Happy Birthday, Olivia!

Happy Birthday, Olivia!!!!

Olivia woke up this morning

to a nice little snow fall

and got to play in the snow!

Then she got to help her

Momma make her favorite

kind of cake.

A pineapple upside down cake.

Then she enjoyed some

fun at Chuck E Cheese!

And now she is probably 

celebrating with her family.

She had more presents

to open up tonight!

She is such a sweet, sweet girl!

I hope she has a very 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Asher & Brilyn at Chuck E Cheese

Asher is finally big enough

to really enjoy Chuck E. Cheese!

 He seems to be drawn to all of 

the "boyish" games..... you know, the 

ones with balls or cars, or dog bones!

 Brilyn likes ALL the games!

Especially the messy ones!

I think she has more fun playing 

in the water than she does

shooting her targets!

 But - on this particular day,

we were the only customers in 

the store. I love Chuck E Cheese

early in the day during the

middle of the week when we

can have the whole place

to ourselves.

 The kids seem to like it when

it's quiet, too. They got to

run around and win lots

and lots of tickets!

 And each of them got to choose

a prize. Brilyn got a cute little

Teddy Bear in a Chuck E Cheese hoodie!

And Asher got a cool new playground

ball with Chuck E Cheese 

on it. Both kids left happy and

just almost worn out enough 

for an afternoon nap!

February Birthday Celebration

This past Sunday 

we had our family

February Birthday Celebration! 

During the month of February

we celebrate birthday's for

Billy and Olivia!

 We had a few surprises for

Valentine's Day, too!

 We had a treasure hunt!

There was a treasure map puzzle in

a bottle like that pretty milk  bottle

on the table in the first picture.

The kids found their bottles 

in the deep blue sea,

(whirlpool bath with bluish green sea water)

Then assembled their puzzles to

see where the treasure was hidden

and ran to find it!

 It was a lot of fun.

Olivia found the treasure,

but I had more treasure

for all of the children, so

no one was left out!

And Olivia opened presents!

She got a nice selection of 

wonderful things.

And Billy stopped by and picked

up his gifts and Weston's

party favors and prizes earlier.

Weston has been sick so they

opted to stay home to keep 

him from sharing his sickness

with his cousins. 

 Hopefully, they will stay well, also!

Lincoln Logs

Grace just loves building

things with Lincoln Logs.

 

 When I was visiting we build 

a Train Station Museum.

 Those little logs she is lining up

on her Lincoln Log bleachers

are pretend children.

 They are listening to the sherrif

tell the all about the days of 

the old west.... and about trains.

 You can see the whole picture here.

 And that little building with the 

blue roof. That is the museum's

souvenir shop and snack station.

The pretend children can go there

and buy their lunch and have

a picnic on the train of by the bleachers.

Lincoln Logs have changed a bit

since I was a kid - but they are

still a great toy!

I think Grace is really enjoying them.

And Olivia enjoys them, too.

I think her favorite thing about them

is watching Grace create something

so she can knock it down. 

She just loves to aggravate her

big sister. And she's very good at it, too!

Happy Birthday, Billy!!!!!

Happy Birthday Billy!

  

Today is Billy's birthday!

Billy is our energetic, adventurous son.

He played inline hockey, ice hockey, 

rode a unicycle, raced dirt bikes,

rode bulls, broke horses......

he climbs, rappels, hunts, fishes, 

goes noodling (look it up),

catches snakes of all kinds and

is ALWAYS ready for an 

adventure!

Hopefully, he'll have something

exciting happen on his

birthday! He loves

EXCITEMENT!

And - if there is no excitement,

he is quite skilled at 

making something happen.

Happy Birthday, Billy!

It's been so much fun

having you for a son!

The Boxcar Children

Do you remember reading

The Boxcar Children

as a kid?

 Heather and Dustin had some large

boxes in their garage when I 

went to visit them - so we read 

The Boxcar Children

and made a pretend boxcar.

It was the perfect size for two

little girls.

After making the boxcar we decided

to enjoy a Boxcar Children's lunch

before painting the boxcar.

 

 The girls put on their paint shirts

and we had a little picnic in that box!

 And then the painting began!

 As simple as this activity was,

it was SO MUCH FUN!

 I did not pack any "old clothes" so

the girls had to paint their own

boxcar all by their-selves.

 They did a great job..... and we started

The Boxcar Children Book #2

but I had to head home before we

finished it. Hopefully, someone

else will finish it so Grace can tell me

what happened next.

And if not..... maybe they will bring the 

book when they come to visit 

this weekend.

I really want to know how the story ends. 

And I sure hope those girls

have fun playing in that box!