Nov/Dec

 Here are some pictures of the last half of November early November…

We had one super insane cold week, with below zero temps. We bundled them up!  If any skin was showing, even walking in and out of somewhere, it hurt!

Zack took Emmy on a special date. They went to see Disney Princesses on Ice.  Oh my, Emmy was in Heaven.  She absolutely loved every second of it. Zack really enjoyed it too.

They got to sit really close.  Rapunzel skated by and waved at Emmy.  She was star struck for sure.

This girl knows how to have fun!  And knows how to talk her Dad into anything. :)

Our neighborhood has had some action outside lately.  This day, the guys worked outside our window with a bunch of huge machines, digging a hold, and doing a bunch of other things.  They kids watched off and on all day and into the evening. Another day, a crew came out and cut down two enormous trees right next to our house.  The process was fascinating, especially to Emmy.

Smith is such a sweet little dude!  I love getting to spend one on one time with him - he is almost always really fun when it's just the two of us.  This day, he wanted to dress up.  First like a superhero.

Next, like a cowboy.  All it takes is a hat and a belt and a horse.

This face!  Oh, so cute.

I had to take a picture of this.  This is how Zane prepared to make a Zoob project.  He counted out each color and layer them out to get ready to build.  And then he expected us all not to touch it.  Yeah right!

This is the only shot I have from my birthday. We had a great day. And of course ended it with ice cream.  33 years old.  Wow.

What better to do while Zane's at school than play outside!

These guys actually stayed out for a while.  Usually they come right back in.

We have some serious Chargers' fans around here.  Zane goes back on forth on loving and hating the Broncos.  It's hard on the poor guy, having a Dad whose a Charger's fan, and friends and family who are Broncos fans.  Emmy's a die hard Charger's girl.

We put our Christmas decorations up early this year since I went out of town for Thanksgiving and the week after.  It's basically chaos, because the kids are so excited and want to do everything all at once.  It's so hard for them to wait for anything.  They all wanted to hang all the ornaments.  I can't believe we can actually have all our ornaments out - almost none have broken this year!

Just another day at the grocery store with BatBoy and his sidekick Molly.

My mom is an artist! She had her first art show down in the Springs.  My grandma, grandpa, sisters, aunt and uncle, and brother in law all drove down with me to see it.

I could not be more proud and happy for my mom.  Her paintings were amazing.  Wow.  Good job, mom!

Grandma, Pappy, and me. :)

The next day, we had a family Christmas lunch with some family from out of town.  I wish I had more pictures from this day too!
Here's Aunt Nell and Em

It was Smith's nap time so he had his favorite little fox, his special blanket and yep, still a paci.

Emmy and Smith and Molly have been playing more and more together instead of just next to each other.  Emmy is unbelievably good at helping me take care of the little guys and playing. This day she pulled them on a blanket all day long!

Here a few cute pics...

At Emmy's performance...

Zane was reading the Bible to Em in the backseat.  They didn't even know I was listening or watching. It was the sweetest moment.

Silly girl

I like this pic - Molly had stolen Smith's paci and boppies (white cloth). And she had a guilty look on there face.

Zane and I started teaching Emmy to read.  This day, Zane worked on her sounds.  He took her through the letters and checked off the ones she knew right away with no help.  He hadn't finished when I took the pic - luckily she knows a few more than that. :)

Sliding together - these girls love each other.

This was our first present under the tree - it's a special gift that Zane made for Emmy.  He and Bob constructed it and wrapped it.

Emmy's crazy fall picture.

Zane got to do his first big school research project.  His teacher, Mrs. Trenkamp, is awesome and is going above and beyond to keep him engaged and challenged at school.  She assigned an extension activity just for him while they studied plants.  He got to come up with his own question to answer, "Why are weeds harmful to plants?"
We checked out library books, took notes, planned it out, and then organized our ideas together.  Then, as he was writing it onto the poster he just completely put it into his own words.  I couldn't believe he could do that on his own! He even added the attention-getters at the beginning of each section.  I was so proud of him.

Then he got to present it to the class. He was so nervous at first, but once he warmed up he did so awesome.  He was confident and shared his poster and answered questions really well.






He also wrote a fiction story about a Weed Monster

This was my favorite page.  It says, "Then he went to the mall.  He thought there was a weed MONSTER! But his mom said the words, SNAP OUT OF IT!! very grouchy.

Emmy loves pigs.  LOVES pigs.  She did not leave this pig's side for the first few weeks that she got her.

This was just a warm fall day.

Smith playing with his little buddy...