Things I don't want to forget.

I have not taken many pictures at all recently but I wanted to still take some notes on what the kiddies are doing!

Alex
She is loving kindergarten and everything about it. She loves her helper days when she gets to bring snack, show & tell, and get to be first in line all day. She tried roller skating for the first time a few weeks ago and felt it was a lot harder than ice skating. I was surprised because I always remembered roller skating to be easier, but all the kids were continuously falling on the floor so it was definitely a challenge for them!

We finally found a movie that she enjoyed a few weeks ago--Gnomeo and Juliet. I was shocked at the end of the movie to hear her say she liked it (never happens) and that she would want to see it again (also never happens). So I guess there's still hope!

Alex has been enjoying her gymnastics class--she's doing great with cartwheels, working on backwards rolls, handstands, balance beam, and the trampoline.

Kellan
Still as sweet as ever (most of the time), he has started to dislike going into his class at church again--I thought we'd outgrown this phase when he turned 2, but he seems to be struggling with it again. He is very much aware of when I leave him places, which I do a few times a week, whether it be at MOPS, the gym, or church. He always asks if I'm going to leave him there, who will stay with him, etc. I hope to just keep continuing to take him places and perservere until this phase passes again, which I know it will! A few months ago Kellan discovered the Wii Fit and he just can't get enough of it! He is able to maneuver through the screens using the remote, and he can play just about all of the games on there with the exception of a few--the tightrope, the bubble river one to name a few. He loves the running games, as well as the soccer one (of course!). He could play it for hours if I would let him. He's also been enjoying typing on my computer in Word. It is allowing him to practice finding and identifying his letters, and he's quickly learned how to spell and type his name without any help. Now we are working on the names of other people in the family. He has also learned how to play games on Marlon's iPad, so he will happily sit just about anywhere and play a variety of games that Marlon has downloaded for him. Ahh--gotta love technology!

We've signed Kellan up for t-ball this spring--we're looking forward to seeing how that goes, but we figure it will probably be pretty funny!

Here are a few pics/videos of the kids. Last week my friend Ehren and her little boy Henry came up for a few days to visit. We took the kids to the women's basketball game--here are the kids cheering for the mountaineers!

Here is Alex giving sweet baby Henry is bottle. This is such a cute photo--Henry is just the sweetest, most laid back baby ever--always happy and smiling. (love him touching her face!). Henry is probably the first baby that Alex really remembers seeing from back when he was in Ehren's belly, then holding him as a newborn, now seeing him crawl and start walking. She really loves him!

Yesterday we made an impromptu stop at Chuck E Cheese (on a Saturday afternoon no less)--the kids were supposed to go to a party there that ended up being postponed because the little boy was sick, and Alex really wanted to stop while we were up in Pittsburgh, so we went in for a bit--barely an hour because the place was such a madhouse--wall to wall people. Remind me never to book a party there on a Saturday afternoon!! But the kids enjoyed the brief time there--we pretty much divided and conquered--Kellan and Marlon stuck together (here they are playing air hockey), and Alex and I worked together.

Guess that's all for now--I will be posting again soon about a celebration for a certain little boy who is getting ready to turn 3!

Ice Skating, Soccer, Gymnastics...

I feel like I haven't been taking many pictures recently but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy! A few weeks ago I took Alex ice skating for the first time. I wasn't able to take any pictures but I at least wanted to mention it! She was excited to go and had mentioned it a few times before, so one Sunday afternoon the ice rink was having a Luau Family Day and it was only $10 for a family of 4 to go skate for the afternoon. I ended up going with my friend Ashley and her 2 kids (who had also never been skating). The kids all did great and had a ton of fun. The concession prices took me back to the old days--candy and pretzels were only $.50, and hot chocolate was only $1! Alex fell a bunch of times but didn't mind at all once she realized how many other people were falling too. I managed to stay on my feet the whole time despite Alex sometimes pulling on me to keep her balance, and by the end of the session she was skating a bit on her own.

The following week Desiree and I took Kellan and Adelaide to a Preschool skating session called Totsickles--it's super cute for little kids--they keep the ice kind of rough and let the kids go out onto the ice to play. They have a pile of snow and some beach toys, some sleds that parents can pull the kids around on, a hockey goal with a tennis ball and hockey stick and some other games. The kids can go out on the ice in their snow gear,right down to the boots, or they can put on ice skates and push a little walker around. It was too funny watching Kellan and Adelaide try out the ice skates--they had fun trying it out! When the kids are finished skating, they get to come in front of the fire for some hot chocolate, cookies, and storytime. Very great idea--we're taking the kids back again this week!

Here is a video of them getting going on their skates:

After ice skating we took the kids to this cute diner, The Poky Dot, that we'd never been to before. The kids got their food in little purple airplane shaped trays, and they were being silly together. Adelaide calls Kellan her "buddy" and I'm sure Kellan feels the same!
We've also been taking the kids to Marlon's winter kid's soccer clinic. We decided to let Kellan participate this time since he's almost 3 (although the clinic is really for kids ages 4 and up) and he was so excited the first day because he got to put on a soccer outfit and some soccer socks. He kept saying "I'm Big Enough!"

He has done pretty well during the skill drills they do, but he gets a little frustrated when they scrimmage at the end. I try to explain to him that he's in a group with 4, 5, 6 and 7 year olds so he's a bit smaller and slower than them--just give him a few years and he'll run circles around them!

Alex decided in the fall that she wasn't really interested in taking dance classes anymore (Sorry Renee and Lauren!), and she'd been asking to take gymnastics classes again. She had taken classes through her preschool when she was 4 and 5 and she really enjoyed it, but I had never been able to see her in any of her classes. So we signed her up to take some classes through the university's recreational program, and she's really enjoying it! She seems to have a bit more talent with gymnastics then she did at dance, so it's cute to watch her out there--I'll have to try and capture some on video to share.

So that's what we've been up to around here to beat the winter blues!