TLEB in Texas: February 2011

Monday, February 28, 2011

Visit With Katie and Nikki

One of mine and Jessica's best friends, Nikki, came to visit with her daughter, Katie, all the way from Minnesota for a weekend. We met Nikki when we were 1 year old and have been best friends ever since.

Elizabeth was in school for about half of the visit - so she missed out on a lot of the fun :( !

First the boys taught Katie all about the Wii - they had a great time - but none of them knew what they were doing so they pretty much stayed on the same screen and jumped up and down until the time ran out.

They spent tons of time jumping all over the couch cushions,

and we attempted to ride the train with the kids, but it was closed. We headed over to the park instead.

Isn't Katie such a cutie!?!

Our kids are all within 4 months of each other so it was fun watching them play together.

Our great big mountain climbers.

I thought this was such a sweet picture!

Later on in the evening the kids had a great time playing in the yard and sandbox.

The kids all hung out and watched a movie (and a couple of them fell asleep) while Nikki, Jessica and I all did some crafts downstairs.

We played at Jessica's house - the kids hung out in the closet playing with flashlights.

The kids also had a fantastic time playing in the bounce house in Jessica's backyard.

Jackson learned how to say "cheese" now!

We had such a great time with our friends! Thanks for coming to visit Nikki and Katie!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Valentines Day

Since Valentines Day was on a Monday we went over to my mom's house on Saturday for a Valentines lunch. Actually I had a baby shower to go to so my mom and dad babysat while I went to the shower.

I have such a difficult time getting a good smile out of this boy! :)

My friend, Laura, made their shirts again. I love them!

I tried to get a picture of all the "boys" together. Wasn't working too well!
The kids had a great time and I appreciated the time to go to the shower!

On Valentines Day Elizabeth's school had an award ceremony for the K classes and then we had our party that I was semi in-charge of. Here is Elizabeth accepting her awards from her teacher.

Ben and his friend, Nick, hung out in the back of the class during the party. Nick is Emma's little brother, and Emma is a girl in Elizabeth's class who lives down the street from us.

The first part of the party the kids made their own ice cream sundaes,

and passed out their Valentines.
The teacher didn't want the kids to open the cards at the party, so the kids just opened them at home.

After passing out their cards the kids were each given a half of a heart. They had to find their match, which gave them their partner.

Once the kids were in groups of 2 they had to work together to build the tallest conversation heart tower that they could. We didn't get very high!! I think the highest was 6 or something.

I think they all liked it, they were the quietest they had been the entire party!

That evening Tom got home from work and called the kids outside. Ben called me out and I was attacked by silly string!!!

What a romantic present from my husband! ;)

It sure was fun!!

Later we had our hearts desire dinner. The kids got to choose - cheese ravioli, garlic toast, strawberries, lemonade, and cookies. Yum! :)

Oh yeah - and Ben got a pickle and chicken fingers - his heart's desire.

We had a great V day!!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Ben and Cooper's Carnival Party

This year Jessica and I both wanted to have carnival parties for the boys, and since we have so many of the same friends we decided to combine the party. We had the party at my mom and dad's neighborhood rec room. We had major issues heading into the party. We had a big ice storm the week of the party, but luckily Jessica and I had most of the supplies all ready so we were ok for party day. We ended up postponing the party for a few hours to give the ice a chance to melt. It worked out well, the roads were perfect by party time!

We had quite a few carnival type games. At each game the kids had to pay a ticket to play the game and get a prize when they were finished.

The kids went fishing,

had to search for the correct duck in the duck pond,

and bounced ping pong balls into cups - they won a bag full of goldfish crackers when they got the ball in the cup.

They also knocked the cups over,

and made carnival picture frames.

When the kids entered they grabbed a goodie bag to put all their prizes in and a ticket box so they could pay for all their games and food.

The food table. It was funny because we had quite a few games and activities and I looked up about 25 minutes or so into the party and almost all the kids were done playing the games and were eating! I thought the games would last an hour or so! :) No one could pass up popcorn and cotton candy I guess! :)