Movie Night at home.......

Tonight was a relaxing and pretty much uneventful Friday night at home. We decided to have a movie night in......which mean's no rules for the night. No set bed time, junk food, popcorn and soda. I have to share the one eventful moment of the night, as we were getting everything ready, Nicholas came up to me and said his nose was stuffed...........as most parents would do, I payed no attention to it and brushed him off without really looking and said "well, go blow your nose", he quickly started giggling and said "no mommy look my nose, it is stuffed", so I looked at him as I was making popcorn, and he had these in his nose.

I started laughing..........he had Skittles stuffed up his nose......I quickly told him he had better take them out of his nose before his brain ate them......(not before getting a quick picture to share of course) What happened to the Skittles you might ask? He ate them instead stating they were the best boogers he ever had.... Oh so gross but very funny.......if the movie is not entertaining we can always count on Nicholas for a good time.

Testing New Toy

So I bought a HP all in one printer/scanner/copier for $29 the day after Thanksgiving, and I am finally starting to get a hang of this scanning thing.



ABOVE: Kids at Thanksgiving 2008.


BELOW: Kids late October 2008

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Katelynn has R-E-S-P-E-C-T


So this month a few kids were selected from each grade for the respect
character trait. Each month it changes, one month it's
honesty.....etc. Here are a few pics of our girl who throws it down
like Aretha Franklin....... LOL



R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care ... TCB


while looking online I discovered in Aretha's song that TCB stands for
TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS,and was used as an abbreviation...Hmmmmm. Who
knew.
Gauge, Katelynn, and Bronlyn have R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Our little man is READY FOR SCHOOL!

So today Nicholas started preschool at Parma Preschool. He will be attending 2 days a week Tuesdays and Thursdays A.M. class. He was excited because he had a backpack and even got to take school supplies, crayons, glue, and Kleenex.
Here is a pic of him getting ready to leave.
When he came home he told me all about what he did today. I stayed home sick today...BUMMER. He said that he played with the toys and all the kids, he colored, was read to by his teacher Miss Linda, and even had a snack.
The great thing is that the preschool is just 2 houses behind us, so Rick will just have to walk him there, and walk him back when he is done. For the month of September they will be working on colors, week 1 RED, week 2 YELLOW, and week 3 BLUE. She has asked that the kids bring a toy for the week that is that color or wear that color for the week. They also have circle time where they get to share what they bring each day, a favorite toy, book etc, similar to SHOW and TELL. This teaches them to sit and listen while others are talking, respect for others, and patients to wait their turn. They also read stories in circle time.
Nicholas likes his teacher Miss Linda, and enjoyed reading time today. He said that was his favorite part today.
I am so excited that Nicholas now gets a chance to learn and grow with other kids his age, all while getting him ready for kindergarten. He will soon be a social butterfly. (not that he isn't already.)
Oh, and Rick, really enjoyed the peace and quiet. It gives him and Nicholas a chance to have some apart time. (they are so connected at the hip.) lol

With amazement

So today I am not feeling well coming down with a cold, and we know when we are not feeling well the kiddos tend to get on our nerves a bit more then usual. I was laying in bed with Katelynn watching a movie in my room. It was very quiet and I asked Nicholas what he was doing? He was drawing on his DoodlePro. I asked him to show me what he was drawing and I was shocked to see what he had done.
Katelynn was like OH MY GOSH MOMMY , and couldn't believe it either. Nicholas had wrote his first and last name all by himself.


He actually wrote his name all by himself, and very legible. He did make one mistake he spelt his first name Nickolas instead of Nicholas. But still..........I was very amazed. His B also kinda looks like a G but heck, who cares, I can't believe he actually did it. So I asked Katelynn if she did it, she said no, I asked Rick if he wrote it, and he had not he was out in the living room, I even had them write out Nicholas's name on another one we had just to compare and no ones handwriting matched what Nicholas had done......I asked Nicholas if he had wrote it, and he said yes, that he wrote his name, and was very excited about the fact. Of course I had to take a picture, thank god for digital camera's. Later I erased what he had wrote and tried to get him to write it again, and he would not, I believe he felt pressured so he wouldn't do it again.

Anyways, I know he knows his name, I have him practice tracing it all the time, he recognizes the letters in his name, I just had no clue that he could actually write his name with no help......I am so proud of him. He is so ready to start preschool on Tuesday.

