Get Spotted at the Library

Wednesday night we had "Get Spotted at the Library" night for Kyle's preschool. It was so much fun to see the kids participate in story time, sing songs, play rhythm sticks and end with a scavengar hunt around the children's section of the library.

Kyle & Blake playing in the ship

Hannah just loves books & being the center of attention. All of the other children were sitting in a semi-circle in front of Ms. Lola, the storyteller; however, Hannah was sitting practically on Ms. Lola's lap. She was quiet & into the story, but had to be right there where the action was.

Hannah was excited to see her buddy, Shelby there.

Kyle finding a dot for the scavengar hunt

Kyle & Hannah both found all of their dots for the scavengar hunt. The evening ended with us getting Kyle's report card. He did very well on it and we are super proud of him!

My Brother's Blog

Well, my brother finally put a post on his blog. Check it out here. It made me cry when I read it as I sat and reminisced along with him. I do have to say my brother has come a LONG way - he was the pickiest eater I had ever seen. I do LOVE his cooking and am glad he's started this blog. I look forward to reading your posts, Jason!

My Wii Workout Partner

Ben bought a Wii Fit for us this past weekend. It is so much fun! I've decided it may be FUN to work out again. I've gotten out of my routine of visiting the YMCA since starting back to school (yes, 5 months ago). I've used the Wii Fit to do some yoga, balance activities, and aerobics so far. One of my favorite things to do is the Advanced Step. Today Hannah tossed a pillow on the floor and did it right along with me. It was so cute!

Happy 93rd Birthday, Grandpa Leo

Tomorrow is Ben's Grandpa's 93rd birthday. Today the kids and I (Ben had to work) headed to Ferdinand for his birthday celebration. We had a great time visiting with family, watching the kids play, and eating cake & icecream.

Kyle & Uncle Mark

Hannah hanging out with Papa Rich

Kyle & Hannah helping their Great-Grandpa blow out his birthday candles

Happy Birthday, Great Grandpa!

The kids & their spouses who were able to attend

The grandkids who were able to attend & the great-grandkids

Hannah hanging out with her Great-Aunt Mary Beth

The girls dancing & singing with Mary Beth - they were having so much fun

Hannah & her cousin, Aryn

I couldn't get Aryn to look at me for anything. I tried and tried.

Kyle drew & colored a Spider Man yesterday. He gave it to his Great-Grandpa today for his birthday. Kyle was so proud of it and I believe Great-Grandpa was too. He is hanging it in his room.

Thank You, God

I've been spending my day cleaning up Kyle & Hannah's rooms, including going through clothes that are now out grown. We were just in Kyle's room cleaning out his drawers. I had him trying on pants in order to see if he could continue to wear them or not. I was just laughing hysterical because they were all so short on him. They were fitting just like capris - 14 pairs to be exact! Here's our conversation. I just had to document it because it's one of those conversations I want to be able to look back on and remember:)

Kyle: "Mommy, why are you laughing so hard?"
Me: "Just look how short all of these pants are. How did you get so tall so fast?"
Kyle: "From God."
Me: "Oh."
Kyle: "I remember to say my prayers everyday. I say, Dear God, Please make me big. Thank you. Amen. And he does."

Hannah's First 'Real' Haircut

Hannah had her first 'real' haircut today. She's had her bangs cut before (before we decided to grow them out). Aunt Natalie gave Hannah her first bang cut when she was just over a year old. It did not go so well. Hannah screamed nearly the entire time. I wasn't looking forward to today because yesterday Hannah's reply to me was, "Mommy, NO haircut," anytime I talked to her about it. Well, Hannah climbed up into the chair when she got there and you could tell she thought she was a princess. She even let her Aunt Natalie curl her hair, something she won't let me attempt yet. The Before

Snip - Snip

Hannah sat so still

Hannah getting her hair styled

The After - All Pretty

Thank you, Aunt Natalie, I Love You!

Fun Fest

Tonight we went to the Fun Fest at school. Kyle has went to this the last couple of years. I remember when the only game he could really play was the Duck Pond. Tonight was so much different for him. He had fun playing ALL of the games and was hanging out with all his buddies this time. Hannah enjoyed winning candy at the games. They give you a sack to keep the candy you win in, but Hannah didn't get the idea that she could actually save her candy. I took Kyle & Leland's picture together first, then Hannah came running saying, "Me too, me too!" She doesn't want to miss out on any attention from anyone, so here's Kyle, Leland & Hannah.

