Here are some random photos from the month that I will dump here before the calendar changes to February...
The kids worked very hard this month writing/coloring all of their thank you notes for their Christmas presents. Larkyn colored right along with the big kids :)
Both girls share a love of reading, and mutually love reading together!
I love watching the two of them!
Busy chef Larkyn
I barely got in the door from a women's event at church and I had my favorite littlest in my lap with a pile of books! Love.
Colton with his buddy Brody at sports camp. They have been friends since they were born and I love this pic of them!
The boys sisters playing while their brothers are at sports camp (pictured Addison, Larkyn, and Tenley)
Colton had his district pre-kindergarten screening where they check his height/weight...
hearing, vision, and play all sorts of games to make sure he is on track with his learning (he is :)!) while there is still a year left to do interventions before kindergarten. I am really glad I still get a year and a half with him, though, before he starts kindergarten! Let's not rush it!
Colton did GREAT and was such a sociable, sweet little guy through the whole thing!
I loved my one-on-one time with him and we went out for donuts after :)
Wahoo for Mommy-Colton donut date!
I loved this moment - watching Colton guide Larkyn through one of the tunnels at the zoo. SO stinkin' sweet!
Larkyn will be 19 months on Monday, but instead of doing a full post, I will just include my favorite video of her from this month. She ALL THE TIME will say, "Thank you Mommy", "Thank you Daddy" and " I love you Mommy" etc. I love this little video capturing her voice...and I just love her so so much!
As you all know, each Friday night we have a family night with some sort of theme or activity, in order to be intentional about family time.
For January, our nights were:
Memory Lane
Game Night
Roller Rink Night
Colton Cooks (Colton Spiritual Birthday)
Memory Lane
For our family fun night on New Years Day, we took a trip down memory lane. We hooked up the computer to the TV and looked at old pictures/videos from the blog, taking turns between each kid viewing important milestones. All three kids LOVED it! I did too :).
Game Night
On our second January Family Fun Night, we played Charades for kids, which was the perfect game for ages 5,3,1 and we had so much fun!
Here are some action shots, followed by a short video...
Larkyn was able to participate, as I would whisper a word she knew into her ear (here it was tummy) and tell her to point to it so the others could guess :).
Here is a video of each person acting out one item...
Roller Rink Night
The kids were so excited as they watched this night get closer on our family fun night calendar! We went to Skateville. Larkyn loved watching the lights from in her stroller as she went around the rink. The other two kids improved quite a bit as they practiced throughout the evening and I was so proud of their perseverance! They also especially loved the hotdogs, icees, and mini donuts :).
Here is a video of the "speed" that we skated ;)
And here are some pics...
Colton's 1st Spiritual Birthday/Colton Cooks
We are so blessed to have TWO of our kids trust Jesus as their Savior to date. For both of their spiritual birthdays, the closest family fun night was a chance for them to serve the family and cook for them. Colton had SO much fun with this and literally talked about it for months! We looked at Pinterest together and he chose all new recipes to try: Cinnamon Roll Pancakes, Bacon Egg Muffins, Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Shake, and Berries, with chocolate cake with green frosting for dessert :). He spent a good 2 hours in the kitchen making each item with me and we both loved the one-on-one time. I will say, it was a LOT of work for me letting him cook...we had to dump a batch of eggs after he dumped quite a bit of salt and pepper in them (haha!) and he poured many of our blueberries down the drain trying to dump them in the strainer to wash them! The dishes piled up as we used quite a few to help him do each thing as much as he could, all by himself. HOWEVER, he literally loved every minute and had such a huge smile as he surprised the family with his delicious meal.
We sang to Colton. We also read the blog and watched the videos from the day he chose to follow Jesus (See blog: February 2nd, 2015). Colton and I discussed many times throughout the week the meaning of his spiritual birthday, the importance of what Christ did on the cross, and more. I love these conversations and I love his heart. Here is a quick video of him at dinner explaining his spiritual birthday.
Each spiritual birthday we try to give the kids one small gift that will encourage them to grow in their faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ. This year, for Colton, we chose a book on the armor of God.
He loved looking through it and we read it together before bed. I am so proud of this little guy and I LOVE our daily Bible time together (right after Larkyn goes down for her nap) as we read from a new Bible he got for Christmas (The Action Bible). We are currently in the time of Moses and I am learning right along with him. This is seriously one of the best kids Bibles we have EVER gotten, especially for boys, so if you are looking for a good one, check it out!
We are so proud of you, Colton, and the decision you made to follow Jesus Christ!
Larkyn's headboard...all pink owls, yet featuring "doggie and blankie", her two special lovies.
Over the past month we transformed our nursery into Larkyn's pink owl big girl room. Our nursery has stayed the same, aside from a few minor pink/blue accessory changes, for the past 6 years. Just for fun, for some before pictures, here is the post of the nursery before Summer was born and here is the post of the nursery before Colton was born, and here is the nursery the day it was before we painted it pink.
With each of our kiddos we have transitioned them into their "big kid" twin bed around 18-20 months. Here are posts of when we moved Summer into her big girl room in February 2012 and here is a post of when we moved Colton into his big boy room in January 2014. On January 21st, 2016 it was Larkyn's turn!! Only, instead of moving rooms, hers stayed the same, it just changed looks. Knowing that her room makeover was coming, I put owl theme bedding, accessories, etc on Larkyn's birthday and Christmas lists, so almost her entire room was gifted to her (thanks to our generous family!). This month, we painted her room pink and found furniture on Craigslist, repainted the bed as it had stickers/writing on it, and finally got the decor hung up yesterday. Here is a quick video "around the room" view and are a few pictures...
Bed. I still have plans to hang something over her bed eventually :)
dolly nook
I made up/sewed the valances and love how they turned out!
book/toy shelf and dresser (I still need to get a base for the lamp on her dresser)
To make the bed more "safe" for Larkyn's transition, I wrapped my body pillow in a top sheet to make the corner complete between the guard rails
The body pillow is nicely wedged into the corner so that it really doesn't budge, but provides us with peace of mind that she won't accidentally roll out while she is sleeping.
Larkyn had her first night on Thursday, and has now slept 3 naps and 3 bedtime sleeps in her new bed! She has not tried to get out once, and sits in her bed quietly holding her blankie, fingers in mouth, waiting for us to get her up in the morning/after nap just like she did in her crib. :) She did discover that she can look out the window above her bed today after nap, and enjoyed doing that while waiting for me to come get her up :).
Here is a video of us tucking her in on her first night in her new bed (which she was sooo excited about and totally understood what was happening! She loves saying "owl! owl!" for all the things in her bed and we call her big girl bed her "owl" bed.).
