Another day in Lance Land

I brought a box home from work to help Tyler make a ramp for his monster trucks, but before we got a chance to get our creative juices pumping, Olivia pumped up her creative juices, came in the living room with a beachball, and turned the empty basket into a basketball goal ;)

After a little family and play time, we headed out to the auction with 2 of our friends. Olivia and Tyler got a special treat before leaving:).  Pawpaw called them up to his podium and gave Tyler a model truck with flames on it, and gave Olivia these cool ear muffs.  I'm kind of hoping she forgets about them so I can take them to school and use them :)

And after we got home, it was a rush to get into PJ's and get their teeth brushed, so before I tucked them in, I let them watch an episode of sponge bob with me on the couch. I really enjoy snuggling with my sweeties and savoring every moment of their littleness.... it is quickly fading! :(

Fun at school

I got the opportunity to spend a little time with Olivia and Tyler at school the other day before my doctor's appointment.  They are doing well, and I really like their teachers.  For their "specials" classes, they both had this awesome class called "creative movement." It was a mixture of dance and PE, and was just fantastic.  Their teacher was really sweet too.  Here's Tyler getting buff :)

And here I am with my 2 lunch dates :). What a wonderful time!

a, an, at, is, under, you, have, can, come, out, eat, no....

Tyler hasn't been doing so hot with his sight words lately, so I've tried to be creative with ways to recognize the words.  My latest idea???? Sight word target practice!!

I tell him what word to shoot, and he gets to shoot 'em :).  Olivia also got in on the fun with this one. She's a terrific reader :).

And, thanks to the wonders of Pinterest.com, a sight word parking lot :).  Tyler has asked to play the parking lot game several times :).  LOVE it! He even plays with it when we're not working on sight words.  Maybe he's learning just by having them in front of him. :)

Yaay for a Monday off!!!

This Monday, the kids and I were out of school. Olivia's orthodontist apt was that morning, but we used the afternoon to spend some time in the park.  We came home first to pack a picnic, then headed to the park. What did we pack for a picnic you may wonder? Well, Tyler made Ramen Noodles and packed them in a Tupperware bowl.  Olivia made a salad with thousand island and a turkey sandwich. I brought some chips and salsa.  And for dessert??!?!?! Chocolate Chips!

I must say this might be the strangest picnic I've ever packed, but the kids seemed to enjoy their food, and they definitely enjoyed their play time.  My cousin's husband brought their son Anthony to come play with us too.  They had a blast!! They played so well together while Olivia zipped across the monkey bars about a hundred times! We had a wonderful time and enjoyed a beautiful day!

Dentist and Orthodontist

As usual, the kids were looking forward to their regular dental check up, and why wouldn't they? They get to see the fabulous and fantastic Mrs. Terri. She is truely the best!  She is so patient with them, and so sweet to answer all their crazy questions, and put up with their 15 different choices of colors of tooth brushes. And in true form, here's my wild boy exploring! And Terri answered all his questions about the model teeth and gum, of course!

And of course you've got to have the fluoride!

NO CAVITIES! Both kids are brushingn well, and teeth are right on schedule :)

Dr. Toms has mentioned this before, but this time I changed our insurance to cover Orthodontics, so we were prepared when he referred us to Dr. Sosebee to see about getting braces for Olivia.  She seems like she's been excited about it, she's asked multiple times when she was getting braces, and was okay with me telling her we had to wait til January so I could change our insurance, but wouldn't you know who remembered that our insurance changed in January! So after Dr. Toms's recommendation (yet again), we went in for our initial visit.

Nervous or excited?!?!

Such a good helper!!!

All the teeth are there, and growing at a normal rate....

And the survey says: NO BRACES (for now)!!!! Whoo Hoo!! She will get an aparatus on her bottom teeth to hold space there as she loses her baby teeth, but she won't need braces for a few more years. We knew she would have to have braces, but were surprised when Dr. Toms mentioned "early intervention." We thought we would have a few more years (hence the having to wait for open enrollment to change our insurance). I'm very glad we don't have to get the braces now, and to be hones, sort of glad they will be at least doing something for her since she has been so excited about it. haha. Poor girl doesn't know what she's in for!

