arena racing

Our neighbors invited us to go to an arena race tonight to see their daughter sing the Nation Anthem with her chorus.  Of course we wanted to support her and Bryce and Jason LOVE arena racing.  Emmy and I have never been, but we decided to make it a family affair.  Bryce wore his headphones for a little while and then he decided he was good without him.  My pictures stink, but he loved sitting next to his buddy, Will.

 

 

Emmy was very serious as things got started, but she had a blast.  She never even put on her headphones and she talked and danced the whole time.  And she was super excited to sit beside Mady after she sang.

 

Emmy insisted on pink cotton candy.  She ate two bites and then Bryce ate it for her.  He was a mess, but it sure was good!

 

The kids ended up in Jason's lap for the last race.  This was the best shot I got! 

 

Thanks Jacksons!  We had a great time!

a great report card

Bryce got his second report card today and it was PERFECT!!  He loves school and he's doing so well.  Jason asked him what he thought he should get for a treat for a great report and he immediately said "ice cream".  We have been out for ice cream SO much recently so I suggested a toy and he was all over that idea!  He chose Legos, of course!

 

 

Bryce has mastered all concepts assessed this nine weeks!!

 

He's also succeeding in all areas as well as above grade level in reading.  I'm so excited about his reading.  I did not enjoy reading as a child and it was my least favorite subject to teach, but it's so important and I'm so glad he's doing so well.

 

We love his teacher too and we're so glad she loves him as much as we do!

 

Great job, Bryceman!

one school one book

I may have already mentioned this before, but Bryce's school is doing a school wide book club (one school one book) and families have assigned chapters to read each night.  We have really been enjoying the book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

 

 

We read chapters 19 and 20 tonight.  Chapter 19 just so happened to be about a yummy candy actually made by Wonka candy company, Everlasting Gobstoppers!

 

Bryce was super excited about this fun treat to go along with the book.

 

I stocked up on the yummy goodness and delivered them (Bryce was only there for one transaction because he was at home entertaining friends who were over).

 

First up was best friend and classmate, Thomas and his sister Gracie.  They were quite surprised to see me and were excited to see how it tied into the reading since they hadn't read yet!

 

Barbara sent me this picture later!

 

Thank you Grace Boone Whitlock, I let the kids suck on theirs when we got to the part where they come out of the shoot. They loved them--a nice surprise & great tie-in.

Next up were Jason's cousin's kids, Hannah and Sarah.  Sarah is also in Bryce's class!

 

Last stop was our neighbor, Will. 

 

Bryce even has a box in his backpack to take to his teacher tomorrow!  Maybe she'll even share them with the class!!

wild game night

We used to host wild game night at our old house every now and then and some how we got to talking with our neighbors about the meat everyone had in their freezer and decided it was time to start up the tradition again. 

 

 

Jason had deer, duck and a few frog legs and the neighbors had elk steaks.  It was a feast y'all. 

 

We sure do love hosting our neighbors who we definitely call friends!!

 

The ladies of Windsor, ha!

 

I'm pretty sure Bryce brings out the wig every time they're over.

 

Emmy cracks me up in this picture with her BFF, Mady!

 

Jason was showing off his homemade snake skin tie!  He killed said snake the day before our wedding.  Why he still has this after 11 years you ask, because he's Jason.  How do you like his new sweater he just bought?!?  So him, right!!

 

 

Courtney is our designated group photographer so I stole these pictures from her Facebook.  Thanks, Courtney! 

another snow day

We had friends coming over last night so I needed to get the playroom picked up so it could actually be played in.  The kids used to be really good about cleaning up after themselves, but I'm kind of lazy when we're done playing and don't always require them to clean up.  But it was definitely time to clean up!

 

 

Bryce is very into crafting right now so there are always paper scraps, scissors and glue laying out on the floor.

 

I only managed to part with a few things, but with a little rearranging, I was able to create Bryce an art station that will hopefully eliminate such a mess on the floor.

 

It snowed yesterday (not enough to even to play in at our house) and Bryce was home from school.  This made cleaning a bit harder because the kids were pulling things out as fast as I put them away.  It took me all day, but it's so nice when it's clean!

 

The kids are pretty excited about their birthday's coming up next month.  Bryce is looking forward to the birthday hat he will get to wear at school on his birthday, so he and Emmy made their own to wear at home!

 

I told Emmy she didn't have to take a nap yesterday, but clearly she still needs one.  She fell asleep playing in the hall with a ring pop in her mouth.  When I found her, she had a puddle of pink drool under her cheek.

 

She's currently in her bed taking a real nap today!

