Skating, Pizza, Swimming and some Rest

We sure had an event filled weekend, all right here in in OB.  Saturday, the girls school united with OB Surf and Skate to bring the Skate for Kids event, with pro skaters involved.  The kids had just scattered after a nice group picture and yours truly just barely missed the nice shot by seconds.  I was lucky enough to accidentally capture my friend Charlotte (blonde hair w/ black hat) front in center in this picture.  Hi Charlotte!   

The kids checked out the skaters, played catch with Ryan and played with their scooters and skateboards during the early afternoon.  While they had their fun, I volunteered my time for the school by selling food under a tent.  At some point, the kids were given these silly skater stickers.  My personal favorite- (not pictured) Supporter of Your Local Black and Blue.

Kierce's skateboard came in handy when attempting to set the camera up for a group shot.   

True dat.

 

The kids had a blast playing with their scooters at the kid friendly area of the skate park.  The video above attests to that.

My friend Jewel and her daughter Cinnamon even dropped by the skate park for some fun.  Jewel was cracking us up while doing a skate tutorial for her daughter.

The video above is Kierce showing me her very special new move :) 

My cousins Lori and Steph gave us a shout later Saturday afternoon wanting to take us to a popular local pizza and brewing place in OB called, Pizza Port.  It was great to spend time with the two of them, and also Steph's niece Natalie!  Thank you for a wonderful time!  ...and of course they wanted to come over to meet the new additions to our family- our three ratties, Machi, C-cow and Star (Rockstar). 

Lori caught a silly picture of Kierce's rat C-Cow eating a large piece of celery while chillin' in my sweater!  

Lori had no fear, at one point she had two rats on her shoulders at one time!

After church on Sunday, we all decided to take a swim.  The weather has been really nice the past week, so it makes it a little less crazy to wear a swimsuit!  I must admit, I only went in the hot tub, and anyone who went in the pool was in and out in a jiffy!

To top the weekend off, Dad and Kierce made time for a little cuddle on the couch.

Merrick's Snip Snip

Merrick now gets the privilege of joining the "I gave myself a haircut as a preschooler" club!  Woot woot!  

He was convinced that his little snip, snip didn't really cut anything.  I think he had a reality check ;)

Here's a better look.  Now when both of the girls cut their hair it was much easier to camouflage!

The girls and I did all kinds of brainstorming to preserve those most white blonde tips, especially because I had just given him a super cute trim earlier that day. This was the only solution we could come up with.

Pretty cute, hair or no hair, isn't that right???

Rain, by Kierce

The second grade class hosted a poetry reading coffee house style this past Friday.  Let me tell you, it was just what I needed to lighten the mood on this particularly hectic Friday morning!  I had no idea how much fun it would be!  These kids were so entertaining!  

It gave me great joy to watch Kierce read her beautiful poem in front of a pretty large room full of people. 

...and of course Merrick was pretty happy with the donuts and juice available for him ;)

This video shares Kierce reading her poem.  I did cut off her reading the title.  oops.

One of the last poems to be read, was by Kierce's best friend Perla.  She was the only student who wrote about her friend.  Of course I wanted to cry.  ...sniff sniff.  I am so glad Kierce has made some really good friendships.  Later I shared with Kierce that good friends can last a lifetime.

Game Testing and Chop Sticks

Jumping jacks, drawing shapes, walking around the table backwards, while blowing kisses and waving.  You name it, and the troops did it while testing out a new game last Saturday that will be on the market very soon!  Our cousin Steph happens to be friends with a game maker, and he needed testers ages 7-9 years young.  

Our neighbor Buddha decided to join in the fun!

Ryan tried to disguise himself as a 9 year old :)

Join in the game fun by watching the video above!

After the silliness came to a close, we walked down to a super thrifty, but very yummy, local sushi restaurant .

The kids surprised us with their amazing coordination with chop sticks and their affection for miso soup.

It was a great day, and a special treat to take the family out on the town, to get our chop sticks on.   

One Glorious Eva Filled Day!

Boy were we all excited when we found out we going to have the privilege of spending the day with little miss Eva!  We started the day off at Merrick's school.  Eva and Merrick had a blast!  She loved playing with the younger siblings, and got so excited when Merrick's class began practicing Valentine songs for their upcoming Valentine concert!  Merrick did a great job of keeping this girl awake on the ride home, so she could take a nice planned nap at our place.  After picking up the girls from school we headed to the beach for some fun!  Merrick insisted on pushing his cousin in her stroller!