Hannah playing the Duck Pond. Hannah actually got to play several different types of games, but I believe this one was her favorite.

Kyle going fishing

All night Kyle kept saying he wanted to win a coke at the ring toss. Seriously, have you ever tried to win one of these things at a ring toss game? It's nearly impossible. Well, what do you know, I was playing another game with Hannah when Kyle came running up to me with a 2-liter of RC. He had won! He was so excited about it that he kept showing everyone his PRIZE.

Hannah doesn't get shorted on any attention from the girls at school. Here she is getting some love from Lauren. Lauren is always so good with Hannah each time she sees her and Hannah just eats up the attention!

Kyle & Nathan - Fun Times!!

Head on over to this post to check out pictures from Kyle's play date with his buddy Nathan. Tammy told me several stories about the boys from their day. I would have loved to have watched them play together for a while. The stories made me laugh. It sounded as if they had a fun, fun, fun time together. I know Kyle played hard because he even told me he was tired. Kyle admitting he's tired doesn't happen too often. Tammy - thank you for inviting him over. Nathan - thank you for being such a good buddy to Kyle.

So Cute..

Kyle does the cutest projects at preschool. Today he brought home two that I just had to share. Here's his melted snowman he made out of glue and shaving cream. The poem at the top of it says, I Built a snowman yesterday. He has a little hat. The sun came out and melted him. Now my snowman's flat!

Last week was the letter Q week. So, here is is modeling his Quack Sack. He's super excited because tomorrow is field trip day again. He will be going to see James and the Giant Peach performed at the Victory Theater.

My Little Reading Hide Away

Hannah & Kyle both love making tents. Every day they gather pillows, blankets, chairs, and just about anything you could think of to make indoor tents. Well, today Hannah got Kyle's Spiderman tent and turned it upside down filling it with blankets and pillows for softness. I went looking for her and this is how I found her just reading away.

Basement Update

Rich, Joan & Mark brought the kids home this afternoon. Kyle & Hannah were excited to show me more Valentine treats they got (from Mamaw & Papa Broeker). The guys decided to go work on the basement some more. Ben's just getting the entire family involved. Yesterday he had his brother Matt help him carry down the drywall and hang some of it. Today his Dad & Mark joined in. It's coming along. I'm super excited about the thought of having it finished. Right now we've been discussing paint colors, decor, etc. It's a little overwhelming! We were excited to hear that Rich & Joan are getting new countertops in their kitchen, so their current ones will go in our laundry room. Yeah....that saves a little money on the project! Mark hard at work
Mamaw & Hannah taking a break from watching the guys to pose for a picture

Ben cutting a hole for the laundry room door

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Valentine's Day was a busy and fun day at the Broeker house. We started the day by giving Kyle & Hannah their Valentine from us. We got them paints, paper, scissors, and glue sticks. They love working on their own art projects, especially when I am scrapbooking.
We also got them a Create Your Own Stepping Stone kit. As soon as the weather warms up we are going to give these a try. I thought they would enjoy making them and it would be a nice addition to our flower gardens this Spring.

Hannah in her Valentine's Day outfit. She was decked out from head to toe in red & hearts. Linda got her this outfit for Christmas. It was just perfect for Valentine's Day!

I take advantage of the fact that Hannah LOVES to have her picture taken.

Aunt Natalie & Christian came to visit us for awhile too. Here's Hannah reading Aunt Natalie a story. Hannah loves to be read to, but is now also interested in reading stories to you. It's so fun to listen to her.

Christian - Isn't he getting so big? I just can't believe it.

My Mom also came to hang out for awhile. We were going to do some scrapbooking together. She also had to bring Valentine treats for Kyle, Hannah & Christian. Here's Kyle & Hannah opening up their Valentine. (Notice the costumes - I wasn't lying when I said my kids are in costumes the entire time they are home)

Later in the day Ben took the kids to his parent's house to spend the night. They were looking forward to hanging out with Mamaw, Papa & Uncle Mark and we were looking forward to our date!

