Random pictures from March

 Uh oh!  I see a thief in our refrigerator...

 HO HO HO!!!  Decker and Cody used to always call daddy "HO HO HO!"  (Santa Claus)  Decker's getting a chance to be just like daddy.

 Mike reminds me of Tim Allen in these photos.  ;)

 We were playing a matching game that I made for my primary class.  Matching pictures of prophets to a Fact about each prophet.  Decker could match the letters in the names of each card.  Pretty amazing!

 After 12 years, I finally went and had my eyes examined and got new glasses.  My hair is pretty "au natural"
in these photos... a frizzy head of hair!

 Decker is trying to decide which pair of underwear to wear.  He's lined them all up so I could help him choose.  Decker loves his underwear.  ;)

To prove I was there

I think through this whole process of putting windows in our house, I don't have one picture of me working on them.  Of course, Mike gets most of the credit, but I helped push him along, kept the project going when he was too tired to work on them.  

We are working on the back side of our house and I thought I better get some pictures of me working on them too.  ;)  This is looking out our bedroom window. .. Literally...

 
 Here I am pulling the cut wood off around the perimeter of the window to make room for the newly painted frames.

  Resting for a bit on the scaffolding... 

  Crawling very carefully over to the photographer.

 

 Decker LOVES to help daddy too...Yay...POWER TOOLS....

    After this one, we only have our kitchen window and our downstairs slider.  Mike has done an amazing job on our windows and I'm so proud of him!

The rest of the February photos....

To start out with, I had a parent teacher conference with Decker's pre-K teacher.  She showed me this picture that he drew of his family back in September.  The members of the family are missing body parts and aren't individualized with specific pieces.  

Here's a picture of his family drawn this month.  You can definitely see how he sees himself as being  very important, as he is the tallest one in the family and Cody is very small.  Everyone has arms and legs this time around.  This was an improvement in the teacher's eyes of his drawing and perceptive skills. 

 He is ready for kindergarten in the coming year-(not because of these pictures, this was just an interesting tidbit she shared with us.).  We need to continue to help empower him in feeling like he is a big kid and can do many things that his younger brother can't do.  He's going to be in Kindergarten and we have to focus on him being ready to go.  Following instructions and doing things on his own, without expecting someone to do them for him.  The teacher said "Kindergarten is not a nice place like Preschool or Pre-K"...the kids have to be ready to be more independent and self sufficient.  

 The boys played with blowing bubbles on the deck...I think more bubble juice spills out of the container than they blow bubbles with...but they love it while it lasts.

 Cute sleeping pictures

 and cute brothers snuggled together in the rocking chair.  We misplaced Cody's red Cowboy blanket this month.  It was missing for at least a nap and I think one night...which is pretty treacherous.  We found a remnant of the fabric in my collection of fabrics and we gave it to him.  He was so happy to have this small peice of fabric and it seemed that it made up for not having the real thing for awhile.  (Mike ended up finding it under the cushions in the couch.)

 Our nephew, Benjamin Frederick was born this month.  Here's his blanket...His name really blends in with the pattern.  See if you can see it.

 Cody's trying to figure out how to play Decker's Leapster game...

 Here's a cute ladybug Decker made at school.  I love his one green eye, which happens to be Decker's favorite color.

 This little mouse was a creative addition to our family too...made from a walnut shell, one of Grandma Gamble's favorite nuts...

Happy Valentines Day 2013

Decker sewed this Valentine at school...

 At Christmas, I so wanted to make sugar cookies with the kids.  I got these cute chef hats at Olympic College hoping to wear them in cute cookie making photos...sadly we did too many other fun things at Christmas, so we pulled them out on Valentine's Day.  We started out the day with Julia Seinfeld's Pink Pancakes--pancakes made with beets, ricotta cheese and apples...the boys love them!  We also went to the library for story time and some run around time at the park.  It was a great day together!

To finish it off, we made the cookies... Pouring in the ingredients...

 Mixing the ingredients...

 Cookie cutting Hearts...

 Ohhhh, Cody joined us after his nap for some yummy sprinkles and decorating...

 And of course, we had to taste test them...I made 3 different kinds of frosting...1 regular Powdered sugar icing, 1 cream cheese frosting and then 1 chocolate cream cheese frosting...Decker's favorite was the pink powdered sugar frosting.  I loved them all, but thought the cream cheese frostings were worth the extra calories...

 YUM!!!

 Then for dinner...Mike is MY valentine....he looked all over for HEART shaped pasta, and he found this one at World Market!  He amazes me with his determination to do special things for me and our family.  I just hope that I give him as much back as he gives me.

 He surprised me with this beautiful mix of roses and this fun mirror to write love notes on.

I love my BABY!--Yes, that's YOU, MIKE!

January pictures--boring title, I know

Cody is learning to unlock the doors...and he's starting to follow his brother's fashion choices. The only thing missing is the underwear being worn backwards with the picture in the front.  ;)

 January 9th...it snowed...I was in Anchorage, so Mike had to take pictures to convince me, since we haven't had any snow this winter...

 Cody loves to go around saying "Yee hah! Cowboy!"  He was riding his trusty Pardner around the kitchen island like a pro.  Too cute...(see the video)

 He pulled over for a break with Grandma and Decker...

 And when you thought he couldn't get any COOLER....he comes out and says, "I'll be BACK!"

 We finally got all the upstairs windows put in and wrapped.  So proud of Mike and completing this ambitious project...Now the scaffolding gets to move to the back of the house.  ;)

 Okay, this is what happens when I'm not around...the boys do silly modeling shots....so glad they have so much fun!

 This one reminds me of his Halloween alter ego...the JOKER.  ;)

 Then our friends, Heath and Nancy Mason had their baby boy...Meet Liam...Cody loved to hold him and just couldn't get enough.  Cody is such a sweet cuddling soul.

 We all loved getting a chance to hold Liam.  I think Liam liked it too!

 And to finish out the pictures for the month...Mike in his new rain gear.  It will get lots of use!

Happy January!!!

Now to tackle February...