We spent most of spring break doing fixer-upper projects around the house, but Friday we went to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens to see the butterflies. The atrium was full of different species of Asian butterflies. They gave each of the kids a pamphlet of the most common butterflies so they could try to identify the butterflies they saw.

Outside, we found a nice patch of soft green grass to roll around on.

1/4/14 Raine’s first selfie (I found this little gem on the point-n-shoot camera that I hardly ever download)

10/18/13
Raine, coming into my room: “Mom, look what I found outside.”
Me: “Ew, gross!”
Raine: “Why? What is it?”
Me: “It’s a grasshopper leg.”
Raine, resisting the urge to drop it on the floor and move away: “Oh.”
She took it out back and in all seriousness yelled: “Carter, look for a grasshopper, okay. We need to give him his leg back.”

1/9/14 Bubble bath

10/19/13
Me to DJ as we were driving out of a parking lot near a construction zone: “There is a barricade at the end of the road so you will have to go out that way.”
Carter, from the backseat: “Where is a bear cage?”
Me, completely confused: “Huh? Bear cage? What are you talking about? . . . Oh! I said barricade, not bear cage!”
Carter, disappointed: “Oh.”

2/11/14 Playing horse

11/7/13
Raine, as we drove down the road after dark: “There’s the moon. It is only a little moon. Do you know why the moon changes shapes?”
Me, preparing to explain the mysteries of the universe: “Well, it’s because . . .”
Raine cutting me off (apparently it was a rhetorical question, meant only to lead into her explanation): “It is because the moon is full of magic glowy stuff and the glowy stuff changes shape inside the moon and that shows through and makes the moon look different shapes.”
My explanation seemed so dull and boring after that one, so I just said “Oh! I see.”

2/10/14 Raine, after the daddy-daughter valentine’s date

11/29/13
Raine, describing a card she wants to make: “… and then we’ll open it up and write in curses on the inside.”
Me, feigning shock (knowing that she really meant ‘cursive’): “We’ll write in curses on the inside?!!!”
Raine: “Yeah, we’ll write in curses so nobody can understand it!”

2/6/14 Carter was so excited to play in the snow that he drug me out there at 8:00 a.m. so he could throw snowballs at me.

12/15/13
Each year our Stake puts on a Christmas concert featuring a choir and full orchestra. We were there, seated in the last row of the chapel, as the tubas walked in. Carter’s eyes got real wide as he excitedly yelled: “Look at those BIG whistles!”

2/6/14 Captain America

12/30/13
Carter: “When I grow up, I’m going to be a BIG Superman!”
Mom: “Oh, yeah? You’ll be a good Superman.”
Carter: “Mom, when I’m a big Superman will you fly around with me and help me bam the bad guys?”
Mom: “Yeah, I would love to fly around with you getting the bad guys.”
Melted my heart!

2/15/14 Superman

1/8/14
Carter, running around in his Batman cape, itching his back-end: “Batman has an itchy bum.”
Daddy: “Oh yeah? Do you need to go wipe your bum?”
Carter coming out of the bathroom with his pants around his ankles: “Umm, Batman needs to change his underpants… he has a little skid-mark.”

2/10/14 Carter wanted to push his super heroes around the track on matchbox cars, but kept getting frustrated when they would fall off, so we rubber-banded them to the tops!

2/13/14
Raine: “I know about the food pyramid.”
Me: “Oh yeah? What’s on the food pyramid?”
Raine: “Good foods . . . like sugar.”

2/8/14 My birthday party at Rebounderz!

1/16/14 Monkey-bar injury

Raine has been learning all sorts of new things at school, including the monkey bars. She had been begging me to watch her do the monkey bars for months before we finally had the opportunity. As you can see, the pressure was just too much and it didn’t end well.

The only reason that I have a photo of the aftermath is because Raine wanted to see the scrapes. I didn’t have a mirror, so I took a photo to show her. We’ve decided that she should stay off the monkey bars for a while!

