them at the school now, but she still asks me several times throughout the day, "Get kids now?" Awww, and I just tell her "Almost Emmy!" :o)
She really likes having me take her picture, hehe.
So not only does she enjoy wearing everybody else's shoes, she also likes to walk around with boxes on her feet!
Haha, seriously, she wore shoe boxes on her feet at least 3 times this week. :oP
The kids have been slowly getting into their Christmas presents, opening a new thing here and there, and on Tuesday, we were able to set up Matthew's telescope.
Daddy got it all lined up for him.
And dude - we could see Saturn! Like, its moons and rings too!! And when he turned it to the moon, you could see all the craters and mountains and just sooo much detail. It was the coolest thing, and Matthew was sooo excited about it. :o)
He made sure that everybody got a turn to see the awesomeness of space.
Joshua got to look too, but I didn't get a pic. :op
They tried to give Emily a chance to see the moon.
And she tried, but every time they would say, "Do you see the moon Emily?"
She would pull away from the telescope and say, "It's right there!" Lol! :o)
Wednesday:
Matthew did a Martin Luther King worksheet at school where he listed some of his dreams for the future.
Dream for the Future: Discover a new planet
Way to Make This Dream Come True: Becoming a scientist
So yep, Matt-dog has decided that he wants to be a scientist when he grows up! Awesome. :o)
You know, no matter how hard I try, I just cannot time her naps around our trips to the grocery store!
Either that or she just finds shopping really boring. :oP
We had the windows open, so later I found her trying to escape.
Hehe, she was just watching the people mowing the lawn and a couple of kids out there.
:o)
And a few minutes later, she started barking at the lawnmowers.
"Arf! Arf arf!"
Lol! Nice, Em, nice. ;o)
Quick pic of those midgets after school with our awesome Mardi Gras wreath. (I guess all that barking wore her out.)
Okay, so I was reading something on a blog about how this mom will make her kids hold hands when they're not getting along or being mean to each other, so I told Chris about it and he thought it might be a good idea. So half an hour later, when Joshua and Matthew were being ugly to each other...
Yep, Daddy made them sit down and hold hands.
And at first they thought it was funny, and sooo did not want me to take pictures.
But after we all laughed a little, we talked to them about how important it was to be respectful to each other and that we really expected them to work harder to get along.
And after another 10 minutes of hand-holding, it wasn't as funny anymore...
Okay, well, Chris and I were still laughing, but they were very happy when we finally let them up. Lesson learned? Eh, we'll see (and hope!) ;o)
Thursday:
Emily realized there were some toys hidden under crib, so she got to work digging them out.
About 20 minutes later, I looked over, and saw this.
Just her foot! Haha.
She came back out head first.
Silly girl.
Later that night, she tried to get Matthew to play dress-up with her.
Hehe, she kept trying to get his feet so she could put the shoes on him, but he was not about to budge! Haha.
Evelyn had cheer practice every day after school, and Joshua worked constantly on his Biography paper all week. However, we were still able to squeeze in enough time to finally finish reading The Hobbit! Yep, we finished it on Thursday night, and wow, what a great time we had reading it together. The story is just awesome, and by reading it aloud, we were able to stop and look up unfamiliar words or explain stuff when anybody was confused. And as soon as we finished, the kids started debating what we would read next! :o) After considering The Lightning Thief series and Harry Potter (both of which we still plan to get to) we decided that we're not ready to leave Middle-Earth just yet so yep - we are diving straight into Lord of the Rings! I am seriously not sure how well they'll be able to follow it, but if we go slow and talk it through, we should be able to finish all three books before the end of the year. ;o) We shall see!
Friday:
Evelyn finally got to wear her new tennis shoes to school!
She had to wear her cheer shoes to school on the other days for practice, so she was super-excited. :o)
After school, Daddy took the kids out to play some football for a while.
Throw it J!
Emily held her hands out so she could catch it, but luckily, she was far enough away not to get hit, haha.
And then she threw it to Daddy. :o)
Then it was Mardi Gras Bingo time!!
Yep, the kids' school hosted a free bingo night so we all got to go and play.
Too awesome. :o)
Those midgets really like playing.
Haha, I love Joshua's face in this pic.
You can just hear him going "Yaaa! I got you!!"
And guess who won??
Matthew!
Yep, he won the very first bingo game and got a box of Whoppers and a $10 Target giftcard! Woohoo!
We all had a great time playing, except for Emily.
Hehe, she passed out helping Daddy mark his card. :o)
But when we got home, she was wide awake and decorating a cake for me!
:o)
Then she made Evie put a skirt on to play dress-up with her.
:o)
Saturday:
The kids found a new way to keep Emily busy...
Haha - yes, it's Perfection! She will sit there and figure out where each little piece goes.
She watched the kids play a few times, so Evie got it ready for her and showed her how to try the pieces in the different holes until she finds the right one. So yeah, she will sit there and figure out where each and every piece goes! Then she pushes the start button and watches with anticipation...
