Purdue Basketball

If you know me well, you know I love basketball. It's my favorite sport! Other than playing, I really enjoy watching college basketball, especially Purdue.  I grew up watching it. My brother and I had a little over the door hoop and we would play our own little game as we watched Purdue play in the background. I actually do remember watching the current coach, Matt Painter, play when I was younger. The Emerick's were kind enough to give my Dad a pair of tickets to last Saturday's game against Michigan State. He asked me if I wanted to go and so I did! It's always fun to see a game live......especially with the seats we had. Unfortunately, Purdue isn't that great this year and they lost.

Another blurry pic but that's Robbie Hummel. His jersey (#4) was retired and is now hanging in the Purdue rafters with other Purdue basketball greats.

Jump It

We had a playdate at Jump It with Conner Saturday. All of the kids had so much fun! For the most part the older three went off and played on the big stuff with Ashley while I stayed on the two smaller ones with Blake. He loved it! His favorite was definitely when the other three were in playing with him. He thought he was hot stuff. (I'm starting to realize I need to bring my camera with me more often.......a lot of these are blurry).

New Preschool

Last week I enrolled Avery in a new preschool here in Indiana. I hate to say it, but I kind of needed a break. She can be a handful. I know she also needed to be around other kids her age and the structure/routine will be good for her. I was doing some things at home with Avery but I started getting kind of lazy in the planning. I will still work with her on Mondays and Fridays since she only has school Tuesday through Thursday. She is loving her new preschool though! The "first" day we went to just check things out and she sat back with me and just watched but it didn't take too long for her to join in. I ended up leaving her for the last hour. The next day she reminded me that I was just suppose to drop her off and not stay!

As you can see she is very happy. Smiling ear to ear. They are wearing pajamas for the letter "P" week.

These next few pictures are just some of us doing "school" at home.

Matching the #9 with nine dancers on the "dance floor"

Today's Valentine lesson

Play dough counting

Avery's First Haircut

I'm behind in a couple of my posts......Avery had her first haircut back in mid January. I had trimmed it once just to get the split ends but that was it. We tried to convince her to have Aunt Amy cut it as soon as we got here but she didn't want her to touch it, which is how it's always been......hence her first haircut at the age of 4! One day out of the blue she said she wanted it cut so I made sure to take advantage of it and had her appointment set up right away! She loves it. I like it too and it's so much easier to manage, but I do miss her cute curls.

BEFORE

AFTER

Just What the Doctor Ordered

Fresh Air!!!!!! It was finally warm enough to spend some time outside. We walked to the park and played for awhile and then walked to the bus stop to pick up Allie. Refreshing!

Blake ~ 17 Months

My little guy is already 17 months! I love this boy. Whenever I'm having a bad day he can always cheer me up! He is so sweet, has started giving kisses (and blowing them too). At the same time, he can throw little temper tantrums. At least they don't last too long. When he gets in trouble he knows. He will get a pouty face and hang his head so no one can see it. He's extremely smart. Follows commands, answers questions......usually by shaking his head yes or no or pointing to something for the answer. He's still not saying a whole lot. He has added a few words to his vocabulary (door, go, gone) When asked how old he is or how big he is he will proudly hold up one crooked little finger. He is a climber! He climbs on everything. Scares me to death. He also falls a lot and seems to easily get goose eggs on his head! He can be a fighter. He knows with two older sisters he has to stick up for himself. He and Avery seem to get into quite a few fights.....physical ones. It's actually kind of funny, but I've got to put a stop to it before someone really gets hurt. He has bitten her a few times and he can tackle her down.......and unfortunately, she does the same to him. But he is strong!

Here he is throwing one of his tantrums

He loves getting into the bin of winter accessories.  You can almost always find him digging through it and picking out a hat to put on.

One day the girls, Blake & Papa were playing hide & seek. Allie hid in the cabinet and  this spot is now one of Blake's new favorite places.

This boy loves to eat! He really likes popcorn and finds GG's stash every time we visit.

He also likes to throw anything! He has a good arm too.

This one is kind of long. More for Derek to watch. It shows Blake organizing all of the shoes. He does put them all back eventually.

Rock Stars

So, the kids have been getting a hold of my phone and taking tons of pictures and videos. This post is all mostly things I've discovered while browsing through my pictures (a few I've taken). These kids are little rock stars in the making. Enjoy!

Train Ride @ the Mall

Yearly Interviews

Allison Katherine ~ 6.5 years 

      1.  What is your name? You know my name. Allison
2. How old are you? 6
3. What is your mom’s name? Brooke
4. What does your mom do during the day? Watch kids
5. What is your dad’s name? Derek
6. What does your dad do during the day? work
7. What is your favorite color? Blue and pink
8. What is your favorite thing to eat? Ice cream 

      9. What is your least favorite food? Broccoli

    10. Who are your friends? Lilly, Mason, Morgan, Kaiya, Abby, Kiya (she was naming people she had seen most recently...even a girl she just met at her new school!)

    11. What is your sister’s name? Avery

      12. What is your favorite place to go? Pump it up or chuck e cheese
13. What is your favorite thing to do? Go to school
14. What do you like about your Mommy? Uh, don’t write that. She does silly stuff.

      15. What do you like about your Daddy? um, he skypes a lot

      16. What do you like about your sister? she hits me. You like that? No. She helps me.

      17. What do you like about your brother? he plays around with me
18. What do you want to be when you grow up? teacher
19. What does Avery like to do? Hang around with her blanket. 

