So Much Pokemon

Pokemon is relentless, just when I think we've out grow it, it comes back again.  This is a book that Mimi and Yoda were looking through and Mimi thought this was the best Pokemon ever.  (Sorry to those that I already shared this with)

"Lick -y-tongue"

We got a good laugh out of it!  

Splat

Our family office needed a major clear-out, I'll blog about that soon, but one night while it was still a major mess I had a meeting at my house.  I ran around like a mad woman cleaning as much as I could to make the house look presentable.  Then I realized that I had a few minutes left, so I decided to stack the fruit in my new hanging wire and chain fruit basket... then SPLAT!  

The chain broke and the lemons, tomatoes, dates, oranges and clementines were EVERYWHERE!  Even the fresh flowers were now a mess on the floor.

I turned around in a panic, stepped on and squashed the clementine on the far right.  oh, boy! 

One more from Dayton

Mimi loves little Lego sets and Space, so she got herself a little-space-guy-Lego set from the gift shop in Dayton :)

Trip to Dayton

For 3rd grade, the students pick and learn about an influential person.  They do tons of research, find a costume and present everything at their "Wax Museum".  Yoda picked Orville Wright, and he talks about him almost everyday.

So for Spring Break it seemed like a great idea to visit Dayton and see all the sights that are preserved there about the Wright bothers and airplanes as well.

 Yoda learning about all the different directions a plane can go.

 Memphis Bell

 Greg thought it was so cute how Yoda brought along his camera to take his own photos.

 Stealthy...

 Running away from a bomb!

 At the Wright's bicycle shop.

Screen time

We try to keep screen-time at home at a minimum since the kiddos seem to get plenty at school.  But Parker asked so coyly if he could watch a 30 minute long commercial for Nintendo on a Tuesday, I couldn't say no.  He was even chatting with friends while watching it all together. 

And one day I was watching my sister's blog with videos of her adorable and clever son, and thought I ought to include the kiddos.  Couldn't keep it to myself! 

Thirteen for Mimi!

Mimi turned 13!  It happened, now we have 2 teenagers in the house.  We joke that they are so sullen, but really they are quite cheerful.  Mimi loves making people cringe by telling bad jokes and puns.  She is now taller than her mom.  She is currently in rehearsals for her second play-this time she's Dexter in Singing in the Rain. She builds and rebuilds Lego sets by memory in her room while listening to books on CD.  She's a unique and fun person!

Overheard at her birthday party, "Why is it that boys are so nice in books, but not nice in person?"
Me to myself, "that girl cracked the code so young!"

Glasses

While reading together as a family I realized we all had glasses on!

Greg- wearing his glasses, like he almost always does.
Me- sporting my first new pair of glasses since Mimi was born.
Yoda and Mimi- wearing their reading glasses to help delay eye fatigue.

And Parker.... wearing broken 3D glasses that apparently he wears, like all day long at school.  hmmm....

President's Day

How we spent our day, fixing the dryer--it works now!!

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Greg gave me a hug, it was cold and I kinda didn't want to let go cause he's warm.  Yoda came over to try and squeeze between us.  Then he ran around and then came back, "Uh, you're still hugging?"

Cold Days and Warm Rice

We've had a bunch of cold weather, and I'm ok with that, as long as we can stay inside and catch up on chores and homework.  

I have one of those warm rice bags from ages ago and I thought the kiddos would enjoy having one of their own, so on the 3rd day off from school, we got to work!

 The finished products

 filling the bags

 choosing and cutting the fabric

 Yoda using it to warm him them while coding

Mimi liked it so much she taught her girl scout troop how to make them! 

Mimi's jokes

During a discussion about college degrees, Mimi's teacher said, "oh, yeah I have degrees and degrees..."
Mimi, "well are they Fahrenheit or Celsius?"
Mimi's teacher *laughed big time*
Mimi's teacher then told this to the whole teacher's lounge and in the parent/teacher conference.

Reading

Reading doesn't come easily to our Yoda or Mimi.  It's a struggle and they work hard at it.  Because it's a struggle I love to see moments where they take time to read anything. This night we had to pick up Mimi from play practice (I'll post more about that soon) and Yoda decided on his own to bring a book along!  So sweet :)

One more Christmas photo