Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Sweet Six


This year Britt's birthday celebration lasted twice as long as usual. His last day of the semester was Friday, so we made snake cookies to take to his class. After school I took him and his buddy Maxx (and Marnie) bowling, then we went out for ice cream. Friday night was the family party; complete with an ice cream cake, lots of adorably geeky presents, and fireworks.






Saturday morning (Britt's sixth birthday), we packed up and headed to Phoenix to finish our Christmas shopping and have some fun. We went to pet stores so Britt could get a closer look and decide exactly which kind of snake to ask Santa for, spent time with Jordan, Kait, Beck, and Abbi, and did some shopping. Britt's restaurant choice for his birthday dinner was Pei Wei. We decided it would be fun to take our dinner to Papago Park for a picnic. It worked out perfectly, because there was a pond full of ducks (that were almost as excited as Britt was that we had brought half a box of crackers), and it meant we were right next to the Phoenix Zoo. During our dinner, we surprised Britt and Marnie with Britt's last birthday present- tickets to go to Zoolights as soon as we were done eating. Britt couldn't have been more excited. Well... he may have been a little more excited when he realized that he had a wallet full of birthday money to spend on whatever he wanted from the zoo gift shop. He ended up with a rattlesnake that sprays water and a stuffed blue jay. :) 
We sure love our Britter Critter!



^Beck tried to eat my lens cover! And it was precious.  :)

They may not be all smiles in these next pictures, but trust me, we had fun.  :) 








Thursday, December 8, 2011

End of the Year Answers

At least once a year, I like to fill out a list of "favorites" and random questions for Britt and Marnie. It's fun to look back at the things they were into at different ages, and how their tastes change. These are their answers, word for word.

Britt



favorite...
color:    green
food:    chicken
song:   Mah Na Mah Na (from The Muppets) or the meh-meh-meh song on the record with the people in the animal costumes {he means Midnight City, by M83} 
TV show:    Phineas & Ferb...or Wild Kratts
movie:    How to Train Your Dragon
snack:    popcorn
game:    Zelda, on the Wii
drink:    caramel milk
dessert:    popsicles
animal:    armadillo, bat, tiger, snake, cardinal, and...lion
restaurant:    Pei Wei
sport:    I can't say. I haven't tried them all yet.
holiday:    Halloween
day of the week:   Friday
toy:   my big Toothless
season:   Winter
book:   Dolphin Tale  {we've never read that book...}
Favorite thing to do:   It depends. In the daytime, my favorite thing is drawing, but at night I like to watch movies and snuggle with Dad.
I can't sleep without...  my armadillo
When I grow up, I want to be...   a zoologist
What makes me happiest is...   playing in white fluffy snow, pizza night, looking at nature, hiking with my family and discovering what things are in the wild

side note: I can. not. believe. that this boy will be 6 next week!



Marnie



favorite...
color:    yellow, and purple, and pink, and white
food:    macaroni and cheese
song:   If I Only Had a Brain...and Life's a Happy Song {from The Muppets}
TV show:   Team Umizoomi
movie:   The Wizard of Oz
snack:   goldfish and happy face fruit snacks and pretzels
game:   Zingo
drink:   hot cocoa
dessert:   popsicles
animal:   dolphins and sea horses
restaurant:   Pizza Hut  {we've been there once}
sport:   T-Ball
holiday:   Fourth of July
day of the week:   Friday {pretty sure she's just copying Britt on this one...}
toy:   princess little people
season:   sunshine {how cute is that?}
book:   Fancy Nancy or Junie B. Jones
Favorite thing to do:   read
I can't sleep without...   my fuzzy red blankie
When I grow up, I want to be...   a big girl wolf...or a daddy  {oookay...}
What makes me happiest is...  hugs, hot cocoa, food, when daddy dances with me, when puppy stands up like people do

{Those two -and their handsome daddy- are my favorite.}





Sunday, December 4, 2011

:.`.:.`.:snow:.`.:.`.:



This past Thursday, the forecast predicted 1-2 inches of snow accumulation overnight. We were awakened around midnight by the sounds of branches breaking and falling all over town. Justin and I hardly slept that night, because the breaking branches were so loud. I got up to let the dog out (he was having trouble sleeping too) at 2:30am, and we had about 6 inches of wet, heavy snow. It fell straight down and piled up quickly. We were glad that the branches right outside our bedroom window held strong and didn't come crashing through in the middle of the night. I measured 13 inches of snow at 8:00 Friday morning, and later in the day my dad measured 18 inches at their house (1/4 mile away). Britt had his first no-school Snow Day, and loved every minute of it.





We took a little drive on Friday, and found lots of trees like this around town. Some crashing down on power lines, some pulverizing fences, and even some on cars and rooftops.

There were breathtakingly beautiful sights too...

My dad shoveled the driveway at my parents' house and piled the snow to make the Matterhorn 2.0 in their yard. It settled overnight, and in these pictures it's a few feet shorter than it originally was. It was still a BLAST though. :) My dad's goal this year was to get someone all the way across the yard, and he did it! Marnie slid from their driveway aaaaaallllll the way to the short brick wall at the end of their yard.







