A week with Grandma and Grandpa Datwyler: Jan 8-14

We had a great week with Grandma and Grandpa Datwyler here.

Sunday we had a nice church meeting, we are getting used to 9:00 church.  I like it so much better.  Chris wanted to paint his fire truck that he got for his birthday.

 Monday mom and I went shopping.  We both found some church shoes, but I ended up returning mine.  I just can never find somewhat comfortable heels.

Tuesday we went to a nearby Arboretum.  It is a fun park with different playgound equipment that also has some walking paths.  We took the short 1/2 mile stroll through the trees.  It was a beautiful day to be outside.  We finally warmed up from last week.

 That evening we hurried to the movie theater as soon as Damon got home from school.  On Tuesdays the movies are only $5.50 so we went and saw Sing.  It was pretty cute.  We were all just excited to go and grandma even treated us to popcorn!

 Wednesday the girls' preschool was canceled so grandpa was so nice to watch the girls while mom and I went shopping again.  I found some cute shirts at Ross and mom found some things too.  We had lunch at Panera.  

In the evening we went to the temple, Doug joined us too.  It was nice to enjoy that time together.  

 Thursday we took the girls to the Port of Houston.  It is a 52 mile stretch of river that was dug deep enough to let the big ships come into port - away from the coast and harder weather conditions.  Our boat  only went 6 miles out but we saw some cool ships and scenery along the way.

 

 Since we were already in the area we stopped by the Battleship Texas Monument.  We went as a family last year, but it is a cool place.  It was the girls' turn to try all of the guns.  The boys were bummed that they didn't go, so we will have to go again.  

 It was a long morning/afternoon, but we made it home just in time to pick up the boys from school.  In fact I just had mom and dad hop out of the van at a stop sign and walk the rest of the way home so that I had room for the school kids.

Friday the girls have a fun dance class that a mom in another ward teaches.  She does such a good job and the girls love it.  They are smiling the whole time.

 Friday evening we went roller skating - we decided it would be easier than ice skating since my family hasn't done either.  For their first time everyone did pretty well.  There were lots of falls and tears at first.  Then Chris and the girls discovered that they liked rolling on the carpet best - Chris stayed out here the whole time.  The girls finally got brave and circled the rink holding onto the wall.  Jenna picked it up quickly and was doing really well by the time we were done.  They all wanted to come back, so I think they had a good time.  Tyler skated well - but he has been roller blading before.  Damon had the hardest time being frustrated.  I feel bad that he had never been before - it's hard learning something like this at an older age, he was probably embarrassed to be so slow.  But he really did improve and was doing much better towards the end.

 We went to McDonald's after and everyone enjoyed their food and playtime.  Even grandpa enjoyed the Happy Meal toy, (a deck of cards) :)

 Mom and Dad left Saturday morning early.  It was a great visit.  I am grateful that they spent the time and effort to come.  We made some great memories.

Saturday was the beginning of Flag Football for Damon and Tyler.  Tyler has a good coach and he scored the winning touchdown for his team.  Damon's team is lacking is leadership and we can hope that things will improve as the season continues.  The lost by quite a bit.  I wasn't able to go, but Doug was there.

The boys were invited over to a neighbors house to have a game night so they had a good time there and it made it a busy Saturday.  We had checked out a movie to watch from RedBox, but had to wait and watch it on Sunday instead.  It was a fun busy week!

Halloween and Fall Fun 2016

It's that time of year - costumes, decorating cookies, carving pumpkins, and trick-or-treating. 

From the beginning the girls asked to dress up as the Tooth Fairy.  I made their skirts early in the month -very grateful for that.  The boys had decided on Kylo Ren and Jedi, which was great - I bought Damon's and made a new tunic and boot covers for Tyler and Chris used our old ones.  Then one day the girls put on the R2D2 and Darth Vader costume and I thought: "We need to do a Star Wars theme this year!"  So for the trunk or treat we were a Star Wars family.  I was Rey and Doug was Han Solo.  I thought our costumes would be pretty easy to make, and they were simple enough, but they still ended up taking a lot of time.  But it was mostly because I was being picky and wanting to do a good job.  I made my belt, tunic wrap thing, sleeves, and staff.  I made Doug's vest, holster, and boot covers. They were fun to make but I wish I hadn't started so late.  The last week before the activity had lots of late night sewing.  

