January

I was released from Young Women, and my friend, Mary, brought me over this present and a very sweet card. I am definitely going to miss the sweet associations I had in Young Womens, but I am excited to spend this year with Rachel, as her Primary teacher. 

 Hayden was paying for our late night New Years celebrations for DAYS!

But, when he was awake, it was nonstop cars! Traffic jams...

 Monster trucks racing over "bumps"...good times all around!

Maliya started going back to school and is LOVING it!

 We started having Daddy lunch dates. Katie was the first who got to go. I dropped her off at Brian's work to eat lunch with him at Adobe's Cafe, and as we drove away...Hayden was VERY unhappy to be stuck with me! Don't worry, they all got a turn, eventually!

Rachel's turn for a lunch date:

Rachel and Dad worked on the puzzle she got for Christmas...then I joined...then everyone joined. We made pretty good progress before sending the kids off to bed! Then Brian and I obsessedly finished up the hard parts while the kids slept. 

 After Brian left for work, one day, Hayden pulled out his glasses and said "I'm Daddy!"

 Katie and her accessories...

Brian is so good to let the girls be hairdressers on him!

 I was very worried about Katie starting Kindergarten. Her birthday is in August and she is the youngest kid in her whole class. But she has been doing very well! Her teacher has an online points system that parents can check and see how they are doing (behaviorally) in class. Katie averages around 20-30 positive points per week! She has only ever gotten 1 "negative point", and I think that one was just given to the whole class. This particular week, she got 51 positive points! I'm so proud of her!

 We got a lot of snow, this January, and the kids have been making use of it by sledding down our neighbors front yard... :|

 I went and watched Katie's last day of Spanish! She has been doing really well in Spanish and really enjoys it! I love that they have these "show off" days for the Kindergarteners!

Presidents' Day fun included sledding as a family,

...then I took the girls to watch Trolls at the dollar theater, while Brian took Hayden out for donuts!

Just a little gas to get us to the gas station. Oops. Hayden was fascinated!

 I told him to pose by the snow. He jumped up and down while yelling "cheese!"

Hayden and I were coloring, one day. After we finished our pictures, he picked mine up and was scrutinizing it with the most solemn look. It was pretty funny!

 I made the kids go build me some snowmen. I make up crazy rules like that on the fly, sometimes.

 Katie...just cracks me up. Reminds me of the "Never Ending Story."

Hayden does not like nakedness. Not on himself or on others. EXCEPT when his cousin, James, comes over. James loves to remove his clothes and play in just a diaper and SOMEHOW makes Hayden think that sounds like a great idea too! When James is over, we CANNOT get either of those boys to keep their clothes on! 

 Picking out pet dogs. Pet dogs that neither of them will probably ever get. But Brandon sure speaks Rachel's language!

 Playing with her princess play-do from Granddaddy.

 Making cookies with Daddy. Daddy makes the best cookies.

 My girls' mouths look so crazy! with so many gaps and so many adult teeth that are too big for their mouths...

 Katie got these super sweet high heels for Christmas. The girls all walked to church, one day, but Katie didn't want to ruin her beautiful shoes. All on her own, she came up with a plan and executed it perfectly. She put these shoes inside her church bag, then wore different church shoes on her walk down to the church. Once she got there, she switched shoes. She cracks me up!

 Hayden. Always begging for a snack.

 He also has been loving building towers with the Picasso tiles, lately.

Rachel had her VIP day on the "Mrs Dominguez Show"! I think this is the cutest thing!

 And I love how the kids in the class come up with complimentary sentences about the VIP. After Mrs Dominguez writes the sentences up on the board, the VIP gets to use the pointer and the whole class reads them outloud together. Then, the VIP gets to chill and do whatever they want, while everyone else chooses from the sentences on the board to copy down. Then all the papers are collected and stapled together for a special book for the VIP to keep. So sweet!

 I was pretty amused about the boy who raised his hand and said Rachel has pretty hair and beautiful eyes!

 And then Rachel read stories to Hayden, while the kids wrote their sentences.

 I went downstairs to wake Maliya and Katie up, one morning, and found Maliya fully on Katie's side. So, I flipped the light on and took a picture! Best way to wake up, ever.

 Crazy hair day! Rachel came up with this idea of a cupcake on a plate and a cup, I just had to figure out how to make it happen!

 So much snow. And...I would sure love it if I didn't have to shovel half way into the road...

 The one thing that I was worried about Maliya being behind in, after being homeschooled, was spelling. But she seemed to do just fine on her spelling tests, each week, and then I got this email from her teacher, saying she was one of the top 3 spellers in her class spelling bee! Way to go Maliya!

 Rachel's friend, Eliana, gave her these fake glasses. She wants to wear them all day every day!

 Katie keeps asking for a stuffed unicorn. She found this massive thing at Walmart! We didn't buy it. I'm a bah-humbug. Considering it was $40 and her birthday is no time soon...

 Maliya and I were playing the Head Bandzz game. Hayden joined in and was quick to tell us both what was on our heads. Oops. But he's so darn cute! He wouldn't hold still for a picture, so Katie was helping me out by restraining him. Haha!