Finally Writing!

Well, Levi has finally, FINALLY decided to write! Yippee! Today he wrote his name (with his right hand) all by himself and he did a great job!! He wrote small and in control and I was very impressed! This has been a loooonnng time coming...whew! :-) I'm such a proud mommy today!

The End of the Year

The boys "helped" Daddy fix the lawn mower. Ashton loves taking pictures of herself....why? She's 15, that's why! lol

Nicky's 42nd birthday on New Year's Eve. He got this funky hat from my mom. He loves it! Thinks it's super cool. So, he's showing it off. Happy Birthday, honey!

What a cutie! Reading glasses and all! Love the hat, btw. :-)

Merry Christmas!

This was the Christmas picture I took of the kids and sent out in the Christmas cards. I thought it came out pretty cute.

Christmas morning....

Indy...

Levi...

Savannah...

Ashton...

Nicky....

Everyone had a wonderful day opening and playing with all their new stuff. The boys got a little pup tent from Outdoor World which we immediately set up and they played with all day. Even the neighbor kids came over and played in it for awhile. It was a big hit!

Building a Fort

So we have this unfinished chicken coop just sitting there and three little boys with adventure on the brain.....what do you think happens? They decide to build a fort, of course! Indy and Levi, and their friend, Adam, all work on making the chicken coop into a fort. They get out Indy's tools, search the yard for potential supplies and make a plan.
Surprise, guys! Whatcha doin'??

Getting advice from our neighbor, Lindsay.

Adding the finishing touches....a shield and a bucket for supplies underneath.

Great job, guys! All in a hard day's work....and fun!

Last Environmental Class

Last Tuesday was our last environmental class until January when we move over to the zoo. We arrived a little early, incredibly (!), so we just walked around for awhile to take a nice last look. We walked out to the water to see if we could see any manatees. One of the workers told us he'd seen some that morning along with some stingrays. Unfortunately, we didn't see anything except some beautiful water in the morning light. Here the boys are goofing around while I'm taking pictures.

This is a gopher tortoise that was rescued from an abusive owner. His name is Scooter. We brought food during the term so we could feed Scooter. He's a nice tortoise and the kids love to go visit him.

This is the boys with our teacher, Mrs. Yoelly. She was very sweet and great with the kids. They all loved her! This was taken on our last day of class when she and the assistant teacher, Mr. Elias, had planned a surprise for us: They set up a fire in the fire pit for the kids to do smores! They had a blast!

We interrupt this tale of a fire to bring you a bird house we liked that hung waaay high up in a tree.

Now, back to the fire tale.... Here the boys are roasting their marshmallows for their smores.

Yummy smores....mmmm.

Maybe scraping the last of the marshmallow off the stick is better. Hmmm.....

We will miss this place and our teachers when we go over to the zoo.

It's OUTA Here!!!

Well, Indy finally, finally lost his first tooth! Whew! Our kids get their teeth late and so they lose them late, too, which is very frustrating when all your friends start losing teeth and you don't lose one til a year or more later! Ugh! But, it finally happened for Indy and we're so happy! So is he!!
Showing off the lost tooth!

Now, can you believe this one?!? He took the tooth into the bathroom so he could look at the "hole" in the mirror, but shockingly, the tooth slipped from his fingers right down the bathroom sink drain! Argh! He came screaming out of the bathroom that he'd dropped his tooth, but I told him not to worry and not not turn on the water. We guarded the bathroom sink til Daddy got home and the first thing he did was take the drain apart and get the tooth out. Poor Daddy was nearly attacked when he walked in the door! lol But, being the good Daddy he is, he went right to work before even sitting down to relax. And he saved the tooth so we could give it to the tooth fairy. Thanks, Daddy! :-)

Decorating the Tree

On Sunday, we decorated our tree and the boys had a blast! The girls were more blaize about it, but the boys had a lot of fun. Usually, everyone gets tired of decorating the tree and I end up finishing it, but not this time. I actually ran out of ornaments before Levi ran out of steam...am I surprised?!? lol

"Oh yeah. Oh yeah." Levi was excited to find his Mickey ornament.

I'm glad he had fun and kept going. After the boys went to bed, I finished it with my glass ornaments and some bows and tinsel. Now it looks beautiful. I'll post another picture soon.

Merry Christmas!!