Sharing is Caring

Saturday afternoon Grandma Burkhardt came over to make lots of Christmas goodies with the boys to share with our neighbors. Carter and Jordan had lots of fun pouring and mixing the ingredients for Chex Mix, rolling the peanut butter into balls for Buckeyes, and shaking up the bags full of powdered sugar for Puppy Chow. Grandma B is so good with them, even when they are super wound up.

Carter thinks Christmas is all about getting presents, so we had to remind him about the birth of Jesus and that it is much better to give than to receive. We passed out several Christmas tins to our neighbors and I think the joy on their faces taught Carter that sharing is caring. ;)

Jordan making a snow angel today after church

Our boys and the neighbor boys sledding down our hill

Jordan's red face after playing in the snow! Looks painful, but he was fine. And yes, he did have a hat and scarf when he was out there.

Let's Go Komets!

On Tuesday night when I got home from work, I opened Carter's school folder and there was a note inside from the teacher that said his school was having a Komet Hockey night this Friday. They were providing tickets for each family that attended the school. So Nik and I took just Carter. The last time we went, we brought Jordan along and he was bored and whined a bit too much.

The Komets played the Bloomington Prairiethunder. The Komets were down 2 to 0 towards the end of the third period and we were a bit bored. It just seemed as though both teams were tired and it wasn't very exciting. But finally we scored! And then shortly after that we scored again. Pretty soon it was tied 3 to 3. But then in the last period, we were down 5 to 3 suddenly. We actually left before the game was over, so I don't even know who won. LOL...

At the end of the second period, Carter noticed one of his classmates named Quinten sitting a couple rows up to our right. He was pretty excited to see him and the two of them hung out the rest of the time. And right behind us was another kindergartener from a different class. His name was Malachi. They were all pretty crazy as you will see when I post a video later on....

It was a pretty fun game overall. Carter was most happy to see his classmate though.

Quinten and Carter

Silly Faces

Carter, Quinten and Malachi

Let's Go Komets!!

So leave a peppermint stick for ol' St. Nick....

Yesterday we spent the majority of our day getting out the Christmas tree and putting up the decorations. It was also Nik's mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Grandma B!!

And today Nik got the outside lights up. Everything looks wonderful. I am glad it's finally all done!! The stockings above the fireplace look so great. Nik's grandma Baker has incredibly knitted one for all her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren!!! I was pretty excited when Nik brought home one for Judah this weekend! Such a wonderful keepsake!! It was a great 4 day weekend. I don't want to go back to work tomorrow at all. Ugh.... Looking forward to my Christmas break!

Isn't he just the sweetest!

This was the best picture I could get out of the them.

Proud of their own stockings!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

The tree. Thanks to Grandma Hose for the wonderful tree skirt. The kids love it!!

The outside lights. Nik did a great job!

I Pledge Allegiance

Thanksgiving was great this year. We usually go to Kendallville for lunch at Nik's Aunt Charnas, but this year we were blessed to be able to spend it with his Grandma Burkhardt, who recently moved to Ohio from Florida. She said she missed her home in Florida, but is so happy to be spending time with family. And we have to agree. :) We had an amazing lunch and the kids enjoyed a game of Garbage (cards) afterwards.

For supper we went to my brother Brian's house. The food was wonderful. And the kids are getting big enough that all the adults were actually able to get a game of cards in. It was a nice relaxing evening.

Carter's indian costume he made at school for Thanksgiving. Boy did this bring back Kindergarten memories for me!! I remember making a pilgrim outfit and I have a picture with my principal in the yearbook from it too. I also loved that on Carter's headdress they used real feathers. It is so cute.

Judah getting so big. He is 4 months already!

My sleeping little buddy. I just love him so much!

Carter reciting the Pledge of Allegiance from School and the "School Pledge" (If only he really applied it at school and home like it says!) Also, January 5th is not his birthday. He knows his birth date. What a goofball.

Jordan just learned Deep and Wide at church last week. He gets a little confused on the motions and actually changes the lyrics midway through. LOL!

Halloween

Carter dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Carribean for trick or treat at his school.

Trick or treating was a lot of fun. The weather was a bit chilly, but perfect for walking around. Once again our neighbor Tom played a fun halloween soundtrack cd with his very loud speakers set up outside, including smoke and lots of cobb webs. But once again, Jordan was crying and wouldn't step outside due to the scary sounds. Tom offered to turn it down, but I said no way, it would spoil it for everyone else. Jordan ended up hanging out inside our house with Nik and Judah, while I walked with Carter and some of our neighbors up and down our street.

We didn't hand out candy this year, but we contributed a couple bags to Tom's pile. He said he handed out candy to 500 trick or treaters before he ran out. Crazy once again! I think next year I will take the boys to my brother's neighborhood like we did last year so that Jordan won't be so upset over the music. I was surprised though at the awesome stash that Carter ended up with. And lucky for me, he doesnt' like anything with chocolate or peanut butter in it, so load me up!

Our neighbors, Emma and Josh with Carter and Jordan after trick or treating.

