How are they getting so big?

I was going to bed the other night and just looked in on my kids to see them sleeping and so many thoughts started to go through my head, but the main one was- How did they get so big?  I feel like it was yesterday they were still both in their cribs and they were so little.  Now Piper is up to my shoulders and Christian is up to my chest.  Christian will be 8 in 2 weeks and it just doesn't seem possible that it has been 8 years.  I love seeing the people they are growing into, but sometimes I wish time would stop a little!

 Piper at 3 months

Piper at pumpkin patch this fall

 Christian at 5 months

Christian at pumpkin patch Fall 2012

Skating

I forgot that we went skating in February!  I wanted to do something different and found a place for skating and looked fun so after church one day we decided to try it.  We got there right when it opened and got our skates.  They have these great things for the kids to skate with to keep them up because we tried at first and it was so hard to keep them up.  Christian got really frustrated, but near the end he was a speed demon.  He probably couldn't do it with our the support, but Piper got really good.  Being cautious she didn't want to try without the support for every long.  The kids have asked a lot to go back so I think we will definitely be going back.

Snow Day!!

We have not had a real official snow day this year.  The storm was going to hit and we were expected to get about 12 inches.  We ended up with about 7 or 8 I would say, but anyway it works out that we got a snow day.  We got to sleep in!  We started off the day with cinnamon roll pancakes and were super easy and delicious.
You make your regular pancake mix.
You make a mixture of
4 Tbls. of melted butter
6 Tbls. of brown sugar
1/2 tsp. of cinnamon
put this mixture into a ziploc bag

Put the pancake mix on the griddle and when they are starting to bubble you pipe the brown sugar mixture in a swirl shape onto the pancake and when ready flip the pancake.  It makes little grooves like a cinnamon roll in the pancake and instead of syrup you top with a glaze.

Glaze is:
4 Tbls. butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 ounces of cream cheese
1/s tsp. of vanilla

It tastes like a cinnamon roll without all the waiting for rising!

So it was good thing to start off the day.  We watched Inspector Gadget 2 and had chicken noodle soup for lunch.  After lunch we made an Inspector Gadget outfit for Christian and Piper made a 3D snowflake-which is here http://classymommy.com/how-to-make-3d-snowflakes/

After lunch we decided to make snow ice cream.  Piper went and got some snow and we mixed it with some sweetened condensed milk and we had snow ice cream.  First time I had made it!

                                                After

                      Before

We then ventured outside!  We made 2 snowmen-mainly Piper made 2 snowmen.  Christian and I were having a snowball fight.  One of Christian's friends came over and they decided to make forts while Piper and I shoveled.  Piper did a lot of the shoveling so she earned some money.

Brian had suggested for me to get sleds and I couldn't find any the day before and we have a big credit on amazon so I ordered them and had them overnighted for only a few buck, but free with our credit.  So about 4:30 Brian got free from work and we went over to a local elementary school and went sledding for the first time and the kids had so much fun.  Piper got really good at steering, but Christian has his mom's skills and just baled out.

We ended our evening with warm baths and tacos!!  What a great day!

Harlem Globtrotters

Christian's cub scout troop is awesome and planned a special family night out to the Harlem Globetrotters   The cub scouts got a special rate too which made it even better.  We got to even go down on the floor at halftime to form a tunnel for the Globetrotters to run through.  It was fun seeing the kids just laugh and laugh especially Christian.  It also was kind of funny because with the 80 music and the colors at the University we were gold and green-I felt like I was in high school again.  We had such a fun time as a family!

Piper and Daddy date also Mommy and Christian date

Piper had a calendar from our old church in Texas and noticed that the Daddy/ Daughter dance was in February.  It was always one of her favorite nights of the year so she requested that her and Daddy go on a date!  They went out to Pei Wei, bookstore, and got cheesecake to bring it home.  They had a great time!

While they were out Mommy and Christian had a date at home.  We had chicken on the bone from KFC, watched I love Lucy (which Christian thinks is funny), made chocolate chip cookies, and just relaxed in one of our favorite places home!

 They thought buddy might like it since we were having an I Love Lucy marathon

Fun Tea Party

We have met some friends that have kids around the same ages as our kids and have started to trade off days so we can go on dates without having a pay a babysitter.  The girls decided to do an American Girl tea party so they got dressed up in Piper's dresses and dressed their American girl dolls and set up a little tea party in the dining room.  The boys were banished to the kitchen!

Crazy Hair Day at church

Our church, New Life Christian Church, has had theme Sundays in the KidsZone and they have been so much fun.  One week was crazy hair day and this is what we looked like!  Piper did all her bows in her hair and Christian we just spray painted.  Christian won the prize for the week!

 

This is as crazy as I got!

My first real home improvement project

I have not loved the builder grade cabinets in our bathrooms upstairs so I decided to paint them.  Brian was a little hesitant as always, but I was willing to do it all by myself.  So I started with the kids bathroom just to see how it would look.  I got a kit called Rustoleum cabinet restoration in espresso and it was great.  It has everything you need to prepare the cabinets and to paint them except brushes and I had those.  So we started off and it only took a few day and the results we amazing.  I forgot to take a picture with the cabinet doors on so you will have to imagine.  I smile everytime I go by their bathroom.  Brian has now agreed that I can do our bathroom!  I can't wait for those pictures!

Before

 After

Valentine's Day at school

I found out 2 days before Valentine's day that the kids were going to have parties at school and needed to bring Valentine's without candy.  To me Valentine's day is all about the candy so it was hard for me to think of what to do and my question is how did we live before the internet and Pintrest!  So I got these free printables for Star Wars ones and printed and punched holes and gave glow sticks.  Piper wanted to give crazy straw so I made a template that said, "Have a Strawesome Valentine's day!"  They turned out great!  Christian's party was a little crazy so no pictures and Piper's class just handed them out.  I was a little proud of myself!

Valentine's Day at home

This year I tried to make Valentine's day special.  The kids got up and we had heart shaped pancakes and bacon, which never happens on a school day.  They got a heart shaped brownie in their lunch and special note from daddy.  Then dinner was on the fancy plates and glasses and Piper even made place cards for everyone.  We had a fun strawberry and sprite drink, with french bread pizza, and strawberries.  I made chocolate cheesecake after a request from my Valentine and my daughter and homemade brownies for my son.  The kids want to have the drink all the time now!  It tastes like a Sonic Strawberry Limeade-we miss Sonic!

Christian's Pinewood derby

Christian joined boy scouts this year and has gotten to do a lot of fun activities.  He got to do a pinewood derby this year and it is amazing how into it some of these dads get.  One of the dads did a lot of research on how to make your car go really fast and win so the troop spent weeks leading up getting their cars ready.  So Christian's car got 2 in his age group-the dad with all the research was on the one that beat him and he go 7th over all, which is kids from 1st grade to 5th grade.

 We were up at 6:30 to get to his first basketball game so he was a little tired!