 

 

 

Here are our creative masterpieces this year.  It's fun now that they can do their own. 

 

 The girls painted their pumpkins and the boys carved.  Doug and I still have to help with the carving, but Tyler and Damon designed their own and Chris told me where to carve. 

Chris's is a Pokemon Jack-o-lance, Tyler's is a T-Rex, and Damon's is Kylo Ren

The girls had a fun party at Preschool and decorated soda pop pumpkins.  

Halloween day the girls were Tooth Fairies.

Here is our loot!  We only let them keep a bit and then we gave the rest away.  

It was a great night, short sleeves and sandals for me - I don't miss the cold trick-or-treating of Utah. :)  Happy Halloween everyone!

Exercise and Preschool Graduation

So Doug and I are starting to take a more active role in our physical activity.  We decided to try the P90X3 workout system.  We like that the workouts are only 30 minutes long, but it really gives you a good work out.  Then we usually run around the block.  So go ahead and ask us how we are doing so we can stay motivated :)  I actually have been taking a few personal classes with a fitness instructor.  She has a regular gym inside her home.  My friend and I have gone for 6 classes - this week will be my final time.  I have worked some muscles that probably have never really been used before and I can tell that I have gotten at least a little bit stronger.  Hopefully the P90X3 will just help me to continue to improve and get into better shape.

Doug and I think it is pretty silly that they do graduation pictures for the Kindergartners - but anyway, here is Chris's.  Wish our kids would learn how to smile on demand.

 I made biscuits for dinner the other day and Jenna spent a good 30-45 minutes playing with some leftover dough making cookies and baking them in her little play-doh oven.

Wednesday morning there was a tornado warning around 5:00 am.  So Doug and I woke the kids up and carried them down to our bedroom closet.  They were pretty good about it.  The girls perked up and were acting too happy and chipper for that early in the morning.  The boys just wanted to lie down and try to go back to sleep.  We took them back to their room about 5:20 when the worst of the storm was over.  The boys were able to go back to the sleep but I don't think the girls did.   The power stayed out from 5:00 am until 1:00 pm.  So that made our breakfast and lunch a bit different but we managed.  It really makes you realize how much we depend on electricity for everything.  My phone went down to about 18%.  They still had school even though the power was out.  Damon's school wasn't out for very long, but the elementary went most of the day without.  I had stayed up late the night before so I only got about 3 hours of sleep.  I was pretty tired and grumpy on Wednesday and went to bed earlier than normal.  

 Our roof leaked from our recent big storm last week and the roof people came out and replaced some shingles.  He found some nail holes and other damage.

 At pack meeting Tyler got his Nova 1, 2, 3, Go! award.  This was a special award that they started last summer that we finally finished.

 The girls had their last class of preschool on Thursday.  They are so cute when I drop them off.  They just say 'Bye mom, love you," and off they go.  I'm glad they are independent and enjoy being with their friends.

This is the first day of preschool in September (Kaylee, Jenna)

Last day of preschool at the end of April. (Jenna, Kaylee)

 I had my yearly eye appointment.  My contacts have been off so I was glad to get a new prescription.  I tried on some glasses to, but decided to wait to get some. It's hard to justify $500 on something that I only use a little bit at night.  

 Kaylee is good to take a nap when she has the chance to.  If I separate the girls at quiet time she usually falls asleep.  Jenna rarely sleeps anymore.

 It was a warm day yesterday even though it rained about 1 inch in the morning.  The girls enjoy the sprinkles on the tramp.

I spent a lot of nights this week getting ready for the girls' birthday.  I made them a play tent.  I wasn't going to, but then I changed me mind so I only had a week to get it done.  My friend watched the girls for a couple of hours on Monday and that helped a ton.  I was able to get the fabric all cut out.  I stayed up late Tuesday and Thursday evening and finished it Friday.  Doug helped me with the poles and I hope that the girls like it when they see it tomorrow.  They are pretty excited for their birthday.  We have been counting down all week.