Children's Museum

Yesterday, we took the new light rail into Phoenix and checked out the Children's Museum Of Phoenix . The kids had a BLAST, both on the train and at the museum. The museum isn't quite like your typical museum, but it is perfect for younger children because it teaches them through numerous fun, hands-on, interactive things. I would highly recommend it if you have small children.


Sarah waiting for the train with Grandma


Sarah


Abby going through the car wash


Katie peeking through the noodle forest


Abby presenting the pizza she baked in the wood stove

Christmas in Phoenix (Part 1)

We're still in Phoenix, but here are a few pictures from our stay thus far. Most of my pictures are on my other camera that I can't upload to this computer, so I'll try to post more when we get home.


Aunt Chris and Katie


Abby and Sarah with my cousins, Laura and Amanda


The girls were all very excited to receive new baby dolls from Uncle Wayne and Aunt Barbara. Thanks!!!


Visiting the horses


Not too bad for a timer shot!

Merry Christmas! (just a little belated)

I had planned on setting up this video to publish on our blog on Christmas Day, but I came down with a cold on top of everything else I had to do to get ready for Christmas. So ... here I am posting it now. Hope you still enjoy it!

Ready for Christmas

Abby, Sarah, and Katie modeling their new Christmas pajamas

Our View

It has taken me over a week, but I finally got around to posting a picture taken after the 3rd storm. (We've gotten a couple more since this picture was taken.) This isn't what sold us on our house, but this beautiful view is certainly a nice perk!


View from upstairs

Snow Day

Round 2 of the snow storms gave Abby and Sarah their first snow day from school yesterday. In my teaching days I always looked forward to snow days because it meant I got to stay home and relax (more like catch up on grading and lesson plans) for the day. As a parent I now have a new perspective on snow days. It's a lot more work to have the kids at home than in school! Nonetheless, we went through the LONG process of getting everyone bundled up twice yesterday and once today to play in the snow. The kids LOVE it! We spent a total of 5 hours out there yesterday and 3 hours today. Another snow day is in the works for tomorrow, so stay tuned for pictures from round 3 of the snow storms.


Katie


Abby and Sarah


Making a snowman with a neighbor

Potty breaks aren't easy with so much gear on!

She's such a cutie!

Twins Group Christmas Party

On Monday, I hosted a Christmas party for our twins group. It got a bit chaotic at times, but we had a great time. The kids made a snowflake ornament, decorated cookies, and exchanged ornaments. We had 20 kids (16 girls and only 4 boys!) and 9 moms attend.

Snow!

Round 1 of the snow storms hit Saturday night/Sunday morning.


Sarah, Katie, and Abby

Decorating Goodies

Katie, Abby, and Sarah enjoyed decorating gingerbread houses with their friends. Of course, eating the candy was their favorite part!


While decorating cookies with family, licking the frosting was probably their favorite part.

Visiting Santa

Abby and Sarah visit with Santa at Kyle's work

The Things Kids Say

This one cracked me up. I am very thankful that Kyle tries to make it home for lunch most days to help out with the kids. Each day when he is leaving to go back to work he tells the kids, "Take good naps!" He knows that I need that quiet time in the afternoon. Well, when he left earlier this afternoon and reminded the kids to take a good nap, Abby's response was, "Make good money, Daddy!"

Decorating for Christmas

It has been a rather busy week for me with the Christmas season in full gear on top of our already hectic daily schedule. Sarah and Abby were very eager to decorate the house for Christmas, and Katie was right on their heels, excited to do whatever it was they were doing. I couldn't keep up with them. Here's how the week went.

We started by hanging stockings on Monday and putting up the tree later that night after the kids were asleep.


Sarah and Abby insisted on finding any ornament to hang on the tree the next morning.


Katie was all smiles and said, "Christmas tree," when Sarah showed her the tree.


The tree and stockings weren't enough to satisfy the kids, so Abby and Sarah got creative.


Sarah and Abby did a little "decorating" for Christmas on their own. They used scarves as garland and neatly placed them all over the living room, along with anything else they could find that was shiny, soft, or colorful.


Sarah and Abby then made "Santa" out of scarves, necklaces, and a bag for a beard.


At this point, I decided I had to find a way to get all of the REAL Christmas decorations out. So, the kids followed me upstairs and proceeded to take the decorations from me one at a time as I removed them from storage. They disappeard for a minute and quickly returned, anxious to see the next decoration they could take to various spots in the house. Here are some of the results.


Sarah's Christmas decorating (not where I would have chosen to put it, but it works...)


Abby and Katie's Christmas decorating


Wednesday night we decorated the tree. Well, we partially decorated the tree that is. Even with the step ladder the kids could only reach up so high. They all had fun and have enjoyed rearranging the ornaments the past few days.


Katie


Sarah and Katie


Abby, Katie, and Sarah

Kyle and I finally redecorated the tree late tonight, hanging all of the glass ornaments and moving other ornaments around and up on the tree. I'm sure it will all be rearranged for us tomorrow morning. :)

Our Thanksgiving Weekend

Feeding the horses


Playing Pictionary


Down the slide 20 times



Riding the train with family


Riding the carousel (Abby always picks one that isn't a horse.)


Swinging sisters


Riding the escalator at the mall (They also sat on Santa's lap, but we didn't get pictures taken.)