100 Days Smarter!

Today was the 100th day of school this year! To celebrate they made 100 Days Smarter hats to wear!

Party @ Home

We celebrated Dalton's 6th birthday at home after school. Nana, Popo and Uncle Randy came over for some burgers, cake and presents.

My 2nd cake was an actual football! He was so excited to see it 1st thing that morning.

Party @ School

I had lunch with Dalton.

And then returned later for his special party at school.

His classmates sang Happy Birthday and then instead of blowing out candles he got to blow out 6 of his friends.

Eating cookie cake, his request, that I made for the 1st time.

The class enjoying birthday snack!

Happy 6th Birthday Dalton

God blessed our lives 6 years ago with more than we could have asked for! Happy Birthday to one special little guy! We hope you have a fantastic day!

Birth

1 Year Old

2 Years Old

3 Years Old

4 Years Old

5 Years Old

6 Years Old

 

Penguin Costume {DIY}

Once again we had another family school project...a penguin costume.  A couple weeks ago a note was sent home in Dalton's backpack explaining that we neeeded to make a penguin costume from a brown paper bag for the Kindergarten classes annual Penguin Program.

Our instructions:
1. Get a large paper grocery bag.
2. Paint it all black.
3. Paint the belly white.
4. Cut a hole for the head.
5. Cut two side flaps for flippers.
6. You may then embellish it any ways you want to match your childs role. *Dalton is a King Penguin*
7. Find props that will match your type of penguin.
8. And they must memorize the line below. Dalton's line "Mommy and Daddy penguins take turns taking care of the baby." How fitting! I just love it. It reinforces my belief that both parents should share parenting responsibilities equally.

Our second note re-emphazied that a King penguin needed a crown, scepter and cape.

We gathered our supplies and started the project.

I saved Dalton's crown from the knighting ceremony in September so we re-used his blue crown, but we jeweled it up a bit.

I took a brown paper bag and spray painted it black. I don't recommend spray painting in a garage, but when the wind blows for days outside you have to get a bit creative.

To make the sceptor we used a styrofoam ball, glued it to a wood rod and spray painted it gold.

Once the paper bag was dry we cut out the white belly from a legal size piece of paper.

I originally used spray glue to attach the two, but that did not work. I went back to my trusty stick glue and it worked like a charm.

My next challenge was cutting a hole for the head. It had to be big enough to get his head thru, but small enough to keep it from falling off his thin shoulders. I started in the center of the bag and continued to cut around in a square until it was large enough. For the arm holes I used the scissor to puncture a hole and then cut in a round direction upward on both sides to make flaps that resembled penguin flippers.

Dress rehearsal before going any further. It's important to make sure all the pieces are coming together as envisioned.

The sceptor was actually fairly easy. We took a simplistic approach and hot glued various size and colored jewels to the painted styrofoam ball.

The night before it was due we added a blue bow-tie at Dalton's request and embellished to give a tuxedo look. This is also the night Dalton and I had a difference in opinion. The only thing left was the cape. I was simply going to hot glue a piece of fabric to the back of the bag, but in Dalton's eyes that was not enough. His words, "Mom that's not a cape. Penguins don't have anything glued to them." Uh oh, I was in trouble now. I was not prepared to do anything different especially at the last minute and this was not a battle I wanted to pick. I simply wrote a note and said we would turn in his cape on Monday.
  

Saturday I got out my brand new sewing machine I got for Christmas. Dalton got to pick from my fabric supply and I made a cape 'the way he envisioned'. I just love that he has opinions already. Are boys really suppose to have an opinion when it comes to things like this?

The finished project from Saturday. A couple hour project in between watching two kids and having a two-year old helper for everything.

Dalton modeling his new cape.

Excuse the face paint. We went to a birthday party Saturday morning which had to stay on all day.

Getting Organized

We have been in our house two years now and it's finally time to get the closets organized. I have spent time sorting, cleaning out and organizing kids toys, games and clothes. I swear the toys keep multiplying. Enough is enough and my new years resolution was to get the house in order. Thanks to my wonderful husband for installing shelves in the game room closet I now have more storage and it keeps things neat. An added bonus, I gained more room in my hall closet for decoration storage. Today he started to put up shelving in Dalton's room to store all the LEGOS he got for Christmas.

Football

It may just be the season or maybe it's a real interest, but Dalton is obsessed with all things football! Finally something we share in common.

2012

Happy Friday! It's only taken me 13 days into the new year to finally say "Happy New Year"!! We had a very low key New Year's Eve 'family style' in the comfort of our home. Dalton enjoyed shooting fireworks with daddy while Mallory and I watched (she actually fell asleep in my arms watching). We managed to stay awake to watch the ball drop in Time's Square and then an hour later we watched the 3D lazer light show and fireworks off George R Brown Convention Center in Houston.

We are thankful for the slow pace lifestyle after the crazy fall/holiday we just came out of. Dalton has started his final semester of Kindergarten, will celebrate his 6th Birthday at the end of January and will begin his 2nd year of t-ball this Spring. Ryan and I are making plans to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary in March. Mallory will begin St. Paul's Christian Day School in June. We plan to take another family vacation back to the beach in Florida this summer and are looking forward to a Disney trip in December.

2012 is a year of opportunity and we intend to make the most of it. We wish everyone a Blessed New Year. Yesterday is past, today is here, but tomorrow is not promised. Make the most of what you have and cherish every moment. We may not be able to stop time, but we can choose what to do with our time. This year we are choosing 'FAMILY' what will you choose?   

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning the kids were awake early. We had two visitors in our bed and we tried to lounge around for awhile, but the kids were so excited to see if Santa came we could not keep them contained in our room long.

Santa brought Mallory her very own pink kitchen. (Pink is very important to this little girl right now.)

Dalton got a 3DS from Santa and two games.

Of course the milk and cookies were completely gone and only a few crumbs were left on the plate.

Not only did the kids have gifts from Santa, but "Chris" (their very own Elf on the Shelf) left the kids a note and two gifts so that they can remember him throughout the year.

Daddy reading the note from "Chris".

Dalton's gift from "Chris"!

Mallory's gift from "Chris".

We even had Christmas pancakes!