January in Pictures

For the past two years, one of my brothers has gotten a surprise Christmas puppy for their kids. All 3 dogs came to my SIL's birthday party, we dubbed it the dog party instead because the wild dogs kind of trumped the show. Here's all 3 asking to come back inside:

 Tyler is the best at playing with Isabel. He really knows how to get her to smile and laugh and loves to play with her and make her happy.

 What is amazing about this picture is that Isabel isn't screaming about Lexi being on Marc's lap too. She is extremely possessive about herself being the only one who can sit on our laps. Both girls love snuggle time with Daddy.

 All of the sudden she has a keen interest in stacking rings/stars.

I made a few batches of play doh for the kids since it had been a long time. 

Even the boys still like to sit down and create.

 I tried my hand at making a snowman. 

 This little one is obsessed with books right now. She likes to pull them all down in a pile around her so she can see them all an pick what she wants.

 Every now and then she'll let us put a hat on her.Her shirt says "There's snowbody cuter than me"

Puzzles are something I love for my kids to do, but hate doing them over and over and listening to the screaming and frustration when they can't figure them out. We've hit that stage with Isabel. It's fantastic.

 I revamped our chore system. Too many Saturdays the kids struggled to get their chores done and I felt like the tyrant trying to get them to work. We're trying out a new method where they have daily chores (make beds, clean up toys, clothes put away, practice piano, homework done) and one house chore like scrub toilets, sweet kitchen floor, vacuum living room/family room, wash sliding window, etc. If they get all their chores done, they get 30 minutes of electronic time, no house chores on Friday, and their $1 allowance if they didn't miss any chores throughout the week. I have colored sticks that are coded that I try to change out every night. The boys are highly motivated and it is very rare that I have to get on them to get their work done. They could hardly believe their ears when we told them they could have 30 minutes of electronic time every day. (That's almost what they're used to for an entire week). Lexi still struggles quite a bit with getting hers finished, but she doesn't like the consequences of not getting them done (having an extra chore on Friday and losing her allowance) so she usually ends up doing them.  

 A local grocery store has case lot sales twice a year. We missed the one in the fall and were feeling it in our food storage/rotation! The girls came and helped me get all everything we needed. It sure felt good to fill up those empty slots!

 This little one thinks she should have ipad time too. She has snuck up to our room a couple of times now, taken it off the charger and brought it down the stairs. Makes me terrified of the electronic future with her!

 More sitting in a pile of books.

 These two girls look like clowns with how much makeup they put on themselves! Oh my.

 My friend Jaclyn made this hat for Isabel. Sometimes Isabel will wear it around for awhile, she looks super cute in it!

 The kids were enjoying "Connect 4" until their baby sister took over. They were nice enough to let her play with them.

 Baby girl figured out how to climb up the ladder on the playset and go down the slide. She will do it over and over again! 

Tyler had to come up with a model Emperor Penguin for a school project. We used salt dough to mold the body. Tyler painted it all and I helped make some sugar crystal water to go around the habitat. It was a pretty cool looking project!