Brothers

Marcus and Erik love playing together. They now share a bed and most of the time share their toys. They get up early in the morning and will play in their room together until one or both get to hungry. Marcus loves waking Erik up from his nap so they can play.  They are best buds! Marcus is always willing to get something down off a high shelf for Erik so they can both get into mischief. 

Winterfest/Agg Days

The kids had a busy, 5 hours worth and fun day checking out the animals and doing crafts at Agg Days and playing and eating treats at Winterfest. We brought along the kids friends Nick and Luke for the day.  Everyone had lots of fun and had lots of goodies to bring home.

Agg Days

Marcus checking out the animals

Natalya feeding a cow

The kids planting flowers

Marcus & his flower

Luke & Raquel making a caterpillar

A horse tattoo

Having fun making crafts

Having fun at Agg Days

Winterfest

Playing at Winterfest

Mmmm! Cotton candy

Natalya showing off her balloon ballerina

Having fun drawing on their picture.

Swim & Donuts

Natalya swam the whole length of the pool today all by herself! She got in by the diving board and swam her little heart out all the way to the other end. When she was about 5 feet from the edge of the shallow end she lifts her head up out of the water and Mike thought she was asking for help and couldn't make it. But instead she lifted her head up long enough to say she wanted donuts and then continued swimming to the edge of the pool. What a silly girl! To get her to want to try to swim we have bribed her with donuts before and I guess she thought she deserved them since she swam across the whole pool.  So of course we had to stop and get her a donut on the way home. She is a great little swimmer now, swim team here we come!

Natalya and her donuts

Slime!

The Valentine's Fairy gave ingredients to make slime this year in the kids mailboxes.  They had lots of fun mixing it, picking their own color and playing with it.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Mike and Raquel attended the Daddy Daughter dance again this year.   They had a fun time going out to dinner, dancing and then coming home and playing games. Raquel sure loves her dad!

Scooby-doo Live

Raquel, Natalya and I had a girls night out. We made it a little date with dinner and a show. We went to see Scooby-do live in Roanoke. The girls really love seeing Scooby-do and I had lots of fun hanging out with my girls.

Star of the Week!

 Raquel was her classes first Star of the week.  The week was all about her. She had fun making a poster all about herself to share with her class, she shared her favorite book, and we had lunch together.  Her class even made a book for her about why they think she is special. Some of the pictures were quite cute.

The Star of the Week

Her poster

Raquel's favorite things

And these are two of the pages from the book her class made her.

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9 Months

Erik turned 9 months and as you can see from his picture he is a very happy boy. That is unless he doesn't get fed fast enough or is tired.  He had his 9 month check up and is a tall healthy boy. He is pulling up, loves being mobile and got his first tooth.  

9 months stats

Weight: 19 lbs 7.5 oz (25th%)

Length: 29 1/4 inches (84th%)

Here are some of Erik's favorite things

He loves his sweets just like his dad and siblings.

He loves his mommy and daddy. 

He loves the water.
Baths, showers or the pool he loves it all!

Carrying things around in his mouth like a dog.

Food, food and more food.

He also loves playing with his brother and sisters. Marcus and him are being coming best buds and partners in crime. 

Christmas 2012

We loved being able to spend time with both friends and family over the Christmas holiday.  My dad was able to join us for a few days at Christmas and we ate lots of good food and had great company with friends for dinner.

Our 2012 Christmas card

Erik's 1st Christmas!

Opening stockings

Opening presents

Papa came to visit for a few days over Christmas.

The kids had fun playing with new and and some old toys over the holiday break.
The girls have loved playing Mario Kart on the Wii.

Erik & Papa Clinger

Papa & the kids.
They sure loved being able to spend time with each other.

Hermit Crab's

Mrs. Orndorff's first grade class has a class pet, 3 actually, hermit crabs.  Raquel took a liking to them last year in kindergarten and wanted to be in Mrs. Orndorff's 1st grade class just because of the crabs.  Well she ended up in class of choice and has been loving being able to play and see them almost everyday.  The little pets needed a home for the holiday's and Mrs. Orndorff chose Raquel to take them home for almost 3 weeks and care for them. Raquel loved having the hermit crabs in her bedroom. She did a great job feeding, watering and playing with them.