'Mommy, I am a princess'

'Of course you are,' I say before turning to see my princess. She is dressed with her princess dress shoes, inside out pink leggings, Sesame Street shirt (right side out), a necklace that was brother's and is decorated with hearts (human anatomy hearts) and brains, a pair of upside down tie-dye sunglasses, and left over Sunday hair.
'I am so cool.'
'Um, yes. Yes, you are cool.'
She is unique that is certain!

January this and that

Macey got this easel from Santa. She usually reminds of such whenever we use it. She also said to me the other day that Santa gave her a blue present, but she likes pink. I guess next year Santa should consider some different wrapping papers to please Macey Girl visually!

Here are Sesame Street friends that I drew and she colored. She is always asking me to draw Gordon. Really, I don't draw bald men very well!

Here is Macey's drawing of her Sesame Street friends. Her first drawing of people! Maria, Gordon and Elmo.

Macey Jane needed another hair cut. She said to me, 'I already had my haircut.' Yeah, I think in August. Also, 'I cried.' Yep, she did. Dad came this time and she was very brave through the whole thing.

Our pretty princess afterwards with her lollipop.  Ryan wanted to go so bad so he could get a sticky hand like last time. Alas, no sticky hands. He was so bummed. I really do need to take him to the dollar store. But we have a 'No allowance spending in Jan rule' so it will have to wait until Feb!

Krabby Patty cakes. They really would have looked better with 'ketchup' but I didn't have any red food coloring for the frosting. This jewel of an idea came from the SpongeBob cookbook. (Thank goodness for the library. I won't have a need for any other of the weird recipes in it!)

Ryan is doing so awesome in his Tae Kwon Do. He does have a hard time focusing with so much going on in the room, but he has great body posture and good kicks. He is starting to memorize his first set for belt advancement. It has only been a month, but with it being twice a week I feel like we have been doing it forever! I foresee him studying this martial art for a long time. He can benefit from the discipline and the memorization skills he is learning.

This is Boomer, one of kinder's class pets. We kept him over a long weekend. Macey loved this critter! He was a messy house guest, but very snugly and cute.
I know Alex is MIA in this post. He is going along with his regular routine of school, scouts and piano. He has started soccer again. The season starts next month. Also, next month Alex will be getting a lot of awards in scouts. I imagine Alex is going to shine the whole month of Feb!

Ryan is star of the Week

Do you remember being star of the week? I remember very clearly being star of the week in 3rd grade. This grand tradition continues in elementary school and it was finally Ryan's turn to be star of the week. In kindergarten the privilege includes bringing home Buddy Bear and making scrapbook pages about his adventure with you.

Sharing a snack with Buddy.

Reading Buddy a bedtime story.

Yummy! Dominoes on a Saturday night.

Buddy at the Farmstead. This is a historic building in our town that kids can come visit on field trips to see how life was for homesteaders in Texas.

There wasn't any funding for the field trip this year. Usually the 3rd grade goes here, so when Alex saw we were going to be close by he begged to let us go.

Lassoing Buddy Bear.

Ah, the library. Ryan says one night in the car, not necessarily to me, 'I wonder how penguins keep warm.' As I take a breath to answer he says, 'Don't tell me! I want to go to the library and find out!' Ryan knows how to find the non-fiction animal books. While I was in another part of the library he finds me and gives me 6 books on penguins.

He loves to be read to, he is getting better at reading, and he loves learning from what he reads. Hooray! So far I have produced two little readers and I am very glad.

Texas Fall

The seasons in Texas are off by about 6 weeks from the Arkansas seasons of my youth. When we returned from our Christmas vacation we found that the leaves had finally fallen from our oak trees. Which means, for the most part, fun! One afternoon the boys and I (and our neighbor girl) raked one side. And on that weekend Dan and the boys did the other side.

No, grown men should not jump into leaf piles of this size. Dan had a sore tailbone for a few days following!

