The kids put socks on and skated on the hard floor like they have been doing every morning for the last couple of weeks now. Usually that's the first thing Max asks for when he gets out of bed. He wants me to get him some "skatin socks" (ones without rubber grips on the bottom). After skating around the dining room for awhile, Hailey set up some things to play "hockey". She even had the two stools tipped on their sides for goals. It sure was funny to watch them try to make a goal. They played this for a long time. Daddy took kids outside to play after dinner. Jack has a cold and hasn't been sleeping very long for naps today so he was tired and fussy by 6:30. I didn't want to put him to bed that early so I read him some books to keep him happy for a little while longer. He sure loves books, especially the Touch and Feel ones. I read to him while the kids were outside playing. Then I sat in the rocking chair in the living room to feed him. Right away he saw his Learning Puppy and started getting excited and leaning toward it. I put him down on the floor by it and he was really talking alot to it. He pushed some buttons and made it start singing. Then he started dancing for the first time. Every time it would start singing, he would dance. It was so cute. Jack was still dancing when Daddy and the kids came back inside. Hailey really liked seeing him dance. She thought it was funny. Hailey asked daddy to turn on some "hyper music" to dance to. It was so funny watching them all dance. I was laughing so hard as daddy would dance and the kids would copy him. He was so funny, but he wouldn't let me video him. Then to get them to calm down for bed, he had them sit on the floor and told them he was going to teach them some "calming down excercises". He sat on the floor by them and showed them some deep breathing exercises and stretches. They loved it and really payed attention to what to do. It was so funny as daddy pretended to be the teacher and the kids copied him as he showed them what to do. The kids sure were serious about it and it really did help them to calm down.

Kids pretending to skate and play hockey.

Jack danced for the first time today. Every time a song plays on his Learning Puppy starts dancing like this.

Hailey asked daddy to turn the "hyper music" on so they could dance.

His "boo face" as Hailey would call it.

When we got back from dropping Hailey off at school, Max watched his racecar DVD. I got a load of laundry started and then came back to watch it with him and play on the floor with Jack. At 9:30, I layed Jack down for a nap. Max asked to "pet him" and give him a kiss before I put him in his crib. Then Max brought me some books to read to him. He asked me to rock him with his blankey while we read books. His new favorite book to read is "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "The Three Bears" but he still loves his racecar book, "Lugnut the Stockcar" and has to read that one every night too. But at least he is starting to pick some other ones too, even though they're always the same three books every time. He goes through phases where he likes to read the same books over and over and over. I think the one he's read the longest though is the racecar one. Shortly after picking Hailey up from shcool, I made lunch. Around 1:00 I put Max and Jack down for a nap. I had Hailey lay down too, since she was up alot last night (really stuffy with a cold), but she never did fall asleep. And Jack only slept about a half an hour waking up really stuffy too. Around 3:30 my mom called and said they were going to stop in to visit. Hailey was so excited when I told her that Nana and Papa were comeing over. Max was still sleeping but he must have heard us talking cause he came out saying "Is nana and papa hear? Where are dey?" He was hapy to hear they were coming too. They were both really excited when they pulled in the driveway. Jack gave them big smiles when they walked in. Max got his blankey and climbed up on papa's lap in the rocking chair. Papa tickled him and had him laughing really hard. The kids rode their rocking horses next to each other, something they do often. They also like to push with their feet riding them around the whole house. They always pretend they are Nutmeg and Sammy. Hailey likes to "fall" off her horse saying it's Nutmeg and he's a crazy or wild horse. Max's horse is always Sammy. It's so funny how they will take these horses with them all through the house riding them or pulling them along. Hailey had dance class this evening. Afterwards we went to Bennigans for dinner. We didn't get the kids in bed until 9:30. Then Bruce and I sat down to watch some TV.

Hailey and Max were being silly while they were dancing to music. Jack was watching and laughing at them.