There is ALWAYS something interesting going on at the beach!  ...perfect entertainment for a toddler.  She had fun watching two jugglers as they juggled and passed pins back and forth, as well as tightrope walkers to her left, skateboarders, roller skaters, professional hula hoopers, a unicyclist (performing trick on the rock in the above photo) and swarms of different types of birds!

Wow, a posed picture with Eva?  She is one busy girl!  I was lucky to get this super cute snap shot ;)

Yes, your mama is right Eva!  You do love throwing sand everywhere, especially on your head!  We just wanted to keep Daddy on his toes for bath time, isn't that right Eva?

The day came to a close after little, and big, miss sunshine were both stuffed with taco salad, raw crackers, guacamole and raw brownies, and rubbing their eyes.  I think Daddy and everyone else was stuffed too!  Eva, thanks for spending the day with us.  It was the best day ever!  Oh, and thanks for all of your help preparing dinner in the kitchen!  I forgot how nice it is to have a toddler hanging out with me at my feet while getting dinner prepped! 

The world is as many times new as there are children in our lives.  ~Robert Brault

Rowan as a Math Ambassador

Rowan and her friend Seven were asked to be a math ambassador for their schools family math night.  Based on their "math smarts" they were each selected to run a station, and they had a blast being a part of this wonderful event!  Rowan is definitely a math smartie, just like her Daddy.  I loved seeing her in her element!  Here they are cleaning up after a room full of families had already cleared out.  

Merrick and Kierce both absolutely loved the planned activities, which were geared toward 1st and 2nd graders.  Who knew math could be so fun!  It was really nice to gather together with other families after school hours.  It felt like a normal thing to do, and we welcome "normal" after such a big move.  Rowan has one more night of being a math ambassador next week for the 3rd and 4th graders.  We are lucky to be  part of a positive school family.

Sunny, Sunny Holiday

Ryan and I had a great time at his company Christmas party!  

Although Christmas wasn't all cold, white and BIG, we really enjoyed each other!  It was a different type of big.  Since part of the kids gift from us went toward tickets to fly to Michigan (per their choice) in February, Christmas wasn't quite as large as usual.  I was so happy to see how grateful the kids were after opening a few gifts, having no idea that their last gift was sitting over at our good friend (Auntie) Abigail's apartment.  They played with gifts from family and other gifts for a while before I reminded them that they had one last small surprise to check out. 

Above is the video of the kids checking out their final Christmas gift from us!



This video above is pretty entertaining, considering Ryan's reaction to this surprise :)  He left the decision up to me regarding what type of pet we would get for the kids .  He was especially surprised because I had given him the impression that I changed my mind about getting the kids a pet.  Rest assured he is falling in love with these lovely creatures right along with the rest of us!

Initially I bought only two rats.  However, Kierce ended up latching onto the blue rat and named him Cacow, and Rowan fell in love with the dumbo rat (who's ears stick out to the sides) and named him Machi.  Now, considering the fact that Merrick was the main reason for seeking a pet (he has been desperately missing our dog Buddy), you can see this situation was in need of a remedy.  Yes, we made one last trip to the pet store a couple days later to let Merrick pick out his own rattie, whom he named Star (not pictured), short for Rock Star.  It's really precious to see all of the love and care the kids have been pouring out toward their little babies.  They are all super sweet little things.  You should hear Merrick talk to Star in the sweetest high pitch baby talk voice.  He carries him around using the football hold.  Priceless!

Later Christmas day, we went to Dana and Brooke's house for a Christmas celebration!  Our good friend Aunt Paulette (Uncle Bo sadly was home sick), Lori, Steph and Steph's Mom and Brother all came as well!  The kids had a blast doing a fun scavenger hunt that their Aunt Brooke planned for them!  

We introduced the fun gift exchange game to the family!  This is the game where its OK to steal and scheme!  It was fun, but maybe next year it will get a little more rough.  They eased themselves in this year with only a couple pretty passive steals ;)  Here Eva is modeling on one of our gifts we landed, a beach mat! 

Some cuddle time with Aunt Brooke!

Some cuddle time with cousin Lori!

                 

Since Dana and Brooke had a gorgeous tree all decked out, we just had to take a moment to capture a family photo in front of the beast!  Our tree came in at a modest 2.5 feet this year, so we were all over this massive opportunity!  We had such a nice time relaxing, conversing and dining with family.  This entire year has been a completely new experience, especially this holiday.  Its (almost) all new, all good, amd exactly what God wants for us in this moment in time.  Traditions- some old, a lot new and they will both live happily side by side.