And then she jumps and laughs when it finally pops. (Sorry, I didn't time that picture right and missed the pop!) :o)
Then we got all dressed up and ready for Evelyn's parade!
And even though it was supposed to be cold and windy, it was nice, warm, and so sunny out there.
Evie had a hard time keeping her eyes open for a picture because of the sun, haha.
She joined up with her fellow cheerleaders and they kept themselves entertained while waiting to line up.
So we dropped her off and found us a great place to park and watch the parade.
Photo courtesy of Matthew! :o)
We were able to set up right behind the car, so Emily was able to finish her nap in her car seat and was feeling pretty good once she got out.
Daddy set her up with some shade. :o)
Then it was time for the Krewe of Adonis!
At first the boys were just sitting there and we kept telling them, "Come on, get up! Wave your hands and get some beads!"
And it took them a few minutes, but once they got up and the floats started throwing, they were all excited and yelling, hehe.
Emily was a straight up magnet for stuff.
Here she uses the new coozie she just collected, haha.
"I'm going to wear all the green beads that I can catch!" :o)
Adonis isn't like the big parades downtown or anything, but it was still very cool.
Pick up those beads boys!
See - she even got a giant plastic safety pin?! Haha, like I said - magnet.
Joshua scored a nice dagger.
They were even waving Chris over to the floats to hand her stuff! Lol!
Aww, it's a horsey!
And then they called Joshua over and gave him this -
It's some trading card toy-thing (I don't know) but he was sooo happy about it, haha. :o)
"Emmy's froggy."
We had such a great time.
Then the BCA Cheerleaders showed up!
Woohoo!
And after realizing just how hot it was getting out there, they had them remove their long-sleeve undershirts, so they were cool and comfy for their march.
Hi Evelyn!!
She was just smiling so big and so cute out there.
It was just awesome. :o)
We love Mardi Gras!
Emily really enjoyed the marching bands as they went by, and would march right along with them, hehe.
And a great time was had by all!
Especially Evie! She was really happy when we met up with her, and really tired too, haha. And dude - she got a little sunburned too! Oops. Well, I wasn't expecting her to be sleeveless! Oh well, she's all good. :o)
After church that evening, Joshua attended his first sleepover here! (I know, scary, right?!) On Friday, he got invited to his friend's birthday sleepover, but Joshua had a lot of homework to finish over the weekend... sooo he worked all Friday afternoon and every spare minute on Saturday to finish up his Biography paper and Social Studies slide show just so he could go. :o) By the time we had dinner, all he had left were the bibliographies, so we decided those could wait until Sunday. His friend lives 2 doors down and we know his dad, so it was kinda easy to let him go. He walked over in his PJ's carrying his pillow and DS game (and we left the door unlocked just in case he needed to come home or anything.) I really don't know how we'd feel about it if we weren't on a military base, you know?? Haha, but I'm glad we were able to let him go. :o)
Sunday:
Matthew and Evelyn got up early to go fishing with Daddy.
Dude - Matthew's getting kinda good at this whole fishing thing, hehe.
Overall, they didn't catch much, but they had a good time. :o)
Emily kept me very entertained, wearing both of her dress-up skirts and running around dancing with me. :o)
"But I look awesome, right?!" Yes, yes you do. ;o)
Joshua came home really early, and could hardly catch his breath as he excitedly told me all about staying up until 1, and how he was the last one still awake, and how they had lots of snacks, and that they were making breakfast for them right now! Lol, so I had him brush his teeth and change his clothes, and then he ran back over there. He spent the rest of the morning there, checking in with me, "Okay Mom, now we're going to play Skylanders!... Okay Mom, they're ordering pizza for lunch now!" Haha, he had so much fun. Yay! :o) And later that day, he happily finished up the rest of his homework. ;o)
When Daddy and the crew got back from fishing, Emily made him have a picnic with her.
She spread the blanket out on the floor and set up her toys all around, then she grabbed him saying "Picnic!" and made him sit down, and handed him a baby doll... haha!
Then she gave him some paper and colors and told him to draw her a kitty-cat.
"Kitty-cat!" "You want me to draw you a kitty-cat?" "Yeah, meow-meow!"
Lol, it was awesome. Go Daddy! :o)
Later, he tried to get her take a nap, but she refused, until he acted like he was asleep...
Then she carefully laid down next to him and pretended to close her eyes, hehe.
"Shhhh Momma, Daddy sleep!" Lol!
And after a few more minutes, they were both out like lights!
Haha. :o)
That evening, we gathered around the TV for some Doctor Who!
Can you tell that Evie's a little redder than those boys, hehe.
I don't know what it is about that show, but they seriously love watching it. Maybe because it's really interesting and always suspenseful, but just cheesy enough to not be too scary, haha. Whatever it is, they were all just riveted!
Oh, how we love those little nerds. :o)
And that was our awesome week! We don't have anything too big going on this week, Evie has a big Science test tomorrow that she's been studying like crazy for (wish her luck!) and we plan to stay close to home over the big Superbowl weekend, haha. So yeah, all's good in the 'hood. Hope y'all are having a great week too! :o)
Laters!
