Family Activity - Snow Day

Another one of my goals this year is to have a fun family activity every week. 

Last Saturday we were planning on going to the Home Depot Kids project.  When we were getting ready to go, the neighbors came over to build snowmen with Aiden and Taylor.  This was the first major snowstorm of the year.  It is crazy we had to wait until January to get any decent snow.

We decided that a Snow Day was a perfect activity.  The kids built a snowman, which is still partially standing.  They made snow angels and had a blast spending the entire afternoon outside playing.  It was the best activity. 

This weekend we are planning on going to the new Natural History Museum.  The kids really enjoyed the old one, so this should be fun.

Hair Cuts - Long Over Due

Yesterday I took all three kids in for haircuts.  Aiden and Taylor love it because they sit in toy cars, Aiden had a police car and Taylor sat in the pick princess car.  They watched Phineas and Ferb and barely even noticed someone was cutting their hair.  Austin did not like it so much as it is only his second haircut.

This hair cut was long overdue.  Aiden's hair was so long and shaggy.  They cut off probably 2-3 inches off.  He looks so much better.  Austin probably had 1-2 inches cut off as well.  Taylor saw the pink feather's that girls are putting in their hair now.  She had to have one!!  They did a really good job. It is hidden under some hair so it is not completely obvious, but still fun.

Austin had more fun on the play set they have inside their store.  This video is him going down the slide by himself for the first time.

Taylor's Violin Lesson

Taylor has been taking violin lessons for about four months.  She attends a group lesson with three other kids from her preschool.  We go to her preschool twice a week just for violin lessons.  They have been learning to read notes, hold the violin and bow as well as playing.  This is a video of her at her lesson earlier this week.  She is starting to play twinkle twinkle.  She is learning the Suzuki method, but with reading notes instead of all based on sound and memorization.

I am so proud of my sweet little girl.  We have been practicing at home every day as well.  She knows her notes really well.  She can play the open strings very well.  We are working on putting her fingers on the correct strings which is coming really fast. 

I played violin for years.  I started in 4th grade at my grade school.  I would walk to school with my violin to play with our school orchestra before school started.  I played in school all the way through 9th grade.  In high school I played with the Granite Youth Symphony but unfortunately stopped after that.  I can still play the basics, but I have lost a lot of the technical aspects of violin.  I am excited to be able to play again. 

My intent was not to start Taylor on the violin so young.  It just fell into our laps as her preschool teaches violin as a part of her preschool program.  This year we added on to have group lessons.  She enjoys playing, sometimes.  I hope she will love it and continue to play her whole life.

Family Home Evening

One of my goals for this year is to have family home evening every week.  Last year our attempt at fhe was having movie night as a family every week.  Now that the kids are getting older and Aiden will be baptized this year I would like to have a more traditional fhe. 

Last Monday we created a family time capsule.  We wrote letters to ourselves with goals we want to complete during the year.  We have family goals and individual goals.  All the letters were put into a box and wrapped like a present.  We had a lot of fun with this.

Yesterday we created our family home evening chart with everyone's names.  I had no idea fhe had so many parts.  I thought all we needed was a quick lesson, fun activity and a treat.  I want this to be fun and something we look forward to as a family, so if we miss some parts, oh well. 

 We made prayer charts.  This should help remind the kids we should say individual and family prayers every day.  The kids are having a lot of fun with this.  Next week will be interesting as we randomly chose who should be in charge of each part.  Taylor is in charge of the lesson and the treat.

 

 Monday nights are so busy.  Aiden and Taylor have French, Piano and Minimusic.  They do not get home until 7:00 pm, which is Austin's bedtime.  He missed last weeks FHE, but he decided to stay up late and join us this time.  He had a lot of fun throwing food across the table while we tried to talk. 

I love my family so much!

Austin learning to run

Austin has definitely taken his time learning to walk.  He enjoys being held and had no interest in exploring the world around him unless Mom, Dad or Jasmin was carrying him.  Of course we did not help by always taking him where ever he pointed. 

He has been walking for a couple of months now.  This video is probably the longest he has walked and he is now figuring out that he can run.  The next few weeks/months are going to be so much fun with him. 

Merry Christmas!  We had a wonderful time at Nana's.  The kids loved their Santa gifts.  Austin had to open the rest of his presents inside his Hot Wheels car.  Aiden took guitar lessons from Papa Boyd and Taylor plays with her new Barbie house everyday.  I think we could have stopped there and they would have been happy.

Our house is for sale... finally

We have been considering putting our house up for sale for the last several years.  Today we finally did it.  There is a sign in our yard and the house is ready, well almost.  We have a couple of finishing touches to complete before our first open house on Saturday.

I love the way our house looks, we got new carpet, granite counter tops and de-cluttered the house.  It is so relaxing walking into a perfectly clean house.  The challenging part is keeping the house clean with three kids.  We took most of the toys to storage to help keep everything clean.  I tend to be a perfectionist so I want to walk behind the kids and clean every fingerprint and straighten the blankets, but it is not practical.   

In the past we have sold houses very quickly.  I am hoping for the same results at this house.  We love our house and are so sad to leave.  However we have outgrown the space.  Thad and I moved in eight years ago, this was before kids.  We did not have enough furniture to fill the place.  Now we are bursting at the seams.

I am sure another family will love this house as much as we do.  Here is to hoping for a quick sale!