Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I have been trying to post this for days! I just could not get blogger to work. Oh well...

Merry Christmas (Belated)

We hope it was full of smiles.
We hope it was full of joy.

Hope it was full of love.

And may your new year be bright

Exhaustion

November and December bring busy schedules and stressful festive times. Laycee and Logan have enjoyed so much fun lately, they fell asleep together at 10 am. Yes, naps at 10. Dave and I have been exahusted too. Dave is just finishing up two masters classes and in the middle of a third. On top of that, he is job hunting. Yes, the dreaded job hunting. I am still weary of this decision to get out of the military, but I know life will work out. On top of that, we have been finishing christmas choir for the kids, in the middle of karate and cheerleading and gymnastics. Its been a busy month, but hopefully the extra naps help settle life down!

Christmas Kickoff

This year at the Relief Society activity, I made an advent calendar. I was so excited because advent calendars are one of my favorite parts of Christmas. This has tins with lids and inside, none other than gummy vitamins. The kids think they are getting a treat and they are also getting in their daily dose of vitamins. I did that last year as well and it went great! I was really pleased with my work and super excited to be using it this year!!

Museum of Flight

Customize your own slideshow design

While Amy and Devin were here visiting, we went to the Museum of Flight in Seattle. We love it there and were excited for the chance to go again. We even discovered a part of the museum we didn't realize was there. I cannot wait for us to go again! It is an awesome museum.

Thanksgiving

We were so lucky this Thanksgiving to have been surrounded by yummy food and family. Amy and Devin brought their children up for a vacation for the holiday. We were so thankful to have someone to spend the holiday with and the snow made it so much more festive. The holiday came and went much too fast this year and our time with Amy came and went too fast as well.

More snow Pictures

The snow really stuck around. I felt horrible that Amy's family was on their way here in this aweful weather.

But, nothing is prettier than a flightline covered in snow. I loved it. This picture just does not do it justice.
The kid's favorite thing to do was make snow men. The third day of snow was too fluffy, but they were able to get a few snowmen made before that.

Here was all their hard work put to action!

We could only accomplish 3 snowmen, but they were amazing. The kids and Dave had so much fun making them!

SNOW day!

The Monday before Thanksgiving we got a very unexpected snow. The kids were so excited! We even took the week off school just like all the other kids.

Snow is not Laycee's most favorite thing, so this was a rare picture.
Haylee, on the other hand, stayed out forever. She never wanted to come back inside.

Logan is fussing here, but he actually really liked the snow.

Trent is so funny. He loves this mask.

It was such a treat the first two days. After that, the ice set in and it was really annoying.

New Friend

Haylee has made a new friend, Tenli. She just loves spending time with Tenli and begs to have her over nearly everyday. The first time Tenli came to play, they played with the Easy Bake Oven.

Aren't they cute?!

Laycee and Logan of course waited not so patiently for the goodies to be done. They wanted to eat some yummy stuff!

We are so thankful to have Tenli nearby. Haylee loves social activities and time and since we are homeschooling, she misses so much of that. She loves being home with the family, but she misses the "friends". So, Tenli has been such a blessing to us and we enjoy having her around so much!

Letter A

Well it was finally time to start working with Laycee and Logan at school too. I have finally settled into the schedule that we have created for Haylee and Trent and I can find a few minutes here and there to work with Laycee and Logan. We of course started working with fall colors, reds, yellows and oranges. In addition, I wanted to start working on letter recognition. We are practicing how to recite how they spell their name and we have started on the letter A and B. The first picture is Logan's. His gross motor skills are amazing, but he isn't as good at fine motor skills like writing, drawing and cutting. However, I was so proud of him for the great attempt he makes each day!

This second picture here is Laycee's. She is opposite of Logan and has far better fine motor skills and not as good gross motor skills. Hey, we can't all be perfect right? I love watching Laycee write, color, draw and do most anything with her hands. She is unique among my children because she has not decided on a handedness yet. Dave is mixed handed, he uses his left for most things, but he uses his right for other things. Laycee is similar. She uses her left for most of her daily activities, however, she uses both hands while writing, drawing and coloring. It is fascinating to me to watch this process develop. I am anxious to see what she finally decides on or if she remains mixed handed.

The brain absolutely fascinates me and in toddlers/preschoolers it is just amazing to watch as the brain unfolds. There was a time when we wondered if Laycee's brain would ever work right after the trama she suffered. But with the help of so many, I am so lucky to watch as her brain unfolds and develops, not "typically" but in her own way. I am doubly blessed to have the experience to watch the brains of twins develop because they are so unique and different. And now that I am homeschooling the older kids, I get to see even more how the brain works in older children. I love the stage that Haylee and Trent have just entered where they have started to understand the hidden meanings behind words and phrases. The stage where they have begun to spell whole sentances. And for Haylee, the stage where the foundation skills are blossoming into complex thinking. Who would have thought so much would have come from the simple task of teaching the letter A?