1/25/14 Artist

Raine still loves to create. She started Art Club at school and absolutely loves it. They meet after school on Wednesdays for eight weeks between January and March.

1/27-31/14 Star Student

Here is Raine with her poster for the week that she was the Star Student.

1/29/14 101 Dalmatian day (101st day of school)

1/31/14 Glasses

January 21 Raine had her eye exam to determine why her right eye was only seeing 20/70. The exam took FOREVER! It is no simple task to evaluate a fidgety five year old who doesn’t really understand what you’re asking when you say, “which looks better?” We had to go back to the initial evaluation room a second time so they could re-measure her eyes. It was comical. Raine wanted to look everywhere except at the little red light in the middle. The technician must have taken at least 25 photos of each eye.

By the time the doctor had settled on a prescription to correct the astigmatism, Raine was beyond ready to go to school. I tried to get her to look at frames, but she just pulled them off and threw them back at me. I knew there was no point, so I took her to school and said we would come back later.

Her glasses came in a couple weeks later but she was NOT excited about it. She wouldn’t even put them on so I could take a photo to send to Daddy.

It wasn’t anything that Baskin Robbins couldn’t fix though!

Getting her to wear the glasses at school has taken similar bribery. The problem is that she can see just fine without them. She doesn’t see the difference because they are only correcting one eye. Hopefully it will eventually become a habit, at least at school.

2/10/14 Father Daughter Valentine Banquet

Raine was extremely excited about this date with Dad. The school hosted it at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens.

We asked Rashae Staheli to do Raine’s hair — she is one of those super-talented moms whose little girls come to playgroups at the park with intricate up-dos. Raine was starting to rethink the value of a cute hair-do after she had been sitting on a hard stool for an hour . . .

. . . but she loved the end result and decided it was worth it!

Raine loved getting flowers, too. She wasn’t as excited about wearing them, she just loved getting them!

This was the best photo that I got of them before they left. I figured that they would take a photo at the event, but Raine didn’t want to so this is all we have.

2/14/14 Valentine box

Before I get into Carter’s days as a superhero, I wanted to post this photo from his first day in Primary. He’s a Sunbeam!

Carter loves his teacher, Sister McCallister; she brings “loopty loops” (fruit loops) for them when they behave. Of course he’s an absolute angel in there — our kids always are . . . at church. That reminds me of something that happened the other day: Carter and I were out with a couple friends and Carter started throwing a fit because I didn’t do something exactly like he wanted me to. As I worked through his little melt-down, one of the other moms started laughing and said, “I’m so glad to see that your kids throw fits too!” I understand that other people only see our kids at church and think that they act like that all the time, but if you spend enough time with us, you will see AMPLE evidence that that just isn’t the case! But still, I appreciate the compliment. It’s nice to know that for three hours every Sunday I look like I have it all together!

Alright, on to Carter’s superhero obsession. It started back in December with Superman. He would wear one of his two superman t-shirts, along with his cape, EVERYWHERE we went! Everywhere except school and church. I talked him out of wearing it to those two places by reminding him that superheroes needed to keep their identity secret. So like Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent, Carter goes to school as just plain old Carter. Granted, he still wears his superhero shirts, just not the capes.

Around the beginning of the year, he got into Batman. One Saturday night he was talking about Batman non-stop. So after his bath, I pulled up a classic Batman episode from the 1960’s and let him watch it. That was it, he was hooked! After church on Sunday he begged me relentlessly to make him a Batman cape. I kept telling him that I couldn’t make one right then, until finally, inspiration struck! I pulled out an old black tank-top and tied a cord through the shoulders to make a cape. I wasn’t sure how he was going to respond to my make-shift cape, but he LOVED it! He wore it all that day and the next morning.

Here is a video of Carter running around in his Batman cape.

First thing Monday morning, Carter and I headed down to the craft store so we could make him a REAL Batman cape! For under $5 we had a good looking cape and t-shirt.

Just for the record, Carter was playing with baby dolls the entire time I sewed his cape. At some point, in complete exasperation, I found myself saying, “Carter, do you want me to make you a Batman cape? Or put diapers on your babies? Because I can’t do both!” He chose the cape!