I made Ben a scrapbook for Valentine's Day. I was going to wait until after our date to give it to him, but he kept coming upstairs and I was trying to work on it. I ended up giving it to him in the middle of the afternoon so I could keep working on it without having to hide everything everytime he came into the room. My mom thought to run into the room and shoot a picture of us. (Thanks - Mom) I was hoping to get the entire thing complete before Valentine's, but I didn't make it. I did manage to get 22 pages of it done. He was really surprised when I gave it to him. I started the scrapbook using pictures from 1997 when we first started dating. It was neat to sit down together and look through the pictures and read about the highlights of our life together.

Valentine's Day 2009

Ben and I went to eat at Yen Ching's. We both love Yen Ching's. Well, actually we'd only been there one other time, but loved it then and I've been wanting to go back. We also planned on going bowling; however, we weren't going to be able to get a lane until after 10:00. We decided to go check out some furniture stores for ideas for our basement, then we met friends later in the evening. We had a WONDERFUL date.

Guess What....

Yes, this is Ben hanging drywall in our basement.

Progress is being made.....updates to follow.

Happy Valentine's Day!!
(pictures coming soon)

Just Another Sign

I'm just constantly reminded everyday now how much Kyle is growing up. Tonight he worked on his Valentine cards for his classmates. He sat and signed his name to each one of them all by himself. He did half of them tonight and is going to do the other half tomorrow night. That's pretty good since he has 19 students in his class.

Hanging out with Tammy & Steve

Head on over to this post to have a few laughs about Kyle. He spent the evening with Tammy & Steve tonight while I went to Kindergarten round-up. He always has such a good time when he is with them and the shyness he sometimes encounters around people is definitely not a problem with them! Thank you Tammy & Steve for spending your evening with Kyle. He had so much fun!

Kind of Sad Today

Well, I'm feeling a little sad today. Tonight is Kyle's kindergarten round-up. I thought this would be exciting for me, but really it's not. I swore I was not going to be one of those parents that cried on the first day of kindergarten, but I believe I'm going to be eating my words. I've cried just thinking about it today. That's really sad too because he's going to school where I teach. It's not like I won't see him or not know what he's doing at school. I guess I'm just sad that he's growing up so fast. It seems like just yesterday that he was my little baby and now he's almost 5.

Where does the time go?

Finally Visiting Baby Macie

Well, the other night Hannah would not go to sleep because she wanted to talk to Baby Macie and Abbie. I gave Abbie a call so hopefully Hannah would then go to sleep. Hannah kept saying, "No, see baby Macie." "No, Hannah, baby Macie is sleeping. You'll have to see her another day." Hannah replied, "No, Mommy see baby Macie RIGHT NOW!" Well, good thing last night was our give back night at Shyler's for school. Hannah got to see baby Macie. I couldn't even keep her in her seat because she wanted to be right in Macie's face the entire time. Keelin is just as crazy about Macie as Hannah is. These two girls just had a fun time talking to Macie.

A Glimpse at Kyle's Wardrobe

Well, in my last post I discussed Kyle's wardrobe these days. I thought why not post a couple of pictures so you can see what I'm talking about. Here's a few of his favorites that he wears everyday. He also wears his Super Man costume from this year's Halloween daily. As I sit and type this, Batman is sitting in the room with me. There's many more characters he becomes.

I'll post more when I have the pictures.

3..2..1..Blast Off!

Kyle just loved this astronaut costume of Nathan's so much. He is still talking about it. Tammy sent this picture to me today and I thought it was just adorable. Even though Kyle was just given an entire trash bag full of costumes from a parent of mine at school he is insisting he needs an astronaut costume too. This kid LOVES dressing in costumes. He doesn't even wear clothes anymore - he just dresses in Halloween costumes EVERYDAY he is home. The good thing for me is less laundry, right?

Hanging Out with Nathan

O.K. Tammy, I so just stole this picture off your blog! It was just too cute not to. Kyle went over to his best buddy Nathan's house today after school. These two boys get along so well and have so much fun together. Kyle was near tears when I told him he had to come home. He wanted to bring Nathan back home with him. When I got there Kyle was dressed as an astronaut and Nathan was Batman. They were so cute! I remember it like it was yesterday when both of these boys were babies and now look at them. Time goes by so fast!