Cheerleading

I cannot believe she is finally old enough, but she is. Haylee has finally reached the age where she can participate in cheerleading. We were very lucky that we moved in right before the close of sign ups, so she was still able to participate.

Here is her squad.
The program is a bit unorganized, but who really cares as long as the girls are having fun. She loves it and has appreciated the social time it has allowed her. Because of cheerleading she has been working on a new skill, Cartwheels. She almost has it mastered now. This has been so much fun for her and she can't wait until they finally get to add her favorite part to the half time show... the DANCE!

Glee Karaoke Revolution

We recently purchased Glee's Karaoke Revolution. It has brought us many hours of fun. Laycee is a whiz at music and she couldn't wait to sing Defying Gravity.

Since Haylee can read, she does awesome at the game because she can beat us at most of the songs!
I couldn't help but take these pictures of Trent. Trent does not have a love for sining. But he loves this game. Look at him belting it out!

Isn't he adorable?!

Logan didn't like the game, but he likes the snack

I don't know if this video will work. Let's hope it does. Here is Laycee's Encore!

In my opinion, this game is so worth it! We love it, we love most of the songs (a few the kids aren't allowed to sing lol) and we love the fun it brings to the home.

Halloween

So as you can see, I am behind two holidays lol. Let's hope I can catch up before the twins turn 4 in February! So for Halloween, Dave and I had just returned from our cruise on Friday. We took an earlier flight to get home in time to go with Mom and the kids to the church Halloween party. Haylee was a witch and Trent was Shun from Bakugan.

Logan was a frog for the part. Trent wore this when he was 2 and it was just as cute on Logan!
Shun himself

Sorry for the side pics, I forgot to switch them. Here is little miss pink princess

And Mister Frog. I really wanted to do Princess and the Frog, but Laycee did not want to be Tatiana :(

Dave decided to be cereal lol
For Halloween, Logan wanted to be a ninja.

On their way out to trick or treat

They had a lot of fun and ate more than enough candy. Three days later, the "candy fairy" came and took the candy to the "orphanage" for the kids who couldn't get out lol. We loved it and really enjoyed dressing up... Until next year!

Apple Dumplings

One night I found a delicious looking recipe for Apple Dumplings on one of my very very favorite blogs!

A Year of Slow Cooking

Instead of following the recipe exactly, I looked for a whole wheat crescent recipe at cooks.com

Yes, Haylee is wearing my apron from my flight attendant days at America West, she loved it.

For those of you with food storage, I used the dehydrated apples and rehydrated them for this recipe. Also, I used my wheat grinder to make the wheat flour. The mixture of the two recipes worked like a charm. I chose to cook the dessert right away instead of doing it crockpot style.
The crockpot blog noted that some people felt like the recipe was too sweet, but with the wheat rolls, it was just perfect! Whole wheat sometimes tastes a little bland, but it was just perfect for this recipe. It was the most delicious dessert we have ever had really. I love it and can't wait to make it again!! We have been trying to use some of the wheat that we have so I have also found it to be really good in pumpkin bread and corn bread muffins (for these, I just add a little extra sugar)! I am still looking for new ways to use the wheat, but these are the few "seasonal" things that I have found make great recipes using wheat flour.

Classroom

Since we are homeschooling, I set up a classroom. Having the classroom took some space from the "home", but I am so thankful for it. It really helps the kids get ready for school each day. This is their art center and some of their artwork they have completed.

This is the front of the room. The map and calendar.

Haylee has online spelling homework everyday and every few lessons they both have math or technology work online. This is one of the few centers that I get no complaints about!

Haylee and Trent's desks. This is where they do all their work. The extra chair in the front is where they sit at the "teacher" desk so I can teach them. Yes I make them wear uniforms. Yet another way that I help the kids separate "home" from "school". They change out of their clothes after school is over.

Laycee and Logan didn't want to share, so we split the art board in half!

Sometimes in order to get Trent to do his writing, I have to elicit the help of Dave. Dave and Trent have a special bond so when I am desperate, Dave is my go to man.

Haylee's latest artwork above is a drawing of an animal using geometric shapes. Trent's below is a tunderstorm like shown in the little picture.

We have been loving homeschooling overall. Some days provide challenges and learning everything about the coursework has taken time, but we are thankful for the extra time together.

Parks

Another photo album by Smilebox

One day we went to a USO event and outside of the USO, there is this amazing park. We were thankful for a sunny day and the chance to get out and enjoy a bit of beautiful scenery that Washington has to offer!