Birthday gift from Kentucky

So today the UPS guy knocked on the door, and Katelynn got a package. She is now that age where she likes and understands receiving things through UPS and the mail.
This package was from her Grandpa and Grandma Bowden, Rick's parents. I have always given her a choice as to wait to open packages from them on her actual birthday/party or when we get it, I mean which do you think she'll choose. So I knew ahead of time what it was, but I just didn't know how cool it would be. This is what she received.

It's a great art set, made by CRAYOLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is absolutely wonderful, she was very excited when opening it, it comes in this beautifully crafted wooden box, a little larger than a brief case, it has anything and everything a kid needs for there artist whims. Every color of crayon and marker, big and small, and even scented ones too. (our fav, the chocolate scented one) It also comes with watercolors, and paint brush, oil pastels, scissors, and glue.
Katelynn loves too draw. She is currently working on a masterpiece for Grandpa and Grandma Bowden.

She also got $20 dollars from them which we decided every artist needs an easel. So we ordered one like this from IKEA on line....(image from google images).
My friend who lives in California swears by IKEA. Unfortunately we do not have a IKEA here in Idaho. So I do not understand the IKEA thing. This easel is a simple easel one side is the white board side and the other side is a chalk board. Thanks for turning me onto this Krissy.

Besides the pinata.........

I am also baking and making a flip flop cake. All by scratch. Nothing boxed, or pre-packaged. I had googled flip flop cakes some time back and came across this one on a blog here on blog spot, this is what her cake looked like.



Well here is 1/2 of the flip flop cake project I am making. Katelynn wanted her cake pink and purple. The only thing on this cake that is not homemade is the flower, and the fruit roll ups that make up the strap of the flip flop cake.

So I ran out of butter for the cake mix, so I will have to complete the left flip flop cake tomorrow.

Have I told you that MY CREATIVITY ROCKS!!!

Under Pressure, Birthday approaching!

SO this coming Saturday is Katelynn's birthday party her real birthday is Aug 4th.. We had planned after her birthday party 2 years ago that from that point on we would only do milestone birthdays, you know ages 1, 5, 10, 13, 16......so on. Well I decided Katelynn needed a party this year, not for the fact that she was a specific age, but for the reason that we will most likely be moving to Missouri come this November and Katelynn will not get to have anymore parties with her friends here, or most of my family for that matter for quite some time. A few months ago I came across some really cute invites, flip flops. Katelynn and I decided her party should be a flip flop theme.
So as we are drawing close I sit here tonight really planning all the last minute stuff. We decided to make our own flip flop pinata, well I stayed up late tonight to put it together myself, Miss. Katelynn got tired and retired to bed at about 10pm. Bless her heart.
So you ask what one might need to make a flip flop pinata? Well first and for most you need a creative imagination, as well as some scissors, cardboard, duck tape, glue sticks, pink and purple tissue paper, purple curling ribbon and plenty of good old fashioned patients.

front view

side view

back view

Whaaa-Laa! When you combine all of those things this is what a creative mind can come up with. So the cost, a whopping $4.00 to make. I had everything here, besides the pink and purple tissue paper, and the glue sticks.

I think it turned out quite well. It had plenty of room for candy. I stuffed this puppy with 6 bags of different candy. The candy inside the pinata ended up costing more than the pinata it's self, which was okay, because to buy a flip flop pinata I would have had to drive to Boise, spend $15 dollars in gas, then another $20 on the pinata it's self.

MY CREATIVITY ROCKS!!!

ROCK ON!!!!! so says Nicholas..

So this last Friday THE 18th Rick went out to do his usual errands. But including his usual he needed a hair cut desperately before his drill he had. Well he took Nicholas along with him, and this is what he brought home....LOL

ROCK ON! PEACE!

I was...well.....a little surprised. Rick has used the same barber for a few years now, and usually Nicholas gets the same hair cut as daddy a short military cut. Clean and nice......ahhh no, not this time. Rick says this time was different. When they went to see Joe, he asked Nicholas what kind of hair cut he wanted and Nicholas replied " A ROCK ON' aka a mo hawk. Rick said he and Joe were laughing so hard. So Joe (with daddy's permission) proceeded with the ROCK ON Doo. These are the pics I got of him when he came home.....so cute. I had a friend say ahhhh you should dye it blue, and I said OH NO, I am mommy and I draw the line here. Hair will grow back, and in a few years when Nicholas is older he will be making more of his own hair decisions, but until he is old enough to choose a color I make those choices for him. I don't want to encourage any habits he may pick up from friends years down the road.