Get Moving Night

Last night, Aunt Valerie was kind enough to take Christopher to his 'Get Moving Night' at his school. We were having some friends from Church over, and Christopher didn't want to miss it so he asked Aunt Val if she could take him. We went last year, and it was a lot of fun! CLICK HERE to see last year's 'Get Moving Night'.

Basically it's a night of 'specials'. First you register and you and your family are assigned a group. Then your group rotates through three different 'specials': gym, art, and music. It's always a fun time!

In Art, Christopher and Aunt Valerie made and decorated Paper Airplanes. Then they got a chance to fly them! Super fun! :)

He's drawing a Whale on his airplane, of course!

In Music, he had the opportunity to play the drums. Aunt Valerie said he's a pretty sweet drummer!

In Gym, he and Aunt Valerie bowled! Good thing he practiced last week during school vacation! :)

It looks like a fun evening! Thanks Aunt Valerie for taking him and dragging my camera along! the pictures came out awesome! You are the best! We'll definately miss you when you go off to law school next year. What ever will we do without you... ;)

Wordless Wednesday

Anneli's Obsession....

"I want a real live Kitty."

Anneli petting 'Chino', Grandpa & Nancy's cat.

Here is Anneli's reasoning about getting a 'real live kitty':

"I want a soft, white kitten. (Shaun always says, "you have white kitty".) I want a 'real live kitty' 'cuz it's really soft and it's so really cute. It's also cuddly. Please can I have a kitty with white fur?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poor Anneli. All she talks about is getting a 'real live kitty'. She talks about it CONSTANTLY. Everyday, from the moment she gets up to the moment she goes to bed she talks about getting a real live kitty. If the decision was up to me, and I'm not a big cat fan, I'd probably just let her get one. However, Shaun is the one who doesn't seem too keen on having animals--other than our goldfish, Thunder & Lightning. What kind of childhood pet is a fish!? The kids need something they can pet, cuddle with and take care of. Heck, when I was growing up, I had a dog, a cat, 2 birds, guinea pigs, a pony, cows. Did you have pets growing up? What kind of pets did you have?

What a Week It Has Been!

It's with mixed emotions that I sent Christopher off to school this morning. I like spending time with the kids during school vacations, but then I'm glad to see them go off to school, giving me a few minutes to relax! School Vacation weeks are ALWAYS so crazy around here.

On Thursday (2/19) my mother, Christopher, Anneli and I treked down to Mystic to explore Mystic Aquarium. (A family favorite place to go!) We hadn't seen the white sided dolphins that are visiting from Shedds Aquarium in Chicago yet so we had to go check them out! My Christopher is obsessed with whales, dolphins and any other creature that lives in the ocean so whenever he gets a chance to go to an aquarium he jumps at it! We all had a blast and can't wait to visit again! Take note, that each kid has a notebook and are taking notes as they go from exhibit to exhibit!! My little geeks! :)

On our way home we stopped off at Lenny and Joes Fish Tale for more seafood--remember, we ate there with Valerie for her Birthday on the 10th! Yummy!

On the way home I started to get a massive headache, so we skipped the Outlets and just went home. Everyone knew I must be feeling pretty ikky because I would NEVER skip shopping! I came home and stayed on the couch or in bed until Saturday!

On Friday afternon, my mom came and picked up the kids. Thanks mom for rescuing the kids from doing crafts all day! They had a great day! They went to McDonald's in Southington where they have the Playland for the kids to climb in. Then they went to Anneli's favorite store, "The New Target" in Southington. Later that evening my parents took them to Christopher's favorite ice cream store, Pralines, before dropping them off at home--just in time for bedtime! Thanks again Mom and Dad you guys are the best!

This weekend, we pretty much just hung out together. I was still a little dizzy, so I was trying to take it easy.

There was Cub Scout NASACAR NIGHT though. What is Nascar Night, you ask? Each Den has worked hard this past month designing and creating a 'Cardboard Nascar Car' to race. So Nascar Night is the night where each Den races their 'Cardboard Race Cars' around the gym. Pepe came to watch Christopher and his friends race around the gym! Way to go guys! Thanks for coming Pepe!

This Sunday was a special day at church. We had the opportunity to enjoy a special visit from the President of the Church, President Thomas S. Monson and his wife, Sister Monson from Salt Lake City, UT. {CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS.} He was here for his great-granddaughter's baptism, who is in our ward, and spoke to us in our Sacrament Meeting. We've had the opportunity to see him speak a few times now (or give him high fives) since being in this ward. How awesome it is to have our dear Prophet visit and listen to his voice in person in our own very chapel.

As President Monson was leaving, he shook hands with a few members of the Congregation. He asked Christopher and Anneli for a high five. Christopher thought that was cool, because I would never have let him give someone a high five in the chapel--but since it was the President of the Church, I guess it's okay!!

