Happy 7th Birthday Gunnar Boy!

Gunnar's 7th birthday was Sunday (not to mention Josh turned 35 the Friday before). Gunnar opened a couple presents, was visited by Gunka Joe, and ate lemon supreme cake with vanilla frosting, which he picked out for me to make for him. As you can see in the picture I did not buy enough frosting, although my sweet boy said that he thought the cake was perfect. He would like to go and celebrate at the usual, Chucky Cheese's, but Josh had state wrestling and this weekend the Cherryvale Girls are in the 3rd round of sub-state basketball. We should have some time soon to go to Chucky's and celebrate with family.

Strike a Pose!!!

Wylie is showing off her new gymnastics outfit and in the last picture her back-bend. Yes, another extra curricular activity, but I can blame this one on Josh. One of his friends at the fire department told him how much he liked his daughter going, so now we are taking Wylie every Wednesday for one hour at Chanute. Her new instructors name is Mr. Casey, who happens to be a world champion in gymnastics. Tonight is her 2nd time to attend the class...she seems to like the trampiline and the new friends that she has made.

Snow Days!

The one thing teachers look forward to in the winter season...snow days! Yes, Josh and I were fortunate enough to get not one, but two days off (Thursday and Friday). Since Wylie did not get to go to pre-school she decided to have class upstairs in her room with her dolls. And yes their room is actually that messy, you should see the rest of it!

Ice Cream Pancakes with Strawberry Sauce!!!

Gunnar picked out this recipe from a book called "Mouse Cookies & More" by Laura Numeroff. It's a collection of four books in one, which the kids already had two of the individual ones: "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and "If You Give a Pig a Pancake", which they both have really enjoyed over the years. When I saw that this particular book had recipes, sing along songs with CD, authors comments, plus "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" and "If You Take a Mouse to School" I had to get it. Anyway, the reason why Mom made Gunnar the pancakes made of ice cream with a scoop of ice cream on top with strawberry sauce...because he got a 100% on his last sentence test! He has brought home quite a few hundred percents on his spelling tests, but this is the first for the sentence test. Before this test I told him after school in the car that spelling the words is not the problem, that if he remembers to capitalize the first word of the sentence and put punctuation at the end he would be good to go. And he did it! Good Job Gunnar!

Masters!

Josh and I received out Masters Degree in Educational Leadership on December 14th. What this means is that if we take a certification test and pass, we could be principals. I know that when we started this together that I was not interested in being a principal, I was for the masters degree that would move me over on the salary column. As far as Josh is concerned, we will have to see...I think he likes where he is at right now with his teaching and coaching, even though he is the son and grandson of principals. We had the cap and gown just in case we decided to walk, but it sure is hard to find a high school kid to babysit on a Friday night when their is a basketball game in town! That evening the kids and I went grocery shopping in Independence and Josh went to the basketball game. Not a very exciting was to celebrate, but we sure are happy we did it and that it is over with.

More Pictures From Christmas Vacation

The house where we stayed is located on Tenkiller Lake near Grove, Oklahoma. The day after Christmas we took a walk and ended up exploring the outside of Fin-n-Feather Resort. Here are some pictures that I thought were good.

Merry Christmas!

All of the kids are at a wonderful age to really go all out when it comes to Christmas traditions. Here is a picture of Gunnr and Wylie with their "cousins" Jillian, Jack, Joey, and little Molly. They all have their pajamas on and are ready to go to sleep so they can see what Santa brings them in the morning.
It's morning time! We make the kids wait at the top of the stairs, so we can gather all of the adults, so they can watch.
Santa brought Gunnar just what he wanted, a Mega Spinosaurus.

Santa also brought Wylie what she had been wanting, which was a Baby Alive doll. Baby Alive can speak, eat, drink, pee, and poop. She is quite the doll let me tell you!

Dad got a good picture of Gunnar and Wylie looking pleased with their Santa gifts.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Cherryvale's first big snow happened early Saturday morning and the kids had to get out and play, of coarse. Wylie thought the snow was tasty, although I did warn her of the yellow kind. Gunnar threw many snowballs at his mother and sister and made a pretty good snow angel on the deck. Knowing Gunnar, the ground was probably a little too dirty for him to lay down on and make a snow angel. After they took off their wet clothes they thought it was a good time for some hot chocolate.

Only 5 more days till Christmas break for us school workers and this year we do not have to go back until January 7th! It should be a good break for me at least. We are meeting Josh's family in Gore, Oklahoma at a vacation house that is big enough for every family to have their own room. It's amazing, 20 people get together for the holiday. We leave the 23rd and may even stay till the morning of the 27th. Not only do Gunnar and Wylie get to play with their cousins for that period of time, but the house is set up with pool table, foesball table, karaoke machine, fire pit, and plasma tv. It will be even more fun with the kids on Christmas morning! Wylie's wondering how her Baby Alive is going to fit in her stocking and days later Gunnar said to me "how's my Meg Spinosaurus going to fit in my stocking?" Gunnar and Wylie are at great age right now, they are so fun! I hope that everyone who reads this has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Second Yellow Tip...

Gunnar recieved his second Yellow tip last night, so I thought I would post the pictures that I took. The man who is given him his belt is Master Lewis.

Another Yellow Tip to the White Belt...Next Stop Yellow Belt!

Gunnar had his test to move up in belts last night, unfortunately I did not take very good pictures, but I will post a few anyway. He did a great job! At the end he got to break a board. I attempted to get a picture of this and it did not turn out.
The name of the studio is Christian Karate Academy, so before they begin their test there is a prayer.
Here is Gunnar doing a what I think is a front punch. They kids are in another room, but parents and family members can watch behind glass. That is what the glare is from, I forgot to turn off my flash.
Toward the end the kids get to do a little sparing before they go up to break the board. After the testing was over Gunnar decided he wanted to spend is $2 that he received from the Tooth Fairy on a smoothie from Sonic. Gunnar had a tooth growing in behind his two bottom front teeth, which were already loose, so the dentist went ahead and pulled both of them. Gunnar thought that the tooth fairy was pretty sneaky, since she manage to fit two dollars bills into the tiny treasure chest he had put his teeth in under his pillow.