The Rest of January

 

This is the fastest growing plant!!  We think it's a nectarine plant, but we aren't entirely sure.  Kenney had a seed in the fridge to get it ready for planting and we forgot what it was.

The improved growing light for the forest in the dining room.

Radley had the awards program for the UIL Academic competition.  He did awesome individually and the elementary won by a landslide!

100 days of Pre-K!

101 Days of Pre-K

Mackenzie's teacher is so much fun!!  she really got into character!

UIL Awards.  He competed in Chess, maps, graphs & charts, and dictionary skills.

The cereal fortress!

Kenney found a growth predictor.  We don't believe these results, but we'll see.  It is supposed to predict a child's height within 1-2 inches.

Our cute little dalmation!

January

January didn't entail anything exciting or special, but here are a few things that we were up to!  We also started reading The Book of Mormon together as a family.  Kenney and I weren't sure how it would go because we've never read a book of scripture chapter by chapter before with the kids.  It is going so much better than I anticipated.  The kids follow along and read when it's their turn, doing a great job reading.  We discuss what the reading is about and what happened.  It's been a really wonderful experience.  Some days are better than others obviously, and Mackenzie is not really involved.  We also have not really had many complaints or grumblings about doing it. However, I hope we can keep it up!  

Mackenzie built herself a fortress to watch a show

We have had a huge problem with stray dogs all over our house!  Kenney keeps trying to get rid of them, but it's been difficult.

The cottonwood trees that were cut down were not even with the ground so Kenney borrowed a chainsaw and cut them himself.  We didn't realize two of the trees had huge holes in them!

2 down 1 to go!

Taking a break to take the boys shooting with Papa Dude, until the Sheriff's office was called and they had to stop.  Luckily they knew the guy that came out to tell them to stop.

Apparently Radley is a pretty good shot!

3 for 3!  He got them all down.

We have a growing orchard of trees in our dining room.  This is a mango tree.

Kyler said that he wanted a study guide book for this year's Come Follow Me curriculum.  He has been using it consistently and without any prodding from us.  It's really good to see.  

After Christmas & New Year's

We didn't have plans after Christmas this year and hung out around the house while Kenney worked.  Keyan & Kelli along with Kacy & Coby came over to our house for a fun night of pizza and games.  We spend New Year's in Childress with everyone above and the Payne's.  We didn't do too many exciting things, but it was kinda nice to just be home.  However, the kids are ready to go somewhere!

 

Bentley, Kenney, & Kyler all got their eyes checked. 

Bentley has been dying to get her hair cut to her shoulders, and Zadi was nice enough to do it for her.

Jamar came to visit us!

And so did baby Milo!

Damon finished his puzzle he got for Christmas

We spent more time with Milo, and Kacy & Coby for New Year's.

Happy New Years!!

Christmas & Christmas Eve

 

Christmas this year was good.  We spent pretty much the whole day on Christmas Eve in Childress because of church and other Christmas activities.  Christmas day was nice to just be home and have a quiet day.  Rachae and the kids and Nanny came to our house for dinner.  It was a simple dinner but still nice. It's crazy to think these kinds of Christmas mornings are limited in number with the kids growing up!

Christmas Eve at church

We went to the Stingel's house after church while we waited for Nanny & Papa's Christmas Eve celebration.

Notes the girls left for Santa

So many people at Nana & Papa's house. On Christmas Eve we filled Kevin & Kerry's house with even more people for Nanny & Papa's Christmas!

The kids got ready for church in time for us to open their sibling presents since we were going to be gone all day. They enjoy getting things for one another which is always fun for us to see!

Christmas!!