This morning, Bruce made eggs and potatoes for breakfast. Max woke up and said "Is Gwamma Debbie here? And Papa Ron too? Dey are? Can I go see dem?" Then he ran out of his bedroom. After breakfast, Hailey and I had to get ready to go to school. Hailey was so excited to have me come help in her class today. They had a few minutes of free play and then the teacher had me take a few kids at a time to make their letter cards. Then we all sat down in a circle around on the floor to do the calendar and the weather. The teacher has one of the kids go to the window and look to see if it's sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowy, or windy. They hang some things on the wall (sun, cloud, rain, snow) to show what the weather in like that day. Then they get to dress the girl or boy hanging on the wall(They can pick shorts, sunglasses, coat, jacket, hat and mittens, shorts, shoes, boots, ect.) The kids love doing this. Then they had "Jesus time" before going to gym class. They do a short Bible story and sing some songs. Hailey loves "Jesus Time" and is always talking about it. She always says "Jesus time is very important. It is the most important thing. For gym class, we split the kids up into two groups. We lined the kids up and the teacher and I bounced basketballs to them. They caught them and bounced them back to us. The kids were funny as they would try to bounce it as high as they could back to me. Before heading back to the classroom, we ran around the gym. Four of the kids including Hailey were chasing me and laughing really hard as I would turn quickly so they couldn't catch me. At snacktime, the teacher had Hailey and another little girl (the one who brought the snack today) help me get everything ready. I asked them to put the placemats on the table. The other girl went and got them. She gave Hailey two to put on and she went to put the rest on. Hailey put her two on one table and the other girl put hers all on the other table. The girl was just about to put her last placemat down and Hailey said "No, we should put five on this table and five on that table cause there is ten kids so that would be the same." (There used to be 12 kids but the twins in her class just moved so now there is 10. This week was the first week that there was only 10 in the class because Friday was their last day.) The girl agreed and they moved a couple of the placemats to the other table to make it even. I sure had fun being the class helper. I enjoyed getting to see what Hailey does at school. She is such a good girl and listens to the teacher so well. At lunchtime, Max asked for yogurt. I told him we didn't have any more. Then he said "Why do we don't?" We had to do a quick run to the store after lunch. It was naptime when we got back. And we all ended up taking a nap. When we all woke up, we got snowsuits on and went outside to play. After some fun playing in the snow, we pulled the kids in sleds around the block. Jack laughed and screamed the whole time. He would copy Hailey and Max and scream when we pulled them fast or along side each other. They liked when we would race each other. When we came back inside, Hailey said "We should clean the toys up in the living room." Then she said "Isn't my good idea such a good idea." Once all the toys were picked up, she turned on some music. Hailey and Max started dancing and had Jack laughing so hard. He just thinks they are the funiest thing. Hailey helped me give Jack a bath. She liked playing with the bath toys with him. After tucking Jack in bed, we gave the kids separate baths. Bruce gave Max a bath first while I read Hailey her books and Bible. Then Hailey had some fun playing in the tub while Bruce read Max his books and Bible and got him tucked in bed. Hailey thought it was great that she was getting to stay up "really late". It wasn't really late. She just thought it was cause Max was already in bed when she was done with her bath.

We got a nice surprise this morning when Bruce's mom called and said they were coming to visit. The kids sure were excited when we told them that Grandma Debbie and Papa Ron were coming over. They both screamed and said "Yeah!" They played dress up while they waited for them to get here, but every few minutes would run to the bedroom and look out the window to see if they were here yet. As soon as they saw their car pull in the driveway, they yelled "They're here! They're here!" and ran to the door to greet them.

"I got wots and wots of nekwaces and bwacewets on me"

Hailey made a bed for Jack out of their chairs. She layed him in it and covered him with his blankie. She tucked him in singing the songs that I sing every time I lay him down. Then she made herself a bed right next to him. I think Jack was pretty comfortable cause he layed there for quite awhile without moving.

Jack cuddled with Grandma Debbie for a long time.

He ended up falling asleep.

When he woke up, Grandpa Ron took a turn holding him. Jack kept looking up at him and giving him smiles.

And Jack put Grandpa to sleep. Too funny!

Hailey and Grandma had fun playing with Snap n' Style dolls together.

Hailey got a hat and a pair of shoes for each of them and asked Max if he wanted to be the daddy. She helped him get the shoes on (a pair of dress shoes from her closet). He was so happy to have a hat and shoes too. He said "Haywee give me dese. Well, dat was nice of her." They walked around the house together like this as she pushed her doll in the stroller.

Running from me as I was chasing them around the house.

