Trimming the Tree Part IV

Here are the pics of the tree being decorated, I think the tree and the decorations turned out cute.

Actual Christmas pics might be a while unless I find time to post while I'm in Utah. I'm looking forward to some time with family and hoping that the train ride goes smoothly.

 

 

 

 

Trimming the Tree Part III

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Trimming the Tree II

I forgot to add what the tree looked like once we put the chain on it. It's not nearly long enough and I had intentions of making a longer one but the kids liked it this way and I decided it was fine. Decorating the tree has been a slow process. Sariah did say that she wants to do this again next year. I only spent like $12 on supplies at Joann's rather than spending that much per new ornament this year as well.

The next thing we did was paint popsicle sticks to make snowmen and Christmas trees. Some of you know we spent $50 on our dining table at an estate sale and I refinished it. It needs some touchup now but nonetheless we covered it in butcher paper to avoid getting paint all over it. Unfortunately JD doesn't have any paint appropriate clothes, so we ruined a sweater that day. He doesn't care though.

The Kids love to paint and I don't let them do it very often because I don't like the mess. I think this might have been one of their favorite parts, even if they did want more colors. JD had more fun painting the table than the popsicle sticks.

Trimming the tree, Part I

Mom came up with the idea to let the kids make the decorations for the tree this year since I was complaining that they break my ornaments and I never like how the tree looks. I have visions of a perfectly decorated tree. Since our tree is always somewhat crooked and always manages to have bare spots, that never happens. Also, the kids help put the ornaments on the tree and they don't quite have the eye for it yet. We decided to start with a paper chain to put around the tree.

I thought it would be fun to start with the strips of paper and let the kids decorate them with stickers and crayons. Sariah decided to write a song on hers.

Becca decided to use 3 or 4 squares of stickers on one strip of paper.

JD needed help. I think it ended up being fun for them. I did get him to color a bit and put a few stickers on some. Even with putting plain papers between the decorated ones, it wasn't big enough to fit around the tree but it was still cute.

Tree Hunting

Last weekend we went with Jeremy's family to pick out our Christmas Tree. Jeni and Josh and their families were missed but I'm sure they had a nice weekend too. Brian let Tyler come, which was nice for the girls. I think they really enjoyed hanging out with him over the weekend. Although, I do think I'm going to need to have a chat with him about my girls and Santa Claus because as of last night, he's not real and Tyler's name was mentioned as a non-believer. Oh well, it was bound to happen one day. Sariah said she still likes to pretend but she was pretty upset when Becca went around the house saying " Santa isn't real"

The girls picked out the tree, I wasn't really worried about what it looked like this year. It seems like every year I look and look for a really good tree and when we get it home it still has bald spots. So, I figured, why worry about it and let the kids have fun.

It's crazy how all the little kids aren't so little anymore. It seems like just last year they were all just babies.
I wanted a cute picture of the three kids together. The big sticks they are holding are supposed to be guns. I don't know what they thought they were shooting. Tyler sure was funny though. I think he called his a bazooka.
Here is the group pic, minus Taylor because he took the picture and we didn't figure out how to use the time until afterward. Apparently all you have to do is hit a button on the side of the camera. Duh! Oh well, we know now for later. Serves me right for buying an expensive camera and not bothering to learn how to use it.
Here is our lovely tree. It looks pretty full here, we'll see how it looks once it gets in the house.

JD really liked Uncle Junior. He didn't want to leave him to go pick out a tree.

I thought this picture of JD with the hat over his eyes was really cute. Unfortunately by the end of the day the hat was covered in leaves and pine needles.



The kids throwing "bombs" at the "bad guys"

Big Boy Bed

I've been meaning for a few weeks now to post about JD's new bed. We bought it from RC Willey (so glad they've come to California!) It has drawers underneath where we can put clothes and toys and he just loves it. We decided we needed to buy him one once he started getting his leg up over the crib. I'd rather him fall out of bed than the crib.

He's been pretty good about napping and going to sleep at night. We got smart with him and bought the little doorknob covers so he can't keep escaping; but, I haven't really heard him try. He does knock on the door if we forget to open it during nap time.

I guess this means he is officially not a baby anymore. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I am glad that he likes it and that he's been good about staying in bed. I remember when we were trying to get Becca and Sariah in bed we used to be up hours getting them to go back. Actually, they still don't stay in bed! I think I fall asleep most nights before they do.

Such a slacker

Okay, so I haven't posted now in what, two weeks? There's been a lot going on in the Musser household. We had parent teacher conferences on Thursday. Sariah is doing very well, she just needs to work on subtraction but her teacher said the rest of her class needs to work on it as well. Ms Dettman said she's very bright and helpful and said that the next time they test reading levels she'll probably be at the level that you need to test to in order to leave the third grade. Sariah's been pestering her teacher for a special reading workbook they have; so now she has it to work on during vacation.



It was no suprise to us that Becca's review was not as stellar. Although she knows her shapes and colors, she is having difficutly sorting. And although she writes "Rebbecca Mae Musser" all over everything, when her teacher gave her a list with her name spelled several ways, she couldn't pick the right way. She's also not getting the concept of rhyming. Well, sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn't. She gets it confused with words that begin with the same letter. The last academic thing is that she doesn't quite have the "print concepts" they've gone over like parts of a book and parts of a sentence. I guess I need to read with her more and go over those. The teacher also said that all of her social skills need improvement (suprise, suprise) although she had no suggestions on what to do except for give her goldfish crackers when she's good like they do at school.

Let's see, what else has happened this week? The kids have managed to break JD's bed already (and I haven't even posted the pictures yet!). RC Willey is coming out to fix it next month. Becca thought it would be fun to hang by the ceiling fan blades in her room. Jeremy tried to take the bunk beds down but the room isn't wide enough to fit the beds and the dresser. He did take the desk away though because they keep getting on the desk, opening the window, and popping out the screen. He hasn't decided what he wants to do about the issue with the fan. I guess we'll see if she does it again. Maybe she'll learn if she rips the thing out of the ceiling and falls flat on her butt. They also took my Halloween pumpkin, got it open somehow, and spread the seeds all over their bedroom floor. Oh, and yesterday when we went to the store Sariah tried to swipe a pack of gum.

Those are all the reasons why I haven't posted in a while. And I bet Mom is real surprised that I haven't called her crying and tearing my hair out yet this week. I'll get some pictures posted soon.