Snow Castles

   In February, one of the few days we were blessed with enough snow to have some fun in, we took the kids outs for some enjoyment.  Every time it snows Adahleigh always asks to go and make footprints in the snow, or to build another snowman like the giant we made last time. We decided to do something new this time and made a snow castle.

    Adahleigh was by far the most determined to get the castle built, but Charles did put forth some effort. I think a lot of her determination came from her recent interest in princesses (mainly from all the disney movies we barrow from the library that she watches).  The sunglasses Adahleigh is wearing were all her idea, she must have thought she'd look cool going out in them and no matter what we told her she refused to take them off.

    The kids did great packing the boxes we gave them, it was a lot easier than trying to push a snowball around.

   Keisha even made an appearance for an hour. She was really excited to be out in the snow, although she wasn't very good about staying on her feet. Part of the problem was that she wasn't that stable on uneven ground with walking and part was because she wanted to play in the snow and eat it. She also wasn't too fond of keeping her mittens on, it didn't register that they were keeping her hands dry and warm.

   Once Charles was done making snow blocks, He and Keisha went and had some fun on the playground too.

    Once Adahleigh and I got the snow Castle build everyone joined in for some pictures (it only took us an hour or so to make). Everyone was excited to sit down in it.

   After the first couple pictures Keisha was done, Adahleigh was actually holding her down because all she wanted to do was get up and walk away.

    The window was one of the highlights of the whole structure.

   When all was said and done there was really only standing  room for three inside.

    After we finally talked everyone back inside, Adahleigh had to keep checking on her castle to make sure it was still there. It ended up being the envy of our complex, because not even 10 min. after going inside several of the other kids in the complex were out playing with it. It seemed that they had been watching the whole time and were just waiting for us to go in to play with it. It ended up lasting a couple days before everything fell apart, either from being kicked over or the warm weather that followed the snowfall.

   Now every time it has snowed since making the snow castle Adahleigh asks "Is the snow good enough to make a castle with" or "Is there enough snow to make a castle again".

Duck Mouse

Yesterday, Adahleigh and Charles wanted to look at animals on the computer and see what ones they liked best. We started by googling frogs (because they're Charles' favorites according to Adahleigh). Then she wanted to look at ducks, and finally she wanted to see mice. On the mouse image page we came across this:

She was completely fascinated by this oddity. We went to the page to find out that this was a taxidermist's creation (and not photoshopped). There was a video on how it was made that peaked my interest, so we watched it. Afterwards, Adahleigh said, "Dad lets make a Duck Mouse".  I told her maybe another day. Then this morning Ashley asked Adahleigh what she wanted to do today and of course the first idea to come to mind was "make a Duck Mouse".

   For those that may have the same desire to create this abomination of nature, I have saved you the time of having to google Duck Mouse yourself and attached the instructional video for you. 

   So if anyone has some freshly deceased mice and/or preserved duck (or waterfowl) feet laying Adahleigh would greatly appreciate them being sent to her (this is mainly for Oliver and Miles).

The Rest of Grandpa and Grandma W. Visit

The rest of Grandpas and Grandmas visit was spent just hanging out, going shopping, eating out, a late christmas party, and hanging out at their hotel. 

When my parents came to visit they stayed at circus circus so the kids could watch the little miniature carnival shows they put on throughout the day. The shows we watched the most had dogs doing silly things and the kids enjoyed watching them. The rest of the time was spent playing games at the carnival/ arcades games. Grandpa and Grandma spoiled all of us and let us play until our hearts content. We even had grandpa shooting chickens into the pot. (He won everytime.) 

The kids trying to throw the ping pong balls in the rows of cups. They put in a good effort but the balls just did not want to stay in the cups! 

 Adahleigh and i getting ready to pull the handle on the slot machine! We must not of had the luck cuz we only won 4 tickets. (Obviously it was not a real slot machine).

The kids had a great time playing air hockey, the game was lasting for ever because neither of them could hit it hard enough to make it hard for the other one not to intercept it. 

The kids enjoyed playing all the games but we're pretty sure they had the most fun riding the escalators up and down from different levels in the hotel.

After wards we wandered the hotel and took some pictures from some of their animals they have around.

We always enjoy when family comes to visit or when we make it out to see them!!

Charles turns 2

Charles turned 2 a couple months ago. His current stats from his latest doctors appointment are

Height: 34 1/4 in

Weight: 24 Lbs 3 oz

(Yes he only weighs 4 pounds more than his little sister.)

He is still skinny as ever but i think he is starting to feel out more.  

We celebrated charles birthday a day late because grandma and grandpa W were flying in the next day so we waited to celebrate until they could join us. 

For his birthday we made him a mickey mouse cake. (we really hate the taste of black frosting so we settled on a brown mickey mouse.)  We managed to keep fingers out of the frosting until he blew out his candles and he was more than excited to be able to eat the candles. 

