Wichita Thunder

My friend, Nicole, invited us to watch the Wichita Thunder hockey team tonite, her husband plays for the team.  I had forgotten how much I love watching hockey!  Both of the kids had a really good time.  Actually, because of all the ice we've had around here, Jayden has been talking about ice skating a lot - something we've never done with him, but something he says he wants to do, and Jayden has always loved watching football because the guys tackle each other.  So I thought he would love hockey, it's kinda like football on ice, with a stick, and a puck.  And I was right!
This is Nicole's husband, Andrew





Royal had never been to a hockey game before, so he was pretty excited about going.  Now he really wants to get together with Andrew so he can explain the ins and outs of hockey to him.  That way, next time, Royal will know what is going on a little better.



Jayden pretty much loved it.  He sat there almost the whole time and watched the game.  It was a high scoring game too, so I think that helped.  Wichita won 6-3.



Willow did really well too.



But then she got bored and colored on her face and her stomach with markers (while I sat right next to her, but was too interested in the hockey game to notice), and then sat on Nicole's lap and put on headbands and hats to pass the time.

Moonbirds

Last night I went to Paint the Towne, with some friends to drink some wine and paint some moon birds.



Whitney decided she was afraid of moons, so she went more for a sunny sky (and the fact it will match her daughters room).  :)



Robin got a little out of control with her red.  Good thing they provide aprons!:)



Here Nicole has hers almost finished



And then she managed to knock hers right over into her plate of paint, which made it look like her bird pooped.  :)  Don't worry she knew what she was doing and managed to fix the whole thing.



Here I am with my purple moon birds



And our whole group with our finished paintings!

Jayden Stories :: Too Fast for T-Rex

Jayden and I have been talking a lot about how just because a dinosaur is a meat eater, it doesn't necessarily mean that they were mean. They just had to kill another dinosaur to survive. So if they couldn't catch their dinner, they would go hungry. One of his dinosaur books said something about most likely a T-Rex missed catching a bunch of the dinosaurs they were chasing, just like today's animal predators out in the wild. And now, it is being brought to you in true Jayden story form!

Snowy Day

Yesterday we finally got a few inches of snow!  It was perfect for playing in right before lunch.  It was only like 26 degrees outside, no wind, sunny.  I got bundled up with the kids and we went stomping through the yard.  The roads were pretty clear, so we went and worked out in the morning, Jayden had school in the afternoon.  Royal decided to come home from work early to play with the kids in the snow, so he picked Jayden up from school and came home.  Unfortunately by then, the next cold front was coming in, so it was much colder, snowing little tiny frozen hard snow, and the wind was blowing. But we bundled them up anyway!






Willow lasted about 10 minutes, before she came in to do some cooking with me.  :)  Jayden and Royal and Sam went for a long walk around the neighborhood stomping in all the snow and came back looking like ice cubes!


Now today, it is sunny and clear, and thanks to the low last night of 0 (that would be zero!), all our activities for the day have been canceled - no Strollers in Motion, no school for Jayden, no swimming for Willow.  We are now all mostly healthy but still trapped in the house, this time due to ice and frozen temperatures.  Outside right now, it's 6, but really feels like -18 (that's in Fahrenheit, my friend!).   Brrrr.  I'm gonna go turn up the heat

Happy Birthday, Jordy Pordy!

Happy Birthday Brother!!!!!!

Obstacle Course

We have been going a little stir crazy here.  The kids were sick with stomach bugs for the 2 weeks before we left for Washington for Christmas, then we got a much needed break from sicknesses for the 2 weeks we were in Washington, but then a mere 4 days after we got home, Jayden had the sniffles.  The next day he was spiking a 104 fever.  But Thursday, he was doing much better, but Willow was going downhill.  So, here we are, Sunday night, and me and the kids have pretty much not gone anywhere for almost a week.  And man, are all of our new and old toys getting really boring!  So, today, after we built like the 5th edition of Dora's castle from the legos Willow got for Christmas, I decided it was time to get their blood moving.  So, I created an obstacle course.

You start at the shopping cart, grab a piece of fruit or vegetable, and throw it into the blue box on the train table.



then you race around the train table...



past the snakes (don't let them bite you!)...



over the caterpillar chair...



where you make a hard right...



to jump off the polka dot circle...



to knock over the pillar...



to jump over the blocks...







to finally make it to the slide...





only to have to crawl under the bridge (where the dino is trying to eat you)...





where you were then suppose to get into the jumper for victory!  But nobody wanted to get into the jumper.  Jayden just wanted to know how fast he made it through the course and then went back to beat his time.  His record time was 24 seconds!

So, here's to a hopefully healthy week!  Although we're suppose to get snow, so I suppose all our activities are going to get canceled due to weather. I guess I'll build another obstacle course tomorrow...but maybe outside with snowman trying to attack you!

Back to Life...Back to Reality

(heavy picture post....so beware!...I have some making up to do)

We are back in Wichita and trying to get back into our groove.  It's hard to do considering we left a plethora of present opening behind...






And lots of family....









And cousins to make scary faces with...



And way, way, way too much food... (those are bacon wrapped lil smokies covered in brown sugar...mmmmm)



And early mornings which always lead to piling on Nana and Papa's bed to watch cartoons (Nana is behind Willow, Papa is behind the fluffy dog - like the bed wasn't full enough before adding dogs to it!)



And the making and eating of Jesus' birthday cake...



And the fantastic view.....





But back we are!  And sadly, we came back to Jayden's little red beta, Fishy, having died while we were gone.  He lived a good 2.5 years in our house - which according to my fish track record is really good!  I thought Jayden would be more upset, but he just said, 'Well, I guess when I get to Heaven, Fishy will be there waiting for me!"  And we set out the next day to find a new fish.

Another beta, Jayden has named him Rexy.



We also came back to a basement full of old and new toys we hadn't played with in over 2 weeks.



And of course, now, the nightly battles in the dark with Jayden and Willow's new light sabers.  Ah the joys of training up a Jedi...