mary, larry, barry

Julia got her first finger eye puppets at Peter Piper Pizza for Analisa's birthday.  She got another one at a school treasure box.  She enjoyed putting them on her fingers and talking with them.  She likes to go on photobooth and do videos with them.  She also has them on her fingers when she is getting on the bus and she says that the bus driver gets hypnotized when he sees them.  She even has them write notes.  She has named them Mary, Larry, Barry, Gary, Harry, and so on.

4-22-15  more at Isa's party again

Brayden - Leaving the Way He Came

It was a chilly November evening when Brayden was hassling us about not getting his way about something.  When he threatened to run away, Matt took a play from Uncle Joey's book and told him that would be fine, but if he was leaving the family he would have to leave the way he showed up - buck naked.  Brayden, smiling a little, said OK and stepped out onto the front porch.  It was dark out and the porch light was off, but we figured he would stand out there in the cold for a minute or two to make his point.  After several minutes without hearing from him, we looked out the front door to find his clothes in a pile, but no sign of Brayden.  It was cold out.  Matt was about to go out to looking for him when he came running back chuckling.  He had been hiding on the side of our house with only his underwear on.  

Face Shirts

A while back I bought a face shirt for Brayden at Children's Place and he really liked it.  Every season Children's Place comes out with new face shirts.  In 2012 and 2013 Brayden was on a kick of wanting to wear only face shirts.  He wanted one for every day of the week.  The red shirt is the one that started it all.

Blake in the past year has jumped on the face shirt wagon too. 

Someone gave Asher a monster face onesie and I decided to get him some face shirts because they are so cute.

These are some of the face shirts the boys have.

Blake Responsibility award

They have an assembly every few months to hand out awards to a student in each class that has characteristics of the value being highlighted.  Blake received the Responsibility Award in his First Grade Class.

This is the email I got from his teacher letting us know that he was going to receive this award:

Hi there!

I am excited to tell you that I have nominated Blake for the responsibility award!  He will be receiving his award at the character assembly next Friday, the 26th at 7:45 AM.  I hope that you will be able to attend and see him get his medal!  Please keep this a secret from Blake until the assembly - we like the students to be surprised when their name is called!

Thank you!

Courtney Kuhlmann

1st grade teacher

Charles L. Kuentz Elementary

Update:  Later in the school year on March 26th we found in the hallway all the totem poles for the awards for the year.

Lego Creations

Brayden likes to read the free Lego Club magazines that he and Blake get in the mail, and often wants to enter the Lego building contests that are advertized.  He usually ends up building something and then forgets to submit the entry.  (Or maybe his parents aren't good about remembering to help him).  Here are some of his latest creations.  

Kylee's birthday

Since it was Kylee's 14th birthday and she is now legal to go to church dances, Matt decided to make a disco ball and dancing cake.  

A few things about Kylee

Favorite books - Harry Potter, Maze Runner Series, and Aragon Series
Favorite color - Turquoise
Favorite Food - Chicken Rolls
Favorite Dessert - Brownies
Favorite TV show - Psych
What do you like to do in your free time? have friends come over, spending time w/cousins
What are your hobbies?  Drawing and Reading
What makes you happy? summer
Where would you like to visit? Italy and Hawaii
Who are your friends at school? Kathryn, Abby, Sofia, and Molly
church? Stephanie

She likes to be on pinterest and always finds beauty ideas she wants to try.  For one of her presents she got a free makeover at Sephora with $50 worth of makeup.  She is excited about it.

Yard Work

Apri 21

Matt had someone come and terrace our backyard, so it could be more functional.  They did a great job.

May 24

Matt had a truckload of mulch delivered at the top of our yard.  The kids helped with wheelbarrowing it down to the two sections that had been terraced.  They also did some planting on the sides.  The kids friend Quatro even helped.

June 14th

We all helped to clean up a rock bed that had overgrown with grass. It meant taking out all the rocks, getting rid of the grass, putting a landscaping cloth down, and filling the rocks back in.  It looked so much better afterwards.   Blake helped with dancing entertainment, and Julia pulled Asher around in the wagon, and Brayden dried to make rain angels when it started to sprinkle. 

August 22

Matt had a vision of making a wood walkway going down the hill. He started working on it at the end of the summer.  It looked great.