Raine needed in on the fun when she got home from school, so she whipped up this Batgirl outfit for herself using one of the logos that I had printed.

1/12/14 – Every superhero needs to learn how to fly!

1/13/14 – Superhero at the children’s museum.

1/29/14 – He kept trying to convince me to make a Batman mask for him that went over his head, but I assured him that that was way out of my league. One day he found this cardboard mask, left over from a RS activity; once he got it decorated, it was perfect for him!

1/31/14 – Superhero at the stock show petting zoo.

You know it’s a superhero-sized corn dog when you have to fully extend your arms to get it into your mouth!

Yes, it’s been a good month for this little superhero!

1/18/14 – Stock Show Parade

1/20/14 – Stock Show

I’m not sure why, but I never seem to take any photos of my parents when they are here. Either they’re really good at avoiding the camera, or I subconsciously think that I’ve seen them my whole life so I don’t need another photo . . . I don’t know, but it always seems to happen. Well, we sure had fun with them, even if we don’t have the photos to prove it!

We did absolutely NOTHING the week between Christmas and New Year. It was spectacular!

New Year’s Eve we finally made it out to look at Christmas lights! Not everyone had their lights on in Interlochen, but there were enough to make it worth our time.

On New Year’s Day, we decided to see the movie Frozen at the theater. I bought the tickets online and despite my best efforts to hustle us up there on time . . . DJ ended up on the phone with some lost soul who needed saving, and we missed our show. Fortunately, we were able to exchange the tickets for a later time. While we waited, we drove up to Central Market and had a late lunch.

This was the kids’ first movie theater experience, and they LOVED it. (Especially since we came prepared with earphones!) We went to the Colleyville Cinema Grille where they have a full menu and super comfortable chairs. We aren’t big movie people, but if you are going to watch one, this is the way to do it!

Raine’s nativity drawing

Christmas was extremely basic this year. Four months ago, our lives were really thrown out of balance and we are still trying to find a new normal. I feel like I’m always behind, that I can’t catch up, and I am exhausted from trying! DJ has always done a lot around our house and it has been a hard adjustment to have him around only half as much as he used to be. It has also been a big adjustment for me to have a kindergartner. I can’t quite put my finger on what exactly is sucking up all my time — I always thought I would have more time when the kids started school full time, but it is definitely not working out that way.

Because of all this discombobulation: we only got about half of our Christmas decorations put up; we didn’t go anywhere or do anything special; presents were minimal; we didn’t take around plates of goodies to our neighbors; we didn’t get out to look at Christmas lights; and the list goes on. We took care of the things that absolutely had to be taken care of and the few “extras” we managed to eek out were just a bonus.

Christmas day was a blessed day of family time . . . FINALLY!! We didn’t have to do anything, so we didn’t. Carter was the first one awake so he woke up Raine, then we all sat around the tree and opened presents.

{No, it’s not your glasses, ALL of the pictures are out of focus! I’m not sure what happened. The camera must’ve had a little too much eggnog!}

Raine forgot to put out her stocking, so Santa decided to hide the presents and left her a note stating that she would have to find them. (They turned out to be in her sock drawer, of course!) Good thing he didn’t just put the presents back in his sleigh because Raine really liked the electric toothbrush that he left!

Carter did a good job picking out a present for Raine! He went to the craft store (even though “it’s stinky”) and picked out Barbie scrapbook paper (making sure Barbie was modest first) and iridescent gel pens. This kid knows what his sister likes!

Breakfast was Belgium waffles with fresh fruit.

Then it was time to play with the new toys.

Raine sang into that microphone all day long . . . I think it’s safe to say that she liked it!

The afternoon was perfect for playing outside.

Last year we had snow on Christmas so Raine kept waiting for it to come this year, too. I finally convinced her that you can have Christmas without snow.

There was a lot of jumping going on, I think they were excited!

A bubble bath was the perfect way to end the day. “Ho! Ho! Ho!”