      20. What does Blake like to do? he likes to play with cars

      21. What is your favorite toy? I don't know

      22. What is your favorite fruit? Strawberry

      23. Favorite vegetable? Green beans

      24. What is your favorite tv show? Max & Ruby

      25. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? jello

      26. What is your favorite outfit? My dress. The pink sparkly star and pink ruffles.

      27. What is your favorite game? Clue

      28. What is your favorite snack? Pretzels

      29. What is your favorite animal? Monkeys and pandas

      30. What is your favorite song? I can't remember. Taylor Swift.....cuz we are never, ever, ever getting back together....we - eeee

     31. What is your favorite Book? Junie B. Jones

     32. Who is your best friend? Lily

     33. What is your favorite cereal? Frosted Flakes

     34. What is your favorite thing to play outside? Freeze tag

     35. What is your favorite drink? water

     36. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

     37. What do you like to sleep with at night? my pillow

     38. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? toast

     39. What is your favorite movie? Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (WillyWonka)

     40. What is your favorite vacation? camping

    41. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? Indiana

Avery Elizabeth ~ 4 years
(you can probably tell that Avery was not happy with me. She did not want to do the interview).

1.  What is your name? Avery

2. How old are you? 4

3. What is your mom’s name? I don't know

4. What does your mom do during the day? Don't know

5. What is your dad’s name? Derek

6. What does your dad do during the day? don't know

7. What is your favorite color?  pink

8. What is your favorite thing to eat? Chicken nuggets and french fries

9. What is your least favorite food? Don't hate anything

10. Who are your friends? Blake and, ummmm, Allie. That's all. Only 2 friends.

11. What is your sister’s name? Allie

12. What is your favorite place to go? Museum

13. What is your favorite thing to do? Color

14. What do you like about your Mommy? Nothing

15. What do you like about your Daddy? I don't know

16. What do you like about your sister? Don't know

17. What do you like about your brother? Don't know

18. What do you want to be when you grow up? Princess

19. What does Avery like to do? I don't know

20. What does Blake like to do?  play with cars

21. What is your favorite toy? Minnie Mouse

22. What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries

23. Favorite vegetable? Don't know

24. What is your favorite tv show? Minnie Mouse Clubhouse

25. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? don't know

26. What is your favorite outfit? This one. New pink/silver striped shirt w/ stretchy jeans

 27. What is your favorite game? I don't know. Duck duck goose.

28. What is your favorite snack? Goldfish

29. What is your favorite animal? Elephant

30. What is your favorite song? Here we go Being who I want (and she sings on and on. From Barbie: Princess & Popstar)

31. What is your favorite Book? Minnie Mouse

32. Who is your best friend? 

33. What is your favorite cereal? Don't know. Honey Bunches of Oats

34. What is your favorite thing to play outside? Play and go on the swing

35. What is your favorite drink? water

36. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

37. What do you like to sleep with at night? my blanket

 38. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? cereal

 39. What is your favorite movie? Don't really know

 40. What is your favorite vacation? 

 41. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

TAKKK Visits

We were so excited to get a call from Kevin & Tami's family last week! They had spent the holidays with Tami's family in Illinois and wanted to stop by and visit with us on their way back to Maryland. The girls had SO much fun reconnecting. They are all such good friends/cousins. They did so much in the little time they had together. Blake and Kinley got along great too. It was nice to see Kevin & Tami too!! :)

The sweetest thing happend with Blake and his Uncle Kevin. Blake totally thought he was Derek! He ran up to him and just squeezed his legs......then came and ran to me and checked him out from afar. Not too much later he was running in for another hug. This time Kevin picked him up and Blake just laid on his shoulder for the longest time. He wanted to get his cuddles in! Every once in awhile when Kevin would talk Blake would take these peeks at him. I think he was getting pretty confused and at some point realized it wasn't his Daddy. Sweet, but sad too!

Happy New Year, 2013!!

I'm looking forward to a fresh start in this new year. Half of the year will be spent here in Indiana and the other half......well, who knows where we'll be. Just got to keep a positive attitude and, although I'm not always good at it, "go with the flow." I actually woke up this morning feeling pretty good. I don't know how to explain it but it really makes me hopeful for a great year. :)

Sometime today I'm going to do my yearly interviews with the girls. I tried looking on the blog for last years and didn't find it. Then I looked further into and it was still written up as a "draft" and never got published. The reason being, I never completely finished their interviews. :( I will make sure I get them done this time. It's so fun to go back and see what's changed, what's stayed the same, you can tell how much they've grown by their answers......and just really see their personailties come through. Next year Blake should be able to start being interviewed!

So, last night to celebrate the last day of 2012 we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. All three of them had a blast, even us three grown ups had a lot of fun. Allie won the "Super Bonus" on one of the games she played and got a lot of tickets. The look on her face was priceless! Blake loved the rides. His favorite seemed the be the Noah's Ark boat. Avery was constantly going back and forth between the rides and the games but her favorite actually was probably the play place.

Chuck E Cheese was giving away free tickets as soon as we got there. The other little girl in the picture (and her brother) were constantly begging us for tickets. Their parents were not paying any attention to them. They were off playing games themselves.

This rollercoaster ride was intense!

After Chuck E Cheese we went to a place where everyone would eat........Golden Corral.

yep, she ate that entire thing.......

well, Blake got one bite.

By the time we got home from our night out it was already 9pm. We got Blake in bed.......he fell asleep on the way home. Then we figured since the girls were wide awake we'd see if they could make it to see the ball drop. We got out the board games and let them choose which ones to play. First was Yahtzee........that lasted a while. Then we played Clue and by the time that was over we had just a few minutes to go until the new year!

10 seconds!

Happy New Year!

2013