Judah's 3 Month Pics

Last week I took Judah for his 3 month pics. He was pretty boring/fussy for the main part of the session, but the last 5 minutes we managed to get a few smiles out of him. I can't wait until his personality really shines! But these will do for now. ;)

Beautiful Savannah

Most of you saw these pictures on Facebook, but I needed to get around to posting them on here. I haven't done a photo shoot with Savannah since 2008, so it was way past time. We went to a couple locations in downtown Fort Wayne to take the pics. It was fun and she is naturally photogenic that it made my job super fun and easy. Isn't she beautiful! Such a little model. ;)

Getting over the school blues....

Carter is doing very well in Kindergarten. They have been learning how to spell the words red, blue, green, and yellow. They memorize a different song to go with each color to help them remember how to spell it. They have different math stations where they practice counting their numbers by 2's, 5's, and 10's. They have 10 minutes of homework each night of the week except on Fridays. Carter doesn't always like doing his homework, but he has no trouble with understanding each assignment. He does need to work on writing him name more neatly though. But he has come a long way!

He got in trouble the first week of school for talking too much. I had a note sent home from his teacher, and I informed her that we would be working on that problem. Each time he comes home, he brings home a folder in his book bag. On each side of the inside of the folder are different compartments. One side says Bring Back to School and the other says Keep At Home. I really love this because I can communicate easily with the teacher if I have a question or concern.

Carter said he doesn't like art class very much, which surprises me because Nik is very good at drawing, I am not so much. Carter said he likes gym though. He said they ran "25 miles" the other day. I said, wow, you must have been tired! LOL... There have been several mornings that he has woke up and said that he doesn't want to go to school. He said the days are long and boring. He even told us that he cried each morning on the bus, which broke my heart and made me cry a bit as well. But we have been praying with him and encouraging him, and the last few days at school have been much better.

I think it will just take some time to get use to. He was never in pre-school and he is enduring a full day of Kindergarten now, so this is quite the change for him. I also think he isn't use to being quiet, so getting in trouble was probably a hard thing to deal with at first. His teacher said that he is doing much better though. And he told us he isn't going to cry anymore on the bus.

Speaking of bus, we were on our way to church Sunday morning, and we stopped at a red light. While we were waiting for it to change, Carter said, "Hey, that pole says BUS." I looked over at it, and sure enough it did. I was so proud of him!! My little boy is growing up. ;)

Chalkboard Wall

I have always wanted to put a chalkboard wall somewhere in my house ever since I saw my friend Abbie paint a big wall in her kitchen. I thought it would be great to be able to put little reminders, a grocery list, a honey-do list, and also for the kids to be creative and have fun with it. Well, I went and bought some chalkboard paint earlier this week at Wal-Mart. It is very stinky paint and it is very hard to get off your hands, but it was fun to do. I picked a wall that is sort of hidden and wouldn't look so out of place in our kitchen. It faces our back wall and is by the back door. So I will pass by it probably every day as I leave for work. The kids had fun with it tonight and drew lots of crazy things. Nik even added his artistry to it. We love it!

Life with a baby again...

It's hard to believe that it has been 4 1/2 years since we have had a newborn in our house. And now that newborn is already 7 weeks old. Judah is such a good baby. He still sleeps a lot during the day, and is getting up several times during the night, but just last night he slept for 4 hours straight, so we're making progress. I have been nursing him with no trouble, except that my eating habits haven't exactly been agreeing with him. I eat a LOT of dairy, and I guess that is something that causes babies to be extra gassy. It seems like every other time I nurse him he is cramping up his legs and is whincing in pain. I tried giving him formula a few times, and he adjusted very well, so instead of seeing him in so much pain, I think it would be best to do the switch.

So today is Day 1 of him being weaned off from me completely. And let me tell you, I am in a bit of PAIN right now. I should be better by the end of this week I think. I am thinking of getting the cabbage leaves for some comfort, but I never did before, so I can probably deal with it.... Just don't give me a hug for a while if you know what's good for ya.

I believe Judah is around 10 pounds now. He is growing like a weed. I am sad that he quickly outgrew his adorable newborn clothes, but there are so many more I can't wait for him to fit into. I love him so much. I never cared much for the baby stage, and was always looking forward to the toddler stage, but I really hope this time it doesn't go by so quickly. He will always be our baby boy.

First Day of School

Well today was the big day! Carter was up and at em' at 7:30 this morning ready for breakfast. We got his shower done and his new uniform on and were ready to go. When we got to the school everyone was standing outside and the buses were all lined up. No one could go in until the first bell rang at 8:45. We headed inside and I told Carter to pay attention to where we were walking so that he knew how to get to his classroom tomorrow since he would be riding the bus. It scares me a little cuz it was so chaotic going inside with everyone at the same time. I hope he knows where to go, but there are plenty of teachers around incase he gets lost.

Once we got to his classroom, he went to the coat closet to hang up his back pack and immediately found his name of where to hang it. Next he found his place at one of the tables. There was a box of crayons with his name on them at his spot. I took his picture, gave him a smooch, and headed out the door. He was so proud and wasn't nervous one bit. As I passed the little window to his classroom, he gave me a happy little wave goodbye. I was so proud. :)

I can hardly wait for him to get home later today and see how the day went!!

Carter at his table sitting by a little girl named Shontavia.

Carter Meets his Kindergarten Teacher

Wednesday night Carter and I went to his school to meet his teacher. She was very nice and I think he is going to like her alot. I am so happy he ended up at this school. I am very nervous and excited about this Monday. I will be so anxious until he gets home after school.

Finding his name outside his classroom.

Carter and his teacher Miss Connor