Things have been a bit busy here with unpacking (almost done!!), organizing (never done!) and tax season (April 15th can't come soon enough!)

Here's a little of what's been going on around here.

Emma knows all of her upper case letters. Except that pesky "I" and "L" when they

make the capital "I" look like a lower case "l." See what I mean? It can be confusing for the poor kids. There are about ten lower case that she doesn't know yet, so we've been working on them. This easel has been wonderful to have in the kitchen! While I'm working in the kitchen, she'll draw or work on "homework." When Ryan's home, I'll write multiplication facts on the chalkboard and he'll work on these. Best Christmas present ever!

And they thought it was fun!! :)

The flower beds that run along this fence have about 5" of dead leaves. We've started cleaning them out. It's a lot of work, but it looks so much nicer once it's done. So glad for my little helpers!

Ryan has become interested in carving and wittling. He got a whittling knife and a practice block of cedar with part of his birthday money. He's really enjoyed working on it. There have been a few knicks on the fingers, but (thankfully) nothing serious. Since he's using cedar...it smells so good!

Always...coloring.

This girl loves to color!

Rolling out the sugar cookies.

Emma loves those times in the kitchen when I don't care if she makes a mess.

She loved rolling out the dough and then making volcanoes with the left overs until I needed them for the next batch.

Hard at work

Bob took a few minutes out of working from home one evening to throw

the football with Ryan.

I'm so thankful that he does this. Ryan LOVES to spend time with Bob, and there's just not a lot of extra time in the middle of tax season. Those few minutes while I'm finishing up dinner have become Bob's time with the kids...either outside in the backyard or inside wrestling.

He wants to play football in a bad way.

His mother wants him not to play football in a bad way!

But he's got such a good arm.

Hmmm.....

While the boys were out playing, the girls were in the house slaving away.

(Smile)

I discovered that my red food coloring was all dried up, so

we had light blue Valentine's Day cookies.

A few mornings ago, as Ryan was waiting of the bus to come,

I caught Ryan teaching Emma how to read the first book in

the "Bob Books" series. So sweet! She was

so excited when she did it! She just might be reading before she starts school.

And this one will read anywhere!

This is his favorite place at our new house...up in the cherry tree.