Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Come Fly With Me!

Chase's birthday "experience" with me this year was indoor skydiving!


It was so fun!  The instructor did some cool tricks with Chase, too:


In the end we earned our flight certificates!


Chase was on a serious high afterwards.  He could not stop jumping up and down and telling me how cool it was!  He thought he was da bomb diggidy (did I spell that right?):


I love these birthday experiences with my kiddos.  They are truly priceless!  I hope they never tire of them, because I live for that one-on-one fun time with them!

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Because my schedule has been so insane lately, we didn't get our Christmas tree until late in the game.  So late, in fact, the guy at Home Depot just let us have it for free!  Merry Christmas to us!


We made cookies for Santa, of course:


And he must have liked them because the kids got just what they asked for!


Chloe got her Nintendo 3DS and Chase got an iPod!  He asked for a phone but I explained Santa must have known he was too young to have a phone!

I think Santa brought a little elf helper with him this year.  I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of rustling in our living room, and I could have sworn I heard a young boy's voice, excitedly stuffing Chloe's stocking.  I think probably when elves reach a certain age they earn the privilege of helping Santa with his duties Christmas Eve.  Pretty cool.


Merry Christmas!

 

Friday, December 23, 2016

Yellow Belt!

Chase has been doing so well in Tae Kwon Do! I am so proud of his hard work and focus in class. Today he earned his yellow belt!


His strength is his kicks!


He is learning some great self-defense strategies:


He killed this belt test.  The last time he tested he was hesitant and doubted himself.  This time he was so confident and just went out there and did his thing.  He was slightly excited about getting his new belt:


(and proud:)


This has been so good for him, and I can't wait to see where it takes him!


 

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Happy 10th Birthday, Chase!

Wow... Double digits! What is happening here?!?

Chase decided for his 10th birthday party he wanted a video game party at his dad's house.  Of course I had to make the cake, as is tradition:


At the party the kids played video games, as well as other games (this is Chloe and her sweet little boyfriend, Mason):


Chase requested a pinata and they got some good whacks in!


And then of course it was time to open presents!


Every year I give the kids a birthday "experience" versus buying them "stuff," and they really look forward to learning what we're going to do together every year.  This year I'm taking Chase to iFly so he and I can do indoor skydiving together!


He is both excited and nervous.  Can't wait to see how it turns out!

 

Friday, December 16, 2016

"Crazy" Christmas Sweater Contest!

We had a "crazy" holiday sweater contest at my school this year.  I had never participated in one before so I had nothing in my closet!  Ordinarily I would make my own but my schedule has been so insane I just figured I'd find one on Amazon and be done with it.  But I couldn't find anything that was "good" enough!  A teacher at my school said, "You should have your daughter make you one!"

Brilliant.

Chloe is really into art and doing craft projects.  She designs me jewelry made out of paper and yarn all the time!  So I told Chloe all about our "crazy" holiday sweater contest and said I wanted her to make it for me.  She just lit up.  She took her job very seriously.  I told her it just had to have as much holiday stuff on it as humanly possible.  We went shopping for materials and she wandered up and down the aisles, putting a lot of thought into her choices.  When we came home she got straight to work (and made a gigantic mess, of course)!


I didn't think Chase would care about the project at all, but he got into it, too.  I just told him Chloe was the designer and had to approve all design choices!


When they were done I asked them to autograph it for me:


And... voila!  The finished product:


I was a huge hit at school the next day:


And guess who won the contest?!?


Thanks, Chloe!!

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Conversations with a 6- and 9-Year-Old: Dish Duty

Chase had some dramatics for me last night, but Chloe put him in his place!

MOM:  Chase, you didn't take care of your dishes.

CHASE:  (writhing all over the floor) I can't! I'm a psychopath!!!!

CHLOE:  *sigh*  If you can psychopath, you can do dishes.

You tell him, Chloe!  Haha!

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