We're dancing!

Zak and I are taking a ballroom dance class through our city's community ed program. It's an eight week course where we are going to learn four dances; swing, foxtrot, waltz, and cha cha. We had our first class this week where we started learning swing. It was a lot of fun! Kevin is graciously agreed to babysit for us during our classes. We can't wait until our next class!

The kids are doing great as well. Mommy and the kids went to the library again today for the fun classes they offer for young kids. Afterwards, we went to Wendy's for chicken nuggets, hamburgers, and french fries. All the way there (and it was a considerable distance due to long overdue construction) "Where's Wendy's house?" :) "No Lizzy, it's not a person's house, it's a restaurant like 'McDonald's' but it's called 'Wendy's'" "Oh....". Then, once we were seating and getting our food situated, Lizzy started in again, "Wendy can sit right here. Where's Wendy?" and she proceeded to gaze about the room looking for "Wendy". I kept explaining to her, but I still don't think she fully understood. :)

Ervin is growing bigger and more grown-up every day. Each day he walks a little bit steadier, and a little bit further. Every day he spouts out a few new words such as; "twelve" (we are always talking about when the big hand of the clock gets to the clock then it will be time to do a certain thing), "ney" and "moo" (like what horses and cows say), "cheese", "drink", "juice", "milk", "tv", and most importantly "Blue's Clues" (his new favorite show).

Daddy is still working hard a going to school at night. He is still enjoying his classes and his instructors. We miss him while he is gone but can usually wait up for him to come home before going to bed.

Happy New Year

What a whirlwind of holidays!

We had a great New Year's Eve party at our house. We made BBQ pork sandwhiches, which Ervin devoured, then Ervin went down for night-nights. We also had banana splits which Grandma provided. For our New Year's Eve festivities we played fun new games. Zak bought a game at Funfinity called The T-Shirt Game. the object of the game is to choose one of your three Slogan cards that will best match the picture on the T-Shirt card. The Slogan cards are shuffled and the judge picks which card they think best fits the T-Shirt and the person who picked that particular Slogan earns points. It was very fun and crazy! Lots and lots of laughing! We also played Wacky Six, which is a crazy, fast-paced card game! We also played Swipe, which is the dice game Robert got in his Christmas stocking from Santa. You roll dice and with each roll you can get more dice or more chips from the center, the goal is to win the most chips. But also with each roll you can swipe dice or chips from other players. It's a simple game but the tides can change quickly!

And now we're back to our originally scheduled lives. Zak begins school again today. He's taking 3 night classes, each class is one day a week. He is very excited. Ervin was pretty upset to lose his favorite person this morning to go to work, but hopefully mommy can keep him entertained while daddy is away.

Happy Birthday Lizzy!!

It's official! Lizzy is now 4 years old!

We had a special lunch of Lizzy's favorite, chicken nuggets and french fries. Daddy made a special number 4 cake, which Lizzy loved.

Lizzy got a fun new toy called a Honeybee Hop. It's a great little game that has a bee attached to a pole which is attached to the main device. When you push the button, the bee spins around and you try to jump over the pole, or chase down the bee. There are various settings for different skill levels. It plays Flight of the Bumblebee as it spins around and if you get hit by the pole it makes a funny sound and stops spinning.

Lizzy also got a wooden dress-up princess doll. It came with various outfits, hats, and gloves. It will be a lot of fun.

Merry Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas this year! There are lots of pictures so I'll post them as a slide show.

We went down to Great Grandma's house on Christmas Eve with Grandpa and Grandma Stephenson and family. We had fun watching movies and playing with toys and of course, Grandma's stairs. We each opened one present Christmas Eve to find great jammies that Grandma made for us. Ervin and daddy match with green Cars pants and the girls matched in pink shirts and cute froggie pants. Then the kids went down to bed to wait for Santa while mommy and daddy had fun playing cards with Grandma Great and uncle David and uncle Kevin.

Christmas morning came and we found a lot of presents from Santa! He brought sleds and snowsuits with snow boots for the kids. He also brought them CAT imprinted construction hard hats and badges. Daddy was way excited that Santa got him the new Batman movie on Blu-ray. The kids got a remote controlled car and a karaoke machine from Grandpa and Grandma. Grandpa was kind enough to get us some rechargeable batteries and rechargers so we can keep up with the toys. :) Robert also got Ervin some crayons specially designed for little hands and he gave Lizzy some card games. Grandma also gave Ervin a baby doll who has matching Christmas jammies like Ervin and daddy. Mommy and daddy got a digital camera from Grandpa and Grandma and David gave daddy a print server and mommy a WD TV box. Thanks again everyone! We love our gifts!

Then we went home early to avoid the storm which didn't bother us too bad. We sat down to open more presents. Lizzy got a doctor's kit and proceeded to treat us all. She also got some wooden food to go with her kitchen set that she got last year. Ervin got a Fridge Farm which is an animal matching game that sticks to the fridge. He loves to play with the magnets already on the fridge so we thought this musical game would be perfect. He also got jipped on his other toy, a ball popper. It didn't work, so we're sending it back, and a new one is already on the way. Thanks Amazon!

Friday we went over the Grandpa Jay and Grandma Anderson's house to exchange gifts. Ervin got this great toy truck, some books, a game, and some warm jammies. Lizzy got some warm jammies and a game. Grandma also gave the kids a gift card to Gymboree and we're going this week to pick out some new clothes. Daddy got some new church clothes and a portable tool box carrier. Mommy got a Lionhouse cookbook and a gift certificate to the mall. Thanks Grandpa Jay, Grandma Anderson, and Aunt Lindsay!

Wow! A very full Christmas with family but it was very enjoyable! We're so lucky to have our families so close so we can spend time with them during this holiday season. Happy Holidays!

Christmas Lights

Last night we went with Grandpa Jay, Grandma Anderson, and Aunt Lindsay to the festivities at Thanksgiving Point. We were slightly disappointed because there weren't many lights around the grounds to walk around and see and there weren't any animals in the barn to pet. Also, it was too dark to get any pictures of the kids, so maybe my next post will finally have some more pictures.

However, they did have some real reindeer which were fun to look at. Lizzy had fun walking around with Grandma and Lindsay while Ervin was bundled up bouncing around in the wagon pulled by daddy. He even wore his mittens and matching beanie!

Then we drove through the outdoor lights. Ervin and Lizzy loved looking at all of the lights. Ervin was awed to near silence for the entire ride. :) Thanks Grandpa and Grandma!

Also, Zak and I have finally found a Chinese place down here that delivers. The food was pretty good, we got beef with broccoli and sweet and sour pork (our trial food choice when reviewing a new place) and of course cheese wontons. Zak's fortune was about seeking serenity, and to find it with a book and a good friend. Mine was.... hmm... I can't remember. If I remember, or if Zak reminds me, I will let you know. ;) The spare fortune cookie said something about having a talent for writing, and suggesting writing a letter this week.