Treasures

Through the years, lots of clothes, shoes, toys & more have rotated through our house. I'm a big "throw away-er" & try to get rid of stuff we're not using.

Most of our stuff is disposable...but some of our stuff is treasure.

Stuff that has been used over & over & over again & is filled with lots & lots of happy kid memories.

Here are some of our treasures...

GLASS TINKERBELL
Purchased by Grandma Dorothy at Disneyland. She's broken in 5 places (love my gluegun!) but is still one of Lila's favorite little things to carry around.

 

JUNKY CROCS
These were worn hundreds of times by Baby Will & hundreds of times more by Baby Lila (for a while they both refused to wear anything else!) Lila officially dubbed them her "Junky Crocs".

 

LANZ OF SALZBURG NIGHTGOWN
A gift from my mom in 2006. I thought she was being indulgent by spending $30 on pajamas. 5 years later, it's still Savannah's favorite bedtime outfit. It just gets shorter & shorter on her, turns greyer & greyer in the wash, and has even started to tear at the lace. But Savannah still loves it. I'm sure she's worn it more than 200 times.

 

BLANKIE
A gift from some of our best friends (thank you Dibbs!) to Baby Will. He dragged it around for years & still sleeps with it every night. It's from Pottery Barn & still looks like new, despite all the dragging & washing.

 

GYMBOREE DRESS
I bought this size 2T dress when Savannah was 18 months old.
It's so cute & comfy & it's been a favorite of both Savannah & Lila.
Between the 2 girls, it's been worn too many times to count.

 

BOOLA BOOLA
This tiny rubber penguin (it's about 1/2 inch tall) has been with us since Savannah was a toddler. Rod grew up playing a game called "Boola Boola" where someone hides an object & everyone else searches for it. As the searchers get closer to the hidden object, the hider says "Boola Boola" really loud, and then quieter as the searchers get further away. Somehow, the penguin became our official Boola Boola & somehow we've held onto him for all these years.

 

MINI BOARD BOOKS
When Savannah was 2, my dad took her on a date to Borders. She picked this out herself & it's been a huge hit with all of my toddlers.

 

Looking forward to many more treasures to come!

Flying G Ranch

For years, Savannah has been begging to take horseback riding lessons. She is so enamored with horses (and always has been).

So, I did a bit of research and found the fabulous Flying G Ranch. It's a Christian-based stable out in Waxahachie. They have about 30 horses, most of whom are rescued. The people who run the place are as nice as they come. To my surprise, the drive was a quick door-to-door 30 minutes. Savannah and Dre couldn't possibly have had a better time during their first lesson. The weather was beautiful & they enjoyed 2 full hours of 1-on-1 instruction (at a fabulous price!)

Savannah can hardly wait to go back for more.

Ready to Ride

Grooming Coco before the adventure (with "Ace", one of the instructors)

Savannah in Heaven

Post-lesson fun

Cowgirls Rock! Yee Haw! (Savannah asked me to add that!)

Bulletin Board

I just put up the new Primary bulletin board.
(Little ant children feasting on the scriptures.)

Cute!

 

Shopping Trip!

Since our new job-system implementation, the kids have been working extra hard to fill their piggy banks with money. In addition, Grandma Dorothy sent a little love package including a $5 bill for each of the kids.

They were getting itchy to spend some of their money, so I took them on a shopping trip to Jo-Ann's.

It was so much fun to see how particular they were with their own money. They definitely thought very carefully before making any final purchases.

Savannah spent $9 on a Diva Puppies Kit (complete with paint & lots of accessories), $5 on a marker set, and $1.50 on 3 wooden doo-dads. She had a hard time parting with $17 of her hard-earned money (she likes to save) but was so thrilled to come home & work on her new art projects.

 

Will spent $5 on a set of 10 dragons and $1.50 on a package of chocolate gold coins. I could only find 2 of the dragons. I'm pretty sure he's sleeping with the other 8. Will's pretty much obsessed with plastic animals.

 

Lila spent $3 on this valentine teddy bear.

 

The piggy banks are a little lighter, but the kids are so excited about their new junk (I mean treasures!)

Paleontology

Will's obsession with dinosaurs grows daily, and he often talks about his dream of becoming a paleontologist. Today, he & Rod picked up a little excavation kit. Plastic dinosaur bones buried in compacted sand, complete with digging tool & brush. The kids loved unearthing their T-Rex. (I did not love the dino-sized mess they left behind!)