What a great way to end a busy week!

Wordless Wednesday

STRIKE!

This week Christopher is on school vacation, but Anneli still has school! I was kind of excited about that because it would give Christopher and I some alone time--even if it's only two days a week for a few hours!!

Today I promised Christopher that we'd do something special together, just the two of us. We dropped Anneli off at school and off we went to go Bowling! He didn't really want to go, but I wanted to go, so we went anyway! I think he felt bad going without Anneli--what a sweet brother! Once we got there and started bowling, he was happy! We had a blast!!

We bowled two games. He did a super job. I didn't do too bad either! Super fun!

I bowled first (without bumpers!) and then Christopher bowled second!

After we finished bowling, we played a game of air hockey. Then it was off to Wendy's for a Vanilla Frosty and time to pick up Anneli from school.

Where, Oh Where, Have We Been!?!?

I want to apologize for totally slacking on our blog! It's not that we don't have anything to post. Quite the opposite! We have TONS of things to post. It seems that we have been running and running for weeks! I've been wanting to post and upload some of our pictures in between our running, but our computer has been driving me crazy!!! Our Zone Alarm Anti-Virus Software has been making my computer sluggish allowing certain websites every once in awhile! Finally this weekend we fixed it. Something to do with updates, blah, blah, blah... All that matters, is that we are back up and running as usual! Horray!!

What have we been up to? Let's see...we have a lot to cover!

Here are some of the highlights!

Valentine's Playgroup

Thursday, February 5th

We had our monthly playgroup with our church friends. It had a Valentine Theme where we made some Valentine's for those we loved. Like our Dad's and our Bishopric. Super fun!

Trip to Upstate NY

Saturday, February 7th

Today Pepe and Aunt Valerie picked us up bright and early and off on an adventure we went! We headed up to Aunt Donna & Uncle Jim's 'tree house' in Root, NY. Where Christopher and Anneli got to sit on their big blue tractor. They thought that was pretty cool!

Then it was off to visit Soup Mem and Ray at their house. There the kids enjoyed 'Soup Mem Soup!' (Click here if you want to know the story about 'Soup Mem Soup'.)They were so excited! thanks Soup Mem!!! :)

We even celebrated Soup Mem, Aunt Val and Uncle Jim's birthdays!

Happy Birthday everyone!
After enjoying the yummy soup and birthday cake, the kids were pretty excited to go outsdie and visit Uncle David's animals. Horses, Cows, Goats and Chickens! Super fun for my kids from the city!

Check it out! Christopher in the chicken coop!! He wasn't even afraid!

What a fun day visiting with family! We hope to see you all again very soon! :)

Happy Birthday Aunt Valerie!!

Tuesday, February 10th
We woke up early this morning and headed over to Aunt Valerie's house to surprise her with cupcakes we made her for her BIRTHDAY! Happy Birthday Aunt Valerie!!

Aunt Valerie wanted to do something special for her Birthday, so we (Anneli, Val & I) piled in the car and off we went to Clinton Crossing Premium Outlets, Hammonasset Beach State Park, and Lenny & Joes Fish Tale for lunch! What a super fun morning! Thanks for inviting us Aunt Val! I took a bunch of great photos. Here is one of my favorites--CLICK HERE.

Then we rushed Anneli off to school, where I volunteered to help with a snowflake popsicle stick craft with the preschoolers! Fun, fun, fun!

100th Day of School!!

Thursday, February 12th

Today was the 100th Day of School at Christopher's school! The First Graders had a Big Celebration!

It started out with their homework for the week, which was a 100 Day Project. Here is Christopher's. He used 100 Assorted Sea Animals--of course! Great Job Christopher!!

The First Graders also had a 100 Cupcake Celebration for their 100th Day of School.

This is what 100 cupcakes looks like!

Each first grade class, there are five of them, asked a parent to make 20 cupcakes--so there would be 100 Cupcakes! Christopher and I made some egg free 100 Day Cupcakes for the Celebration.

This is what our 100 Day Cupcakes looked like! Great Job helping Christopher!

Christopher with his cupcake! Even Anneli joined in on the celebration!

Check out her festive cupcake dress, she picked out to wear to the '100 cupcake party'!

They also had 100 Day Activities where the students visited each of the first grade teachers classrooms and did a different activity there. Anneli and I were taking Yearbook pictures so we got to see what the kids were up to. They made 100 Day Cheerio Necklaces, they learned about the 100 Dollar Bill and created with own 100 Dollar Bill, they discussed what they would buy if they had $100 to spend, and other super fun activities.

This is how Anneli travels while I am busy volunteering at the school taking pictures!

Christopher (in the red) raising his hand to answer a question during a 100 Day Activity.

After volunteering at the Elementary school, it was off to lunch with Anneli and then to volunteer another day at Anneli's preschool painting our popsicle stick snowflakes!


What a week! :)