The Wook Turns 4

For The Wook's 4th Birthday, we threw a Rootin' Tootin" Hoedown!

The cowkids could barely contain themselves.  Picture taking was not the highlight of the party for them.

After everyone arrived, we headed out to the corral (driveway) for some cowboy training!

We played "There's A Snake In My Boot!"  The kiddos tossed rubber snakes into the boots and when one made it in we all yelled "There's A Snake In My Boot!".  

The rubber snakes pictured have given me the heebie-jeebies quite a few times since the party, when I find them randomly laying in the floor. My hubby has big plans for the rubber snakes to ward off birds from our blueberry bushes, this spring.  

Next, we took part in some Target Practice.  The kids got a big kick out of shooting down the plastic cups with water guns!

Then, we moved on to "Round Em Up!"  Our hulla hoop lasso came in handy for wranglin' that bull!

Finally, we got our boots dirty with the "Boot Pinata".  It was quickly cracked by the mighty swing of a 6 year old cowgirl. 

     
 

The cowkids enjoyed cupcakes and ice cream, sweet tea and lemonade, pigs in a blanket, and ranch dip and chips! 

 I just can't believe that my little cowboy is 4.  I am just amazed at the big boy he has become.  

The highlight of his birthday festivities was unmistakably opening this bike helmet from us.  I love it that he gets so excited over things like this.  He put it on and headed straight outside.  We watched curiously as he  laid down on the concrete and purposefully banged his head on the driveway.  His Daddy asked him what exactly he was doing, to which he replied, "Just making sure it works!".  He also wore it in the van the next day, and on my parent's golf cart.  I am sure I appeared to be one of those "Paranoid Parents".  Not me this time, just a boy excited about his protected head!

 Four or forty, he will always be my baby.

Christmas Catch Up Part I

Wow!  We have been super busy just enjoying all there is to do and see during this season!  I am loving the fact that Wook is old enough to understand that Christmas really is Jesus' birthday.  I am constantly reminding myself in the hustle and bustle of all there is to get in that all we are doing is to celebrate our Savior's birth.  The lights, the candy, the cooking, the wrapping, the opening, all of it celebrates Him!

We celebrated my hubby's birthday this month, too!  It is crazy to think that we have now known each other over half of our lives.  What a blessing it has been to see what God has done in our lives, what changes He has made in us. 

Our traditions are always kicked off with decorating the tree.  The past two years, we have given Wook his special ornaments to put on the bottom portion of the tree.  He uses the cluster deco technique, as seen here.  You won't see this in Southern Living y'all, he is just that fresh!

I have really enjoyed watching the boys play with their Little People Nativity Scene.

Did you know that Mary and Joseph had a farm truck????

Several nights, we have ventured out in our jammies to look at Christmas Lights.  We always stop in one large neighborhood nearby and watch the lights set to music on the radio.  We got the boys out of their seats and all danced in the front, this year.  I always make hot "choco-lick" as Wook calls it.  This year, there were even a few ooo's and ahhh's from Mr. Little's seat, facing backwards.

My hubby and I attended his work party.  I just love his company.  They are such a tight knit group and his department is very family oriented.  It is always so fun to see everyone...and this year I made a new friend.  She has older children and I will be begging her to have coffee with me so I can pick her brain!!!

Random,  my hubby always makes me take a pic before we go to the party, in front of our tree.  Well, this year we forgot so we had to take it afterwards (hence my tired eyes).   My hubby is a BIG fan of self pic taking....I think it takes him back to our college days!

Wook decorated cookies with his G-G, a Christmas tradition, and we enjoyed two cookie decorating sessions at friends' homes.

There was even a birthday party for Jesus...one of my favorites for the boys!
It has brought me such joy to watch them experience all this together!!!

M's first Christmas

L's first Christmas

Birthday Boy

So you don't see much of Mr. Littles on here.  I guess that comes with the territory of being the second child.  I constantly feel terrible that I constantly blogged about Wook the first few years of his life.  Oh, wait!  This post is about Mr. Littles.

We threw him a Circus/Carnival themed 1st birthday party!!!  We invited mostly family and a few of his "friends".

A friend of ours painted faces and I set up a Photo Booth.  I was shocked that the kids actually put on the clown wig, bow tie, and nose!  Cute cute cute!!!  We made Wook be our guinea pig, the night before!

I made his cakes, mostly because I felt guilty buying his cake when I put so much time into making Wook's first cake! 

I seriously stayed awake most of the night before the party worrying and praying that the four layer cake would make it without cracking!  I don't have much luck with layers over 2. 

He loved smearing the cake EVERYWHERE!

We ate corn dogs, nachos, and fruit on a stick!  One of my pals caught on to the food on a stick theme.  I will keep her. 

