Aftermath of The Flu

 Kayla had the flu all week and missed school. Today she felt well and we went for a bike ride to go visit Ziggy.

 Missing school means tons of make-up work. Because 1 project on the solar system isn't good enough for her teacher. She was assigned three projects. 

Top is made exclusively out of candy. Juicy Fruit sun, peppermint astroid belt, lollipops for Jupiter and Saturn, and various other small candies of the other planets.

The next one down is a painting to illustrate the size difference between the Sun, Earth, & Moon.

The 3rd, on the left, is a 3-d model of the sun with core, corona, solar flares, and sun spots labeled.

Rico Suave

"Mom, there's a boy at school that likes me."

"How do you know," I ask her.

"I don't even know him or what class he is in and he said to me, 'Well, HEEEEELLLLLOOOOOO, Kayla.'" (insert suave voice)

I'm sooooo not ready for this.

Getting Ready for Valentine's

 Finished with Christmas. 

Done with New Years.

We're getting ready for Valentine's Day.

Why not?

According to the stores, we're already behind in our Heart Day preparations.

We did this ourselves with her new nail art kit that Santa brought.

The Great Museum Project, Take 3

 Once every 9 weeks, Kayla's homework includes a field trip to a museum.  I'm the bus driver, but my "bus" isn't yellow & I prefer to drive to the free museums!

 School work is always more fun with a friend! These two girls got their project knocked out in one day & will most likely be the first to turn it in for this 9 weeks.

Tether Balls & Cake Pops

 Kayla was so excited to unwrap The Guinness Book from Santa.

 Craig's sister, Karent on the right & her husband Pete on the left. Craig's niece, Brenna, in between. 

 Pop & Nana unwrapping some gifts.

 It was our first ever white Christmas. 

 Merry Christmas! It's Snowing!

 Craig, Greg, Pop, & Kayla on Pop's 82nd birthday, the day after Christmas.

 We came home to find that Grandpa Jim put together the new tetherball set!

 Can you tell who likes this toy more? I can't!

Since Dec 25, Kayla has been asking when we can make cake pops with her new cake pop maker. Today was the day I broke down & agreed to man this baking project. 

The Babycakes maker is awesome and worked so perfectly. 

It worked so well that I really cannot see how anyone makes cake pops without this maker.

Double chocolate with sprinkles - Delicious!

My Fav Christmas Video

This is my favorite Christmas video of 2012. 

Kayla read a letter from Santa in front of Craig's family Christmas morning. 

No dyslexia diagnosis is going to stop this girl.

Her cousin, Greg, helped a lot with this one & it turned out just precious.

Kayla didn't know it yet, but Santa brought her The Guinness Book of World Records, hence the reference in the letter.

Bye Winter

Winter posted himself back to the North Pole. 

He is such a fun tradition.

Till we meet again, Winter!

The Easter Elf

Winter was tired of celebrating Christmas all the time, so he decided to celebrate Easter.

Kayla had to find him and 21 eggs this morning around the house.

Now we're all really confused which holiday we're celebrating.

2 Christmases

Christmas #1 with my parents, but no bro. Spencer is still in South America.

 Ziggy gets his Christmas picture taken!

 See her shocked mouth? That gift is almost as tall as her!

 Panda head + mittens, all in one.

The perfect chair to go in her bedroom.

Thanks Zooma & Grandpa Jim!

Blue Hat

Kayla picked this hat our herself & I couldn't resist buying it for her even though it broke our no-buying-for-yourself-before-Christmas rule.

Zippin'

 All good elves know how to craft their own zipline.

Winter Bakes for Winter Break

Winter's idea of breakfast is a little high on the glycemic index.

 I see snowmen.

Where's Winter?

Party On Top

 The party animals were having fun on top of the curtains last night. Looks like Winter was trying to join them.

P.S. Kayla thinks it's absolutely hilarious that you can see Winter's naked butt in the photo.

Elves Rule, Dogs Drool

Okay, Winter didn't expressly say anything about dogs. 

Kayla found the bathroom mirror had been graffitied with dry erase.

Pop!

Winter strung popcorn and hung it on the tree last night.