Best Buds! 

Charles got a alot of fun things for his birthday.

Things Charles is doing at 2 years....

His vocabulary is coming along and he is slowly starting to form sentences

He has gotten brave enough to jump down from our dining room table chairs. 

He takes after his dad and has to stop and watch every bug he sees. 

He loves mickey mouse and dora.

He is a great helper in the kitchen, he has about mastered cracking eggs and only gets a shell in it every once in a while. 

He enjoys being outside and playing at the park. 

His music ability is starting to show, as he sings the last words of every line of a song. 

He can always put a smile on his face esp. when he gives you one of his ear to ear grins, or even when he put on one of his mean scowls.

He is also in dier need of a hair cut. 

Christmas

I know this post is a little late but here is christmas this year at our house. 

 I only put the presents under the tree a couple days before christmas because i knew they would just be too tempting and would have to be opened, but we managed to make it all they way till christmas without any mishaps.  They kids were all very excited when we told them they had one present they could open christmas eve. 

 As you can see no time was wasted in being given the gifts and them opening them.

 Keisha even managed to get hers open with little help!

 The kids and there new pajamas from there grandpa and grandma. Plus the older kids also got some slippers to wear to.

 Trying to get a picture of them all dressed in there pajamas. This was the best one out of all of them.

 Christmas morning waiting for the little ones to wake up! We let them sleep in and they didn't wake up until almost 8:30. We had to remind them what day it was.

 This year for christmas the kids each got a couple new pairs of shoes, adahleigh and charles each got a new bike w/ a helmet, and a stocking full of candy.

 Keisha got a little pop up toy and had to wait for all the other kids to get done playing with it before she got a chance to see what it was.

 We had a very good christmas this year! Adam had two weeks off for the holiday so i was nice having him around to hang out with!  We were also able to talk with both are families christmas day via Skpye.

  That afternoon we took the kids out to ride there new bikes. Adahleigh was a little wobbly at first but has finally got the hang of it. She has only fallen over into a bush once on the way to the grocery store. Charles is still learning how the peddles work and prefers to be pushed around.

First Decent Snow in Reno

   About mid December we had the first good snow fall, were there was enough snow on the ground by our place to actually do something with. Even though it was only a couple of inches deep we made the most of it. The kids had been asking to make footprints in the snow every time it started snowing the slightest. Luckily, this happened after I got off from my rotations for Christmas break, so we got the kids all dressed up to go play in it. We went to a close by park, since everyone in our complex has a dog and most of them don't clean up after them so we didn't want to find any land mines while making a snowman. The kids really enjoyed it and put forth tons of effort building it. I'd start out making a ball and once it got bigger than the one they were making they wanted to switch. We did this for about an hour till we decided the balls were big enough.

   Once the balls got too big for one of them to move they would pair up and help each other. Adahleigh was constantly saying "Charlie (or "Boy" since that's how she like to refer to him) come help me."

    This is about the point where they decided that they were no longer able to do it by themselves.

   They then proceeded to just pack snow onto the balls.

  

    Once the balls were big enough and they couldn't help stack them without risk of getting crushed they went and played on the playground toys till it was all together.

    Once the snowman was put together we went around the park to find things for the finishing touches.

    We did bring an extra hat and gloves to use for the snowman.

   The eyes were made from leaves that we found, and the rest was bark chips from the playground pieced together. We did find a straw also to put in the snowman's mouth. 

     Just before getting all the final touches put on Charles had decided that he'd been in the snow long enough and was ready for a nap. Needless to say we fought getting a good picture with him crying in between photos, and Adahleigh not looking at the camera.

   We did get a  couple good ones and then headed home. Everyone was so tired that they both wanted to  be carried, so I got to carry two tired kids over a half mile home, of course Charles fell asleep on the walk home.

   It was definitely a fun day out in the snow for everyone, even though there was some crying involved.

Keisha @ 10 Months

Keisha turned 10 months 2 weeks ago so we have been waiting to post till we got her current stats!

Keisha @ 10 months

Weight : 19 Lbs 12 Oz

Height: 28 1/2 inches

Head : 18 1/2 inches

Here are a few of her things she has gotten good at

*She loves to mumble and yell, she has recently took to growling

*She has been perfecting her walking for a couple weeks now and can walk the length of the house

*She has even tried her hand at speed walking and can make it about 7 steps

*She loves to eat anything and everything just like her sister

*She loves to play with her siblings and follows them both everywhere

(she thinks she can do everything they do, if not there quick to lend a helping hand)

*Her favorite thing to do in the bathtub is to see how much water she can get on the floor

Here she is walking this was taken a couple weeks ago, she has gotten a lot better since then