Reading books while waiting for mommy to finish feeding Jack and tucking him in bed. The Three Bears" is his very favorite book right now.

Jack is getting much better at sitting, and he loves to play while sitting.

Hailey drawing people.

Max pretended to build a fire. He got the Bumbo seat and put it in the corner. Then used a pillow for the gate. He used the toy dust pan as a shovel to scoop out the ashes. Then filled the Bumbo seat with baby toys saying it was his wood. He said "I won't get burned cause I a daddy. I just betendin (pretending)." It was funny cause he copied everything daddy does when he makes a fire in the woodstove.

The kids just love this song, "Yellow Submarine". As soon as we get into the van Max starts asking "Can you turn da wewo submawine nugics (music) on?"

While I was feeding Jack and putting him to bed, Max took some books to our bedroom and layed on our bed reading. He read to himself for quite awhile. Once I had Jack in bed, I decided to get the camera and took this first video before he noticed I was there with the camera. Then I went in and took some videos while he read his books to me.

This is Max's new favorite book, "The Three Bears". He picked it up a couple days ago and has asked me to read it to him many times during the day ever since and also every night before bed. And I'm sure we'll be reading it to him every night for the next few months until he picks another book to be his favorite. He still brings me other books sometimes during the day to read, but his favorite at the time is the one he wants to read before laying down to go to sleep at naptime or bedtime.

As soon as we walked into church this morning and Jack heard the music, he started clapping. Max sang along for most of the songs. And when he didn't know the words in parts of the songs, he'd just sing "I love Jesus" to the tune of the song we were singing. After church was over, Kenzie picked up Max. He noticed her dangly flower earrings, pointed to them and said "I wike yours of dese (these)." We came home and had pizza for lunch. Then I put the boys down a nap. About an hour later, I heard Max talking so I went in to get him thinking he had just woke up. I found him sitting in a pile of pullups and books. He had taken every pullup and diaper out of the diaper stacker and also all his books off his shelf. He was sitting there in the middle the pile looking at books. I should have taken a picture. I was kind of funny. I loved how he looked up and gave me a big smile when I walked into the room. Since Max ended up not taking his nap today, he was getting very tired and grumpy by 6:30. And Hailey was getting grumpy too and crying over every little thing. So I started bedtime routines earlier tonight and had Max and Hailey both in bed by 7:30. Then I read some books to Jack and put him to bed. They all fell asleep so quickly.

"I make fireworks!"

"What dose ones are, mommy?"

Hailey drew a snowman.

Jack loves to sit up and play now.

Max loved this truck ice sculpture.

And he liked this big dog too.

The hairy alpaca.

Max was really excited to get to see Elmo.

Watching them make fudge.

Trying to decide which cookie she wants.

Hot chocolate at Starbucks.

"I all dirty."