Best picture of the entire day...


Saturday, November 19, 2011

i fall in love every.single.time


I know every mom feels this way, but sometimes when I look at my kids, it takes my breath away. When I was a goofy 16-year-old girl with a monumental crush on my Justin, I never had a clue how beautiful our children would be. They definitely got their fair share of good genetics. :)







Halloween 2011


My little ghouls. :)



Britt wanted to be a mad scientist this year, so I whipped up a little lab coat for him (don't tell, but the pattern I used is from a 1969 girls' dress pattern that my mom and I found in my Grandma's old boxes of patterns). We had so much fun putting his costume together. I wasn't originally going to add the wild eye brows, but when he tried on the entire costume I thought it was missing a certain flair, so we went for it. ;)


Marnie wanted to be Medusa, so we got a few creepy looking snakes and attached them to a play tiara with some fishing line. I spray painted the whole thing gold, and voila! My mom happened upon some sparkly blue/green fabric in a clearance bin, and it worked out perfectly for her dress. I tied a gold rope around the waist, and she wore her favorite pair of sandals. Cute, yet scary. Just like the real Medusa. :)


I was a zombie chef. Easy peasy. :)


It's fun having so many grandparents close to us. Trick or treat!


I think our favorite part of Halloween this year was that no one (NOT A SINGLE ONE OF US) was sick! That hasn't happened since 2007. Hooray! The spell is broken! :)

Saturday, October 29, 2011

pumpkins and drac-o-lanterns

Pumpkin hunting was fun this year. Britt and Marnie ran wild in our local pumpkin patch, and we found a few, small, orange beauties.




We decided to use 2 of our 4 pumpkins for traditional jack-o-lanterns (to be carved the night before Halloween), and the other 2 would be used to make...
Drac-o-lanterns!


Britt did almost all the work, and it was a blast. We used stickers for the eyes, but decided that next year we'll see if we can find some of those gum balls that look like eyeballs to use as the eyes. Britt drew lots of detail on the dracs, and even made a crown for Marnie's.  Sweet big brother...




Sunday, October 23, 2011

Kindergarten: Quarter 1


Since the first day of school, Britt has been in love. He hated weekends for the first month, and just wanted to be in school every waking minute. He only goes from 8:00 to 10:45, so it's quite torturous to make him leave at the end of the half-day. He made some adorable little friends (for my own memory, his closest buds are Maxx, Mason, Brooklyn, Jakey, Rebekah, Allie, Jett, and Jordyn), and we've LOVED being able to walk to and from school together every day. We live about a 5 minute walk from his school and it's wonderful. Britt's teacher is Mrs. Slade. She's a kind and patient teacher, and we love her.
Britt's class has a pet guinea pig, named Burrito. She is awesome! She has long hair and looks like a punk rocker. :) Britt loves to bring lettuce and carrots from home so he can feed her.
Mid-October was our first parent-teacher conference. Marnie didn't feel great, so Justin stayed home with the kids and I went solo. It was great to hear how much Britt's teacher loves him. She had lots of good things to say about him. Some of which were:
He's a very attentive listener.
He's always teaching them interesting animal facts.
He's a gifted artist.
He's helpful and eager to please.
He's quick to follow instructions.
He is very well liked by his classmates.
He is so articulate and mature that he doesn't seem like a 5-year-old...he's "like a tiny college student."
When I said that we often call him "our little scientist," she laughed and said that she can't watch The Big Bang Theory without thinking of Britt. When I told Britt that she said that, he was THRILLED. Dr. Sheldon Cooper is basically his hero. :)
His behavior report card was perfect.
HIs academic report card was impressive as well. There is a list of skills that the kids need to master before they're considered 'ready' for first grade. A / means that the skill is developing, and an X means that skill is mastered. Of the 26 skills, Britt had 24 X marks. One slash because he sometimes gets 11 and 12 mixed up when writing them, and one because he has yet to pass off 5 of his sight words. She said he's at the top of his class, and could do just fine in first grade right now. Of course, we're not talking about skipping a grade, but it's nice to know he's doing so well. :)
His school has 3 Kindergarten "clubs," The 100 Club (which you enter when you can count to 100), The ABC Club (which you enter when you have memorized all the letters of the alphabet, as well as the sounds they make), and The Sight Words Club (for when you memorize 20 basic sight words). It's a big deal for the kids. With each club they get a certificate, they get to go to the principal's office to pick a treat, they get to choose from their teacher's prize drawer, and the principal makes a special announcement on the PA system. Britt is currently in the ABC and 100 clubs, and this week we've been working on his last few sight words, which he's prepared to pass off tomorrow. There are only 2 other kids in his class who are in all 3 clubs, so he's pretty excited about it.
We're so proud of our sweet little man. He told me once that he has to get good grades so he can go to a good college and study zoology. Although, as much as he likes to debate lately, he could just as easily get a law degree and be an animal activist lawyer. Who knows. :) I do know that whatever he decides to be, he will have proud parents. {Of course I didn't steal that line from Star Trek...of course not.}  :)

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

an afternoon in the forest

Autumn.
Changing leaves.
Crisp mornings.
Chilly evenings.
Heaven. :)