Happy Leap Day!

An extra day that only occurs every 4 years.

On this day we are...

Loving life.  

Loving every bit of every day.  

Even the business that occurs...because that is life at this moment!  

Yesterday and today Holly, Judy and I had morning subs so we could sort through and organize the piles of paperwork, notes, copies, samples, etc. from all of our writing training and teaching.  We needed another day! However, we accomplished a lot and filled up a huge recycle bin in the process!  We all have notebooks that are organized and labeled.  Hopefully this will help us as we plan and think through and create our lessons in future.  

Cannon is just one big ball of energy!  He enjoys coming to school with me in the morning and loves talking and sharing with others.  He had a great day at school but all I got out of him today was that he was good; they didn't go to recess and he had some teacher time with Ms. Teresa where he did some rhyming with pictures and counting.  He did mention that he counted "way high."  

Colson and Cannon come to my room after school Wednesday and Thursdays.  Colson spent this afternoon pulling out my marking pens from the bin.  That kept him busy for quite some time!  He is sure "talking" a lot more and he loves to look at books in the car on the way home.  

Tonight we all watched a little bit of American Idol which was recorded from last night.  Cannon loves to turn up the volume and Colson loves to dance to the songs.  We had a lot of fun listening, laughing, dancing and being together.  

Colson was full of energy tonight and into everything.  He was tired but didn't want to go to sleep. Cannon enjoyed listening to three books (two read by daddy and one by me), reading the next page in his bible book and hearing me sing some songs.  He was tired and went to bed easily.  

Enjoying every moment!

Photostrips

I've only got to spend a little bit of time playing around with the Photobooth app on my phone.  I'm excited to see how they print out and hopefully I will be able to use them on some scrapbooking layouts.  They don't look too "amazing" here. I'll have to keep playing.  Just need the time to do that!

Here are two photostrips from this weekend.  Cannon had a coupon for a free kids meal from Sonic for participating in dental day at school.  He ate every bit of his meal!  Hungry (and growing) boy!

You can see Cannon's cut under his nose.  I'll post more pictures of that later this week and tell the full story!  Stay tuned.

Enjoying every moment.

Things we did today:

Made breakfast together (french toast)

Laundry!

Visited with the neighbors

Played the hot/cold game

Visited with Granny Joy

Waited for the Daytona 500 to start…it rained out.

Places we went today:

Sonic to use Cannon’s free

I went to church

Chris went to work for a couple of hours

Chris and I went out to eat at Applebee’s

Chris and I went to the mall

Books I read to the boys today:

Go Dog. Go.

A Cars Christmas

If You Give a Moose a Muffin

Books Chris read to Cannon tonight:

Footprints in the Snow

Rabbits and  Raindrops

Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash

Songs I sang today:

Twinkle, Twinkle

You Are My Sunshine

ABC Song

Kookaburra

I Love You a Little

Things I heard from Cannon:

(He was on a roll today!)

"Just slow it down there, big guy."

"You're a piece of work." - he heard that from me.

To daddy:  "You need to go fart in your face.  

                  But how are you going to get your butt up to your face?"

"You go take a shower and wash that attitude off."  

An up close picture of Colson.  You can see the smile
in his eyes!

Enjoying every moment. 

Camera Apps

Oh. My. Goodness.

I am in love with these new camera apps that I downloaded.  I love Retro Camera  and I am just exploring with Photobooth.  Here are some pictures from the Retro app.  The pictures are that great. I just started snapping away.  Some are blurry. But I love the different looks!

Enjoying every moment!

Five on Friday

1. Happy day; Happy boys 
Today both boys had great days.
Cannon was running...literally...all over school this morning visiting everyone.  I had to remind him not to interrupt people who may be working!  He said he had a good day at school and always comes back to class after his school is out with a smile on his face.  He had fun at Jacie's playing, as always.  Tonight he played a little with his trucks, a little with his scooter, a little with Colson, a little with daddy and mommy, read a little, drew a little, and took a long bath.  He went to bed happy!
Colson was happy this morning when I dropped him off and happy when I picked him up!  The boys go to Jacie's only 1 or 2 days a week so it's taken time for Colson to get used to her house and the routine there.  He napped well, ate great and played well!  Tonight, he got into all of Cannon's trucks, wandered all over the living room getting into everything and "talking" as he went, took a long bath where he splashed and got things wet and then went to bed a happy, sleepy boy!

2.  Mini pizzas  
Tonight we had make-your-own mini pizzas.  Each of us (except Colson!)  put our own ingredients on our pizzas and enjoyed dinner sitting on the couch, which has maybe happened only one or two other times in the last few years!  Colson didn't get to make his own pizza but he ate many of the same ingredients.

3.  NASCAR is back.
This weekend is the first race of the season at Daytona.  Tonight the truck race was on which we watched.  Our weekends will now somewhat revolve around the day and time of the NASCAR race.  Thank goodness for TiVo!

4.  Package from Auntie
Cannon received a package from Auntie today.  There were a few things in it for me, but Cannon got some new, fun, "bendy" toys and two new CARS card games.  Chris and Cannon played on of the games tonight! I'm looking forward to my turn to play!

5.  Cameraman 
Cannon likes to take pictures more than he likes his photo taken!  He's quickly figured out how to use the camera on my phone as well as apply effects to the photos!  When I was going through pictures tonight, I found a few funny ones that Cannon took!  He found the 'dots' effect!

So happy it's Friday.  We are looking forward to the weekend...

Enjoying every moment.