Preparing for the big dig

Finding the first bones

Acting like dinosaurs

Excavation Complete!

A Little Hamster Song

Child Labor!

I recently introduced the kids to this awesome new job chart...

Each of the kids has a set of 25 job cards.

7 of the jobs are "daily" jobs (brush teeth, make bed, get dressed, etc.)
The rest are "extra" jobs (vacuum, dust, clean bathroom, etc.)

The kids keep track of their accomplishments throughout the day by moving their cards from the "to do" side of the pocket over to the "done" side of the pocket.

Right before bed, we all check the chart.

We pay 5 cents for daily jobs and 10 cents for extra jobs.

It's been 5 days, and the new system is working like MAGIC.

Will & Savannah have both been happily scrubbing toilets, washing windows, vacuuming rugs, brushing their teeth, and collecting their coins!

The chart has turned their jobs into a game and they are loving it.
(And I am loving the extra help!)

The kids are so excited to be earning their own money, and it's giving us a chance to talk with them about saving, spending, investing, tithing, and more.

To make it all the more fun, my mom just sent us 3 of these darling banks:

 

A digital screen on the lid displays the amount of money in the jar.
The kids LOVE them (thanks Grandma!) & they are so fired up about our new system.

Hooray for child labor!

Rainbows

Savannah *still* loves all things rainbow.

So, naturally, she was pretty fired up about her new rainbow sweater dress & rainbow heart light-up boots.

 

Valentine Flowers

Savannah & Jaclyn (thanks!) recently helped me cut out a zillion cardstock hearts.

I attached them to wire with some little beads to make this cute valentine bouquet!

 

Dodge Ball!

For FHE last night, we invited several families out to the church for Dodge Ball.

Of course, we all thoroughly enjoyed being slaughtered!

Running for the balls!

Kids-only version...

Lila, catching some serious air!

Crazy Weekend Weather!

This weekend...
On our sunny Saturday afternoon, Savannah hung out on the driveway.
She wore a swim suit & held a hose in her hand.
(She loves washing the car!)

 

24 hours later...
On our freezing Sunday afternoon, Savannah hung out on the driveway.
She wore a sweater & held a snowball in her hand.

 

Only in Texas!

Will LOVES School

Will is currently enjoying his 3rd year at our nearby preschool.

He goes 5 days a week from 9-12 and he just loves it. He has SUCH an amazing teacher & they do the COOLEST stuff. His teacher even takes the time to regularly e-mail parents pictures from her iphone! So, here's a random sampling of Will at school.

Lila Loves her Hamsties

Grandma Hinze requested more hamster footage, so here it is!

Lila really loves her hamsties.

Despite our efforts to rename her hamster Biskit, Lila insists on calling hers Tommy.

Savannah's Tooth is Loose. It's as Loose as a Goose.

When Savannah woke up this morning, she said, "Mom, you need to write this on the blog...Savannah's tooth is loose. It's as loose as a goose!"

So, I followed her orders!

We were lucky enough to get hold of her teacher from last year, who is legendary for pulling the teeth of kindergarteners. She came over this afternoon & pulled Savannah's loose as a goose tooth!

Before

 

After (Savannah said, "Woah. My smile looks creepy!")

 

And here's the official video!


Coincidentally, the tooth Savannah lost is the same tooth Lila lost about a year ago in her "jumping-out-of-my-highchair" accident.

Since I saved Lila's baby tooth, we were able to compare the 2 teeth & enjoy our girls (who are 4 years apart) with their matching grins!

 

For the record, Savannah thinks it's a total rip-off that she, as the oldest child, was not the first child in our family to lose a tooth!

Needless to say, both girls are fired up about a little visit from the tooth fairy tonight!

Hamster Magic

Prepare to be amazed as you watch Savannah the Great shake not 1...but 3... hamsters our of her magic toilet paper roll! (Special thanks to Biskit, Nibbles & Sneaker for being such good sports!)

Bubbles

Our recent visit to the Science Museum left Savannah obsessed with bubbles

So, we had fun this afternoon mixing our own bubble solution using water, dish soap & glycerin.

Savannah made bubble wands out of pipe cleaners, coat hangers, and even her own hands!