Whittling Chip and Girl Scout Cookies

Korbin's birthday cupcakes - lightsabers! For his 9th birthday we celebrated with cupcakes and friends at a park nearby.

Jeff teaching Korbin how to use a knife

As a Bear (3rd Grade Cub Scout) Korbin is at the age to use a pocket knife. During den time they carved a bar of soap. He is pretty careful with his knife and does well. If you remember in December we entered a photo in a "Best Popcorn Pix" contest. His entry was one of the winners!!! He is overjoyed to be getting a Nintendo DSlite. He always sees other boys (and girls) who have them and we told him if he wanted to enter to try for it, we'd let him have it if he won. From his popcorn sales he earned a free ticket to watch the Houston Aeros play hockey. He wanted it to be a father/son deal, so I bought Jeff a ticket to go with it. He said the seats were great and both of them really got into it and enjoyed being there. After the game, Korbin was able to go down with other scouts to take a shot on the goal. Too bad we forgot the camera! 

Kailyn is in the midst of selling Girl Scout cookies. She has earned the initial prize by selling over 160 boxes of cookies! She has a goal of 400 boxes... so at this point, she has 149 to go! It's fun for me to circle the prizes she has earned as she goes. I cleared out my "craft room" as it had become a junk room. (or overflow, depending on how you look at it.) It will be the cookie room whenever the cookies get here. I volunteered to be the cookie manager, therefore keeping any cases of cookies at my house until picked up by the girls who sold them or until we finish our cookie booths, etc. Last year they were against all the walls in my living room and we had four boxes of cookies fall at the mercy of the 2 yr old cookie monster. This year I'm locking them in a room with a key. She's too smart for the bathroom locks too, so I will replace the door handles with the outer-door variety. I have an extra one I keep on a storage attic we keep Christmas presents in.

Meet Julie (& Audrey)

This is Julie the rat. She is very sweet. Too bad their tails aren't furry like a squirrel, people would like them more! I'm not big on holding them, I simply don't have the time, but Kailyn is just giddy over them both. We got Julie late Monday night as the pet store closed. Audrey, her sister, came home with us today. While the mice, gerbils and hamsters are cuter, the rats bond with humans better and bite less. Kailyn is always begging to hold her. Her sister, Audrey, looks very much like Julie. I think Audrey's head is darker and the fur around their tails are different colors.

Christmas

There were two expressions Korbin had on Christmas day. He was really excited!

We called the open-mouth expression "the look of the day." He just kept dropping his jaw. It was so funny.

Kailyn was so sweet. She said her favorite thing was the pink legos. Who knew? She asks for everything under the sun, so that actually makes it hard. She says she wants stuff, but then doesn't really play with it. One thing I did for her was make felt food. I didn't have time to do much, so I just tucked the needle in with the gift, and explained to her that part of that gift is that the two of us can sew more of it together. She was thrilled about that!

Lacey was so tired when the kids got her up. The first thing she said was, "I'm tired." We finally talked her into opening a gift... and she just stared at it. Notice the two pics that look alike aren't exactly the same. She just sat there for the longest time. Didn't even touch it. :o) It wasn't until she opened the scooter that she started waking up and getting excited!

Maddox was just so cute. He loved the whole day. He even got into unwrapping a bit.

I LOVE this picture. All the kids got bathroom stuff in their stockings. This is Maddox's first toothbrush. I handed it to him to see what he'd do. :O)

Dec 17...Ice skating

The Girl Scout Christmas party was held at the ice rink in The Woodlands. All the girls exchanged the traditional inexpensive ornament, and then got to ice skate. Lacey is very much a part of the group. I thought she believed she was a girl scout, but yesterday she said, "I want to be a Girl Scout." I replied, "Lacey, you are, aren't you?" She said, "No, I don't have the clothes." lol. Now you have to know, I made her some brown shorts from a retired brownie outfit, and she wears a retired brownie shirt. She was referring to the vest and awards. Too smart.

Lacey, Kailyn and Anna at the ice rink in The Woodlands. Anna is one of Kailyn's very best friends. They are only 3 months apart in age!

Kailyn and Anna... Kailyn remained on the sidelines, learning to balance.

Kailyn was having the hardest time until I realized she didn't go up past her ankles in tying her skates. She was so eager to get out there, she just tied them where they were. This pic is after I tied one and was in the middle of working on the other.

Lacey was a riot. She LOVED ice skating!! Here she is with one those cute ice-walkers they have for little ones. 

She got to be rather stingy about that walker. When she got tired, she'd sit across the bar in the front and rest (on the ice) until she was ready to keep going. :) Can you see how big those skates are on her? I wonder how she would have done if they had fit better!
She even went out without the walker. This didn't last long... I had been helping Kailyn, and when I turned to see Lacey, she was out on the ice alone and I kinda gasped. She tried to turn and come back, which made her fall and then she was back to the walker.

Leaving the rink was very sad for Lacey. The rest of us were tired and ready to go. :)