Dental Day

Today was Dental Day at school.  Students were offered a free visual exam, a simple cleaning and a few oral health tips.  The kids were very excited, including Cannon!  He said he got to "sit in the chair that leans back, like a sun chair."  The highlight was receiving a baggie full of goodies, including a "tooth" necklace where he can put a tooth for the tooth fairy.  (Now I just have to keep that necklace in a safe spot!)

I love how events that may seem small or meaningless to us are huge and meaningful to kids!  I am continually reminded of the joy life brings by watching and listening to my kids!  What great lessons I learn from them!

Enjoying every moment.

Ahhhh, Childhood

Being a kid is what it's all about!

Tonight, Cannon and I made cookies for a charity bake sale at school.  I actually made the batch for the bake sale.  Cannon rolled out his own cookies, 'smashed' them with a fork and baked them and took them off the pan.  He is becoming quite a baker!

Doing laundry in the buff....Maybe Colson is starting a new trend?  Maybe he just won't sit still long enough for me to put on a diaper and pajamas!

Playing with trucks and trailers is the best.  This is the new truck and trailer that Auntie Karin got for Cannon. Lately, he has been playing with them by the stairs.  Not sure why, but we do a lot of sitting on the steps.

I just thought this picture of Colson was funny.  His eyebrows always tell a story.  I think he's saying, "WTH?"

Isn't life grand when you are 4 and 11 months!
I love that Cannon and Colson can celebrate the joy of being a kid.
I love that I am able to see this joy, embrace it and capture it.
I take nothing for granted when it comes to my boys!

Enjoying every moment!

February Photoshoot

Here are a few photos from our most recent photoshoot.  This was scheduled to mainly get some photos of Colson for his 11th month picture and hoped for a few others that were good.  There were a lot that we loved! Thank you to WRHS Junior, Emma, for taking these photos!  She is talented.

Love them all!
Enjoying every moment.

Quick Trip East

Spokane.
We arrived.
We had so much fun.
But we had to go....Cannon cried twice.
He didn't want to leave!

I wish we would have had another day or two to hang out.  But we had a great time at Karin's house.  We relaxed, watched sports, shopped, visited with Auntie Kanga, ate a lot, had lunch with the cousins, played in the snow and shopped some more.

Colson loved checking out Auntie's house and of course, he found the remote at her house, too!  We had to keep him out of the cat food and the dogs water, but he did great hanging out in a new setting.

Cannon was in heaven at Auntie's house.  He'd been waiting to visit for a long time and did not want to leave.  But he loved seeing the cats and dogs.  He liked playing with the new dog, which we finally named Ruckus.  Cannon just loves being with family, especially Auntie Karin.  He loves being at her house.  He loves playing with the animals.  I'm so glad that Cannon enjoys those little things!

We're looking forward to Karin's visit in mid-March!

Blurry...but the elevator was a hit
after lunch. The kids went up and
down it too many times to count. 

Funny smiles!

Playing in the snow out back!

Enjoying every moment!

Preschool Field Trip

Today I attended my first field trip as a parent!  So much fun and a lot less stressful!

Cannon's preschool class visited the Children's Museum in Tacoma.  It just re-opened in a brand new building and it is amazing.  There was so much to see and do.  The opportunities for exploration were endless.  Cannon loved the water section and enjoyed seeing how things worked.  He also liked to go down the slide and climb on the big boat/plane creation, which is where he spent most of his time.  Cannon met up with his friend from class, Maddie and they played together a lot of the time.  They were cute to watch!

An exciting addition to the museum trip was the train ride on the light rail.  We all met at the Tacoma Dome Station and took the short train ride through downtown Tacoma.  That was a huge hit with the kids.  Cannon loved it, of course!

We will definitely be going back to the museum and taking the train.  This was a great field trip!

Cannon and I hung out together for the rest of the day, stopping at the mall to have lunch.  Cannon brought two quarters to spend and got a handful of candy (!) and two bouncy balls.  He played on the toys in a couple of different areas and smiled the whole time.  We also shopped through Target and found Cannon a new pair of shoes and a few new shirts. He seems to be growing out of his old ones quickly!

What a great day!  What great memories!

Enjoying every moment!

Yet Another Month Older

Hello 11 Month Old, Colson!

Hello happy boy!
Hello spiky hair.
Hello good eater.
Hello two (still) teeth.
Hello adventurer.
Hello observer.
Hello sweet boy.
Hello little brother.
Hello "talker."
Hello energy.
Hello little lover.
Hello silly boy.
Hello joy!

Happy 11 Month Birthday, Colson!

Enjoying every moment!

Happy LOVE Day!

The first graders at school are learning a great song for this time of year and I have picked it up to sing to the boys:

I love you a little,
I love you LOTS.
My love for you will fill 10 pots,
15 buckets, 16 pans, 4 teacups and 3 dishpans!

I love it!

Quick picture before school started.

Today was a great Valentine's Day.  For kids, it's one of the most exciting days of the year.  Cannon kept asking when it was time to go to school!  He had Valentine's to hand out to each of his friends at school and he received some nice treats, too!  In my class, the kids couldn't wait until they got to open their Valentine's.  The one rule was that you had to read each card and say thank you to whoever gave it to you.  The "thank you's" were abundant in the room!

Kid valentines.

I read this book to the class.
Hilarious!

I had a surprise visit from Chris at school who came with a dozen roses!  What a special treat and even better since it was a total surprise!  We also got to run out to visit Cannon together.  Cannon was shocked to see Chris.

Tonight, we had ate the heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's and had red velvet cupcakes for dessert.  Even Colson had a crust of pizza and A LOT of a cupcake!  He cried when I took the rest away.

A little red velvet cupcake...

Chris read Cannon a new Valentine's Day book before bed.  

Enjoying every moment!