Emily's 9th Birthday!

 On Thursday, Emily chose our menu for the day which consisted of donuts for breakfast, Jack in the Box for lunch (which Sam, Mom and Rebecca took to school and ate lunch with her) and Mac and Cheese Shells for dinner that night. 

 But her favorite part of the day was opening presents!

She got lots of clothes, Littlest Pet Shops, piggy bank, Barbie and the Pink Shoes movie, DS games and more!

 She has grown up so much on me this past year!  I cannot believe how mature she is looking and behaving (sometimes :)

 Blowing out the candles!

Emily is an amazingly fun girl!  She loves to smile and make others laugh!  I love to see how strong her spirit is and watch her make good/solid choices.  I am so proud that she works so hard in school and excels in all areas!  We are so blessed to have her in our home! 

I love you Emily! 

Park Fun with Bex

 I am still getting used to the Texas way when it comes to playing at the park!  The parks are deserted all summer long and loaded during the winter.  I was raised opposite where the parks were the happening place all summer and too cold to visit in the winter!  So we are definitely taking advantage of the outdoor play before it gets too hot!

 Rebecca is quite the climber and has no fear!

 More climbing

But her favorite part is sliding down the bumpy slides of course!  I love these park days and watching this little gal grow and develop!  She seems to amaze me with something new everytime!

Katie's Fifth Grade Hoedown

 Katie's hoedown was the following day late in the afternoon.

 She was a lot of fun to watch!

 

 

 Katie with her nameless partner - not enough boys, so Coach Richardson went to music class and rounded up a few stand-ins

 Katie knew all the right moves!

 Swing your partner!

 Katie and Bex doing the Cowboy Macarena.  I think Bex was burnt out on this song after her 3rd time!

Katie's #1 fan club loved to watch her square dance! 

Emily's Third Grade Hoedown

 After Matthew's Hoedown, Bex and I ran a couple of errands and then made it back to school in time for Emiy's hoedown.

 It was fun to see how much further advanced their steps were this year!

 Circle the ring!

 Emily had a huge smile on the entire time and it was pure joy to watch her shine!  Last year she would not even pose for any pictures and actually covered her face whenever the camera came out!  So this was a much better year for her on camera!

 Emily and Bex doing the Cowboy Macarena together

 

 Emily sure had a cute partner to dance with - Eddie

We loved watching Emily square dance this year!  She did an exellent job and made leaps and bounds in improvement from last year!  Love this girl!

Matthew's First Grade Hoedown

The school did their annual hoedown for the 2nd year in a row and it was another huge success!

 Matthew showing off his Hops before the first song!

 His partner was sick today and didn't make it to school, so he was a little bummed to have to partner up with another fella.

 But they had a lot of fun anyways!

 Here are Matthew and Rebecca doing the Cowboy Macarena together

 Rebecca loved being out of her stroller for this par!

 I just love his smile!

 These 2 play so well together sometimes!

 Goofy boy!

We had a great time watching Matthew square dance that morning!

Front Yard Swing

The kids told Sam that they needed a swing up in the front yard. So...

 after church the other day, he found some rope and looped it over a sturdy branch...

 and the kids will swing on it for hours!

 The neighbors also love to come over and give the swing a try.  Here is John Michael giving Emily a good push!

I love how Sam is like Macguyver and can take whatever he finds around our house to create something so simple as this swing that brings so much joy for our family!  Every morning as the kids are sent out the door to school, Emily stops for a quick swing then runs to catch up to the others down the sidewalk! 

FHE at the Park

 We have discovered our family's favorite park - located on Jones and Grant - where we pile all our bikes into the back of Sam's truck and head out to ride around the track!  For family home evening, we jumped into the truck and stopped for KFC picnic at the park.  It was chilly that night and everyone bundled up real well.

 Rebecca played on all the playground equipment and I took many photos that turned out way too dark!  She was so funny because she decided to sit on this little hill and pose for some pictures - so here is her "cheese" grin for the camera.  She kept saying, "Mom, take my picture!"  She is a little ham and knows how adorable she is!  Love it!

 Emily had to get in on some of the pictures

 There are 2 sets of swings at this park, here Bex is swinging with daddy on the big kid swings. 

The greatest highlight to this park is definitely the giant spiderweb!  The kids love climbing to the top, shouting for all to look at them!  I love the posing here - they crack me up!  We stayed out way too late that night having way too much fun at our park!

Be Mine

 We started our Valentine's Day celebration at school with all the kids in their classrooms.  Bex and I strolled into Matthew's class first.  He would not pose nicely with his teacher, Mrs. Schulte, but we know he loves her!  She always has such great praise for him!  That was the first 15 minutes of the party...

 The next 15 minutes was spent in Katie's classroom.  Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Widmer, whom she really enjoys all the experiments that are done in class for all the kids to ooohh and aaahh over!

The final 15 minutes were spent in Emily's class with Mrs. Taylor.  Emily is excelling in math this year, she got the only 100% on one of her benchmark math tests in both her class and her swithch class!  Wow!  The kids all scored so much candy and fun Valentines! 

 The kids helped me bake Sam's heart cookie.  Each picked a different type of sprinkle to put on top!  It was so sugar-filled!

 The kids each got a stuffed animal and a box full of candy!  Yum! 

 

MY VALENTINE!!!

 

 Matthew got the hot lips straw while the girls got a little notepad to take notes with

 Sam and I went on a date to the temple that night.  While we were gone, the kids "heart attacked" Sam's closet door with all the hearts we had secretly been cutting out for the past few days.

 I think the kids did a great job taping these up!

 Some of our favorite hearts were "Hunk of Burnin' Love" and "Hot Lips"

Emily also made a good one - "Elvis/Hunk"

We had a great Valentine's Day and everyone got all sugared up!  It was wonderful to go to the temple that night with my sweetheart after celebrating all day long with the kids! 

Happy Valentine's Day!