Dec 2: Decorating the tree

Only the lower four feet had ornaments!

Dec 15: Christmas clothes

Dec 19: Throwing airplanes into the tree

Dec 19: Arlington Christkindl Market marionette show. After the show, the kids were invited up to the stage to see one of the puppets up-close. Raine and Carter preferred to hang back — they remembered how creepy those puppets look when you are too close!

Raine met up with her school friend, Drew. They made puppets together before the show.

Dec 20: Raine’s class Christmas party.

This was not a “holiday” party like you are forced to have in public schools these days, this was a bona fide “Christmas” party. For the gift exchange, each child brought a wrapped book and they passed the gifts around the circle each time they heard the name “Jesus” in the nativity story.

Dec 21: Breakfast with Santa. We were iced out on our original date. Fortunately, we were able to reschedule and have a very fun time.

While waiting to see Santa, the kids got to write letters to the missionaries serving from our ward.

They also got to make crafts to take home. (Fortunately, I purchased WAY more crafts than we had kids because we had a very chatty Santa this year! Each child made two or three ornaments while they waited.)

My cute little friend Adrian wanted to take a photo of me with my camera, since I was taking photos of everyone else. Carter wasn’t too thrilled about being in it with me!

Dec 22: Sunday afternoons can get a little silly around here while we wait for Daddy to get home.

There is always at least one re-enactment of primary.

At some point during December, Carter became obsessed with Superman. Fortunately, we had a shirt and cape in the dress-up bucket.

Dec 23: Raking leaves for our secret Santa sister in the ward.

After filling ten yard bags with mulched leaves, we had only de-leafed about 3/4 of her front yard! We were hoping to at least clear the front so the young men would only have to deal with the back when they finally got around to her, but we severely underestimated the number of bags we would need. (And we didn’t want to stick around too long and risk being caught in the act!)

Dec 24: We were able to perform some service that helped us get into the Christmas spirit when we found out that a family in the ward was without electricity and low on food. We packed up some supplies, wrapped a few toys that were lingering in the corners of my closet, and picked up some pizzas for them. It makes you realize just how much you have when you spend a little time in someone’s barren apartment, deep in the ghetto, on Christmas Eve. Our kids were able to personally experience what everyone always talks about at Christmas time . . . helping those in need.

Christmas Eve: making gingerbread houses while watching Mr. Kruger’s Christmas.

Then we snuggled up on the couch and watched The Polar Express, projected on the wall. Soon enough we were all warm in our beds, waiting for Santa to come.

Thursday, Raine and I went on a field trip with her kindergarten class. Raine was so disappointed that I couldn’t attend her last field trip . . . there was no way I could miss this one!

Our first stop was the Casa Manana Theater, where we watched “Frosty the Snowman.”

Raine and her good friend Mayla, waiting for the play to start.

Our next stop was the west campus of Temple Christian. We ate lunch there, then continued on to a nursing home. The kids sang Christmas carols to the residents, then gave them goodie bags and pictures they had colored.

“Away in a Manger” (Raine is over on the left side of the group, in the back, wearing a pink jacket)

“Jingle Bells”

This trip was a fun opportunity to meet the people that Raine spends so much time with. Now when she tells me stories about her day, I have a better understanding of who and what she is talking about. It is also fun to get a visual reminder of what a good kid Raine is!

Tuesday and Wednesday it was 80 degrees outside.

Thursday morning we woke up to temps in the 30’s, and wind-chills in the 20’s. By late afternoon, the freezing rain was starting to fall. Friday, we had our first snow-day!

Daddy finally made good on his promise to take Raine tubing . . . in the driveway! He tied a rope to one of the handles of his vintage sno-tube so he could keep her from flying out into the street. Then he used the rope to pull her back up the driveway before sending her down again.

Carter wasn’t so sure about this tubing business at first. He preferred to just slip and slide around on his feet.

I convinced him to ride with me.

Then he was hooked.

By the time we came inside, two of our neighbors were “sledding” down their driveways too. It was great!