Our First Raingutter Regatta

First of all, I can hardly stop myself from referring to this as a regatta gala, ala Rachel from Friends.  I must have practiced "raingutter regatta" in my head a hundred times.  :)  Second, isn't he just adorable?!  There is not much cuter than a little boy in a cub scouts uniform.  We just joined this year and he really loves it.  For those of you that don't know this is an event most packs have each year.  They give each boy a kit for a boat and then they come race them against each other in a rain gutter filled with water.  Noah immediately declared he wanted his to be a pirate ship with cannons.  I was not sure how that would work out but Josh had the great idea to cut the mast that we didn't use to turn into cannons.  Check out how adorable it came out!

Noah helped cut it, sand it, and painted it.  He even did the shopping at Hobby Lobby for the paint and stickers.  It was fun to do something together with just him.  We used these instructions to alter it to a catamaran design and it was so fast!  He was pretty nervous about racing it but he did great.

He actually won 18 races, tied 1, and lost 1.  I think that is an amazing record for your first time!!  Of course Wyatt had an excellent time too, playing with Melissa.  They are so adorable playing together each Tuesday.  She even packs him snacks!  :) 

He even got to race the ship once before we left!

And Annie did was Annie always does..... runs around and is as troublesome as possible!

Now I guess we have to look forward to the car race thing next!

Baby muffin turns 2!!

Can you even believe our little girl is two??!  Hard for me to believe as well.  This year has flown by!  She was super cute saying two and trying to show her fingers.  We had to bend them into place for her cause she couldn't do it alone.  If she does it herself she puts up her index finger on both hands and them holds them together to show 2... it's so cute I should have gotten a pic of that! :)  We celebrated with a trip to her favorite place in the world, Chuck E. Cheese!!

She was ready to go play immediately!  I made these coin pouches for each of the kids (that we also did not photograph) and you can see Annie's in the picture.  She really loved having her little purse full of coins.

Her favorite ride by far is the racing horse... she truly screams the entire time she is on it.  I think she is halfway scared, halfway happy and doesn't know what to do other than scream at the top of her lungs. 

Our closest friends came to celebrate our little girl and we are so thankful for all of them!  Wyatt told me he was really sad Annie doesn't have any friends and I listed off all the people that are his friends that are also hers.  He did not seemed pleased with that answer.  :)  I told him as she gets older she will have more girl friends that are her age. LOL :)

After playing we had pizza and cupcakes. It took quite a few blows for her to get both the candles out, but she had some help from her bubba for that!  She hardly ate any but did use the candle as a spoon to get off the icing.  :)  Check out the adorable sprinkle 2's that I totally store from Corrie's blog! 

After this she flipped out crying and we could not figure out what was wrong, but then it came very clear.  She wanted her Richard!!  She hardly knows him, but he is for sure her first crush!  Do you see how she clings to him?  Once she realized he was there she did not want to get out of his arms.  We seriously had to pull her off of him.  She will pass up Daddy, Grandpa, Grandma, and Granny to head straight for Richard.  I have never seen anything like it!!

Then it was time to open presents and she was THRILLED with each and every one.  Of course they all had to be taken to Richard so he could see what she got.  :)   She wore those boots and pushed her cart with her baby around for the rest of the night.  She SCREAMED when we got to the car and she couldn't have the shopping cart in her lap.  She has certainly hit the terrible twos!!

But the party still wasn't over!  She had another present from us once we got home and she was tickled pink with it.  You see she immediately fed her baby and put her monkey to sleep!  :)  And there was another huge surprise before bed....

Her own kitchen!!  My parents are such troopers and came over and put the whole thing together at 10:30 at night!  I am really not sure who likes it more, Annie or the boys.  Wyatt must have cooked me a dozen meals today!!  It is in his room until we move Annie to a big girl bed and have more space in her tiny room (which we're planning on doing after Christmas).

SO, it was an excellent birthday for Annie, even though it was technically two days early.  Don't tell her!!  Can't wait to see what the next year holds!!

Not Back To School and why my kids are always sick!

We had so much fun celebrating not back to school day this year!!  Every year we got out to breakfast with a friend or two and celebrate not going to school like the rest of the kids are in our district that day.  Check out our little babies last year... can you even believe how they have grown?? And our circle of friends has grown too, and I am so thankful for that!!  The last two years have been very difficult friendship wise and I finally feel like I am surrounded by ladies that love me and my kids and will be here for the long haul.  I thank God for each of you!!  You know who you are.  ;)

And just in case you were wondering why my kids are always sick.  It's cause I photograph things like this instead of getting her to stop.  ;) 

Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria!!

This year we are studying American history with My Father's World Adventures.  I really loved spending all of first grade in Bible history, but I am excited to be learning something new (to them) this year.  Our first project was making foil ships after we learned about Christopher Columbus.  Please don't comment criticizing the shapes of my sails...  I realize they are not accurate but the kids did them and I didn't have the heart to get them to fix it.  :)  We took them outside and luckily it was a nice and windy day so they really flew all around the bucket.  Annie had just woken up but insisted on being a part of it all... I love how crazy he hair is!

The learning only lasted so long, though, before Annie threw herself into a bucket and the next thing I knew they were all in on the action!!  The best part of homeschooling for sure, these impromptu play times in the midst of learning.  :)  Annie found the headband in the garage and insisted on wearing it.... so ridiculous looking!

Wyatt ran inside and got his bag of coins and insisted I photograph him searching for a "treasure" at the bottom of his bucket AND the big reveal where he showed off what he found, LOL.  I love him!

And of course it wouldn't be a normal hour without Annie having a fit of some sort!!  She cracks me up in this picture!! 

This same day Wyatt Cade begged me to let him finish the Go For The Code workbook and then go out to Menchies to celebrate.  He had over 20 pages left and that kid did them all in one sitting!! He is certainly ready to start reading, and now I know what he is capable of, so he can't complain this year when he has to do more than two pages!!