David, Molly, Annika, Benson: January

Esther is becoming more of a daddy's girl :)

So much snow! We've had a good amount of snow on the ground since mid December. The snow drifts make it look even deeper. I have gotten stuck in our driveway a few times because of the drifts. We've had several days with a high below 10 degrees. Our heaters haven't been working very well. We are so grateful for the propane stove downstairs. The wall unit heaters don't seem to kick in until it's above 8 degrees or so. So the kids and I sometimes hangout downstairs by the fire until 11 am when the heaters start working upstairs.

Benson still LOVES to bury daddy and to be buried himself with our plethora of blankets and pillows. David says he doesn't mind either. Benson will probably never have that phobia of being buried alive, thanks to one of his favorite childhood pass times.

Annika and Benson have used their cold weather gear A LOT this winter already. They will go out for a half hour or hour by themselves sometimes. I never go out with them. I stay inside with Esther and she hasn't complained at all about staying in. Daddy does go out to play with them sometimes when he gets home from work and definitely on the weekends.

Go Chiefs!

The kids laid out all of the newspapers that we keep for fires. They wanted to do it again the next day. I decided once was enough. It was quite a display.

Where's Uncle Keenan?? :)

Benson's friend, Blake Baker, moved to Idaho in November. He has talked about him several times. He got this envelope and put some paint brushes and paint in it to send to him. I thought it was so sweet. I didn't mail it, but I did take this picture and send it to his mom.

Family Home Evening on New Year's resolutions.

snuggles with daddy. Esther has been a momma's girl all her life. But she seems to be transitioning to the daddy side. I'm perfectly happy with that. I love the great relationship David has with each of our kids.

David folds more laundry than I do. The kids love it when he folds sorts several loads in one setting. Each of them get in their own basket and he throws their clothes to them. Then he carries each of them to their bedrooms and helps them put their clothes away.

Benson got his hands on some of his 12-24 month socks. #fitlikeaglove

Annika, AKA Party Planner Extraordinaire. This girl has been planning a Groundhog Day (GHD) party and Valentine's Day tea party. She made invitations for the GHD party complete with original GHD jokes and colored GH pasted on the front. She is making a pinata for the GHD party. She also had me print out photo props (mustaches, hats, glasses) so the kids can color them and take pictures at the party. She has a box that she puts all of her party prep items in and she keeps it in her closet. I love watching her create and organize. She is darling!

Esther has been obsessed with the roller skates this month. I put some of Annika's boots in them so they fit Esther's feet better. She can skate without holding someone's hand. But she loves to hold Annika's hand to "help" her. :)

Facetiming and drinking hot cider from a mug. We love our cute Esther bug!

The kids wanted to eat their snack on the living room step. I love how something this small can make them so excited.

Benson put a baby doll in a plastic bag and asked me to tie a knot. He thought this was a good way to keep the baby safe. Should we be concerned? :)

He's been asking me to tie his blanket around his neck so he can be Batman. He sometimes asks me to put on Batman or Star Wars music so he can run around with a kitchen utensil pretending to be a character.

Annika has been creating with the pattern blocks. We need to get them out more. She made this and asked me to take a picture to send to Grandma Kuttler. She and gma K have been writing letters back and forth.

A visit from Papi. Esther is very attached to Papi. The feelings are mutual.

cutie pies in the bath

Annika told me they needed meat so they shot a (teddy) bear and were cooing it. I was a little disturbed, but also proud of her survival skills :)

Karate! Annika started Karate at a place on Main St. She is always reluctant to go out on the mat at the start of class. But by the end, she is going to the car saying "I want to do karate every day!" There are several LDS kids in the class. So far, I'm a fan and I think we'll stick with it at least until spring soccer.

Dress up with Michelle Nygard. These three play great together!

Tyler loves to give Esther hugs. She usually doesn't reciprocate. But his persistence is heart warming.

Debbie and Kevin got this crazy binky for Annika for her first Halloween. Annika and Benson never liked any binkys other than their original size and type they got when they were born. But, Esther has no preference during the day. She has certain ones she likes in bed. But, if she finds a different brand or shape binky during the day, she is perfectly happy to pop it in and walk around the house until I take it away.

One day at lunch time, Benson randomly asked, "will you send a picture to Matt?" So I took this picture of him and sent it to Uncle Matthew. Then I took a short movie of him and all he said in the movie was "you're welcome, Matt." Goofy kid :)

Annika colored that hat and glued it to a popsicle stick. It is one of the photo props she made to bring the the Groundhog Day party. She cracks me up!

Annika came with me for the second year in a row to the Moses Lake ice skating mutual activity. She loved it!

Annika made this "puse puse" for Papi. I just love her creativity!

Our sweet blessings! I finally got this up on the wall and I love the arrangement!

Annika picked out outfits for the kids and wanted me to do a Valentine's Day photo shoot to print photo cards for aunts and uncles (we never ended up printing them). She picked out some cute outfits!

Benson loved the photo shoot so much that we went outside to take a few pictures. He surprises me with the things he enjoys sometimes. He's usually so into sports and super heroes. His desire for a photo shoot threw me off.