Photoshop test

Ryan turns 6

While we were away, Ryan had his sixth birthday. The day after the wedding Ryan's asthma became a huge problem and I had to take him in to his old asthma doctor. He was prescribed steroids, antibiotics, albuterol breathing treatments, and his daily preventative medicine. The poor boy wanted so much to run and jump and play, but he had awful coughing fits whenever he did. The day of his birthday was the last day of the steroids. Our original plan to head to the snow on that day had to be postponed to give his body more time to recover.

His bed gift was this Cpt America shield. The boys use it when they are playing hockey.

With no trip to the mountain, we compromised and went to Chuck E Cheese's for lunch. We love $.25 games!

Alyssa and Brayden met up with us and joined in on the fun. Deal or No Deal is one of our favorite arcade games.

Chuck E Cheese came out and if danced with him you could earn tickets. Sister really got excited and was dancing and shaking her bootie!

 Lindsey works at Cold Stone Creamery. It is her job to make the cakes there. Since those jewels cost a nice $30, she went ahead and made it at home with ice cream she bought.

Ryan was excited to have a 'shark' cake. He did cough a bit after blowing out the candles, but otherwise everything went off well.

It is hard to get gifts for kids who only play one or two 'games'. So, this time I bought Ryan Tae Kwon Do lessons. He got this awesome ninja suit. He goes 2 days a week and is loving it. This was a perfect gift. Thank you to all of you who sent Ryan a card or gift. He is a happy 6 year old. Now all I have left is go to school with goodie bags to finish the birthday rituals!

LDS.org resources for primary

I have been grumbling this last year about how out of date the primary manuals are. I had to practically redo every lesson last year to be current and engaging for the children. I was willing to hope that Salt Lake was aware of the short comings in the books and hoped that they would be coming up with something  new. And I was right! I encourage you if you teach primary to go to this link http://lds.org/children/resources?lang=eng  It has supplemental material for each primary lesson.
I love this because it keeps me from having to search and search for the right material, but also, it is material that has been selected and I don't have to second guess what I have picked out. As with all teaching, you have to follow your instincts and those subtle tips from above. But how fantastic that there is additional help from our leaders. I say 'Thank you' a million times to those who are putting the information together!

10 Year Anniversary

For our anniversary I rewrote (very poorly, I admit!) the song below and gave it to my hubby for his card. I also gave him a HI travel book and sunscreen! I had to go on a treasure hunt to find my gifts. Dan gave me a lei and a promised trip to Hawaii in the NEAR future!  We had a nice dinner together that night while the Barons babysat. I love Daniel Howard Black and am a very happy and lucky bride.

You already know the story about a man named Dan

A boy Who went to arkansas inorder to be wed,

He married that bride in a perfect paradise,

then they were joined by a boy without price. 

Alex that is, black decendant, future texan.

Well the first thing you know ol dan’s job isn’t any FAIR,

Kinfolk said "Dan move away from there"

Said "Arizony is the place you ought to be"

So they loaded up the truck and moved to the valley. 

of the sun, that is. Swimmin pools, Mormons.

Dan and his bride added more children to the brew,

A boy that makes him laugh, and a girl that makes him true.

Once again he needed to get to another place

So they settled for a home in the lone star State.  

Texas, that is. Big place, more mormons.

Well now it’s time to say good Luck to Dan in this new place.

His wife is happy which is a mercy and a grace.

All he has left is to honor their 10 year anniversary,

The kids will be here and they’ll be in Hawaii! 

Another paradise, that is. REst a spell, Take Your shoes off.
Y'all come back now, y'hear?

The Flake Wedding

For our Christmas vacation we went to Tucson. We were there a long time, which is only right if you are going to be in the car for an accumulative 24 drive time there and back. But it was the Flake wedding and reception that kept us there for so very long. Dan's sister Alyssa married Brayden Flake on December 22.

Wedding Day

Reception