The latest from Pinterest

We have made bath paints several times, now, and each time, Tyler wants to create more and more colors.  We started with the 4 basic colors in the food coloring pack, and branched out from there.  The recipe is to mix food coloring into shaving cream.  For whatever reason, something in the shaving cream keeps the food coloring from staining the bathtub or the children, so its been lots of fun.

The latest project, which took a little planning, was using toilet paper and paper towel tubes to make a system of tunnels for Tyler's matchbox cars.  He LOVED making it, and LOVED playing with it even more.  I put it in the garage over the weekend because it takes up quite a bit of room, and when Cousin Anthony came over, Tyler couldn't wait to show it to him, he had to get it out the minute we got in.  He was pretty upset there for a minute when he thought it was gone. I sure am glad I didn't let Junior throw it out!

New adventures of the Old Crustang :)

If you know my sister, you know she's no Grandma when it comes to driving, and driving from Gainesville to Atlanta 5 days a week doesn't help.  Her poor mustang finally had enough on her way to work the other day. Fortunately, Matt was able to go get her and help keep her calm and settle her nerves, then when Junior got off work, he went to get the car on a trailer and bring er home. 

I just couldn't resist the chance to share this pic of Matt getting out of the car after it was loaded, NASCAR style.  The door wouldn't open once it was on the trailer, so plan B, it was!

Hopefully she'll be back up and running in a couple of days.

So in Love!

The kids are usually pretty good about getting in the bed at bedtime and staying there, but every once in a while one (or both) will come back in the living room for another hug or kiss. Junior will usually hug them and send them packing, but lately, I have not been able to pass up the opportunity to snuggle and love on them until they fall asleep :).

Olivia is usually the one that comes back in to snuggle.  I think the main reason Tyler doesn't come in as much is because we've been letting him fall asleep in our bed, then moving him to his bed before we go to bed. I think he's afraid if he gets out of our bed, we won't let him go back in there ;). I do cherish the opportunity to squeeze that warm cuddley snuggle bug when I take him to bed.  Junior asked him one time why he liked going to sleep in our bed, and he told Junior that he liked us picking him up and carrying him to bed and tucking him in :).  So Sweet! But who couldn't love a face like this!!!???

And of course, you've gotta love my sweet little diva getting ready to rock her little self to school.  I braided her hair before bed while it was wet. We call this the Taylor Swift hair do :).

New Helmets

Anything new is a treat for the kids.  Anything new that doesn't cost much is a treat for me and daddy :).  They got a helmet in at Junior's dad's store that was just right for Olivia, then a few days later, Junior found one for Tyler at Goodwill.  SCORE! They were so excited! I was too.  We have had loads of fun watching the kids zip around and around the back yard :)

And the Christmas Cheer Continues :)

We were all so very blessed by the Christmas Season this year, by our time together, with family, and all the wonderful gifts we all recieved. We have had lots of family fun with our new things.  One of the most surprisingly awesome gifts, was a set of UNO cards.  We have played Uno as a family almost every night! It has brought us together for lots of family fun. (Even though my whole family CHEATS... yeah, me too).

The Bee bee guns were the main thing the kids asked Santa for.  We've had lots of target practice, they're getting pretty good :) We even had to buy some solo cups to shoot off of a log. lol.
Ready, Aim, FIRE!

Bullseye!

He's getting the hang of it :)

Olivia is also loving her "computer touch" a tablet we bought for her.  She asked for a laptop, and I asked her if she wanted that or a tablet, and she chose the tablet, which has ended up being a great purchase!! I like to play with it after she goes to bed :) Here she is playing a good ole game of Solitaire (one of Daddy's favorite games :))

And another favorite of all the gifts: NERF GUNS! We've been creative with our targets....