Late December and January pictures

I may be a tad bit behind on blogging. :)  But as I'm home again with a sick kiddo (we've had a lot of gunk this year), I thought I'd try to catch up.

Mom had a special birthday at the end of December so on her special day, we met for breakfast in Mishawaka.  Since we were over there, we decided to take the kids to Strikes and Spares.  We had a great time!

black light mini golfing

Landon and I in the go kart

Matt helping Em mini bowl

Landon wanted to do it all by himself

Landon won 40 tickets at the arcade.  He's so proud! :)

On New Year's Eve, we stayed home and had a great family day.  The kids set up a game tournament where we kept track of points for each game and prizes were given out.  Landon and Emerson wanted to cook dinner all by themselves.  We had delicious homemade pizza and fancy drinks (sparkling grace juice and wine).

We surprised mom for her 70th birthday by throwing her a party and inviting some close friends and family.  Amazingly, she was very surprised! :)

Emmy is on a roll with losing teeth.  She's lost 4 so far!  I love it when those top teeth fall out and they get their "first grade smile"!

We got to babysit Caleb one Saturday while Kristina was at work trying to get caught up and planned.  Love his sweet smile.

Em got a Magic Mixer for Christmas and finally got it out a few weeks ago to make some...delicious??...treats.  They really weren't that good, but they were fun to make. :)

November pics

We are very blessed to have 2 kids who enjoy reading.  Emerson, especially, doesn't like to go a day without reading something.  We had several pictures like this when the kids were young and now they barely all fit on the chair! :)

 Landon lost his first tooth this month.  He wiggled it and wiggled it, but couldn't pull it out.  Matt came to the rescue and pulled it out for him.  He was so proud!

 Jessica, Jess, and I took a Friday off of work to watch "Mocking Jay Part 2" and do a little Christmas shopping.  Love our day together!

 We experienced our first snow of the season, the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  And it came ALL at once.  We got several inches and the kids were so excited to go out and play in it!

First Missing Tooth

Over the course of their Kindergarten year, both kids at one time or another have claimed to have a loose tooth.  So when Emerson said she had one a week or so before we went on vacation, we were skeptical. :)  It turns out, she actually did have her first loose tooth. 
She worked at it awhile, but it didn't come out until she pulled it out.  We happened to be in the middle of Ham Lake on a canoe, but she was a great sport about it!  We decided to wait until we got home to put her tooth in her very own tooth pillow.  She was really excited and woke up super early the next morning to find a note from her tooth fairy (Daisy Sparkle) and some money.  Now she is anxiously awaiting her next loose tooth!