Brandon's Special Hat - 100 Days of School Celebration

To help with their counting skills Brandon’s Kindergarten class had to decorate a hat with 100 items to help celebrate the “100 Days of School Left” last week. The idea is to find something around your house to decorate the hat – cereal, marshmallows, etc. Brandon decided to decorate his hat with colored pop-sickle sticks. Charlie and Brandon hot glued 100 sticks to his hat and here is the finished product.

Brandon being silly - showing off his hat!

The hat turned out really cool - as Brandon’s friend said, “That is awesome!”.

Brandon wearing his hat wile playing video games with Charlie.

The SNAKE in my Bathtub

For Brandon’s birthday he received a little rubber snake that you put in water and watch in grow to 3 ft. I guess they thought that my bathtub would be the best place to put the snake to watch it grow for a week. I am sure you can image my surprise when I found it the next morning. Thankfully the snake has found a new home in the trash can in the garage.

Emily enjoying Brandon's Birthday Cake

Emily enjoying a cupcake left over from Brandon's Birthday.

Brandon turns 6 -- Lego Party

It is hard to believe, but Brandon turned six on Saturday. On Friday night we had a big Lego party for him with 9 of his friends from school. Charlie and I picked-up the whole gang from school and then we enjoyed cake and ice cream, open gifts, played Lego bingo, busted a pinata and ate some pizza. It was a crazy but fun 2 hours! In the past 6 months Brandon has really developed a love for Legos. He loves all kinds of Legos --Space Police, City, Indiana Jones and of course Star Wars Legos.

Brandon's invitation

Blowing out the candles

Happy Birthday Boy!

Eating cake and ice cream.

The whole gang!

Smacking the pinata!

Opening gifts

Snow, snow - Let's go sledding!

Despite the very cold weather (temperatures in the single digits and below zero with the wind chill) Taylor, Brandon and I braved the cold for some winter fun - sledding on a hill near our house. Both the kids had a great time and loved it. One would ride on the sled and the other would roll down or slide on there stomach. I think the cold weather bothered me more than them.

Christmas Memories

Christmas was especially fun this year as all four of our kids are now old enough to kind of get the idea of unwrapping packages. In fact, our greatest challenge all morning was helping Caleb and Emily wait their turn to open a gift and make sure they did not open anyone else’s in between turns. As you can see from the photos the kids were very excited and we all feel very blessed by the many gifts we were able to give and receive this year.

Taylor very excited about her "Santa" gifts - American (AG) Doll and a closet/cabinet to hold all their clothes and accessories.
Emily checking out her stocking

Brandon with his movie replica light saber - "Santa" found an amazing deal on this thanks to Aunt Bonnie contacting him about a big Amazon price error.

Caleb trying out his new Smart Cycle from Santa.

Taylor checking out her stocking stuff. A new little purse for her AG doll

Brandon with some of his Star Wars Lego sets.

Caleb opening a very special gift from Grandpa Wamhoff. A wooden shelve he built for Caleb's trains.

Charlie hung the shelve in Caleb's room and as you can see Caleb loves it!

Taylor opening her gift from Grandpa Wamhoff and Aunt Bonnie - Wooden bunk beds for her AG dolls. My dad made the bunk beds and Bonnie made all the bedding. As you can see Taylor was very excited. She loves it!

Brandon with his gift from Grandpa Wamhoff - an amazing wooden Crane! I can't believe my dad built this -it is awesome and really works! Brandon and Caleb will love this!

Emily with her bath toy from Aunt Sheri and Uncle Bob. Shortly after she opened this both Caleb and Emily were asked to take a bath. Already used it twice and they love it!

Very cute sweater from Aunt Bonnie - I could not help but think of my mom when she opened this. My Mom loved rabbits and she purchase a similar sweater for my niece Makenna when my mom found out that Bonnie would be having a little girl before she passed away about 3 years ago.

Caleb opening a gift.

I asked him to hold it up and smile.

Taylor opening a horse for her AG dolls.

Emily opening a gift from Gram's and Pop's - Caleb checking it out too!

Caleb wearing one of Brandon's presents - A Star Wars Captain Rex Clone helmet.

Brandon opening the helmet

Aftermath - pre-clean-up!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow... what a Christmas to remember. It has snowed over 20 inches in the last 48 hours. Here are some photos to enjoy

On our street...




Check the mail...

The front of the house