It was super fun and bittersweet.  We had a lot of friends and family there, who made it extra special!!!

Sometimes Things Just Happen

Last night, while I was reading M a bedtime story (the same one for the fourth night in a row)  his baby brother demolished his train track.  When I say demolished, I mean pulled the entire track off the table and sent it flying in a million pieces.
He is so very different from M, and different isn't necessarily negative.  He has just taught us some things.

M didn't eat things off the floor.  L has given me plenty of mouth sweeping practice.

M was told  "no touch" and he went about his baby business.  L considers this a show down, a laughing matter.
M liked to play with baby toys.  L likes to bang remotes, and picture frames, and anything else that will leave dents in furniture.  He appreciates the shabby, and not so chic. 

If there is something to get into, he has ripped it open and is probably in the box the trouble came in.

Back to my story,
M said "Mommy, I need to go help L put that track back."  He calmly walked over to his brother and began picking up the pieces.  I told him I was sorry it happened.  He gently said "Mommy, its ok, sometimes things just happen."  He looked at his brother and said "It is ok, L, I forgive you." 
I was just so touched by this.
I prayed with him and thanked God for calming his heart about it.  And we prayed that L would learn some self control, too. (hehe)
L gets into a lot of M's things.  M puts up with a lot.  He is learning to be tolerant of others.  I have decided to be sympathetic but not feel sorry for him.  He will learn a lot from having a brother. 
Usually, I hear a groan or a growl, the sweet little nickname we have for L, said in a very disapproving tone, or some other frustrated noise (that he has picked up from me).  This time, he was forgiving and genuine.
It was a clear reminder that I should be more like him in this moment.
I should be slow to become angry and quick to forgive.  Sometimes people sling our track into a slew of pieces.  Sometimes they aren't sorry they did it.  Sometimes things just happen.

But one day, Someone will return and set our track back perfectly, just the way it was supposed to be.  Built in a better formation than we could have ever imagined it ourselves.  All because we were forgiven, when we didn't deserve it.

Pp for Pumpkins

Wowsa!  What a fun two weeks learning all about pumpkins!

Our scripture memory for this unit was "Be patient with everyone!" 1 Thessalonians 5:14
This verse has come to mind quite a bit since completing this unit.  I have been convicted of my impatience while driving, waiting at the checkout, waiting for M to put his shoes on, by himself, while waiting on water to boil.  You name the situation, I have needed patience.

It has helped M too.  I have quoted it to him while he pesters asks me if his cheese waffle is ready EVERY MORNING, if we are "to the park yet?".... I could go on.

Well, back to pumpkins.  Again, I was terrible about taking pictures and I am WAY behind, so here are some of our favorites!


-Pumpkin Vine Measuring (from 2TeachingMommies)

Capital P Pumpkin

Pumpkin Life Cycle Paper Plate

We played a really fun game where we drew a card (covered with a certain number of dots) and M had to find the corresponding number on a pumpkin.  If he matched them correctly, he got to color that pumpkin.  I was really proud of how patient he was with this, and his one to one correspondence is really improving.

We carved our real pumpkins with Daddy and roasted the seeds!

A second game that M really enjoyed was this Roll a Jack-o-Lantern Game (from MakingLearningFun)

M has finally memorized the dice, which makes the game go faster.  I think I needed the patience scripture prior to him mastering this skill!

We made playdough pumpkins and read tons of pumpkin books, thanks to our local library!

Nn for Night

This week our scripture memory was "Apart from me, you can do nothing." John 15:5

We studied creatures of the night!!!  This was a craft filled week....partly because I needed some fall decorations around here, and partly because M loves anything requiring glue these days!

These owlets were made from toilet paper tubes after reading "Owl Babies"

We painted the tubes brown and pressed down the tops to form the points.  We glued on teardrop shaped wings cut from scrapbook paper, and added wiggly eyes and a beak.  I am amazed by all the craft ideas on the internet!!!!


We used our foot prints and a toilet paper tube to create a baby bat after reading "Stellaluna".


We completed a nocturnal and diurnal animal sort.  We did this each day until M could do it all on his own.

Several other owl crafts, like this Cheerio Owl (from SpellOutLoud) 
and Handprint Owl (from Making Learning Fun), were made. 

G-G also made these super cute Owl Cookies with M. 

They were very easy peasy!
Just lay a graham cracker on your plate.  Cut a large marshmallow in half, creating two circles.  Place them on the cracker.  Lay yellow candy melts on the marshmallows, and a chocolate chip on top of that.  Microwave for literally 5 seconds, just to make everything stick!  They were yummy!

We also made a web of things we do at night...watch fireworks, wear pj's, eat dinner, go to bed, brush teeth, and use a flashlight, were a few of the ideas we came up with.