Max woke up at 7:30 saying he had to go pee pee. I took him potty and then brought him to my bed to cuddle. I had the heated mattress pad turned on, so he loved the warm bed. He said "Are I gettin warm up." Jack woke up shortly after and we listened to him talking on the monitor. Max was laughing at all the sounds he was making. At 8:00, Hailey came and crawled in bed to cuddle. She was laughing too listening to Jack talking on the monitor. After about 5 minutes though, she asked me to go get him so he could cuddle too. Hailey and Max both took a turn holding him. Then we went out to watch Curious George. Daddy came home while we were eating breakfast. He went to bed right away so he could wake up on time to go to the ice festival this afternoon. I got out the easel for the kids to draw on. They took turns using chalk and the dry erase markers. I also got out the magnet letters for them. Max liked when I spelled his name. Then he kept holding different letters up to me asking me what they were. He'd hold two at a time up and say "What dose ones are, Mommy?" Hailey liked using the numbers making her address and phone number. Then she made up different combinations of numbers telling me they were her friends phone numbers. Max drew on the chalkboard and said "I make fireworks!" Then I got some big pieces of construction paper out for the kids to draw on. Hailey picked dark pink and Max picked yellow. He also only wanted to use the yellow markers on his yellow paper. After they were done with their pictures, I gave them each a black piece of construction paper and they drew on them with chalk. Hailey made a snowman. Max always says "You Mr. Nodo and I'm going to toot on you." I don't get it but he says it often. Jack tried peaches for the first time and loved them. He would get excited opening his mouth wide for each bite. He also loves applesauce and bananas but doesn't like pears very much. After lunch, I put Jack and Max down for naps. Then I got things packed for going to the ice festival. Hailey was very excited and kept asking when we could wake daddy up so we could go. I set the timer for her. She lined up all her dolls on the table in the living room and asked me if I wanted to adopt a baby. She had me come look at them to pick one out. After I picked one, she wrapped it up in a blanket and handed it to me. She told me to take good care of my baby. She kept saying "You want to adopt just one more?". After I had four babies, she said "Wow, now you have lots of babies." She had laid another one by three of my babies and I was holding one. I said "Yep I have five babies." Then she said No, you have four babies. This one is mine." She picked up her baby and said "See you have three right here and your holding one, so that makes four." Max woke up at 3:45. I got the kids a snack. While they were sitting at the table eating their snacks, the timer beeped. Hailey screamed "We can wake daddy up!" Her and Max got down and ran to the bedroom to wake daddy. They were so excited. We got ready to go, and Nana and Papa came over to go with us. It was very cold. We kind of hurried through looking at the ice sculptures. I didn't take many pictures because my hands would freeze without my gloves. We went to see the animals. There were camels, goats, sheep, and lamas. Before heading over to the warming tent, the kids went on a pony ride. Hailey went on by herself. I walked along side Max. He was smiling and saying "Dis is fun". Hailey kept looking back at me smiling. Daddy was going to walk by her but the guy put her on while daddy was waiting for his change. I was afraid she was going to start crying but she did good and was very proud of herself for going by herself. She kept talking about how big she is now. The big warming tent was packed full of people so we couldn't get through with the stroller. We went to a smaller warming tent which wasn't near as packed. We got hot dogs, pretzels, and hot chocolate. My dad took my gloves and warmed them up by a heater. My hands felt so good after that. Even though it was so cold, Jack stayed nice and toasty in his car seat in the stroller. We had him bundled up good and then threw a fleece blanket over his car seat. His cheeks were so warm and he was quite happy riding in the stroller. After warming up, we went to look at some more sculptures. Then we stopped in the fudge shop to warm up again. The kids, including Jack, loved watching them make the fudge. Papa bought us all some chocolate fudge. Yummy! We stayed and watched the fireworks. Daddy and Papa took Hailey and Max outside to watch them while Nana and I stayed inside with Jack. He was happy to get out of his car seat and also enjoyed watching the fireworks show out the window. The kids started getting cold so Daddy and Papa brought them inside to watch the finale through the window too. As we headed back, they were lighting up hot air balloons. The kids loved watching that. They were so pretty. Max started getting cold again and said "Can we get hot chocolate, daddy, to warm up. I cold. We gotta get warm up." We decided to stop in one last store to get our favorite cookies and a cappuccino. Their coffee machine wasn't working so we just got some cookies. Bruce said he would stop at Starbucks on the way home. When Hailey heard him say "Starbucks", she said "Ya, I want to go to Starbucks!" (She doesn't even know what Starbucks is. She just thought the name sounded neat.) Max said "What is Starbucks daddy?" Then Hailey said "Ya, daddy, what is Starbucks? Can we go there, please, please?" Then Max said "Please, daddy? Can we go dere?" So daddy decided we'd all go inside and got the kids a hot chocolate and us a cappuccino. The kids loved their hot chocolates and thought it was cool that they had "coffee cups" just like us. Hailey said "This is really yummy hot chocolate. It even has this like a hot fudge sundae on it (whip cream). But this is kind of a boring place, isn't it Daddy." I don't think it was quite like she had expected. (She had expected something with stars because of the name.) We didn't get the kids in bed until after 9:00. Jack and Max have been doing so good going to sleep together since we put them in the same room together. At first, I was afraid that they would keep each other up, because Jack usually talks for quite awhile before falling asleep. But it doesn't seem to bother Max at all and they both fall asleep pretty quickly. I just turn on the monitor so I can listen and hear if Max gets out of bed. (I don't want him throwing all the stuffed animals in to Jack which is something he likes to do during the daytime while they are awake playing.) Once in a while I'll hear Max talking to Jack which is very cute to listen to. And if Jack starts to cry, I'll hear Max saying "Shhh, Jack, you gotta go to sleep."