I want to get back to blogging everyday

For all my faithful readers who are used to me blogging more often, I'm going to try and get back to that!  This post is a glimpse into our Monday this week.  It was a busy morning and Emmy did a great job entertaining herself.  She helped me bake brownies and cookies, but she got bored while they cooked and I cleaned up.  She quickly found a way to entertain herself.  She is obsessed with the kitchen rags and towels and uses them for a new purpose everyday.  Recently she stands on them and they are her stage.  On Monday, she was more interested in the cabinet than the towels and rags in it so she stashed them "out of the way" so she could play.

 

 

The cabinet made perfect bunk beds for her babies.  She had toys in there at one point so "they could play when they woke up from their nap".

 

After our busy morning of baking, we delivered the goodies to Bryce's school for a meeting later that night and then stuck around for lunch!

 

I am so excited how our downstairs has come along as I've been brave enough to actually decorate and GASP, put holes in the walls!!  I found this fun chalkboard frame at World Market and knew I wanted to use it for a menu board in the kitchen.  I agonized over writing the word "menu" and the days of the week letters.  I think they turned out pretty well though.  I wrote them with my chalk pen because I don't plan to erase them.  The pen doesn't always erase well, so I used regular chalk to write the meals.  Let's just say, my handwriting needs some work, but I blame it on the cheap Roseart chalk I bought!

 

Thanks for continuing to come back and read here even though I have let way too much time pass between recent posts!

weekend fun

The kids planned a sleepover in Bryce's room for Friday night and looked forward to it all week.  It didn't go exactly as well as they/we hoped!!  Bryce came down about five times complaining about Emmy keeping him up and blah, blah, blah.  I finally laid with them until they went to sleep.  Emmy ended up coming in our room at 5:30 to go to the bathroom, which woke Bryce up, and neither of them went back to sleep.  Needless to say, Saturday was an early and long day!

 

 

Emmy was back asleep in my bed by 9!

 

After lunch, Emmy was back asleep on the sofa.

 

Even Bryce (who never takes naps anymore) fell asleep on the sofa.  They're already asking for another sleepover.  I said maybe next year we'll try again, ha!

 

After spending all day Saturday (and all winter for that matter) inside, we decided we would get out on Sunday since it was going to be warmer.  We made a full day of it!  We went to church, had lunch with Jason's family, went to his grandma's house for a little birthday celebration for his uncle, and then headed into the city for a little adventure.  We took the kids to Belle Isle for a little hiking and rock hopping. 

 

The kids were thrilled that Chase and Taylor met us there!

 

Bryce even did a little rock climbing. 

 

This excursion was Jason's idea and he led the way to all the fun.  The kids LOVED it!

 

Kelly and Taylor didn't join us on the rock hoping adventure, but you better believe Emmy wasn't going to be left out!

 

We're already talking about going back this summer when the water is warm.

 

Both girls hitched a ride in Emmy's stroller on the walk back.

 

They enjoyed the foot bridge on and off the island.

 

Best friends!

 

We worked up quite an appetite so we headed to Outback for dinner afterwards. 

 

We decided to go to Sweet Frog for dessert since we were having so much fun and weren't ready for our family fun day to end!

 

Yesterday was good for the soul.  I enjoyed every second of it!

hibernation mode

It's a good thing I didn't make any resolutions to be a better blogger or photographer this year.  My picture taking has been severely lacking as well as my blogging!  I may have mentioned it a few times, but I am NOT a cold weather person.  I don't like winter clothes.  I'm so uncomfortable in layers.  I'm lazy when I'm cold.  I eat when I'm cold.  And the list goes on!!  But here I am just to pop in for a minute!

 

Last Sunday night the kids spent the night at Jason's parent's house since Monday was a holiday so we enjoyed an evening of football watching with our neighbors.  Jason won "neighbor of the year" when he showed up at their house with a selfie stick that their daughter had been searching all over for.  Clearly, it was a big hit!

 

I've really enjoyed getting to know Courtney and hanging out with her family. 

 

Bryce's school is doing a school wide book club (one school, one book) and they are reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Each day they have a trivia question about the book.  Bryce won on Friday, but we picked him up from school early so he didn't get to claim his prize until Tuesday.  It was worth the wait!  I sent in his picture and he made the website the school made for the book club.  You can check it out HERE.

 

 

Tuesday was a special day for someone else in the Whitlock house.  It was Macy's 9th birthday.  Jason captured this picture of our sweet girl and her silly ears on her birthday. 

 

 

Bryce drew a picture of Macy today and he totally nailed the ears, ha!

 

 

 

Here's a little throwback to the day we brought her home. 

 

 

She didn't even weigh two pounds!

 

TG(tomorrow)IF!!