Mulch Castles

Who needs the beach when you can stay at home and play in mulch? Well Carson seems to think it's fun anyway. Yesterday Colton was cleaning the garage and Carson was outside with him. I looked out the window to check up on them and saw Carson crouched down in the mulch with the sand bucket and shovel. I went and grabbed the camera because he looked so adorable and to top it off, he was wearing my boots which are way too big. He was filling up the bucket and then turning it over to try and make a "castle". Of course it did not work but it made me laugh to see him try.

Gingerbread Houses

Every year since Caitlyn was four years old, we have been making gingerbread houses for the holidays. It has become a family tradition. The kids always have so much fun and end up eating more of the candy than using it to decorate with. This year we went with the Village kit which I didn't realize would be so small and it didn't come with instructions so I had a hard time helping Carson put his together. Next year, I think we'll go back to the big houses.

Winter Wildlights at the Zoo

Saturday Jaime and the girls came over to the house and we decided to go down and see the lights at the zoo. Every year they decorate the zoo with thousands of Christmas lights and it looks so pretty. Caitlyn was bummed that she couldn't go because she had to work. I made it up to her on Sunday by taking her shopping.

This was opening weekend for the lights so the zoo was packed. We didn't think to bring the wagon, so partway through Carson and Madison started to get a little whiny and wanted to be carried. We found a concession stand and got some ridiculously high priced snacks hoping that would make them less whiny. It worked. We didn't stay too long since there were so many people and I was worried that the kids would get lost in the crowd, in the dark. Next time we will plan a little better.















Jaime and Maddie

A New Chandler Emerges

It's been pretty quiet and calm around here for the last couple of weeks. Which I am quite happy with. Last Wednesday we went to Chandler's conference and heard the usual. He's a great student, learns things fast, behaves and is an all around pleasure to have in class. Then we heard something that surprised us both. It appears that Chandler is quite the social butterfly at school especially among the ladies! We about fell out of our chairs. Chandler who at home is as quiet as a mouse? Who is probably more shy than me? Who you have to tell to speak up when he asks you a question? Social butterfly???? Charles and I looked at each other and were stunned. Although I could see a tiny look of admiration in Charles' eyes as well. I think I may have even heard a "That's my boy" muttered under his breath. The teacher said that it was Chandler, one other boy and a group of girls. It got so bad that the teacher had to move the girls to another class because of all the chatting. Who knew? I'm happy that he has such an active social life because I always have that fear that my children might be one of those kids who sit by themselves at lunch and have no one to talk to.
When we got home we asked Chandler about the girls and he kind of blushed and smirked and Colton gave him a fist bump. Crazy boys! And to think we still have one more boy to get through school!

Trick or Treat

Last night was our trick or treat night. The kids were all excited, especially Carson. Caitlyn dressed up as a cheetah, Colton was a bloody guy, Chandler was the scary guy from "Scream" and Carson was Bumblebee from Transformers.