Matt and friend playing with the new (old) laptop. Usually building their own amusement park. Matt takes this very serious. As a matter of fact, he races James up in the morning to get started. Last week his goal was to arise out of his clubhouse at 5am to start his building. In the morning I would hear him come into our room say, "dad... dad... I beat you" and then walk out to the couch to start his game. We should have never put a clock in his clubhouse.

Second. Skateboarding. I wasn't too sure about this one,  but he proved me wrong. He is really catching on to skateboarding. I was called out to witness this latest move. Basketball + balance.

This is also a new move. Passing the basketball on skateboard.  I actually put a stop to this after the picture, realizing this was a set up for a big fall. But they have been doing basketball camp on the weekend, and I think its paying off?

When you visit us, Matthew will walk over to this tray which he has prepared, and offer you a variety of airplane snacks. In our home we prefer Biscoff's. We LOVE it when James brings home the left over plane snacks. So this tray has been out for a couple of weeks now. Waiting for our guests. He is very serious about keeping his rows neat.

Finally. Currently at night when I ask matthew to go brush his teeth, he disappears for a few minutes and then returns to me and states, " i brushed them".  Then smiles a big smile with his fake plastic gross teeth. Honestly I'm not sure who loves this game more, Me or him. And the next logical question is, does he go back and brush his teeth. WELL... I think so. But sometimes  I think he just goes back and brushes his partials.  He takes amazingly good care of his fake teeth. Can't say the same for the real ones. First set is practice right??

I have secretly been dreaming about the day when I would get one of these diaper cakes. I think they are so adorable. Can you see those silver little shoes on the top? So sweet. I don't think I have the heart to take it apart.

I wasn't kidding.. blessed.

Two things.. this grass drying rack seems really cool and cute. But its a good shot of the belly.

I think this dress would already fit her.  I think she is a super baby. Or at least that is how my lungs feel. Thank you to all the ladies who took the time away from their busy nights to come celebrate. I had such a great time, and feel so blessed to be able to go to school and live close by to this group!

Uncle Brad is leaving to work in Egypt for 10 days. We know God has big plans for him. It has been a gift for our family to talk about what is going on in Egypt and what the persecuted church is. Please be praying for my sweet brother.

The nesting is really in full force. We have been blessed with some awesome hand me downs. And I have been doing my best to stay organized... but.... Christmas came and well....... I needed some help. Its getting harder to bend over to pick up things! So in came the team.

 Team mom and Aunt Bert. They spent the day organizing, separating, washing and cleaning.

What a blessing friends and family are.  We had a great afternoon looking at all the pink goodness.
Thanks you ladies!!!!

Attention parents of 7-8 year olds. This Christmas gift was such a hit. Still is. Its an electric circuit board. They can make all sorts of projects, including discovering water is a conductor.  It has been so much fun watching the boys be creative and figure out positive and negatives. Even though there has been a lot of talk around here about being a miner....... I think this electricity thing might have a chance.

I love this sequence of pictures.

 Matt found this ultimate snow ball. Calls over James and Ava to help. (where is matt?)
 Matt appears.... and starts to push...
 Ethan appears.... now they have momentum.
Woops... look at that....  Matt on the ground, Ethan and Ava taking a break....

Don't worry, James got that snow ball to the igloo and the fun began. Thanks for being such a great Dad James.

I know many of you out there don't believe me that Arizona has snow. But it does. Drive 2-3 hours from our home and you hit this.


 We decided to take a trip to the snow to sled. Well, of course I stayed off the sled. I struggled enough trying to put on thermals and jeans. I found out too late that my snow pants no longer fit. Nor my snow coat fit over my bump. What was I thinking? So my job was to keep warm and take pictures.
 It was beautiful there.  There is Matt and future wife Ava. Kids in snow suits are so cute.
 Of course James was in on the action.
 Snow ball fights galore. Matt was laughing so hard.
 Here is James re-living his childhood memories of building an igloo. He told this story about how hard he worked on the perfect igloo one year. And when he finally got inside.... well... you can guess... collapse. Now he is older and wiser. So he was prepared to show the kids how to really make a proper igloo. It was really more like James and Ava working. The boys... well... they were really more interested in bombing James with snowballs.
OK so Ava took her breaks also.

All in all a great day. Always so much fun to watch the kids happy and excited about everything.